New Beginnings

So, here I sit on a Wednesday evening. A Wednesday evening just like any other. Only there is something about this Wednesday that has prompted me to write my very first blog. And I'm wondering where I start... at the beginning? Where is the beginning? I have two beginnings. The first being the beginning of my very existence, more commonly known as the day I was born. And the second being the day I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, a day I have only just realised, 12 years later, that changed my life. 

If I'm honest, I don't really remember a time when I didn't have Diabetes. Sure I remember growing up eating cakes and chocolate bars and all the other stuff that goes with being a kid, but I don't actually remember a time when I didn't inject. A time that didn't involve looking at a food item and wondering it's carbohydrate content, or how much insulin I'd need to inject be able to eat it. I do however remember the week I was told I had Type 1 Diabetes. 

I'd lost a lot of weight in a very short period of time. I was constantly tired, so much so I'd need to go to bed as soon as I came in from work, or have a good couple of hours sleep after a shopping trip on a weekend. I also had an uncontrollable thirst. I was drinking 18-20 pints of water a day and still my thirst wasn't quenched. I was told I needed to wear glasses as my vision was blurry, and perhaps most embarrasing of all I'd had a number of bouts of thrush. I was going to leave that last bit out as it's rather personal, but it's a symptom of Diabetes that's not often spoken about and really should be for it's seriousness. I'd also always had episodes of what I now know as hypoglycemia - terrible shaking of the hands and heat flushes or light headedness would hit me if I left it a little too late to eat a meal. 
I feel at this point I should mention that I have an older brother who was diagnosed with Type 1 in adulthood, so most of the symptoms I was experiencing, he'd already experienced too.  Anyway, I think the point I'm getting at is that deep down I knew I had Diabetes. My mother of course tried to convince me I was a drama queen (something I will not deny), and kept telling me I just wanted something wrong with me.  But I couldn't ignore all these symptoms, so I made the appointment with my GP and a couple of days later I went in to see him. I told him my concerns and in return he gave me a small urine sample pot and told me to go pee in it.  I swiftly returned, handed him the sample where he dipped a stick into it and turned to face me and said "without a shadow of a doubt you have Diabetes, the only thing we need to find out now is what type". The doctor asked how I felt and I told him I felt fine, which I did, mainly because I now had a reason for feeling so poorly. But, being the drama queen that I am, I was also looking forward to going home and telling my mam "I told you there was something wrong with me".

I was sent for blood tests the following day and then a couple of days after that a nurse called me and told me she wanted to see me at the hospital as soon as possible. It was at this point that things became very real. I was sat in a little room in the hospital, just me and my mother, when the specialist diabetic nurse walked in, arms full of all sorts of paraphernalia. I'll never forget her words "I'm sure you can work out from all these pens and needles here, you have Type 1 Diabetes". And there it was, the day that changed my life forever. The day my life began all over again.... age 24 and Type 1 Diabetic.