Going Through Changes

As with anyone who is diagnosed with diabetes, my life completely changed on that day that I heard the news. In a matter of three days, my priorities completely changed. Instead of eating because I was hungry, I had to focus mainly on maintaining my blood sugar. Instead of exercising to just stay fit, I was exercising to control my blood sugars. Everyday I was checking my sugars and my mind was consumed with sugars and insulin. Of all these things, these are all changes that diabetics go through. This is the things that we have to deal with in life, and I am perfectly okay with it. As you can probably notice by now, I have a very positive view about my condition and these negative changes do not phase me at all. This fact may stun some people, but the reason for this is because my diagnosis was one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my life. Some people may be scratching their heads but let me explain. My whole life I have been interested in health care. My mom is a nurse and as is my grandmother and I knew since a very young age that I wanted to do something in that field. Although I did not know what career I wanted to enter, I would change everyday about what I was interested in, like most 15 year old kids. When I was admitted to the hospital in Boston I had many nurses and doctors running in and out of my room, but I can not remember what their names were, or what they looked like, that is except for one of them. On my final day in the hospital I had a nurse named John. When John came in my room, he completely lifted my spirits with his attitude. On top of his positivity, John educated me on how to test my blood sugar and inject my own insulin so I could get prepared to go home. Although these things are minute now, they completely changed my life; because of John I am now studying nursing myself in an attempt to have that type of an influence at some point through my career. Now that I look back, I can say that diabetes completely changed my life, and that change is for the better, because it has truly shaped my life.
Although the choice of my career was the biggest changed in my life, the other change that I have noticed is my role as an educator to people around me who have become curious about diabetes, especially my insulin pump. I explain how everything works for me at least once a week, and it has become something I love to do to help people better understand. Although I love helping people explain my care, I would even more so enjoy helping people enjoy my cure. The only way we are going to get there is by raising the money necessary to do the research. So please, if at all possible donate to the Joslin High Hopes fund here http://www.joslin.org/giving/high_hopes_fund.html. Thank you to everyone for reading and have a happy thanksgiving.

PS: Sunday is my 7 year anniversary of being a diabetic, and I couldn't have made it here without the care provided by Joslin, so a big thanks to all my doctors and nurses for keeping me healthy.

Have a great thanksgiving,

Pat