Blog week day 5! When
I signed up I wasn’t sure I could put together 5 coherent posts over the course
of little more than a week. I don’t know
if they’ve been completely coherent, but there have been 5 and I’m pretty happy
with them. Thanks for reading, I hope you’ve
enjoyed them and maybe even learned something.
I’m already looking forward to next year!
The final topic for this year:
Lets wrap up the week by sharing a little more about ourselves, beyond the chronic illness we or our loved ones live with. Share an interest, hobby, passion, something that is YOU. If you want to explore how it relates to or helps with diabetes you can. Or let it be a part of you that is completely separate from diabetes, because there is more to life than just diabetes!
I’m a lot of things beyond a Type 1 Diabetic. I’m a daughter, a sister, an aunt and a
friend. I’m an analyst and a
mentor. I’m a crazy screaming fan of the
Detroit Red Wings and Tigers, the Cleveland Monsters, and I proudly call myself
a Michigan Wolverine. Go Blue! I’m a passionate advocate of a low carb way
of eating (with or without D) and I’m an increasingly passionate Type 1 Diabetes advocate.
And this weekend, for the third time I’m a half marathon walker.
In 2014 a friend and I walked our first half. She was roughly 7 months removed from
finishing treatment and earning the title of “breast cancer survivor.” We were completely unprepared and made it
through the race only because we were too stubborn to fail. Shortly before that race I was diagnosed with
Type 2 Diabetes. Soon after the race
that diagnosis was corrected to Type 1 Diabetes and I started my journey
through chronic illness and insulin dependence.
Last spring we walked our second half. For the first time we carried insulin,
needles, test strips and a glucose meter.
The weather that day included all 4 seasons: we had rain, sleet, hail, snow and sun. We also improved our initial result by an
inconceivable 38 minutes! I was so
emotional about our time and completing my first race with T1 that it was all I
could do not to let out a sob as we approached the finish. Not from sadness, but from relief and joy and
pain. At the first race we were grinning
like maniacs at the finish; last year I was grimacing and trying to smile with
tears running down my face, a confluence of truly confusing emotions. It was so cold all morning that I still
couldn’t feel my hands when they took this picture after the finish. The tears were gone, though!
This Sunday we’re walking our third half marathon. I wouldn’t say we’re completely unprepared,
but we’re not where we’d like to be. We
haven’t been as prepared as we want to be yet.
But we’re strong and we’re stubborn and we know now that we can make it
through 13.1 miles. This time we’ll have
the advantage of a CGM sending my glucose readings to a Pebble watch on my
wrist so that we’ll know at every minute how my sugar is doing. And we’ll have the incredible benefit of
having survived this experience twice.
Two times isn’t a fluke, so short of some unspeakable accident we’ll
complete race number 3 in just 2 days. I’d
be doing this with or without T1D. But
doing it this way adds a degree of difficulty and makes the achievement that
much greater. It’s part of my fight and
part of my daily victory over this disease.
No matter how much it hurts, this time I’ll be smiling again at the end
because we’ll both have earned it together.
Last year we walked in honor of, and as fundraisers for JDRF. This year we’re walking for Make-A-Wish in
honor of a Princess Warrior named Paige.
Want to learn about the other bloggers who participated this
week? Find all of the links here.
Wondering what you’ve missed in my blog? The links are below:
·
Day 3:
Blame and judgment
No comments:
Post a Comment