The Unexpected Challenges Of Living With Chronic Illness

Hello there,

welcome to INSPIRE.

Today my post is

inspiring (hopefully) to anyone

living with any form of chronic illness,

and the challenges that ensue.

To begin, I want

to share a brief glimpse, of where

this battle began in my life.

In February of 1997,

my husband & I were celebrating

our second year of marriage.

The truth is, I hadn't been feeling very

well, in the weeks leading up to this

momentous time, and had

scheduled an appointment

with a doctor, which just

happend to be the morning 

after our anniversary outing.

We had dinner with my sister in-law, and her husband.

And we then went to catch the theater

re-release of The Empire Strikes Back.

Being kids in the early 80's, this 

was really kind of exciting to get 
to see it again on the big screen.

My body however, didn't feel the same.

I kept passing out, and we had to make

an early exit from the movie.

My brother in-law made the

suggestion of taking me to the

nearest Urgent Care, so that is what we did.

Upon arriving, they handed me a cup for a urine specimen, and then sent Del & I

into an exam room. A brief

few moments later, the doctor came in and these

were his words:

"You have a dead woman on your hands.

EVERYTHING we should find in urine, is absent. All that is there is SUGAR".

He then stated he had called the local hospital, and the ER was on stand by, awaiting my arrival.

What a dark day that 

anniversary celebration 

had become.

Diagnosis? Type 1 Diabetes,

Adult Onset.

Meaning?

 Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune condition. It's caused by the body attacking its own pancreas with antibodies. In people with Type 1 Diabetes, the damaged pancreas doesn't make insulin.

So, for the last 20 years, my life

has been encompassed by insulin injections, insulin pump, and more recently back

to injections again.

All trial & error.

Twelve days ago I made

a HUGE error in my insulin dose.

I over estimated my carb intake, and took

way to much insulin.

An hour or so after dinner,

I had encountered a very

serious blood sugar low.

As I watch each glucose reading

fall first into the 60's, then the 50's, until

the critical 30's, I knew I was in
big trouble.

Insulin overdose.

I hadn't had this happen
in 20 years of dealing
with Type 1 Diabetes.

This error, was a life threatening
error, and one I am going to try my level best
to never, EVER do again.

So for the last couple of weeks
I have essentially been in a recovery mode.
Once again trying to find
a healthy balance between
my food intake & insulin doses.

Feeling much stronger day by day.

The struggle is real.
And being responsible for miscalculations
is not a mistake I plan to do again.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Many blessings to you

& yours this Holiday Season!

Merry Christmas!