Hello everyone, I would like to share my diabetes story. It all started August 26th, I had just gotten back to school to start my final semester after summer break was over. And I had just gotten a new job while I was at school, I had become coach of the volleyball team. That was really fun, and I had just moved into my own apartment and I had roommates.
Before school started me and my mom were really busy we were going between my house and the apartment building because we had get to my stuff moved in to my room at the apartment and it was really hot during the summer, I was thirsty a lot of the time that we were moving stuff back and forth.
After a couple days that I had been in school I had started noticing that I was getting more thirsty and going to the bathroom more often than usual. I thought maybe it was just a coincidence because I had been thirsty a lot more recently than I usually am. I contributed increased thirst to the very hot weather and my increase in activity...long walks from apartment to campus, several times a day and then evenings working with the school volleyball team. I was really enjoying school and my new schedule.
It was keeping me really busy and energized. I was enjoying being with the volleyball team and helping them out. I was able to go to a couple of volleyball games and support them and cheer them on. My friend Clara came and helped me out a few times with the volleyball team too, we got to go to a couple of their volleyball games together. My Class schedule was busy too, I had at a full course schedule of 4 classes. I started noticing after a couple of days that I started looking tired and not my usual happy and outgoing self. I also had been wanting a lot more sugary foods and drinks, like whenever I would have one sugary drink, I would want another sweet drink, because I felt like I needed something more to fulfill my thirst.
I just kept going with my normal school schedule, and hanged out with my friends. I remember that day at school the last thing that I had eaten before we went on break for Labor Day I had gotten a piece of pizza. It was good I was really hungry that day. When I was at school, I asked my mentors is it normal to go to the bathroom a lot? ˇThey told me yes if you are having a lot of things to drink. One afternoon after Lunch I was feeling really thirsty, and a little tired, it was before volleyball practice. I decided to get some water from my school cafe and I drank the whole bottle of water. After school, my mentor dropped me off at my apartment and she said that I looked tired, she said why don't you rest a little before you come to volleyball practice. I went in the apartment and rested some before volleyball practice and I became thirsty again, I wanted a sweet drink so I got some soda I thought that I would be able to save some of it for later, I was so thirsty that I drank all of it before I got back to my apartment.
I had bought a doughnut earlier that day because I wanted something sweet to eat for later. A couple hours later It was time for me to go to volleyball practice. I went to volleyball practice with my friend clara, we made it to volleyball practice and she helped me with what I needed to do to help with the team.
So while we were there, we both thought to ourselves that we hadn't eaten dinner yet. We asked our mentor if we could go to chic-fil-a. So after volleyball practice was over, we went with our friends to chic-fil-a it was really fun we sang along to the music that was playing in the car on the way there. So we had gotten our food and went back to the apartment.
I asked clara if she has ever seen the volleyball movie. She said no, so we decided to watch the movie while we ate our dinner. I am usually able to eat all my dinner from chic-fil-a but for some reason I wasn't able to finish all of it so I thought to myself I will save this for lunch tomorrow. It had started getting late in the evening so we decided that we would finish the movie later.
I decided to go to bed to be ready for the school day tomorrow, I thought that I would be able to sleep that night since I haven't been able to get rest the other nights because I had to use the bathroom quite frequently almost every day. I would lay in bed and try to hold it because I wanted to get some sleep and rest because I was very tired. So this night was different then the nights I had before,I had gotten really thirsty later in the night and I wanted something to drink. All of my sweet drinks were gone because I had finished all of them because of how much I wanted sugar.
I didn't have any more ginger ale cause I had all of my Canada Dry. So I decided to text my mom, it was about 1:00 in the morning, and I told her I was thirsty, she said why don't you have some orange Juice? I said ok I had some orange juice, I was still thirsty so she said have some water. I got some water and after a couple of minutes I started feeling nauseous and I ended up getting sick. I texted my mom and told her what happened, I said I got sick and it got all over my comforter. I told her it was only a little. And then I told her I think I need to come home because I knew in my spirit something was wrong. She told me ok, I will come to the apartment and pick you up and bring you home. So I got out of bed and went into the main room of the apartment to wait for my mom to pick me up to take me home. I had my dog Elijah living with me in the apartment too; he is my emotional support animal. I took him out of my room and brought him with me in the main room because I didn't want to keep in my room with everything that was going on with me at the moment.
My mom made it to the apartment, and she brought me my favorite Ginger ale from the house. She went to my room and saw where I got sick, and said Emerald this isn't a little. I had said it was a little because I didn't want to scare her. She came back to where I was and said Emerald before you leave why don't you get yourself cleaned up while I clean up the room, so I decided to get myself cleaned up before we left the apartment. We waited until about 5 in the morning while my mom sanitized the apartment and to wait until a more logical hour to inform my roommate I was leaving the apartment. So I knocked on the door, and told her I was leaving and that I wasn't feeling very well. So after that we left the apartment and went home. I went up to my room to lay down, I didn't have a lot of energy. My mom had to go to work, she told my dad to stay home because she wanted someone to be with me because I wasn't feeling well.
On my moms way to work, she called the doctor, told her all of my symptoms, and scheduled an appointment. My mom was so happy she was able to reach the doctor. She texted me and my dad what time the appointment was.
I was a little hungry, I came downstairs to have some watermelon and I could not taste the sweetness in it. I think my taste buds were getting dull. After my watermelon, I had wanted to rest a little more my body wouldn't let me rest. I think because I had angels watching over me and they knew what has happening with me. It had become close to the time for my appointment, It took all of my energy to go downstairs and tell my dad its time for my doctor appointment.
He said ok, lets go, so we made it to the doctors office, we went inside the room and the doctor asked me how I was feeling and what kind of different symptoms I was having, she then decided to check my blood sugar and she said the number is so high that isn't showing on her screen. She told my dad he needed to take me to the emergency room.
My dad took me to the hershey hospital, I was feeling tired he knew to keep me awake and alert. If he had not done that I could have gone into coma. We made it to the emergency room, and we went into the room and they had checked my levels again and they said my blood sugar was 1500. They admitted me, and did everything they knew to do to bring my numbers to normal.
There were a lot of people coming in and out and they asked me different questions. Each person that came in asked me the same questions because they wanted to see if I was alert and if my brain was alert and if I knew what was going on. They told me that I had diabetes they weren't at first sure which one I had. But eventually they said that I have type 1 diabetes. I had a lot of teaching while I was there too, they taught me and my mom what to do and how to Treat my diabetes on a daily basis. I was grateful for that.
I spent 14 days in the hospital with doctors and nurses. My doctors and nurses were so kind, they would give me my medicine and help make me feel better. I learned a lot about diabetes while I was there. A lot of my family texted me and encouraged me. My Big brother/Cousin Devin checked on me a lot while I was there that made me smile! I got a lot of love and prayers from my family and friends. I love my family so much with all my heart and am so grateful for loving and caring friends. My friend Nicole came and visited me to offer support and encouragement! And she also brought a service animal to lift my spirits. And Clara came and her mom and her grandma came to visit me too! They are amazing friends!
My friends gave me much encouragement and support! I had a lot of people visit me while I was there, I was so happy to have visitors, that really brightened my day. I received a get well card from my school that made me smile. My two closet friends visited me too, and that made me very happy. I got to see Elijah while I was in the hospital too, My heart was so happy and blessed to see him. And my Grandma and Uncle came up to see me too while I was in the hospital that was a wonderful time.
Diabetes is hard, I still don't like it, because I miss eating the food and desserts that I want. I want to keep myself healthy and still be here for my friends and family. I am believing and praying my pancreas will work again soon, so I don't have to keep giving myself insulin shots. I don't want to do that for the rest of my life. I have my family and friends here to support me and encourage me through all of it and I am grateful and blessed for that. I am very happy to be alive and still celebrating my life. God blessed me with an amazing 23 years of life, I cant wait to see what else he has in store for me. If I have to be on this journey for now I am glad I am not alone and still able to tell and share my story.
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