Today is my 18th diaversary. That’s DOC slang for the anniversary of my diagnosis. I used to think 18 years with diabetes sounded like a looooong time. Growing up, most of the people I knew had diabetes for about as long as me, because most of my D-friends were the same age as me and were diagnosed around the same time as I was (at age 8). Now that I’m older and have had the…
Diabetes has never felt like an “invisible illness” to me. I can see the teeny-tiny puncture wounds on my fingers, the juice box that weighs down my purse, the stray test strip on the bedroom floor. The presence of diabetes is very apparent to me. But because my hair doesn’t fall out, my skin doesn’t change color, and I can walk and talk without impairment, most people don’t know that there is anything wrong with…
As an invisible illness, diabetes can feel terribly isolating, especially when first diagnosed. Many of us remember the first person we met who also had diabetes. For author Amy Stockwell Mercer, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 25 years ago while at boarding school, her first D-friend came from a very unlikely source. Today, Amy shares her memories of this first friend, and how that connection helped inspire her new book, The Smart Woman’s…
Allison and I are happy to be part of the “You Can Do This” diabetes awareness campaign!
Huge thanks to D-blogger Kim from Texting My Pancreas for initiating this campaign: calling all PWDs to share our stories and our struggles via video. (Check out the campaign coverage in Diabetes Forecast – cool!)
Please see our “home movie” contributions below.
You Can Do This
— by AmyT & Family
You Can Do This
—…
Diabetes is certainly not created equal, and it’s even more varied when you take into account the various ways countries manage their health care system. Over the past few months, in our new international series, we’ve peeked into the lives of PWDs in Spain, Germany, Canada and Australia, and this month we’re taking a hop across the pond to visit Becky Thomson, a resident of the United Kingdom (which of course encompasses England, Scotland, Wales…