Age: 50 Year Diagnosed: 2000 Location: Sun Valley, Ca
"In 2005, I was working for a band and touring around the world. It was the last night of the tour and I was sick in Fresno. I spent the day on the tour bus without getting off. I didn’t eat a thing all day. I would get out of bed only long enough to chug a bottle of water while standing at the toilet and immediately throwing up. At the end of a very long and terribly uncomfortable day, the EMT came into the bus and told me I should go to the hospital. I’m a very stubborn and stupid diabetic. I told them no! There was no way I was going to a hospital in Fresno! When I arrived back at my house, 7 hours later I walked in and told my then wife to take me to the hospital. I spent the next two days on an IV and lots of insulin. That was my first experience with DKA. It’s not fun. I don’t recommend it to anyone. I have learned to pay more attention and check my sugars way more than my doctor says I need to. I would rather not ever go through that again.
Tt seems that the crowd I hang out in always says the same thing... “ if you pass ou,t can I give you a shot?” It seems that people only think you need insulin and can’t have sugar. That’s why at work I tell people if you see me acting strange or passed out give me sugar!
When I was first diagnosed, a friend said to me “ So you have to take shots every day? That sucks.” My response was and always will be “No, the alternative sucks”. Being a diabetic can be a pain in the ass, or thigh, or stomach, or fingertip but it doesn’t mean the end of your world. Not taking care of it does.
If you’re newly diagnosed just know that there are so many of us that have gone through the same thing and are still here thriving and living a life full of PMA (positive mental attitude). The road ahead is rocky, for sure, but the fact that there is a road is reason enough to be grateful."