When you were little, acceptance was all you knew. You had to accept what was given to you because you didn't know any better. You were vulnerable, just a child. You had to accept good things and bad things and you adjusted yourself for those things so that you could continue on, happily.
I have been asked some questions lately regarding my diabetes from co-workers because I attended a Customer Service Training Session which included a luncheon afterward. I didn't attend the luncheon simply because I had to go home for lunch because my daughter was getting ready to head to Florida for spring break (ahhhh!). Anyways, the co-worker I was talking to also knew I had diabetes and since the subject was food, she asked how I was doing with my diabetes. She told me she would never even think that I had it and I asked why. She told me that I never mention it and never seem down about it and she knows several other people with diabetes who have a real problem with it.
This brings me to the title of by blog, Acceptance. I was diagnosed about six years ago. My doctor very casually told me, "You have diabetes." Handed me some paperwork, told me to take these pills and check back with him in a week. I was devasted. I cried all the way home. I didn't know what to eat or what to expect at all. Fastforward to about a year after that day, when I was finally diagnosed as Type 1, I realized that this is just the way it is going to be. There is no changing this. I have to watch what I eat. I have to do these shots. I have to prick my finger ten plus times a day to watch my sugar levels. It could be worse. So, this is ALL I have to do? Yes. This is ALL I have to do. Sure, it can get in the way when I have to put a halt to everything I am doing so I can check my sugar to make sure everything is fine, but, I HAVE to. That's all there is to it. Acceptance. I have accepted it as part of my life. It is a part of me. A pretty small part actually. So, I continue on, HAPPILY.
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Positive information and shared thoughts about living with diabetes. Diabetes CAN'T control my life! And other random thoughts about life in general....
About Me
- Laura
- I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 33. For a year I was thought to be Type 2, however, I was tested again and found out I am actually Type 1. I take insulin daily and I will not let Diabetes get me down. I married a wonderful caring husband and we have a smart, beautiful and caring daughter who now is attending college. And I can't forget about our siamese kitty named Theo. GO BUCKS!
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6 comments:
Hi Laura, When you asked your doctor"Is this ALL I have to do?", he responded yes. Do you think now after having had D for six years that this was an honest reply? Let me be very clear - I love life and diabetes has definitely NOT lessened my life, in fact I think it has taught me to love life even more. Nevertheless to say that it plays a minor role is just not true. My life is changed, it IS DIFFERENT from what it probably would have been if I were not diabetic, and as I pointed out somethings are BETTER. I have had D for 45 years, and I am doing just fine. I never really had an acceptance problem accept maybe when I first got the D and when I was a young adult. At this age, I rebelled b/c no matter how much I tried I failed.... There were less sophisticated tools back then! SOooo, I have a really hard time agreeing that D is "no big thing". It is HUGE and it has BOTH improved and made my life harder sometimes. I has definitely had a HUGE impact on me. I get a bit upset when people fail to recognize this fact. I would call that "non-acceptance"! OR maybe your diabetes is different than mine.... WHO KNOWS?! Please visit me at my blog http://chrissieinbelgium.blogspot.com
that is awesome. i am really happy for you and that you are not letting diabetes get in the way of your happiness.
acceptance is so... huge. and in different stages of my diabetic life, i have gone through different levels of acceptance.
as a child, i didn't ACCEPT it as much as that i was too young to treat it anyway, and my parents did it all. when it was my turn, i often treated it like a very small part of my life. i did the bare minimum to survive. because i thought it was a small part of my life and i didn't realize how much it would affect me.
now i think that treating it small before, made it bigger now. but...17 years later... i think i am coming around to accepting it.
everydayoftheyear.blogspot.com
Just to clear my words up a bit which might have been a little confusing....my doctor isn't the one that told me "This is all I have to do". I told myself that. I realized that it doesn't take much to take care of me and my diabetes. My first doctor was not that understanding though which didn't make things easy at first - so...I got another doctor!
Laura,
I hope you are staying positive. Happiness is a state of mind, right? But seriously, keep up the good work.
Since you were recently diagnosed with diabetes, I thought you might be interested in helping out the International Diabetes Federation a bit.
We are in the midst of our preparations for the first UN-observed World Diabetes Day (www.worlddiabetesday.org) on 14 November this year, and I wanted to ask you if you would like to help us to spread awareness of this worldwide event and the theme we have chosen for it this year - Diabetes in Children and Adolescents.
It is estimated that over 200 children develop type 1 diabetes every day and there's no question that the disease often hits disadvantaged communities the hardest, and that children in the developing world can die because their parents are unable to afford medication. In many countries diabetes is still considered an adult disease and as a result can be diagnosed late with severe consequences, including death. Even after diagnosis many children experience poor control and develop complications early.
This is why one of our key objectives for World Diabetes Day this year is to double the number of children covered by the Life for a Child Program - http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/go/wdd-2007/life-for-a-child. We also want to encourage initiatives that can help to reduce diabetic ketoacidosis (diabetic coma) and to promote the sort of healthy lifestyles which can prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes in children.
A version of the diabetes circle, the icon we used for our Unite for Diabetes campaign http://www.unitefordiabetes.org/ has now been adopted for World Diabetes Day and we have produced a number of web banners that you can view and download here http://banners.worlddiabetesday.org.
The way in which you can help us spread awareness of World Diabetes Day is to add one of the banners to your own blog, which we would really appreciate.
The UN's World Diabetes Day Resolution (61/225) was really just the first goal of an ambitious campaign that we have been leading. This is the first time a non-communicable disease has been recognised as a serious threat to global public health and we are hoping now to further raise awareness globally of the disease that is predicted to contribute to 6% of the world’s mortality in 2007.
If you would like to know more about the UN Resolution and our plans for World Diabetes Day this year, just drop me a line and I will get back to you with more information.
Many thanks,
Stephanie Tanner
IDF - Communications Assistant
For people with diabetes, having too much glucose (sugar) in their blood for a long time can cause some serious complications, including foot problems.
Diabetes can cause two problems that can affect your feet.
Diabetic neuropathy
Peripheral vascular disease
Some common problems of diabetic peoples:
Anyone can get the foot problems listed below. For people with diabetes, however, these common foot problems can possibly lead to infection and serious complications, such as amputation.
Athlete's foot, Fungal infection of nails, Calluses, Fungal infection of nails, Foot ulcers, Hammertoes, Ingrown toenails, Plantar warts.
http://.mvhospitalfordiabetes.blogspot.com/ tells you more about this.
Acceptance is the best way to be happy with the situations of life.You have to accept what comes your way...if you have a disease better you accept and do the needful and be happy.
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