Diabetes As A Free Write.

Diabetes free write: I’m in the process of writing about 5 different posts for the bloggy, but not one of them is near where I want them to be. So I did the old college writing class trick called Free Write for today’s post. It's like a writing exercise for your brain. Basically, I set the timer on my phone for 5 minutes and wrote about whatever popped in my head diabetes wise - And here's what I came up with~

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Diabetes is this part of me that wasn’t invited or welcomed, but according to my family history, it was some what expected.

I’ve lived with diabetes so long that it’s become my own unique normal.

Even though the there’s nothing normal about wearing your pancreas clipped to your hip, having your lips go numb from a low blood sugar or feeling as if your walking through J-E-L-L-O from a high. There’s really nothing normal about syphoning blood from your fingers up-teen times day to keep track of said blood sugars!

You know what? I take the above statement back. It is perfectly normal to do all of the above regardless if whether you live with type 1 diabetes, type 1.5, type 2 diabetes or gestational. Because that is all part of living a diabetes life. In essence we become Diabetes Savants, and damn if we don't make entertaining dinner guests!

Living with diabetes means we see numbers on our food plates, not dead people or actual food for that matter.

Living with diabetes means that we carry a constant supply of test strips, meters, glucose tabs, and batteries on our person.

Living with diabetes teaches up to speak up when we must instead of staying quiet like we might want to.

Living with diabetes means we deal with TSA on an entirely different level when we travel.

Living with diabetes means that we constantly have to educate ourselves on our disease in order to live a good life, while continually busting diabetes myths perpetuated in the media to the public in the process.

Do I ever let my mind wonder to what my life would be like had not been diagnosed with diabetes? Honestly, I don’t go there much. I’ve lived with type 1 for so long that I barely remember life pre diabetes and my life post diabetes is a continuing work in progress.

If I hadn’t had pancreas that hadn't crapped out when I was 8 - I would never discovered the diabetes on-line community, let alone develop my diabetes voice.

And I am so incredibly grateful for those two things. They are true gifts and I am aware of the value they bring to my life everyday.

With that being said, I want a cure and I want one in my life time. Actually, I want it like, YESTERDAY.

Some days diabetes is a bitch (And yes, and I've been known to flip my Diabetes Bitch-Switch when required,) and other days diabetes plays nice. But everyday with diabetes is a challenge.

Be it the actual challenging of living with diabetes and its uninvited but accepted partnership in the "Life of Kelly," or the challenge of other peoples misconstrued perceptions of what living with, and what diabetes is.

Here's the thing: I'm up for the challenge of living with my diabetes and changing the public’s perception of what living with diabetes is. And I'm up for the challenge of making the public know and realize that there are many type of diabetes branches on the diabetes family tree including; type 1, type 1.5, and type 2 diabetes .

Why? Because it is my choice to do so - And between you in me, it is the only choice. And it's your choice as well~