5 years

Today is the 5th anniversary of my diagnosis with Type 2 Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure.  Wow, only five years?  It feels like so much longer.  Alas, just five years.  Five years of knowing, caring, surviving, and sharing.

Five years of knowing that I have a two invisible chronic illnesses for which there are no cures.  Five years of knowing that I’m not alone in my fight.  That there are millions of others fighting the same things.  Five years of getting to know some of the most amazing people around.  Lots of love to everyone in the Diabetes Online Community.

Five years of caring more about my well being.  Five years of doing everything I possibly could to beat the odds against me.  Five years of caring for those around me, both online and offline.  Five years of being me.

Five years of surviving the many challenges before me.  Five years of enduring the daily routines required to stay alive.  Five years of painful medical procedures and tests to monitor changes both good and bad.

Five years of sharing my story with the world.  Sharing both my victories and my defeats, showing what it’s really like to live with these conditions.  Sharing the message that it is possible to live well with both. And that there is no shame in being diagnosed with them.

You’ve surely noticed the repetition in this post by now, and you may very well be ready to leave it.  And, honestly, I really can’t blame you.  I’d love to leave it all behind too.  But I can’t.  That’s life with type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure.