11 Years of Living
Today is the 11th anniversary of my initial diagnosis with Type 2 Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure. My goodness, what a rollercoaster ride it has been. Many things have changed since that day in late December 2008. My diabetes diagnosis chief among them. I actually live with LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) or Type 1.5. Wow, eleven years. Eleven years of knowing, caring, surviving, and sharing. Eleven years of knowing that I have two invisible chronic illnesses for which there are no cures. Eleven years of knowing that I’m not alone in my fight. That there are millions of others fighting the same things. Eleven years of getting to know some of the most amazing people around. Lots of…
Choosing Life and Sobriety
As this is Mental Illness Awareness Week (October 6-October 12) and addiction and substance abuse are a part of mental health, I wanted to share something here that I shared publicly on Facebook for the first time last month during National Sober Day. I don’t talk about it much, but alcoholism runs deep in my veins, much like it did my father who was an abusive alcoholic when I was a child. There was once a time when I could and would drink you under the table. The hard stuff was like water in my system. I loved the taste of it and the burn as it went down. But no longer. All of that changed for me when I…
Loving Your Heart This Month
Today is the first day of February and with it comes the beginning of American Heart Month. This month we focus on raising awareness of heart disease and all of its various forms, risk factors, steps to prevent and treat the disease, etc… As we start this month, I’d like to ask you a question. How will you love your heart this month? Personally, I’m going to try to be more active and focus on eating a heart-healthy diet. I plan to walk more each day and find ways to squeeze more steps in during my breaks at work and in my downtime. I’m also working on making dietary changes due to my recent gastroparesis diagnosis and those changes are sure…
Then and Now: Reflecting on 10 Years
I’m really not a fan of the “how hard did aging hit you” challenge that’s floating around social media right now. The idea that aging is something to be ashamed of is totally bogus. Still, I see this as a good time for reflection and gratitude for the time I didn’t expect to live. The photo on the left was taken in October 2008, two months before I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and what was then believed to be type 2 diabetes. I was near death and didn’t yet know it. When I was diagnosed on December 29, 2008, the doctors didn’t think I’d live another 3 months. A lot has happened since then. There have been some…
10 Years of Living
Today is the 10th anniversary of my initial diagnosis with Type 2 Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure. My goodness, what a rollercoaster ride it has been. Many things have changed since that day in late December 2008. My diabetes diagnosis chief among them. I actually live with LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) or Type 1.5. Wow, ten years. Ten years of knowing, caring, surviving, and sharing. Ten years of knowing that I have two invisible chronic illnesses for which there are no cures. Ten years of knowing that I’m not alone in my fight. That there are millions of others fighting the same things. Ten years of getting to know some of the most amazing people around. Lots of love to everyone…
