Archive for the ‘Lessons Learned’ Category
1
Jan
Written by Mike on January 1st, 2012
Well, today is January 1, 2012. Happy New Year to everyone reading this right now.
Much like millions of other people in the world, this is a time when I think about resolutions for the New Year. Things that I want to work toward by the time the year ends. Some years, my list is long, and others, not so much. And some years I accomplish them, and some years I don’t. This year, I have only one resolution. And it’s one that I’m guaranteed to be able keep each and every day of 2012.
This year, I have resolved to Give ‘Em Hell. To give diabetes and congestive heart failure just as much hell as they give me.
I’ll be giving them the finger
each and every day.
Sticking it to both of them,
to survive another day.
My tactics will soon be changing,
because I’ve lost a little ground.
But I’ll keep doing what I must to
turn this back around.
The battle will be difficult,
and I’m sure I’ll shout and swear.
Consider this your warning,
don’t say you weren’t aware.
It is my fondest wish that
the battle will go well.
Just call me Harry cause
I’m gonna Give ‘Em Hell!
So there you have it. My resolution for the new year. Short, bittersweet, and to the point. And since this post has taken the shape of a wine glass, here’s to a healthy and Happy New Year to everyone! Cheers!
29
Dec
Written by Mike on December 29th, 2011
Today is the 3rd anniversary of my diagnosis with Type 2 Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure. Wow, only three years? It feels like so much longer. Alas, just three years. Three years of knowing, caring, surviving, and sharing.
Three years of knowing that I have a two invisible chronic illnesses for which there are no cures. Three years of knowing that I’m not alone in my fight. That there are millions of others fighting the same things. Three years of getting to know some of the most amazing people around. Lots of love to everyone in the Diabetes Online Community.
Three years of caring more about my well being. Three years of doing everything I possibly could to beat the odds against me. Three years of caring for those around me, both online and offline. Three years of being me.
Three years of surviving the many challenges before me. Three years of enduring the daily routines required to stay alive. Three years of painful medical procedures and tests to monitor changes both good and bad.
Three 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 diabetes and congestive heart failure.
Here’s to many more years of knowing, caring, surviving, and sharing.
All the best!
1
Nov
Written by Mike on November 1st, 2011
Today to a special day for so many of my friends in the Diabetes Online Community, as 11-1-11, the first day of Diabetes Awareness Month, has been designated as T1 Day. It is a day devoted to raising awareness for those living with Type 1 Diabetes. It’s about raising awareness to the difficulties type 1′s deal with each and every day, dispelling the myths and misinformation spread through the media and other sources. It a day for supporting those living with Type 1 Diabetes.
And that’s what I do. I love and support all of my friends who live this disease. And I support their day, T1 Day.
Happy T1 Day from Little G and Friends!
To learn more about T1 Day, visit the JDRF’s website . And while you’re there, take some time to educate yourself. The JDRF has a whole section of it’s website devoted to Life with Type 1 Diabetes
And, if you really want to know what life with Type 1 Diabetes is like, take some time and check out the numerous Type 1 blogs listed on my blogroll. They are written by real people, living the realities of the disease, and they all tell it like it is. No sugar coating.
Happy T1 Day, My Friends! Lots of Love!
29
Oct
Written by Mike on October 29th, 2011
This photo was taken on October 23, 2008, about two months before I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure.
This photo was taken on October 28, 2011, a full three years later, and just two months short of the third anniversary of my diagnosis.
At the time I took that first picture, I was damn near dead and didn’t even know it. Three years later, I’m full of life and living that life to the fullest.
What a difference three years has made! I’m blessed and quite thankful to have had them.
19
Oct
Written by Mike on October 19th, 2011
One of the many things that I’ve observed in the nearly 3 years since I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure is that people just can’t seem to believe that there’s anything wrong with me because they can’t see it. I mention all of the various health issues I face and the responses I hear more often than not are “Wow, you don’t look sick!” or “Well, you look great!”. And I always hear “You’re too young to have that”, but that’s a rant for another time.
The simple truth is that I don’t look sick. And unless you know me, and my story, you’d have no reason to suspect that I’m living with multiple chronic health issues. People living with diabetes, heart disease, and any one of a number of chronic health issues look just like everyone else. We don’t have a look. And we are just like everyone else; we are human beings, with ten fingers and ten toes, we go to work and to school, we play sports, etc… And just like everyone else, we have feelings. And sometimes, those well intended comments of “You look great” or “You don’t look sick” really hurt our feelings. They certainly do mine.
When I hear you say those words, that “thank you” that may hesitantly escape my mouth is not necessarily the true response that is brewing in my heart. Behind the wall that goes up to shield myself from your comments, my mind and heart are screaming. I wish that, just for a moment, you could feel the pain that I feel in living with these diseases. You say I look great, and I think, yeah, for the shape I’m in. I wish you could see what I see when I look at myself in the mirror, when I see the changes that have taken place since my diagnosis. While you may not see anything wrong with me, I see a painful reminder of what I face each day.
Many days, I just don’t have it in me to respond to those comments as I would like. And more often than not, I realize that it would do me no good to try to educate you anyway. So, I agree with you and thank you for the kind words, and let you go off feeling good about yourself, all the while knowing that the joke is really on you.
Yes, I may not look sick, and I may look great, but just like the appearance that you know all there is to know about diabetes and congestive heart failure, because you heard via some third hand stories that a family member you never met once lived with them, those looks are most definitely deceiving.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for sticking with me through my little rant. Please know that this is not directed at anyone in particular. I just needed to get those thoughts out of my head and I feel much better having done so.
