JULY 24, 2013: D-day

It’s been 6 years since D-Day -- no, I’m not talking about WWII. I’m talking about the other D - the D of Diabetes. The day this disease entered my life. I can’t believe it’s been six years, but as a welcome to my blog, I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to take a walk down memory lane and tell you the story of my D-Day.

It’s early summer 2013 -- I’m working at a non-profit that hosts academic summer programs for gifted and talented students and am also starring in Legally Blonde at a local community theater. This is my first major role since high school so man, was it fun and exciting. Lots of late nights, dance rehearsals, and training at the gym, but I loved it. After the show’s run, busy season started up at work as the programs were opening up all over the country - so yes, it was quite a hectic time. I was working tons of hours and traveling to different campuses to help get things ready for operation. Yeah, I was tired, but wasn’t everyone? We were ALL working long hours. I was super thirsty, but it was a really hot summer, so wasn’t everyone drinking a lot and going to the bathroom? I thought so, but I wouldn’t know until I was diagnosed later that these well telltale warning signs of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

July came along and I noticed I’ve lost around 15 lbs. Man this gym thing was really working! One of my coworkers noticed I had lost a lot of weight and that my pants were almost falling off - I took it as a compliment though it wasn’t -- he said I looked sick. Being tired all the time will do that to you though! I continued life as normal, but started to realize I was getting short of breath walking up the stairs. I didn’t think anything of it - again, I was working a lot so exhaustion of course comes into play! I was heading to Princeton that weekend to help prepare for opening day that Sunday - July 21. Everything was going great -- I felt like maybe I had low electrolytes or something so drank some Gatorades to help. After a long day on Saturday, I slept like a baby that night. I woke up the next morning feeling tired, but ready for the day. Only to later discover I was way too tired to function and had to go back inside to take a nap -- literally falling right asleep because I just could not keep my eyes open. My supervisor decided to send me home as she could tell I was not feeling 100%, so I drove the 2 hours home to get some rest. I remember pulling into my driveway and I was DEAD - a driving zombie. So tired, in fact, I fell asleep in my car in my driveway. I had never done that before -- I mean if I’m tired, I’d normally just walk the 30 feet into the house and go to my bed. But I honestly couldn’t pull myself out of the car. I only woke up because my Dad came knocking on the window, asking if I was okay. I only remember saying “I’m just so tired” and finally was able to get up, go into the house, and go back to sleep.

THAT WAS THE DAY IT HIT ME.

Something was wrong. I had no idea what -- honestly, I thought maybe I was anemic and had low iron or something. After really not being able to climb the stairs, and having to sit in the shower the next couple of days, I knew I needed to make an appointment with the doctor. Was sure they’d just fix me up with a pill or something - or say I was overworking myself….but no.

I went to my GP that Wednesday -- right before lunchtime. I remember being starving but just thinking the appointment would only last a half hour maybe, so I could eat soon enough. That was the saddest mistake because I never ended up eating... I explained how I had been feeling and my GP ran all these tests and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. She was about to send me home when she had a random thought - she wanted to check my blood sugar. I honestly didn’t even know what that meant so said yeah, go ahead, no big deal. It was 250 -- which I learned WAS a big deal for someone with no history of diabetes, high blood sugar, anything of the sort. She immediately said, “You need to go to the emergency room. I think you have diabetes”. Well, I guess I won’t be having lunch I thought...but also was just curious as to what even diabetes WAS, fully. Sure, I had heard of it, but didn’t have a real understanding of what was going on with my body - but soon, I’d find out...

I called my mom on the way to my car to tell her I was going to the hospital. Yeah, that definitely startled her! I told her the possible diabetes diagnoses and she was shocked - it couldn’t be. She told me to wait there and she was coming to pick me up. I emailed work to let them know I had to go to the ER -- it all went downhill from there. I arrived at the hospital and they took me right in -- no wait, which was bizarre! Was I really in that bad of shape? Was this REALLY an emergency? It was. While I sat in the ER, my sugar went up to 550. They couldn’t get it to come down. More tests were needed, but I stayed positive -- I actually was laughing a lot in the hospital because I kept thinking of the diabetes commercial from back in the day. You know the one with Wilford Brimley who says diaBEETUS instead of diaBETES. That's all I kept saying in the hospital was "DO YOU HAVE DIA-BEETUS" (and that's also why I refer to it as the BEETUS now, but anyway). I was trying to keep things light, but man, it was scary. Low and behold, I was admitted to the hospital and transferred to the Intermediate Care Unit (ICU) -- I didn’t think that was needed, but they did. I wasn’t able to eat, was hooked up to two IVs, and given lots of pills - I had no electrolytes in my system and barely any vitamins, so they had to refuel by body. I had been flushing everything out by drinking so much water, and nothing was converting properly in my body. I was diagnosed with DKA and the doctors said thank God I came in as I was one-step away from being in a coma. We learned my A1C was 12.9, and for those of you who don’t know, the normal range is below 5.7 -- yikes.

MY LIFE FLIPPED.

Fast forward, three horrible days later, I was getting ready to be discharged. The nurses couldn’t figure out how to use the glucometer they were providing me to test my blood sugar...needles spilled all over the place and directions sprawled across the bed. It honestly was embarrassing - if they couldn’t figure it out, or didn’t know how to use it, how would I?! Figuring out how to fill a syringe and give myself insulin injections -- well, that was a learning experience. But I got through it - I figured it out. The next few weeks were tough -- my sugar was still in the 300s so there were tons of insulin adjustments happening daily. Thank god, I have the most amazing endocrinologist. He was the on-call doctor the day I was diagnosed and did not pressure me to choose him as my doctor going forward, but there was no way I could go with anyone else! He saved me -- he believed that I could do it and still does. And guess what? I’m doing it.

Although living with T1D isn't easy, and it's often not fun, it's not life ruining. You adjust, you have your support system, and you can do it, just like me.

And that's my story. Until next time,

To note; I didn't get just get type 1 diabetes because of eating sugar. That's not how this works. There's a huge difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease - the body's immune system mistakes the body's own healthy cells for foreign bad cells and attacks; in this case, my body attacked the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, and thus my pancreas no longer produces insulin. There's no exact "cause" as to why this happens, doctors really don't know. But, researchers believe it has to do with having a predisposition to autoimmune diseases and an event that puts your body under undue stress (sickness, injury, general stress, etc.) Type 2 is not an autoimmune disease, but those with type 2 have insulin resistance. Their body still produces insulin, but it's unable to use it effectively. Lifestyle factors may contribute to your risk of type 2 diabetes, such as family history, excess weight, and other factors. You can manage type 2, and sometimes even turn it around with diet and exercise. There is no cure for type 1.