In a Nutshell

03/03/08 Treatment Options

By Eric Devine

How would you summarize your life in six words? Hemmingway made the practice of reduction famous when he was once asked to pitch a novel using only six words. The practice, however does apply to our own lives. 

In fact, at smithmag.net, people are doing just this and the responses are astounding. It made me consider, if I were looking back on my life and struggles with diabetes, how would I word it? Possibly something like this: type 1 at 12, still struggling.
   
On the surface, this appears as a rather unfortunate summary, and to an extent it is, because despite how healthy I am, every day is a struggle. There is no day off. However, in retrospect, my life is innumerably easier than when I started back in ’91.
   
Then, my test kit was the size of a VHS tape and came in an ugly maroon case. To use it, I had to have a Kleenex and cotton ball ready, as well as two minutes. 

To check my blood sugar I would:

1. Turn the machine on.
2. Apply blood to the test strip lying on the Kleenex nearby.
3. Press the “time” button on the machine and then wait one minute.
4. After one minute, wipe the blood off the test strip with the handy cotton ball.
5. Insert the strip into the machine and wait the remainder of the minute for the result. 

Compared with today’s five-second machines, its little wonder I only tested the required four times a day.
   
Injections have also transformed for me. I used to use two shots of regular and NPH insulin. My food intake adhered to my insulin's peaks and valleys in a slave-like manner. Now I enjoy the freedom and ease of insulin pump therapy, where food choice is the only limiting factor.
   
Also gone is the complete lack of understanding diabetes—the absolute ignorance in which I lived. My confusion was acceptable and almost necessary at 12 years old, and through my adolescent years. Now education, knowledge, and experience are the most vital tools I have. It’s impossible for me not to look back with the 20/20 vision of hindsight and ask, “What was I thinking?” I probably wasn’t contemplating diabetes because I was young and fearful.
   
Science and technology have made life easier and have enhanced my ability to function in this world. Through them I’ve been afforded the clarity that comes with consistent glucose control, and the byproduct has been a keener insight into this disease and into myself.

I’ve improved with age and have to feel this arc of success will continue—hopefully to the point where someday I could write: type 1 at 12, now cured.