I recently had the honor of having my story as a feature on the online magazine A Sweet Life.
Here is the article. It came about by me contacting them and asking if they would write about the end of the Islet Cell Transplant clinical trial and through discussions and editing it evolved into this nice story about my experience. It was a real learning experience and inspired some real soul searching. They are my favorite magazine and I like both what they cover and how they write about it.
Writing the story made me stop and really think about what all of this means to me and how it has affected my life from so many directions. Obviously, my health is greatly improved. I am free from the constant worrying about going low, and getting up at night to check, and all of the countless other details of dealing with Type 1 continuously.
My experience has inspired me to become much more active in the diabetes community. This blog, the islet cell recipient facebook page, advocating for the JDRF, all have me feeling very connected. The hard part is the feelings I have about the disease itself. Type 1 is just a bad thing. There is nothing good about it. It just breaks my heart to think about kids still dealing with it. I sometimes find myself very overwhelmed with wanting to help them and any Type 1 to escape from its clutches and fate. My present situation of having lived with Type 1 in the past, and possibly in the future, can become very emotional. I feel extremely lucky for myself, but sometimes its hard not to feel a little guilty about those I feel I have somehow left behind.
My present situation is good. My kidney function tests are in line. No side effects from the immunsuppression. Feeling good, and again no worries of lows. My insomnia seems worse, but hopefully now that Christmas is over, that will subside.
My current concerns. I've had one cold already this season. It seems to have cleared on its own which is good. My BGs have been out of line(probably due to the cold). I have increased to 9 units of Lantus/day, but hope to go back to 8 when the cold is completely gone.
Here are some pictures of our pre-Christmas trip to Florida. I think I got my cold on the plane trip. It was worth it.
Here is the article. It came about by me contacting them and asking if they would write about the end of the Islet Cell Transplant clinical trial and through discussions and editing it evolved into this nice story about my experience. It was a real learning experience and inspired some real soul searching. They are my favorite magazine and I like both what they cover and how they write about it.
Writing the story made me stop and really think about what all of this means to me and how it has affected my life from so many directions. Obviously, my health is greatly improved. I am free from the constant worrying about going low, and getting up at night to check, and all of the countless other details of dealing with Type 1 continuously.
My experience has inspired me to become much more active in the diabetes community. This blog, the islet cell recipient facebook page, advocating for the JDRF, all have me feeling very connected. The hard part is the feelings I have about the disease itself. Type 1 is just a bad thing. There is nothing good about it. It just breaks my heart to think about kids still dealing with it. I sometimes find myself very overwhelmed with wanting to help them and any Type 1 to escape from its clutches and fate. My present situation of having lived with Type 1 in the past, and possibly in the future, can become very emotional. I feel extremely lucky for myself, but sometimes its hard not to feel a little guilty about those I feel I have somehow left behind.
My present situation is good. My kidney function tests are in line. No side effects from the immunsuppression. Feeling good, and again no worries of lows. My insomnia seems worse, but hopefully now that Christmas is over, that will subside.
My current concerns. I've had one cold already this season. It seems to have cleared on its own which is good. My BGs have been out of line(probably due to the cold). I have increased to 9 units of Lantus/day, but hope to go back to 8 when the cold is completely gone.
Here are some pictures of our pre-Christmas trip to Florida. I think I got my cold on the plane trip. It was worth it. |
| Manitees |
3 comments:
1) Ok, those kayaking pictures in Florida look INCREDIBLE!!!
2) Loved your article at A Sweet Life (just read it tonight).
3) Almost everything with type 1 diabetes IS very emotional and overwhelming. What you do, in simply telling your story, is a very powerful thing Kathy. Thank you for being brave enough to do so, and for sharing your time with us. It makes a bigger difference than you can possibly know.
Hey, you should follow Sernova. It's a Canadian company that is helping to cure diabetes and have been making some real advancements.
www.sernova.com
I have been following Sernova and will continue to do so. It seems to be the next generation of treatments for Type 1, following the success of islet cell transplantation.
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