As many of you may know I am a ‘PWD Type 1’ (person living with type 1 diabetes), I have been living type 1 diabetes since 2014. I have been a diabetic since 2005. Being a diabetic is hard since you must be on top of your disease at all times. You don’t get a day off. I always have to check my blood sugars and carry my diabetes kit with me at all times to make sure that I’m prepared for anything. For example, I carry test strips, meter, alcohol swabs, lancet device, lancets, insulin – fast acting. Insulin – long acting ( in case I don’t get back home in time for my afternoon dose or since I’m at work before my morning dose), pen needles, glucose for lows, snacks, ice pack for summer time in my purse before I head out the door.
Managing my diabetes also means dealing stress. Stress is probably the hardest thing for me to manage! There’s always something to stress out about in daily life. I mean how do you go through life stress free? Daily struggles are always there from family and kids to jobs and loads of bills that must be paid. The list goes on and on. I get stressed just thinking about ‘stress’, LOL.
On June 16, 2017, I was informed by my employer that my job of 8 years had been eliminated; this meant that I would lose my benefits on June 30th. This rocked my world! What was I going to do? I needed my meds, supplies and lifesaving insulin. Over the next few weeks my husband and I sat down and tried to decide what to do. We had no choice except to put me on his health insurance. This meant that we’d lose a good chuck of his check since he works for a small company. But what else could we do? Talk about stress! My blood sugars during those weeks and the following months have been out of control. Some mornings I’ve woken up with sugars over 250 and I’ve had to take more insulin to correct. This is, of course, all due to stress.
People just don’t realize what a diabetic goes through. The highs/lows and everything in between are very tough on the body, spirit and family unit. I have tried to remain positive but it is very hard. I have been to two job interviews. I hope that one of them will pay off. In the meantime, I wake up every day and tell myself that I am priceless. That any employer will be glad to get me. When I leave the house I make sure to fix my hair and put on my makeup. I grab a different color of lipstick and tell myself that today I will be in control.
I guess I said all of this to just let someone out there struggling with depression, stress, uncontrolled sugars or whatever you are going through, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! We all face different things and that diabetes is hard. But remember this, God only gives his toughest battles to his strongest warriors! And believe me if you are diabetic, you are a warrior! Whatever seen or unseen battle you are fighting you are not alone.
Pick yourself up, straighten your crown, and stomp that runway called life.
*Editor’s Note: Eugenia Wells-Bassillio is the founder of the ‘Diabetic Divas Unite’ Facebook page. She also recently started working at Baptist Hospital in Oxford, MS
Share your experience living with diabetes on the Divabetic blog. E-mail Max Szadek at: mrdivabetic@gmail.com
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Don’t miss October’s Diabetes Late Nite with music by Old Dominion on Tuesday, October 10, 2017. Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Dr. Andrea Chisholm, Dr. Michele Summers Colon, and Mama Rose Marie.