Diabetes Information

(I have purposely sent this about noon EST. However, the ISP has been very slow
lately so don’t know when it will arrive)
Today is kind of an emotional one for me. I had already missed a lot of school
for not feeling well, VERY thirsty, frequent urination, rapid loss of weight,
and very hungry. I remember trick-or-treating in 1950 with my friend Judy; I was
so sick I laid on a lawn because I couldn’t go up to the house to beg for candy
(candy was not the cause for my troubles). The next day I was taken for my
first-ever dr. visit. I was 11 years old. Dx: Run down. Need tonsils out. No
Way! Mom didn’t want me to get hurt. (Was given some pills. Very hard to swallow
so I cried and didn’t have to take them.)
Next day saw another doctor. Dx: Just a kid complaining. Vitamin shot
(first-ever injection). A bottle of (liquid back then) terrible-tasting vitamins
was prescribed. I just cried real hard and didn’t have to take it.
Excerpt from my diary: Wed. 11/1/50 Hot, windy. Stayed home from school.
Didn’t take pills. Lots better, so is Koko ((dog was taken to dr. before I

was)). ((Pres.)) Truman got attacked.
Skip forward to Sunday, 11/5/50 ((Mom had to write - I couldn’t)) Real bad
today, went to hospital about noon (awful bad). Got sugar diabetes. Had to have
oxygen and fed thru veins - 3 places.
The doctor (who Rx’d the vitamins/said I was complaining) was in the hosp. but
would not answer his *bells* (no E.R. drs. then). Dr. Edward Sirlin saved my
life (he died this summer at 93!). It took 7 hrs. to get me out of the coma.
The rest is history.
So today is the 49th ANNIVERSARY of a lifestyle no one would choose. I have much
to be grateful for. My next dr. said many things would come along in my lifetime
that would help diabetics, but nothing would ever help me.
AU CONTRAIRE!!! Home blood-glucose testing was a MAJOR breakthrough in control,
refined insulins (there were 9 varieties - all U-40 in 1950), smaller/thinner
needles; I have had 6 eye surgeries resulting in 20/20 & 20/25 vision, have been
using an insulin pump for 16 years, aspartame is available, and more new
developments all the time. Transplants are now available and I am in the early
stages of seeking a kidney-pancreas transplant as my kidney function is
presently -25%.
This is long, forgive me. But few people survive a diabetic coma in the first
place (at least back then!!). I was raised with the assumption I would die so I
picked the ripe old age of 35 that I would probably be dead. I CELEBRATED (the
whole month of May) turning 60 years YOUNG this year. I am already planning my
50th anniversary *bash* for 11/4/00 and have the paperwork from the Joslin
Clinic for their bronze medal. I have to be warm and breathing to receive it.
God is GOOD!
Sweetly,
Jan
a.k.a Janet Elliott Hughey
P.S. November is National Diabetes Awareness Month.
I would rather laugh — it’s too easy to cry at the type of an @.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2004 at 10:07 am and is filed under american diabetes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.