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Wondering about the show or how Jim manages his diabetes life? Find out as he answers questions from the dLife community.
Q. My husband, Phillip (24 years old) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes November 9 2004. This was a huge adjustment for the both of us, but Phil is doing great! He is getting a little down about his "anniversary" of being diagnosed coming up. Do you have any suggestion what I could do to commemorate this day in a positive light? Any suggestions are appreciated...Thank you in advance. We love dLife and all it has to offer to the diabetic community. Thank you for what you do! – Jennifer Quine
A. Jennifer, that’s a tough one. Don’t have any strippers jumping out of any cake ‘cus that cake is just a big tease!
The anniversary of my diagnosis falls on the birthday of my much beloved grandmother and every anniversary of my diabetes we were always celebrating her birthday. Eventually someone would remember that one year at grandma’s birthday party when everyone was so worried about Jimmy cus he was going in the hospital the next day. And then people would get all sad and that would just depress me and I would say, “Oh, it’s fine. I’m good. I’m actually happier now.” And lots of crap like that.
But it was true. I was fine. I was good. And I actually was happier. The months leading up to my discovery of my diabetes I felt AWFUL. I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me but my body felt like it was falling apart from the inside out, and it was.
So at my grandma’s birthday while everyone was having big pieces of cake and ice cream (ice cream - nature’s perfect food) I just sat there remembering what I felt like that bleak day February 9, 1970. And then I thought how fabulous I felt NOW. And that this is my albatross. But as albatrosses go, it ain’t too bad. I’m alive. I feel great. Diabetes hasn’t stopped me from doing ANYTHING. Ever. Really. Ever.
So I’ll celebrate my anniversary this year like I always do - hoisting a shot of Maker’s Mark bourbon, saying thanks for a fabulous family, and then a big bow to Banting & Best for discovering insulin years ago, and another bigger bow to all those wonderful animals that died so I could celebrate diabetic anniversaries.
So maybe make a nice dinner, drink some champagne, have something conspiratorially sweet (c’mon, it’ll be fine) and have a good old-fashioned blast. It’s a great anniversary. It’s the anniversary of being alive and healthy. How great is that?
All my best,
PS – Please let me know how it goes. Feel free to drop me a line anytime.