Thinking about what might be is just going to put clouds on today for you. I'm 37 and hope for no complications but some will be inevitable. The more I worry about them tho is that much higher my BS goes and that much time I've wasted living my life. Key: do it while you can and enjoy, for tomorrow might be a little hazy. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. If you keep in mind that not everybody has the same complications and some are more severe than others, you can keep a better outlook for yourself. Time will tell you what will happen but worrying about it now will lessen the time you have.

Complications of diabetes are not necessarily a foregone conclusion, whether you are diagnosed at 5 or at 50. Many factors -- genetics, self-care, environment, and support systems -- can affect the short- and long-term outcome of your dLife. Of these, you can positively affect three of the four that I've listed. And from what I can tell from your blogs, you're doing just that. The rest is in G-d's hands.

It seems to me He already is looking out for you. You have already written about the many people in your life who have looked out for you when diabetes was new to you; now it looks as if He's placed another connection in your dLife...

You and your bass player found a different level of fellowship that night: you each found someone else with whom you can talk about diabetes and its issues, someone who has been there -- who IS there -- and who is removed from the veil of your own family. You have each found a brother in faith who is also a brother in dLife. You are each better able to help the other in life as well as in worship.

I do agree that, for the most part, diabetes is "invisible" to the American public. We don't usually do anything in public that is so different from everyone else that it screams "DIABETES" in big, bold, block letters. We don't look different, we don't act different -- and unless you catch one of us at an odd moment, you'll never know we're testing our blood glucose, injecting insulin, or adjusting pump settings, or grabbing a stashed LifeSaver to avoid an immediate low. Even then, you won't suspect unless you've been sensitized to it -- which usually means either having diabetes, or being close enough to someone who has diabetes, to recognize these little cues.

To those who have never encountered diabetes firsthand, it is either a "nothing" issue because it *is* invisible (and usually controllable with diet, exercise, and medication), or it is a great fear because they know of people with all sorts of debilitating complications, or people who have died prematurely from those complications.

Maybe what we need is a public awareness campaign... not just Mary Tyler Moore and a bunch of kids asking for "a hero" to find a cure, but celebrities and real people of all ages, from all walks of life, saying, "I have diabetes, and this is what it means".

Maybe it means all of us being more willing to "come out" about our relationships with the "big D".

I don't know for sure. I don't have the answers. Sometimes, though, I get ideas. And sometimes, when the L-rd looks my way, He allows me to use my experiences and my ideas to help others.

And in the end, maybe that's what your rehearsal was all about: you and your bandmate coming together to use your experiences to help each other, and maybe also to help the rest of your congregation. You may not have the answers now, but you have been placed on a Path that will bring you closer to asking the right questions, and to "paying forward" the love and care that so many others have given to you to bring you to this point in your life.

Not that I really can add much past the last comment, but...
My Mom is type 1. (My endo says I'm type 1.5) Mom was diagnosed at 17, I was diagnosed around 6 months ago at 21. :) My mom has now just turned 52, her last A1C was somewhere around 6.5 (Thanks to her Pump) and the only complications she has is mainly from her bad habit of smoking.
Well, she gained a strange ulcer on her ankle that will not heal, but hasn't gotten any worse since she was 35ish. She, her uncle and aunt (both insulin-dependent type 2s aged 70+ with only the high blood pressure and cholesterol issues), and just about anyone else can go well into life without horrible complications. IT could still happen, but its all about taking care of yourself and not giving in to the cake and fried chicken wings. :)
But, I think thats why we're here. I think about eating my room-mates Turtle cheesecake... Then I come on here, gain some strength from everyone else, and go find myself a nice bag of Cherries to keep me sane.
We'll still be around to whine at the next generation of D-lifers about life before the pump, how we had to take 6 shots a day, having to cope with these fears, and how we faced them. I hope your friend's surgery goes well. Tell him we're praying for him, too!

Complications? I was diagnosed with Type 1 in 1970 and read all the stories about the nasty things that can happen. Truth is, I'm pretty healthy. I did have a case of diabetic retinopathy in an eye about 15 years ago, but that was fixed. At the time, I had no glucose meter! I'm a huge believer in testing now and haven't lost any appendages yet. My advice is don't stress over it. Enjoy life and keep testing :)