When Life Gives You Diabetes

This chapter deals with some of my health history, mostly in relation to diabetes.

The spring of 2002 was one season of my life that I vaguely remember. Despite this, it was the major pivot point in my health history. During that spring, I transformed from an average nine-year-old boy into a very ill and beleaguered soul.

I remember constant thirst as the first indicator of my new lifestyle change. Nothing could satisfy my cravings. Whether it was a Gatorade juice box, a cup of water, or a child's size cola from McDonald's, no drink would make the thirst disappear.

After this, inevitably, I began to use the bathroom more frequently. It got to the point where it was a bother, being so thirsty and needing to heed the call so often. My parents were quite worried about my well being and they took it upon themselves to take me to see a doctor.

At the doctor's office, I had my blood glucose level tested for the first time. In a human being with a normally functioning pancreas, this level is usually between 70 mg/dl and 110 mg/dl. At the time I was tested, my blood glucose level was an astounding 537 mg/dl. Therein lay the answer to the problems I had been having.

Looking back on this now, it seems like it's been a million years since I was diagnosed, when, in reality, it's barely been twelve. All the knowledge I have gained about my condition since then almost feels like it was in my brain when I was born. This is not the case, however.

I know what all of the symptoms that I had mean and how to deal with them now, but in 2002, I was uninformed and scared. I was somewhat afraid of needles, though I later discovered that they came in smaller gauges than I had originally thought possible. I was definitely afraid of what I could and could not eat (though this limitation was largely eliminated when I was put on an insulin pump). Above all else, I was not looking forward to staying in a hospital for five days while my BGL (blood glucose level) was stabilized.

For the first day or so, the hospital was as cold and uninviting as a morgue. I was bedridden, though I could occasionally get up and use the bottle they gave me to relieve myself. After the first day, everything took a turn for the better. I started to grow more comfortable with my surroundings and the idea that diabetes, for the foreseeable future, would become a huge part of my life.

My classmates from school all pitched in and got gifts for me during my stay. Most notable among them was a stuffed labrador retriever I named Buster (ironically named after Buster Baxter from the TV show "Arthur"). Buster was one of two stuffed animals I received that became like guardians and inanimate therapists for me.

The other, a gift from some of the staff of the company for which my father worked, was a teddy bear that smelled (for a few weeks, if I remember correctly) of spices and cinnamon, or something to that effect. I named the teddy bear Huey after the Bell H-1 "Huey" helicopters used in Vietnam. Since I'm a bit of a history buff and I had a model Bell H-1 at home, Huey seemed like a perfect name for my new friend.

After my stay in the hospital, I went back to school for the last three days before summer vacation. I remember my mom bringing me lunch from Burger King at least one of those days and it had never tasted better. In truth, my mom was making sure that my BGL was in check before I ate and I appreciate the care she took in doing so.

Throughout the spring, summer, and into the fall of 2002, I was on a regimen of insulin injections. I was given a shot of Novolog insulin and another variety whose name I have forgotten. The two were drawn from bottles using the same syringe (and yes, that is completely safe) and then injected.

The Novolog variant of insulin is fast-acting, much like the Humalog variant I use now, which means that one can eat a meal within minutes of an injection. This fast-acting insulin is also known as bolus insulin. Its counterpart, basal insulin, is slow-acting, and it serves the purpose of regulating blood glucose over periods of several hours. These two types of insulin in combination make diabetes management easier because it mimics the function of insulin produced by the human pancreas.

In October 2002, my endocrinologist recommended that I be put on an insulin pump, which would allow me more freedom to eat when I wanted as well as make restoring balance to my BGL much easier. At first, I must admit that I was quite nervous about the idea. With the insulin pump came infusion sets that involved puncturing the skin with a larger gauge needle every few days.

The infusion sets I used came with an inserter known as the "Hungry Hippo" because of the tusk-like apparatus at one end of the device. It was basically an eight-inch long black tube loaded with a spring that pushed a needle into the epidermis. I can still hear the noise it made when the button at the back was pushed, beginning a split-second chain reaction that ultimately left me in agony.