My Diagnosis Story

Since November is Diabetes Awareness Month, I thought I would share my diagnosis story.

It was February 15, 2011... 

That morning, I went to school with the $3.00, a yogurt, carrots and other snacks that my mom typically gave me for lunch each day.  I was so incredibly thirsty that I blew all of my lunch cash on three bottles of water.  I wound up drinking those bottles of water - all three of them - in less than 5 minutes. The school let me take out an I.O.U for lunch so I could eat that day but even after lunch period, I was still hungry and thirsty.

And then there were those two words that I said many times that day: "Bathroom break." I must have gone to the bathroom a thousand times that day, even when I knew I couldn't possibly have to go, I still felt like I HAD to go.

When my mom picked me up from school, I asked to be taken to McDonalds for a double quarter pounder and large drink.  After that, we went to a pizza place and I ate AGAIN. I was insatiable. Little did I know that when your sugar is high, it actually makes you hungry.

My mom brought me to an after school activity and I continued to have to go to the bathroom the whole time.  When we got home, my mom said, "Emma, it's time to go to the ER to get tested for diabetes." My mom had happened to hear a radio ad where they listed the symptoms of juvenile diabetes and thought I might have it. I agreed to go but of course, as any young girl would, thought my mom was overreacting.  I mean what were the chances that I had diabetes?

When we got the the ER, my mom's suspicions were confirmed.  My blood sugar was 499. I wasn't in shock or anything when I found out - I was just totally clueless. I knew nothing about diabetes.

I stayed in the hospital for three days. Throughout my stay, I was very tired the whole time; just wanted to sleep a lot. I wasn't thinking about what the ramifications of my diagnosis were or what was going to be because the hospital staff was doing all the work for me -- from calculating my carbs to giving me the insulin shots.

It was winter break when I was released from the hospital so I had a good week to get used to my new lifestyle. At first, my mom was doing all of my insulin shots but then on my second day home I said I wanted to try and I started doing them. I knew that my mom wasn't going to be at school with me or out with my friends, so I had to learn to be independent in living with this disease.

Since I was still in the honeymoon phase for about a year after diagnosis, it took a little while to fully understand how life was going to change but through it all I was determined not to feel like a victim.
To this day, I get a lot of sympathy for having diabetes and I don't feel like I need it.  People say that they feel so bad for what I have to go through but I know that people have it a lot worse than I do so I don't waste time feeling sorry for myself.

That is my diagnosis story. Thank you for reading!