Type II Diabetics. Just When You Think You've Got It Bad....Along Comes THIS GUY!

When I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, I was devastated.  I felt like a failure, thought that my life would change in too many ways. I feared that I would die before I saw my children raised.  I even feared I'd never be able to go into a hot tub again... you've all seen those warnings...what gives?

But, pictures like the one above, and countless stories from friends and family around the world have convinced me of something:

 I was let off easy! I was given a warning that my way of life was killing me, and not so softly!  Oh, I felt sorry for myself, woe is me, I can't eat ice cream every night while watching the biggest loser any more!  WHAT?  No more late night soft pretzel/nacho triple cheese combinations?  Oh, come on GOD! What gives! WHY ME! Now I will just have to eat sugar free chocolate for the rest of my life... actually... that is a fate WORSE than type II Diabetes... can I get an Amen?

Most of us don't have cancer, AIDS, HIV, Alzheimer's, or flesh eating disease, Type I Diabetes etc. Most of us CAN overcome this, and it isn't nearly as hard as we think.  It took me 30 days to (as my mother says) Get my head on straight, pull it out from...under my torso... and come off meds.  To manage my diabetes with diet and exercise.  I will never fully convince myself that I am "rid" of diabetes, it will always be looking over my shoulder like a zombie looking for brains on capitol hill...clamoring for just one Brain...just One!

I will keep images like the one above in mind when I start whining that I can't eat the entire contents of my kid's Easter basket, or a whole box of Godiva chocolates.  When I have to check my blood sugar a few times a day, just to be sure I haven't over done it, and then have to find a way to spend my surplus of carbs.

I will remember this when I am at the gym and want. SO BADLY to give up. Know this Type II.  I won't give up, I won't stop, I won't back down... and when you DO knock me down I'm not going without a fight. For many of us (NOT ALL) Chronic illness is a choice.  It wasn't our choice to have it, but we have the power to limit the toll they take on us!
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I dedicate this to  the young man above, and to so many who have suffered with greater sickness than I have ever known. My Aunt Sue who died from Breast Cancer, To my friend Matthew when we were 6 who died of cancer, To our cousin Jackie battling cancer, to my Grandmother who died from Renal Cancer, my uncles who have suffered strokes and heart attacks, and many other family and friends who would shoot me if I mentioned them. My inconvenience is nothing compared to your struggles. And I will no longer dishonor you by allowing a chronic illness to destroy my body.

1 Day and a Lifetime to Go!