Remembering to Appreciate…

Sometimes it’s easy to take things for granted. Even when they’re essentially life saving or life maintaining. I was diagnosed with type-1 Diabetes when I was 4 years old. That means I’ve been managing and living with this condition for over 40 years! I’d say time flies when you’re having fun but very little of it has been fun. I remember as a child, all of my Diabetes therapy was tedious, annoying and usually got in my way. Kids are usually busy and have things to do, so having to stop several times a day to test my blood or treat a low was annoying to me.

I didn’t understand or realize how important those steps were as a child. Or how very fortunate I was that there was even a therapy that could allow me to live with my condition. Not everyone is so lucky. These days, I’m often blown away by how far I’ve come, considering many if not most people with my condition tend to deteriorate after a few decades and often end up with organ failure, amputations and blindness. Granted, a lot of my good fortune comes from the effort I’ve put into my self care. This includes proper nutrition and fitness habits, the latter of which I admit I haven’t done so well with in recent months.

I saw a post a few days ago about the first use of insulin on patients, which occurred in January of 1922 in Toronto. I’ve often written about things like the fact I wouldn’t survive a zombie apocalypse because once I’d run out of insulin, it would be game over. Ten days is the basic standard, without any insulin therapy. Once you’ve reached that point, you generally slip into a coma and die shortly thereafter. But reading about how Frederick Banting visited a coma ward and injected a young, comatose patient who awoke about a day later and whose blood sugars started to regulate, reminded me of just how fortunate I am indeed.

Considering that until the 1920’s, Type-1 Diabetes was effectively a death sentence for children, it was a discovery that changed the world. It was made all the better with the fact that they sold the patent for a dollar so that the whole world would have access to insulin. I can’t imagine how things would be different if they took the monetary approach and sought to get rich off their discovery instead. In a series of unlikely events that took place decades before I was born, my health and longevity was secured by individuals I’ve never met and will never get to thank.

That’s why I consider it so important to be grateful for the options I have. If I had lived in the early 1900’s, I likely would have died. So on the days where it feels like a pain in the ass to test my blood, take medication or change up a glucose sensor, I remind myself that while it would be far better for my life if I was Diabetic at all, these things are keeping me alive and healthy. And it’s impossible to put a price on that. Food for thought… ☯️