A NEW THANKSGIVING

 

Last Thanksgiving I remember thinking about how great it was to have 4 days off of school. I was excited to eat a big plate of stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy and of course turkey. I was thankful for the same things that I had rhymed off every year including family, friends and my health not having the slightest clue that type 1 diabetes was already invading my pancreas. It’s crazy to think how much has changed in less than a year and this Thanksgiving I am more grateful than ever for things that I had never even thought about before like insulin and continuous glucose monitor’s. Every year my parents say that they are grateful that they have 3 healthy kids but that has changed.

 

 

This Thanksgiving I am happy to be alive! I am grateful for Frederick Banting and Charles H. Best who discovered insulin in 1921 otherwise my diagnosis would have been a much different one. Also, I am grateful for the doctors who took care of me when I was rushed to the ER in diabetic ketoacidosis. Here are the first 10 things that come to mind when I think of what I am thankful for this year:

1. I am so lucky to have parents who noticed that I was sick and believed me when I told them that it was more than the flu. They have been there for me (along with my brothers) every second of every day. They put up with so much and I appreciate their unconditional love.
2. I am grateful that my dance teachers cared enough about me to see the toll that diabetes was taking on my body and decided to call my mom and have a tough conversation. I am so lucky that this disease allows me to continue to dance because it is the only time that I forget I have diabetes and life feels normal again (well until my Dexcom alarm goes off!).
3. I am grateful for other type 1 diabetics who have taken the initiative to find ways to create awareness and help others. Whether it is inventing something to ease the daily struggles of T1D like Genteel or companies making great products like Pump Peels, Myabetic, or Sugardrop Sweetwear I thank you.
4. I am so lucky to live in Ottawa and have access to the endocrinologists at Cheo who have been there for me every day since my diagnosis.
5. I am grateful for all of my true friends, the ones who have stuck by me despite my ups and downs and have helped me stay safe and feel somewhat normal.
6. I am so thankful for technology, especially my Dexcom G5 which I could not live without (well I could but it would be hard). Having my blood glucose levels sent to my phone every 5 minutes and being connected to my parents makes me feel so much safer. Just knowing that an alarm will go off to warn me if my BG level is too low, gives me peace of mind especially in the night when I am asleep.
7. I am grateful for my school and my teachers who take the time to learn about T1D in order to keep me safe. Many of them make sure they have juice boxes in their class and always allow me to check my blood or text home if I need to.
8. How can you be a diabetic and not mention being thankful for JDRF? We are so lucky to have such an incredible research foundation and people working hard to raise money every year.
9. I am grateful that I live in Canada where our health insurance covers most of the costs that diabetics incur (upwards of $1000 a month). It is crazy to think that there are people out there struggling to pay for insulin that they would literally die without.
10. I am so thankful and excited about the possibility of getting a pump. I have my consultation in December and the thought of not having to give myself needles every day is hard to imagine.

 

I may not be able to say that I am thankful for my health this Thanksgiving but I can say that I am grateful to be alive and to have a disease that is manageable. I am very grateful for the strength that I didn’t even know I had, which allows me to be able to handle all that comes with this terrible disease.