In June Scott Marvel did a post about “My Diabetes” which was spawned by Leroy Sievers post “My Cancer“.
I’ve thought long about what I would write, but my initial thought sticks. It’s not my diabetes. It’s not something I want and it’s not something I’ll claim. Which is something that I’ve in the recent months changed my thought processes concerning. It always used to be “my diabetes” this and “my diabetes” that; and often times I still catch my self saying “my diabetes” but it’s not mine. It’s a loaner. One day it’s going to be gone.
When Leroy started his post “My Cancer” it was so that people could respond about their cancer and he could see if he missed anything about the disease, a lesson it was trying to pass on. A year ago, if I had done this post in terms of diabetes it would’ve all been negative, but in the past year things have changed and there are some positives. So here we go…
Diabetes stopped my life in it’s tracks and it went down a drastically different path than if I hadn’t gotten it.
Diabetes was a prison for me for the better part of 17 years, I had to work hard to break free and I have to work even harder to not be imprisoned again.
Diabetes made me one very angry and bitter person; I’ve conquered that person, but it’s not hard to make it come back from the grave.
Diabetes opened up a world that I never would have been a part of had I not had it. I met people I’d have never met and I’m competing in sports I probably would’ve not chosen.
Diabetes is not my life; diabetes is not me; diabetes doesn’t define me. It just happens to be a small piece of me, an accessory if you will; but not the whole me.
Diabetes made me hate God and all that He is about and it took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that God didn’t give me this disease.
It’s interesting how hard it is to really define what diabetes has been in my life, the things I’ve learned from it, because as I sit here and write, it’s like pulling teeth, I can’t get much to come out…so instead of sitting on this entry any longer, I’m going to walk away…
What about you, do you care to share…would you like to finish the sentence…
(My) Diabetes…
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I absolutely love this post. So many times I’ve caught myself saying it. I know most people use PWD, but I still use the word diabetic because it is something that describes a part of me, same as me being athletic, sarcastic, and honest. These are all things that make up the whole you as you described, but too often people only speak about the diabetes part of it.