Sugar Challenged

Finally found a blog name that is available! http://sugarchallenged.blogger.com it is!

It's been 2 and a half month since I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. It was 9th of Jan, 2008. I had jut come back from an awesome trip and my brother received me at the airport. He had the results for last few days but hadn't told me anything about it. I just knew that my sugar levels were 'a bit high'. And in fact, he chose not to tell me anything himself. He took me straight to an endocrinologist! We had lunch on our way there. Mom had sent some home made lunch with my brother. While eating it, I was wondering why couldn't we just get a burger from McDonalds! I thought I'll definitely get a burger as soon as I was done dealing with the doctor. Just before we ate, we got a blood sugar test done in the car (and that was my first prick on the fingertip). It showed some insanely high number but I didn't care at that time because I had no idea what was going on! I didn't know what diabetes was .... no idea what blood sugar meant! Hell, I had no idea that I had diabetes! And even if I had known, I had no idea about what it meant to be diabetic. I could not understand what was all this fuss about! why did we have to see the doctor rightaway!? But, I thought that probably my brother knew what was best for me. So, we went to see the doctor.

The doctor had some basic questions - weight, height, BP etc. Then I told him about my 20 lbs weight loss a few months back. After a few minutes of talking, he casually broke it to me - 'There is ofcourse no doubt that it is diabetes'. And then, he suddenly started talking about insulin, injections, pen and blood glucose monitoring! At first, I didn't realize the gravity of the situation. I thought, "hmm .. diabetes! interesting! I have some fancy disease! that's cool! So, doctor tell me how do I get rid of it?" But looking at the doctor's and my brother's face, and trying to comprehend what they were talking about, the reality started to dawn upon me. And then the doctor looked at me and said - "As you know, diabetes is a lifelong disease. Your lifestyle is going to change drastically." hey! I didn't know that! and why the hell do you have to assume that I know anything about diabetes?? He gave me about 10 minutes to digest what had struck me. 10 minutes, that's all and we were done! We came out of doctor's cabin and visited the dietitian. She gave me long list of what I should eat and not eat. I couldn't hear most of it because I wasn't even listening. "Diabetes ... insulin ... injections ... lifelong ... " - I had my own river of thoughts going on in my brain. So, we finished our business at the hospital, and got into the car. And then I looked at my brother. He asked me - "So, how do you feel?". And I just started crying. I couldn't stop it. Cried like a baby. What seemed like an awesome vacation the same morning had just turned into a nightmare!

I was Sugar Challenged!