"Happy" Anniversary

Let us all raise a glass of something sugar free and toast this momentous time. It was 48 years ago - not to the day - that I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. We were into the second week of second grade when I was rushed to the hospital, but no one was marking the day on their calendars, hence this anniversary being an approximation.

I wrote about my diagnosis already, but I don't think I covered my feelings very well. To this day, as clear as it could ever be in my mind... I don't remember much. I was a kid. I was confused at the fuss being made over me. Mr. Hypo is My Friend did nothing to improve my understanding. I knew whatever was happening was serious because, like my older brother who'd had leukemia, hospitals were reserved for serious illnesses. The explanations that followed over the following week in the hospital only impressed upon me that being a normal kid wasn't going to be possible.

Actually, now that I think about it, I recall feeling "special." Mine was a fairly populace town*. (According to the Census Bureau, as of April 2020, its population was 18,613, which was actually down a couple hundred from 2010.) So let's round the number down by 2,000 for 1974 and say it was around 16,000 as a guesstimate. (OMG! "Guesstimate" is an actual word?!? I was expecting a little red line beneath it to say I'd abused English again, but NOPE! It's a word. Whodda thunk it?) That's a fairly well-populated area*, and I was the only Type 1 diabetic as far as I knew. That made me... more awesome? 🤨

Again, I was seven. I didn't know anything. Beneath the thoughts of being unique - which I certainly wasn't - was the ongoing thought that I'd have to remind the adults around me that all of the garbage I used to love to eat were no longer permitted. I HATED that I had to remind them, but if I didn't, the incubator would, and then a different adult would be reprimanding me with, "Why didn't you tell me?"

And would you look at that? What followed that fateful September and its major alterations to my life? HALLOWEEN! I can remember an old Super 8 film of my cousin and I at age five, dressed up in cheap Batman and Superman costumes. The ones with the mask held on by a flimsy rubber band that would slip from the staple that held it in place after the mask was removed/lifted half a dozen times. We'd go house-to-house with an old pillow case until we could barely stand. And then... And then... 

Yeah, Halloween sucked. Absolutely - 100%, with nary a doubt in my mind - sucked.

Thankfully, Dad took some of the sucky-ness out by offering up a trade. He would give me five cents for every piece of candy I collected. Six or seven dollars was a fortune to a child, so at least I had "wealth" to assuage my upset with Halloween. And to my benefit, Dad would always round up to the nearest dollar.

My feelings now...? I wish I had a time machine so that I could go back and set my young self straight. "It's bad, but not that bad. Diabetes is an inconvenience, not the end of the world. Take your insulin as prescribed. Follow your diet. When home glucose tests become available, do them. And for the love of all the gods in every known pantheon, a pound of Twizzlers does NOT make Stephen King novels better! Stay out of the hospital. Yes, your home life is a nightmare because of the incubator, but 18 isn't really that far off, and nurses being nice to you in the hospital isn't actually 'better.' Odds are pretty good that they're telling one another that you're a moron for making yourself so sick, and that you'll pay the price later."

That would just be the beginning. Given the power of time travel and a few hours, I'd tell that stupid kid all sorts of things that would help him avoid being declared disabled by age 33.

So what would you tell your younger self? Would you focus on your health? Your financial situation? The girls/women you should avoid or keep in your life? Which employment path is the best? Our would you just show them how cool videos games will get down the line?

As I bring this post to a close, I've decided to give the beautiful, scantily clad young woman a break to play a bit of Never Have I Ever... Play along if you'd like.

My actual score is 1.