Diaversary: 35 years with T1D

Thirty five years with T1D. It’s my diaversary!

To celebrate, or not to celebrate. That, my friends, is the question of the week.

I was forever branded with this disease on Aug. 23, 1987. My sister had turned 16 the same day I was rushed to the hospital.

This disease couldn’t even wait one more day; it just had to dance all over my sister’s birthday.

Sorry about that Jules.

But honestly, as many of us with this disease will surely confirm, that’s the way of T1D.

Woman with T1D stands on pier in Penticton, reflecting on her diaversary
Diaversary: reflecting on 35 years with T1D
T1D: the all consuming disease

Type-1 diabetes is everywhere. It is all the time. It is an insufferable attention seeker.

T1D is the first thought I have when I wake up in the morning and instantly grab for my phone to check my CGM. It’s also one of my last evening actions, and middle of the night actions too when I get up in the night to pee.

I think about it when I’m working. I think about it when I’m running and on the bike. Heck, I even think about it when I’m showering.

And when I”m not thinking about it, the CGM and insulin pump alarms start blaring just to remind me that hey, they’re still there.

I do worry about those alarms.

I worry about them going off in the movie theatre, or during a podcast interview, or in an important meeting.

They are super obnoxious!

Sometimes, though, I completely ignore them.

I’ll let them ring and ring and ring.

I am sure others around me want nothing more than for me to shut them up, but some days I just don’t have the energy.

Some days those alarms, whether they’re reminder alarms or low alerts, will go off for hours.

It’s a simple button to press. But, again, some days I just don’t have the energy.

I hate those alarms.

T1D: a piece of me

I’ve had this disease for long enough NOT to wish for a day without it.

It’s not that I want to hang onto my T1D forever, that’s not the case at all. I just don’t know what a life without T1D would be like. I don’t clearly remember a time without my diabetes. Sure, I have memories of pre-diabetes, but I don’t remember my thoughts without T1D.

And when I look at options for so-called cures, I feel like I’d be replacing the frenemy I know with a potential enemy I don’t.

Is that better? I don’t know.

This disease is so much of me. It is a beast, and it is challenging every single day, there is no doubt about that. But it is a piece of me, there is also no doubt about that.

So yes, I do celebrate this day – not only for my sister’s birthday, but also for my diaversary and that fact that I have thrived in my life despite this disease.

That, my friends, is the biggest in-your-face I’ve got ?

And that’s worth celebrating!

Do you celebrate your diaversary? If so, I’d love to hear how in the comments 🙂

Other diaversary posts:

Please note, I have been writing this blog for more than 10 years and some of the comments and thoughts scribed in my earlier posts are not necessarily my comments and thoughts of today. I do not hide from those early posts, as they are part of my story, part of what got me here today.

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