Saturday, September 17, 2011

Invisible Illness Week

I will get walk pictures up later.. Tomorrow, probably. I am suffering from eating too much food at the band picnic after the walk...

Invisible Illness Week is this week (today is also Constitution Day, so go read our rights as Americans!). Since everyone else has been doing this, and I love memes, I thought I would do it as well:

1. The illness I live with is: Type 1 Diabetes
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year:  Dec. 23rd, 2002
3. But I had symptoms since: November probably, but only really noticeable from the week leading up to d'x.
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Remembering everything I eat and bolusing for it... And being really OCD about pop/juice and jello, things that may or may not be sugar free.
5. Most people assume:It's easy because they don't really see it...
6. The hardest part about mornings are: Eating something for breakfast.
7. My favorite medical TV show is: The only TV shows I really watch are Doctor Who and Top Gear. Neither are medical.
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: DexCom and/or meter.
9. The hardest part about nights are: DexCom going off and my mom force-feeding me fruit snacks because my blood sugar's like 80.
10. Each day I take 2 pills & 0 vitamins: Plus insulin.
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: There aren't any, Dr. Oz and all you liars!
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: I know that I could have much worse illnesses and an invisible one is definitely what I would pick; I don't necessarily have to tell people about it if I don't want to.
13. Regarding working and career: I want to work for Animas or DexCom as a biomedical engineer. I haven't graduated high school yet, so I don't need to worry.
14. People would be surprised to know: I eat a lot of garbage despite diabetes... I really should eat better.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: Having to plan for instances.. Having fruit snacks everywhere, change for when I eat all the fruit snacks, carrying extra infusion sets and all kinds of junk around with me.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: I dunno. I know only of a few things I can't do... Be a commercial airline pilot [which I don't want to be], join the military [which I don't want to; although I'm pretty sure if you were bent on it, they'd figure out something for you], or be an interstate truck driver [but I could be an intrastate truck driver. Go figure.] I've done a lot of stuff that normal people don't really do anyway, so I'm just awesome like that.
17. The commercials about my illness: Medical supply company ads are just annoying. I kind of like the OneTouch ones with BB King...
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: I don't really remember what life was like before, I was all of 8 years old.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: I dunno, again...
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Hockey, incidentally. I started playing in 6th grade, three years after my d'x.
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: Of being normal, you mean. I would go out and eat/drink a giant Mountain Dew Slurpee, try every flavor of Mountain Dew that I don't get to have, and get a giant ice cream/shake/flurry thing. 
22. My illness has taught me: How many carbs are in everything, how lucky I am to have this autoimmune illness and not others.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "My xxxx had that she died/had a leg cut off/is on dialysis/etc" - I don't care, and you're not helping.
24. But I love it when people: Ask questions, remember what I tell them, and pass it on.
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: I'm a pessimist, so my quotes tend to be cynical and sarcastic... Probably mostly cynicism and sarcasm that gets me through the day.
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: You're not alone. Diet Mountain Dew is really good.
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How rote it becomes. I just do x because I have to, whenever [change site, test, stab, etc.]
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: I don't get sick too often... My mom brought me a shake from Arby's the last time I was 'real-people sick' though.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: A whole bunch of blogger-y people did it too, and I thought it was cool.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Happy.

No comments:

Post a Comment