In 1995, during a routine medical examination, I was discovered to be suffering from diabetes. It wasn't altogether a shock, since my mother was diabetic and so are some of her siblings (now in their eighties and nineties).
Like many people, I didn't take the news kindly. Immediate pictures of unsweetened tea; bland, unappetising food, daily pills or (even worse) insulin injections!! UGH!
Then there was the dreaded thought of blood tests. I used to feel the same way about hypodermic needles as a knight in a tournament probably used to feel about the lance of his opponent.
I don't know about you, but I have never liked taking pills. Some folk have bathroom cabinets full of little brown bottles, and it was something of a shock to have to contend with the daily swallowing of several little white tablets.
Anyway, after a year or so, when the doctors discovered the pills weren't doing the job, I was advised to go on to daily insulin injections. "WHAT??" was my reply - "I can't even look at a needle, never mind stick one in myself!"
The staff at the Diabetic Clinic at Lincoln County Hospital were brilliant. The sister showed me how to prepare an injection and then stuck it into herself as a demo! She handed me another syringe and suggested I have a go at it. Don't ask me how I managed it, but I simply followed instructions and did as I'd been shown. I didn't feel a thing! Then I did feel something - I felt like a complete fool for making such an issue out of it!
Oh yes, it is a bit of a pain having to mess around with insulin and injection pens every day, but you soon get used to the routine. Anyway, it looks like "they" might have found a cure for diabetes now, using gene technology. This treatment allows the body to produce natural insulin again, and promises great things to come. Let's hope so!
