Posted by Sue Huson on May 02, 1998 at 17:48:06:
In Reply to: Re: More from ADA posted by Doug Short on May 02, 1998 at 14:05:56:
It's always good to feel, now and then, that something we have said, written or done has brought us a little bit closer to our dream. I was trying to imagine today what it would be like to sleep in Saturday morning and not end up with high sugar. Or go out for lunch with my sweet husband and not have to shoot up in public. Or eat that almond torte for dessert and not have to stop while shopping afterwards for a pop because I was so thirsty from high sugar.
This week a colleague asked me to do a diabetes presentation to her class. Since they had already studied diabetes, I told them I was going to tell them a story about something that happened to me 30 years ago, and they were to raise their hands every time they heard a symptom of diabetes. To these kids, 30 years is 3 times their entire lives. After the story, and after I showed them my "stuff", one boy raised his hand, and in the most incredulous tone asked, "And you're still taking needles today?!".
A ten year old boy can realize that maybe what we do as people with diabetes is quite incredible, while those at the NIH and the MRC think we have been taken care of because we now have fancy blood testing machines and sharper needles. So we keep talking to people, writing letters and banging on doors, because, even though it's hard to imagine, I'm certainly ready to try living again without diabetes.