The day that changed my life forever

I got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on the 28th of September 2007.

The week before I went to the hospital I was ill, mum thought I had a virus infection and didn't take me to the doctors because "they don't give you anything for a virus" By the end of the week it was difficult for me to get up the stairs and once I got to the top it was very hard for me to breathe. I wasn't eating much but I was drinking lots of water or pop which I didn't like much! Also I was been sick a few time. By the end of the week mum was going to take me to the walk in centre because I wasn't getting any better. On Saturday morning my breathing was getting funny so she took me straight to the hospital. I did not have to wait long. They took me to a room and they asked my mum if she has notice a sweet smell, similar to pear drops, on my breath they also pricked my finger to get some blood.

Soon after a nurse took me to the resuscitation room and gave me an oxygen mask to control my breathing as it wasn't getting any better. My Blood Glucose read 55.7mmol, at the time it didn't mean much to me or my mum. Later I had a chest x-ray. It started to hurt my chest again and started to make my breathing difficult. They told me; because I wasn't eating, my body hadn't any food to get energy, so my body started to take my fat instead. When mum saw my ribs she said I looked like a tin can because I was skinny.

A little later they took me to the HDU (High Dependency Unit) on the children's ward. Doctors and nurses were dashing in and out of my room. I only have a slight recollection of that day as I was drifting in and out of sleep due to me been so ill. Doctors took blood from my arm and put me on a drip attached to my arm.

They took my mum to the side and told her I had been admitted with DKA, (Diabetic Ketoacidosis) and that I was Type 1 Diabetes. It came as a big shock for my mum, nobody in my family as had diabetes. They told her that I would have to have insulin for the rest of my life.

I was in HDU for four days then I got moved into the children's ward. That day they started to encourage me to do my injections or get the nurses to do it for me, I was able to do it my self once I had the practices. I have always have been independent so then I got used to doing the injections on my own. On the ward I did numbers of different activities. All the staff there were all really supportive and did their best to make sure I was happy and comfortable. Later, to mine and my mums surprise I was informed that I was aloud to home in two days.

I had to do two injections a day. Having to do two injections a day was really annoying because I had to have my breakfast and tea at the same time everyday. But now I do my levermir (long acting insulin) at 7pm and my other with my meals. I count the carbohydrates I have with my meals and then give 1 unit of insulin to every 20g of carbs I eat. Having insulin when I eat is a lot better and suits my lifestyle. I am now able to do more or less what I like because I don't have to come in to my house at certain times to have my meals.

My friends help me at school and my family helps me at home. People in my class like to watch me do my blood monitoring and they like to ask me if its good or it is bad. I tell them to read the monitor and see if it's between 4mmol or 7mmol. I tell them that if it's below 4mmol its bad.

If I do sports I have to check my blood monitoring every half an hour and have a chocolate bar. I have to have a chocolate bar because it stops me from going low because its got sugar in that will burn off instead of taking my natural source of sugar.

I feel that I can do what I want to do. I just have to pack everything I need for what I'm going to do that day. Also it's not like packing for a baby because you can't get it insulin from a shop like when you have a baby you have to order it by my prescription and it takes two days to wait for it. So I always have to check that I have got everything that I need. I also feel that I need to be careful on what I have to eat but know my mum keeps a note book that she has written all the carbohydrates portions about different foods so that I know what carbohydrates portions food is when I eat something instead of me having to weigh it out every time I have something to eat.

But at the end of the day I can't change anything about what's happened, so I will just have to live with it and cope. This is who I am and I don't feel that much different from everyone else.