This essay is all about how I felt when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and what happened next. It had been a brilliant summer holidays so far, I had been away to Spain for 2 weeks and I had really enjoyed it. We came home and carried on as usual. A week later it was my 12th birthday and I got up early to open all my presents. Four days later it was the day of my party which was really good fun and all my friends enjoyed it.

Two days later I had an appointment at the doctors as my mum had noticed that I was drinking a lot. At first we thought nothing of it, especially as we had been away to Spain and it had been extremely hot- over 100C- so we just carried on as usual. But the longer it went on, the more worried my mum became. We went to the doctors and I had to do a urine test. The doctor checked that and then said that I had quite a lot of glucose in my urine. She then decided to do a blood test with a little strip and a little machine. My mum and I were really confused at this point but we listened to the results eagerly none the less. The doctor then said something that nearly made me cry.

"You may have diabetes, or a liver problem."

I just wanted to burst into tears and find myself snuggled up safe in bed with all my family around to comfort me. Apart from that Mum and I were in total shock. We went home and I ran straight up to my room as if I were leaving the world behind me. I even left my brother shouting "Lu, Lu, what's the matter, what did the doctor say?"

About 10 minutes later, my mum walked into the room, with really red eyes, and gave me a great big hug which lasted for ages- I didn't want to let her go. Mum had rung dad and he was soon home from work. Mum told him about what the doctor had told us and that the doctor had said that I needed to go for a blood test at Queen's Hospital in Romford the next morning, just to confirm it.

The next morning I woke up quite early and didn't have any breakfast, as it would interfere with my blood test. Dad and I got to the hospital, got a ticket and waited in the sitting area near by the place I had to go for the blood test. There were a lot of people there but I was easily the youngest. I hated injections so we tried to get some numbing cream put on my hand but the children's ward wasn't open. As we were going away for the weekend with my cousins later that day, we didn't really want to wait so I agreed to have a go without it. Eventually my ticket number appeared on the screen and my dad and I went into the little rooms where a nurse greeted me and told me to sit down. My dad sat next to me and held my spare hand and when the nurse and I were ready, the needle went into my arm and at that time I thought of what the nurse had said about diabetes. I didn't even know what diabetes was, I was only going into year 8 so we hadn't learnt about it or many other illnesses at school either.

I squeezed my dad's hand as hard as I could, just to try and numb the pain a little. It didn't work. It seemed like hours as well but when the nurse took the needle out of my arm, she said, "We will have to do it again, on the other arm, as I couldn't get enough blood out of this arm."

When she went off to find a more senior nurse I started to cry a little. They came back into the room, and looked quite worried which made me feel more frightened. I looked toward my dad and he gave me a look as if to say, "Don't worry, everything is going to be alright!"

The nurse managed to get enough blood from the other arm, thank goodness! And soon we were off back home again for me to have something to eat and to wait for the news.

When we got home from the hospital, my mum said she needed to go to Tesco and that I could go too if I wanted as I liked the self-service tills! So my dad and I went and I picked up some sweets and looked at my dad questioningly, and he said that he didn't think that it was a very good idea, so we left them.

When we got home, (by this time I had cheered up a bit), my mum said that she had had some news from the hospital (the hospital said that they would phone later that day with the results of my blood test).

My dad and I looked at her and she eventually said; "The hospital has confirmed that Lucy has got diabetes." At that moment, I just felt as though the world was collapsing around me and I had no place to run to, no place to hide. So, I ran into the lounge and wept and wept and burst into the most horrific tears I can ever remember!

My mum and dad soon came in and my dad sat down next me and gave me the biggest hug. My mum went out of the room; I think that she may have been too upset. It was the worst time in my life that I could remember. It was a though life would never be the same again, and in a way it wouldn't. A few hours later and it was nearly dinner time so I washed my hands and sat down at the dinner table with the rest of my family; my mum, my dad, and my brother. It was then that I mentioned the weekend that we were going away for, and whether we would still be going. My mum and dad said that they were not sure. We soon found out.

The practice nurse at the local surgery that I called to say that she had spoken to the hospital and thought that it was best that I went into hospital that night- that answered my question! Guess what? I started crying again! My mum was going to stay with me in hospital so we both went to pack and made our way to Queen's Hospital in Romford. When we arrived, we had to sit in a waiting area for ages. Soon afterward a doctor with curly hair came walking toward me and told my mum and dad that he needed to put something into my hand so that if they needed to keep getting blood out of my arm or needed to put anything into my arm they could do it more easily. It took him a long time to get the needle into a vein and it hurt so much that whenever I touched it I got a stab of pain.

About and hour later we followed a nurse to our ward, which was called Tropical Lagoon, and went into our room. Luckily for my mum and I we were the only people in there. The rest of the day went past in a bit of a blur. All it seemed to be was just talking through the procedures of testing my blood and what to do if I think I am having a low which I learnt was called a hypo. The doctors and nurses said that maybe I would be able to get away with just being extremely careful with my diet. No such luck! That night I felt a bit funny, I felt very queasy and light-headed, and as though I was just about to faint. My mum called a nurse and she said that I should do a test. I was very worried when the result was something like 3.5 especially as I had been told "Four is the floor". The nurse just said that I was having a hypo. She went and fetched me some fruit as I love fruit (especially apples!) and I happily munched until it was all gone and then had some orange juice and a couple of biscuits, so I wouldn't drop again. I soon felt as right as rain!

When I was saying good night to the nurses I was given a little teddy bear called Rufus, he had all of the injection sights on him, the buttocks, top of the arm, thighs and the belly! I couldn't wait until the morning so I could practice doing some injections on him!

It was getting late so went into the bathroom and went to the toilet, washed my hands, face and cleaned my teeth, and then came out to say goodbye to my dad. I got into bed and my mum and dad said that they were just going to talk outside and told me to go to sleep. Not that I got to sleep for very long- I had to be woken up EVERY TWO HOURS!!!! This was because I had to keep doing blood test and by the morning, it felt as though I had done 10 million of them!

It was soon time for breakfast so the dinner lady came round with a drink of blackcurrant squash and some toast; I buttered it and was all ready to eat it when I remembered.Injection!

My nurse came into my room and showed my mum and me how to do it and she did it in my leg for me. As it was my first time I pushed the end down. I was so pleased! But then I thought of my toast, it was cold! Soon afterward my dad came to the hospital and another day had started. I had another low as I was doing 20 units of insulin in the morning and 10 units at night. I stayed in hospital for another few nights and was finally discharged. Eventually I got down to 4 units in the morning and 3 units at night!

I have had diabetes for 7-8 months now and I am becoming used to it although there always seems to be something that makes my blood sugar readings go funny. I also went on my very first diabetes weekend and made some new friends. It is really very reassuring to know that you are not alone and there are people that are exactly the same as you and there are people that you can talk to. I also helped two other girls do their injections in their tummy, the first time that they had done it there, which made me feel really happy to know that I had helped somebody else, instead of everybody else always helping me.

I can't really remember waking up and not doing an injection in the morning but that doesn't matter because I have my family with me all the way and I know that. I wouldn't have been able to cope without my mum and dad and my brother Matt. And of course my two best friends Pippa and Faye.