disorder that affects numerous people in the Terrace’
area and thousands across ‘Canada. To heighten
public awareness about diabetes in preparation for a
major symposium to be held here at the end of May,
Terrace resident Diane Branch contributed the
following article for publication. .

My twelfth birthday present was diabetes — a
thing that would change the rest of my life.
A week before I turned twelve, I was a sick little

girl. I was vomiting and had wasted away to a

skeleton. I had a thirst that nothing could quench. I —

‘drank anything and everything in sight from canned

|” anilkk when I couldn’t find anything in the fridge to a

case of 24 pop. 1 kept falling asleep in class and if I
wasn’t falling asleep I was in the bathroom urinat-
ing. My nights were plagued with leg cramps every
time I dared to move. _. |
We were living in an isolated logging camp at the
time and everyone except my Mom thought I had the
fiu, but when she thought it was diabetes, it was
time to fly into town. . - _
As soon as I got to town we went straight to
emergency. I was immediately hooked up to an
intravenous drip. After five hours in emergency I was |

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62 - "Terrace Review — May 15, 1992

DISEASE AND.CONTROL

Diabetes is a. controllable but serious medical

taken up to a room and told I had diabetes. 1 knew

a little bit about the disease because my uncle’ adit. .
_ My life became a rigid regime of balancixig: food, :
insulin and exercise. Everything I did had ito be.
planned ahead. I had to test my urine four ‘times a-
‘day, measure all the food I ate and learn exchanges,
and had to plan when I was going to exercise. I '
accepted my new way of life, but always felt like I |
- was Dianne the diabetic. I stuck to my restriction .
and really worked at good control. _ 4
Then came the teenage years, the years of:

rebellion. Why can’t I have that chocolate bar? It

won't hurt me. Wrong. It did hurt me. Through trials |
and tribulations I found out the hard way all the

things that did hurt me. I was in and out of the

hospital all the time and just the hormonal changes -
of puberty would send me back into the hospital _
without the added things I played around with. Like —

once I wanted to be skinny, so I wouldn't take my

needle. I got skinny alright, and almost killed myself |
doingit. == ; | . Oo
I grew up and had to take responsibility again
for my disease, especially now that I was paying for
the disease. Diabetes is very expensive, per month I
pay $79.95 to test my blood, approximately, $100 on
insulin, and $260 every month and a half on insulin .

pump supplies. After I had my son I couldn't seem to
get into any kind of control no matter what I did, so

I want to Varicouver and was put on an insulin -
pump. The pump cost me $3,500, but it was worth —

every penny I paid. I’m in excellent control now and
plan to stay that way.
. Having diabetes makes you grow up fast. Some-

. thing like the common cold can send your diabetes

out of control for weeks. As you get older, complica-

tions can set in, or if you have poor control your risks —
inerease for complications. Kidney disease, blindness,

poor circulation, heart disease and nerve disorders
are only a few of the many complications. It’s scary
to know you may have to face these some day. The

‘bad thing about diabetes is you don’t feel the effects

of the complications immediately. It’s later in life

when they show up. If you have poor control for a

* long time, you'll feel the effects a lot sooner. When I ~
was first diagnosed with diabetes and they were
regulating me, I lost a lot of my vision from too much |
_ sugar in my eyes. That is a really scary feeling. :

There are so many emotions involved . with

having diabetes: anger, resentment, acceptance, fear, -

feeling sorry for yourself, depression. On the positive

side, if you have diabetes and have good control, you
are probably a lot healthier than the average.person.
— You have to eat right and exercise. Diabetes: has ~
taught me to be disciplined, organized and to have a:
"good outlook on life. . Ce
You have to take control of-the disease, not let:

the disease take control of you.

— Contributed by Diane Branch

}