Diabetes
I have been diabetic for 65 years. It hasn’t been easy. When I was young, there was only one kind of insulin to control sugar in the blood.
Sometimes the insulin would peak in the middle of the night. My parents had to watch me closely. Mom worked as a cook at the school I attended to make sure I ate the right foods and didn’t pass out in the middle of the day.
She also boiled my glass syringes and metal needles. Dad sharpened them with his razor blade. That was before disposable needles and syringes. Now the needs are very thin and don’t hurt unless a nerve is hit.
In Jr. High, I couldn’t take gym because the exercise would cause my blood sugar to fall too low. That was before personal blood tests. Now I test my blood four times a day. I also take insulin four times a day.
I used to be able to tell when my blood sugar was too low, but not any more. I have been diabetic too long. I no longer get the signals that I used to get.
I just pass out.
You may have seen an ambulance taking me away. One reason we moved here was to get help when I needed it.
My husband proposed to me when we were in college. He said “Would you marry someone like me?” I said, “Who did you have in mind?” Then I told him, “I have diabetes.” He said he would think about it. The next day he said he would still like to marry me. We have been married 55 years.
[Joyce Sawyer/Mom died just three weeks before her 83rd birthday, and after having been married for 62 ½ years.]
