English 101 Essay on Type 1

Here's an essay I wrote for my English 1o1 class. I GOT AN A!

It was December 7, 2008 on a beautiful Sunday morning; my mom woke me up at 6:00 with a concerned expression on her face. She sat next to me on my bed and told me that my dad, who is a doctor, thought that I might have type 1 diabetes. Over the past several months, I had been experiencing many complications that led him to this conclusion. I was not aware of what type 1 diabetes was, so I was not too bothered by it.

Soon after my mom told me the news, we drove straight to a drug store to buy a glucose monitor to test my blood sugar, also known as glucose. Unfortunately, my glucose was approximately 400; the normal range is 80 to 120. Now my dad knew for sure that I was type 1 diabetic. He explained to me a list of symptoms of the disease, which some are: unusual thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger but loss of weight, blurred vision, extreme weakness and fatigue, irritability and mood changes. I had had every one of these symptoms for about two months.

What causes type1 diabetes is unknown; however, they say a child that has a parent or sibling with type1 diabetes has a 2 to 6% chance of succumbing to this disease. According to my mom, the only person in my family that has type1 diabetes is my grandmother’s first cousin. My mother also had gestational diabetes with all five of her pregnancies, but her temporary diabetes was the worst for me. Babies who weight 9 pounds or more have a greater chance of getting type1 diabetes and all of my brothers and sister weighed 9 pounds or more.

There are many issues that can occur with type 1 diabetes. If I do not take special care of myself I could develop complications and life threatening diseases, such as: heart and blood vessel disease, kidney disease, loss of eye sight, feet and skin issues, depression and even losing a limb. The best ways I can prevent these from happening to me is by taking care of my blood sugar with insulin shots, eating healthy, exercise, and seeing my doctors frequently.

I have to be very careful, particularly with my glucose. There have been some times when my blood sugar was dangerously low. Most people would be hospitalized, but thankfully because my father is a doctor and knows the basics of type1 diabetes. Sometimes I fear that someday I will go to bed like any normal night and never wake up. This has happened to some diabetics.

Ever since I was diagnosed, I have had to change my life style almost completely. There are so many things I have to do daily to control my diabetes. I have to prick my finger 10 times or more in order to check my glucose, give myself 4 shots of insulin, eat very healthy, I personally exercise forty-five minutes and all this information needs to be logged into a journal for my doctor to review. There are many other little necessities I do each day in order to stay in good health.

Although type1 diabetes may sound frightening, a big part of me is happy to have it. Diabetes has forced me to take my health seriously - I have become very aware of my eating habits and the way I physically take care of myself. I know if I continue to pay close attention to my health I will live a long, happy and healthy life.

Diabetes - Ali's B-day

First of all . . . It is my big sister's b-day!!!  Happy Birthday Ali!!!  I lllloooovvvveee yyoouu!! haha.

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Anyway, yesterday went pretty well with my diabetes.  Oh, I for sure found out that I have Type 1 instead of MODY (Mature Onset Diabetes in the Youth) I forgot to mention that in my last post.  I hope it's better for me to have Type 1.  I don't know . . . . 

-For Breakfast yesterday I had SlimFast (2 carbs) and no insulin (this is when I was on the MODY diet).  

-Then for lunch I had my mom's homemade meatball soup with a piece of toast (altogether about 20 - 25 carbs) with 1 unit of insulin.

-For dinner I ate some cereal with soy milk and splenda (30c).  I gave myself 2 units of insulin.

- For snacks throughout the day, I had some pepperoni's with pepper jack cheese (my facorite!!), atkins bar (2c), and a yummy apple with peanut butter (16c)  (love that also!).

My blood throughout that whole day was pretty good.  Between 105-180.  But it did go down a little . . .  to 75, I believe.  So I just ate a few m&m's.

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Well, I was gonna write more but my mom  needs me to fill up the car with fuel. 

BYE!!  :)

A Little About Mwa

I'm Cassie - I'm 17 and a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was diagnosed with type 1 on December 7, 2008. My dad's a chiropractor and after seeing what was going on with me for a few months and seeing things getting worse, diagnosed me - so, I'm fairly new to all this diabetic stuff. I'm not on a pump yet, but hope to be before the end of the year. Diabetes has not been a very hard thing for me so far and I feel really blessed for that. My parents have raised us on healthy foods, thankfully, so the adjustments were really easy for me. I've got an awesome family who help take good care of me. I'm probably what some people would consider one of those "control freak" type of people - but I just would never do anything that would cause problems for myself later. I'm starting this blog in hopes of meeting other LDS kids with diabetes, sharing what I've learned, how I manage and also keep track of my diabetic logs. I'm sure I'll add lots of other things not related to diabetes too.

A little more about me... I'm very active at church! I love being a member of this church, it's the greatest and truest church in the whole wide world! I'm the Laurel class pres. and I completed my YW's Personal Progress just before my 16th birthday. I'm still going to work on the value Virtue and plan on reading the Book of Mormon for my project. It's a good thing the Book of Mormon is the seminary theme for next year, that makes it easy! I always read the book that goes along with the seminary year. I love the scriptures! I never miss a day, well, at least I try not to :) I hope I don't sound like a goody goody, although I probably am :) But, I'm proud of that too!

Before I was diagnosed I was sort of the chef of the family. I prepared most our family meals not because I was forced but because I LOVE to cook. I also made lots of delicious desserts and had even thought about culinary arts as my major in college. I know I still could do that but have decided to go a different direction now. Anyway, I do still enjoy cooking and help out a lot with that. I someday hope to have a cookbook for diabetics and have already come up with a couple really yummy recipes. I might share them here or save them for my future book :) still thinking about what to do about that.

I've been homeschooled since the 2nd grade. I'm now a Junior and taking English 101 at our community college but still doing most my classes at home. I'll be taking all my classes at our community college next school year and then heading up to the university. I'm so excited about that! My sister is up there and we'll be attending together for one semester before she graduates. I'm planning on majoring in fitness training and minoring in dance. Obviously, I enjoy working out and staying fit. I love to dance, play piano, and sing also.

I had looked around online for LDS type 1's and couldn't really find anything. Hopefully, if you are LDS and searching as I was, you will get something out of this blog. Give me a little time to get the hang of this blog thing though! I'm not much a computer person and not even sure if I'll stay committed to doing this. I would love to hear your comments!