Today's prompt: This year, Diabetes Blog Week and TuDiabetes are teaming up to bring out the poet in you! Write a poem, rhyme, ballad, haiku, or any other form of poetry about diabetes. After you’ve posted it on your blog, share it on the No Sugar Added® Poetry page on TuDiabetes, and read what others have shared there as well!
After a long night of dealing with a flooding basement, I'm having a hard time coming up with a creative and original poem about Diabetes.
Fortunately, I have my 15 year old self to borrow from. Here is a poem I wrote for a high school freshman english class assignment that ended up getting published in the Northwest Herald:
In June 1996, life with Diabetes was a little different. I didn't have a pump, had no clue what a Continuous Glucose Monitor was, and the Paleo diet was nowhere on my radar. One thing that is still the same is my desire to go about my life, not letting Diabetes interfere. Diabetes is not normal compared to most people's every day life. Diabetes does change things, but it just becomes a new normal.
Today's prompt: Let’s kick off Diabetes Blog Week by talking about the diabetes causes and issues that really get us fired up. Are you passionate about 504 plans and school safety? Do diabetes misconceptions irk you? Do you fight for CGM coverage for Medicare patients, SDP funding, or test strip accuracy? Do you work hard at creating diabetes connections and bringing support? Whether or not you “formally” advocate for any cause, share the issues that are important to you.
There are plenty of Diabetes related issues that get me FIRED UP: Test strip accuracy , insurance coverage (& how expensive Diabetes can be even with good insurance), Diabetes stigmas & misconceptions about Diabetes from the media:
(people saying things to me like: "But you're so young", "Oh, you must have the bad Diabetes", "You don't look like you have Diabetes", "So you will probably just adopt", "My neighbors' mom's aunt's dog's friend's cousin had Diabetes and they had... their leg amputated, went blind, died, etc...", "Did you used to be really fat?".
I could go on and on and get mad about how unfair Diabetes can be and some of the weird baggage and strange scenarios it brings...but one thing that has been important to me is the community Diabetes has also brought!!!
What has changed my Diabetes World has been the people I have met that without Diabetes I otherwise wouldn't have.
The Diabetes Online Community has opened up a huge world of support for me and introduced me to people who "get it" because they are living it.
If it were up to me, I'd change the world by making it mandatory for someone newly diagnosed to meet (in person, face-to-face) with someone who is on this same journey with Diabetes.
It's been great to share tips for better blood sugar control, swap war stories of highs and lows (literally), and currently...it gives me hope for the future, as I have FOUR FRIENDS I can call and meet up in person with who have been through pregnancies with pre-existing type 1 Diabetes.
People with Diabetes have changed my world!!!
