Someone Who Understands - 30 Health Posts in 30 Days

I really appreciate those people who aren't diabetic who try to really understand diabetes.  The hard thing, however, is that they will never actually FEEL what it feels like.  Well, I don't know, maybe really involved parents might feel it.  But either way, when a diabetic finds another diabetic there is an instant bond there.  Someone who knows what it is like to be frustrated over your numbers or how exciting it is when you have been in range all day.  To be able to test your blood sugar levels at the same time and see who has the best number or who can guess the closest as to what the numbers are going to be.  Seems pathetic, but we diabetics get a slight thrill out of seeing how close we can be to guessing our numbers or a little bit of competition between each other.  Every diabetic should have a diabetic friend.  It is nice to not feel different.
 

My oldest sister has Type 1 diabetes as well.  She was diagnosed in her early teens, probably when I was about one year old.  She also was diagnosed in October, but instead of spending a week in the hospital like I did, they showed her how to give herself a shot on an orange and off she went.  My, have times have changed! When I was diagnosed at 11, my sister was already married and off in Utah.  It wasn't until I lived with her and her family for a summer after my freshman year of college that we really got to know each other and I realized how nice it was to have a best friend who also had diabetes.  When I get together with my sister, I can talk.  Talk freely.  I don't have to explain the difference between bolus and basal.  She knows what I feel like when I'm low or when I'm high.  I don't try to hide my numbers when I test myself.  She doesn't judge where I'm at.  When we get frustrated with diabetes, we can go on for hours and hours and know that we just needed to vent.  It is a tender mercy having someone you love understand what you are going through so well and so deeply themselves.  She was probably given diabetes in her life so that I would have someone to talk to so that I could get through it.  It is especially nice to have her around during the holidays when we are at my parents' house and we get in trouble for eating cookies because "we are diabetics."  (My parents still haven't latched on to the whole carb counting thing...)  It is almost like sharing a hobby...

To say the least, it is nice to have her around.

Nice to be the same.

Nice to be understood.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J