I'm Back As A New Kind of Badass

Hello- it’s been a while. Life has changed a bit and I’ve wanted to update you but it’s taken some time. You see, in the end of September, I almost died. Yup! It’s true. I came within 30 minutes of a coma and possible brain damage or death. This can, will and does change a person. Although it has taken some time to write to you about this, I think I am now ready. Here’s what happened:

I had a great summer. I was exercising, losing weight and feeling great. Yoga twice a week, Pilates twice a week, walking every day. Now being a grown-up women, people would notice that I was losing weight and ask, “Are you OK?”. I laughed at this thinking that if I lost a lot of weight in my 20’s people would just say, “you look great.” Well, it went a little bit too far and, during September, I was really tired. I blamed that on my son going to a new school and having to wake up at 6AM every day. That’s early for me. I kept going and thinking I was fine…tired but fine. Then it all just went too far and my friends intervened. I had lost too much weight and they told me that I needed to go to a doctor stat. OK I said…no problem.

I never made it to Monday’s doctor appointment because Saturday night, after doing 2 home parties, I just couldn’t catch my breath. Thanks to an awesome partner, who drove like a cop car chasing a criminal with me yelling at him to slow down the whole way, I got to the ER and was quickly admitted and tested for a heart attack. I was NOT having a heart attack. In fact, my heart was fine. After a blood test we found out that I had Type 1 diabetes and was in Diabetic Keto Acidosis aka: DKA.

My friends quickly mobilized and were there for me from beginning to end. I spent 2 days in ICU getting my blood sugar and acid levels reorganized. Now I was pretty much asleep the entire time in ICU. I could barely speak and every time I opened my eyes, a friend was there watching over me. My friends and family are the absolute best team you could ever want. Although I’m pretty sure that I scared the shit out of many people, I was never scared or even a little bit worried. I was in a great hospital with amazing nursing care and surrounded by people who loved me. This is a recipe for success. After 2 days I was ready to move to a regular room and begin my journey of learning how to live as a Type 1 diabetic.

Now this has been quite a journey! Counting carbs…calculating insulin injections…taking blood sugar through finger pricks so many times a day…figuring out how to keep my blood sugar normal during exercise… It is a daily, well hourly, learning curve and I am up for the task. My attention has been focused a lot more on me and I have neglected all of you until now. Well, I’m back. You’ll be hearing from me a lot more in 2019.

The good news is that I have even more to talk about in this grown-up life. I am doing really well and have become a Type 1 Diabadass! Any questions?