My Journey With Diabetes

In this essay, the author

• Describes the vortex that diabetes had pulled them into as they relayed their story to a reporter in 2002. their reality had changed dramatically due to groundbreaking canadian research.
• Narrates how they developed gastroparesis, a neuropathy of the stomach and stomach, and lost the ability to digest food.
• Describes how they endured 23 eye procedures due to retinopathy, including 19 laser treatments that sealed off small veins that had ruptured and bled into the eye—the leading cause of blindness in people with diabetes.
• Describes how they were jolted awake by a searing pain in the middle of the night. multiple therapies were explored, but the only viable solution was to tape their eyes shut.
• Describes how their retinal specialist would call them into his office and explain that if their blood sugars didn't stabilize, they would be blind.
• Explains that neuropathy of the hands and legs is an inevitable result of labile control.
• Describes their inability to detect low blood sugars and "dead in bed syndrome", a leading cause of death for people with type 1 diabetes.
• Describes how they resigned themselves to their impending fate when the newscaster announced that critically ill people with type 1 diabetes were invited to apply for upcoming human trials of a new research transplant.
• Narrates how they were consumed with trepidation when they applied for the islet cell transplant. they didn't know if they had the energy or ability to subject themselves to this new procedure.
• Opines that the edmonton protocol was the first major advancement in diabetes research in 80 years.
• Opines that dr. shapiro reaffirmed their success as a transplant team depended solely on our successes as patients and he intended to succeed.
• Describes how they received their first islet transplant on april 15, 2002. 840,000 islets were implanted in their liver and within 2 months they were completely exogenous insulin free.
• Narrates how their reality changed when they returned to insulin. they received their second transplant under the edmonton protocol and were exogenous insulin independent.
• Narrates how their husband and i were enjoying a walk. they turned to him, paused, and with tears they said "i have never felt this well in my entire adult life".
• Describes how they remained in a euphoric state of exogenous insulin independence for 18 months until they contracted an infection while flying. the infection compromised the rigidity of the immunosuppressive balance.
• Explains that much has changed since that pivotal time in history for islet transplantation and for them personally. versions of the infamous edmonton protocol are now being researched worldwide.
• Recounts how they celebrated the third year of living insulin-independently. in 2006, they traveled across the country to the university of alberta to take part in a new protocol that incorporated an immune suppressant regime.
• Opines that not one day goes by that they don't reflect on the vast appreciation they have for those who have made it their life's work to solve this diabetes dilemma.
• Describes their journey as a participant during the early days of the edmonton protocol, the first new approach to therapy since insulin. the book can be purchased as an e-book or soft cover.