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It wasn’t long before I found myself doing everything I had grown up seeing my grandmother do. Pricking my finger several times a day, watching what I ate and taking what seemed to me, a gargantuan pill called glucophage three times a day. For me this was hard, especially being twelve, I was used to eating whatever and not having a care in the world. But now I was on a strict diet and had to cut out all the delicious, non healthy foods I was used to eating. Before I found out I was diabetic, I was on the basketball and softball team at my middle school and I had dreams of being in the WNBA. By my freshman year of high school, I had quit both teams because I found it hard to balance the two parts of my life. While playing sports was helping to keep me in shape, I began to lack the endurance I needed to continue, so I didn’t. Along with the drastic change in my eating habits, I began visiting an Endocrinologist in Louisville, KY several times a year for check-ups. I remember once she asked me what did it mean to be diabetic and I answered her with, “I can’t eat everything I want like I used to.” While that is a stipulation, that is not what being diabetic is. She taught me and encouraged me to become educated about my ailment. So I went home that day and read everything you could possibly think of on diabetes. I came to this conclusion a little over 7 years ago; I lack insulin, which is what breaks down the food that I intake and turns it into energy. Thus, when I eat, the food isn’t being made into energy like the average individual who has insulin. |
My Story |
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Renata Patton
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