Sunt Diabetes

Today is October 28th, we celebrate St. Simon, my name day. And today, October 28, 2008, is also a special anniversary for me: it's been four years since my debut with diabetes.

In 2004 my blood tests were clear: the blood sugar was very high, I had type 1 diabetes. First came the feelings that flooded my mind in those days: the concerns, surprise, disbelief, incomprehension, anger, fear, confusion. Then the urgent things to do in the office files, tape the cards, certificates, recipes for pharmacies, and especially the doctors and clinics. And in particular anxiety and sadness of the first day spent in the dark basement of the hospital's diabetes center for adults: 28 October 2004 was, in fact.

I had just turned 17 years, passed up to that time no particular health concerns. Diabetes arrived as a rock, a sort of Copernican revolution that upset all my habits of a lifetime, leaving me bewildered and discouraged, with nostalgia for what I had done the day before, the fear for the future, and the illusion a speedy recovery. It was not easy to accept. The tests of blood glucose, insulin injections, frequent blood tests, everything was harder for me, I had the nightmare of needles. Not to mention my family, she also hit by this and highly involved in the concern.

But something was already changing, from the first weeks. I started reading, to be formed about it, to fight against the negative aspects of the "disease", and think of a different approach: I began to dream. I was not going to undergo what was happening to me with sadness, there I was, I had to react. The sports and cycling, my passions, my curiosity and stubbornness, a family caring, attentive and close, my sincere belief in God: all this has helped me find the way and the strength to accept and live peacefully this new condition, trying to grasp the positive in everything, never content to stay afloat, but wanting to go further, dealing with a life decision.

Today, at age 21, I can not imagine a life without diabetes: everything became normal everyday. Diabetes is not something extraneous: it is a part of me, I live exactly as the need to eat, drink, breathe, trying to do my best. I no longer feel no anger or nostalgia, only the hope for a better future, without the obsession of the cure. My life has certainly changed, but I think that the difficulties are always present. The important thing is to feel good about themselves, trying to live well the new opportunities that are presented to us. Diabetes can make us even stronger. For this I thank all those who were close to me and still help me.

Four years are not many, if confrontanti with many people close to me who have spent a lot more time with courage along with diabetes. But every story is different, and in these years I've done a lot for diabetes, with commitment and determination, and I hope that these are good things. I have accumulated so many positive experiences to share, and communicate to others.

According to many I think that the Holy One who bears the same name as me has brought me luck, and now there is nothing to celebrate. At first I thought so. But now I have a new vision of things, so I do not agree: I had an onset with no complications, even without the need for admission because the diagnosis was fairly early. Also today I feel realized in things I do, and I continue to chase the same dreams as before. All in all, that October day four years ago, San Simon has protected me, and I have to be thankful for on that day I was saved.

Simon