Happiest Diabetic on Earth

BlackEdelweiss

I'm not exactly sure about the purpose of this post but it something I promised myself I would do for the past 2 months if I got the chance, and today I got the chance so here it is.
I was diagnosed with diabetes in November and after an initial period of positiveness about it all I slipped into a period when I was quite down about the whole thing, loads of why me's and stuff. For the sake of both myself and my family I snapped myself out of that slump and although I did not get back to the levels of the initial positiveness and I completely lost track of recording my readings, I havent written down a reading for over 3 months and have missed my last 4 hospital appointments for various reasons, I did get back some sense of normality to my life. That was until about 2 months ago when I started feeling a numbness in my left arm which progressed to a tingling in the fingers which led to similar feelings in both arms and legs. I asked my doctor about it and he immediately mentioned getting an MRI, this set my mind racing and over the last 2 months I had almost convinced myself that I had MS, every time I checked symptoms on the internet, MS came up as a possibility. I worried myself sick and probably done myself untold harm as a result of this. As the time for my mri came nearer my worrying got worse and worse, my wife and doctor both said it was probably nothing but they also said that before I got diagnosed with diabetes so my confidence in positive thought was not very high.
I went for my MRI on Friday and was sent home with a disk in my pocket but no answers or soothing words to ease my mind and had to sit all weekend waiting to hear the results. It was like waiting for a death sentence or a reprieve, my worrying almost took over and I could hardly look at my kids without wanting to cry, thinking about what might be in store for them over the next few years.
I eventually got my results this afternoon and to my ultimate relief they were all clear, the weight lifted from my shoulders was unbelievable and the knot in my stomach dissolved.
As I said I am not sure about the reason for this post, it was kind of like a dream I had over the past few months to be able to come on here and say that I am so happy I have diabetes and nothing else, well not MS anyway. Diabetes has helped me loose 2 stone in 6 months, I look healthier, I look younger, my jeans close all the way to the top button, I excercise semi regularly and I have cut out all the crap from my diet, I still enjoy a take away or a bottle of wine at the weekend and I rarely smoke. Without diabetes none of these things could have been said about me, I was getting fatter, smoking more, eating loads of crap, but now because of it I will hopefully live longer than I was going to if I carried on my old ways.
I just wanted to say to other people out there who may be newly or long time diagnosed and who may be feeling a bit down about the whole thing that there is a whole lot worse out there, I know you all know that but until you have had a scare I dont think it really sinks in just how lucky we are, diabetes is nothing, if anything it is a blessing, I know it has down sides but all it wants is for you to live a healthy lifestyle, not many diseases give you that option.
I will never in my life say another bad word about my diabetes.

graflynn

Thank you for sharing your story.

Congratulations on how well you are doing with managing your Diabetes and I'm glad you found your way back to positive thinking.