My first entry

So, I'm sort of new at the whole blogging thing. I started looking around at some of the blogs a few weeks ago and felt like this would be a good place to share some of my feelings and experiences.

There is definitely a lot to me, but the thing that I most want to talk about here is having Juvenile diabetes. I've been a type 1 diabetic for 12 years, wow I didn't realize it was that long. I'm 26 now and obviously an adult and have felt like I've hit a brick wall. It's been great to read some of the blogs and know that I'm not alone in this world.

It's sort of funny to me. I went through years and years of saying that having diabetes didn't effect me. I was pretty adamant about the statement. Well it turns out that having diabetes does have an effect, actually it's pretty big. Being a single, 26 year old, professional, active person does not help keeping the diabetes under wrap. I'm pretty quiet about having diabetes when it comes to people I don't know. My friends (or most of them) know about it, but I really try and not make it a big deal or focal point in my life. That seems to be a little different than a lot of other posts I've read. I'm working on it, but I feel embarrassed/ashamed at having the disease.

Everytime I read something regarding diabetes it is focused on Type II diabetics. At this point in my life, I'm having a hard time with that. I feel that these are two different types of diseases and Type I diabetics do not have their fair share of information and support out in this world. I've known three type I diabetics in my lifetime. One was a girl in highschool, she got the disease after me. Really the only time we talked about it was when we saw each other on school break and we sort of gave each other the once over and made sure things were going okay. A few years ago I met a woman at the bar I worked at and every so often when I'd see her, we'd talk about it, but it was different. Although I appreciate her talking to me about some things we were in completely different stages of our life. Finally I met my ex-boss' wife who has some of the same issues as me (you know where do you put that damn pump when you are out at a party wearing a dress issues). Other than that I've sort of been left on my own to figure some of this out, more so I haven't been able to talk to people who really get it.

It has been really great reading some of the blogs out there. The honesty in these blogs feel close to home.