Today is 4 years since I was diagnosed with diabetes and put on insulin. Yay! Today is also the day I start with Dexcom. I have the sensor in my arm but haven't yet finished the warm up. It was way less painful than the Guardian insertions, which is good.
I have been thinking about the way my years with diabetes have gone.
Year 0, the year before diagnosis, was hard in a really nonspecific struggling way. I knew something was wrong but I thought maybe that something was neurological.
Year 1, the year after diagnosis, was a real struggle to get used to things. Also I had memory problems, moved twice, lived on my own, turned 18, and had a lot of severe hypoglycemia.
Year 2 was really smooth sailing. I mean it.
Year 3 was hellish. I had some really awful gall bladder issues which not only messed with my diabetes control, it messed with my kidneys which made me think I had diabetic kidney disease (which is a possibility still). I was really depressed. I also had thyroid disease, which didn't help my state of mind, and a week before that year ended, I was diagnosed with neuropathy.
Year 4 was also bumpy physically. Despite having my gallbladder removed in year 3, I developed gall stone pancreatitis, about a month after my liver enzymes had first come back elevated in a routine CBC. Pain did interfere significantly with my diabetes management. But really, I feel like this year, I was pretty emotionally okay with my diabetes.
Year 5 starts today. In honor of my insulin day, I started the Dexcom today and I hope that this will be the year of the dexcom for me. If in three weeks I decide it doesn't work though, I'm sending it back for a refund. My parents agreed to pay out of pocket expenses for one year of Dexing.

And since this appears to be diabetes art day, I made a collage a few years ago about insulin: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iLNfQFJKcSU/RyUfMCXdDPI/AAAAAAAAAA4/lao4E...

I'm not sure if I can embed it but will try: