TuDiabetes - A Community for People Touched by Diabetes

Danny

DIABETES BEFORE THE INTERNET

Serious blog here...no, not really but something that has been on my mind once again and guess what? I have access to the internet and I can share my thoughts with every Diabetic known to this wonderful world...old & grey, young, newly diagnosed, long termers, it doesn't matter as long as you can read my poor grammar filled blog we can communicate, praise the heavens above!

The year was 1997, Don't Speak by No Doubt was the #1 music hit of the year and Titanic was released November 1997...I bet all you ladies still have Leo DiCaprio's poster some where in the house...right? Oh, one more thing happened in 1997... Danny got his first online computer, aww. I remember to this day, I was told by a friend (she was a nurse) in the late 90's "if you go online and search for Diabetes, you will leave the computer depressed." Hmm, that was a little true I guess, at the time if you did a search on Diabetes it would bring you straight to complications... has that really changed?..lol. Fast forward to 2002, I was having a bit of a time with my Diabetes management and went in search of "others" living with the same issue, Diabetes. Low and behold I found a website (Pro Health) that had the most wonderful people I think I had ever met. It was a breath of fresh air, there are others like me!!!... Yippie! If only I could have had this "luxury" in 1984.

Below is an actual photo of me typing away on my first computer.


Rewind!.... back to 1984 (sorry, I am jumping decades left and right) I walked the earth for many years thinking I was the only Juvenile onset Type 1 Diabetic out there. I dated a girl a few years before I was diagnosed that had Type 1 Diabetes and a friend of friends ex-boyfriends sisters cousin had Type 1 Diabetes (I still truly think that person was Kelly Rawlings) in 1987, which I never had the chance to meet. So, yeah I was stuck by myself for many cold and lonely winters, do not get me wrong I love myself to death but it would have been nice to have TU back then to be able to socialize with another Diabetic. We could have chatted the night away about how nice it was not to pee on sticks any longer and how cool it was to be able to carry glucose meters the size of a suitcase to middle school...sounds fun, eh?


Note to the newly diagnosed ... be thankful you do not have to go on a first date with the below slim lined Glucose Meter.



I am truly thankful for the internet and it allowing me to have access at the tips of my fingers to socialize with people that have had Diabetes double the length of time I have had it (Diabetes). One last thing and I will let you get back to your 4th of July bbq extravaganza, most of the long termers that I have met via cyberspace have given me great encouragement and lets not forget inspiration over the years.... this is honestly something my Endocrinologist could never give me in 1,000 years, amen! (priceless)

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Danny Comment by Danny on July 20, 2009 at 6:45pm
That is funny stuff... Well on my page, I have a little area dedicated to PWD like you Kelly. It's the paragraph that starts with a Special note.
Kelly Rawlings Comment by Kelly Rawlings on July 20, 2009 at 3:51pm
Thanks, Megha. Not only have I endured 36 years with diabetes, I get called "dorky" by you newbies. Kidding!
Megha Comment by Megha on July 17, 2009 at 5:31am
you guys had meters like that!!!! omg i have a hard time carrying my accucheck active...lol
i cant stop imagining what it would be...dorky
Danny Comment by Danny on July 13, 2009 at 10:59pm
Well, I would have been in 9th grade and I believe you would have been in 12th grade... so, really it would have been more like the TV show The Cougar ;^)

Either way, we would have partied like it was 1999.
Kelly Rawlings Comment by Kelly Rawlings on July 13, 2009 at 8:15pm
Danny, wish you had been my prom date. We could have worn our outsize glucometers in satiny holsters to match your cumberbund. Very, very 16 Candles or Pretty in Pink ....
Linda Comment by Linda on July 13, 2009 at 6:53am
I remember that! Only my diabetes in the 1960's was my best kept secret. Never met another with the same and didn't want anyone to know (I thought I was a freak or something). So sad. There were no meters then and I wasn't about to pee on a stick in school so there you have it. I NEVER had lows and always had sugar in my pee so I just stopped testing altogether. Very frustrating. Things are soooooo much better now although a cure would be ever better huh?!
Lacy Comment by Lacy on July 9, 2009 at 9:19am
amazing blog makes me count my blessings ... interesting and well written.. keep blogging!
Anna Kiff (FatCatAnna) Comment by Anna Kiff (FatCatAnna) on July 6, 2009 at 11:46am
That's so funny with talk above about diabetic camps. When I went to Camp Banting which was the first and only one here in Canada back in the 70's (yeah - I have young feet) - it was so much fun to be with other diabetics. My parents were able to afford this back then (it's now $1,200!!!) - don't know how they did it - but it gave them a much deserved break from their wild child (moi) for a few weeks. Testing was done with urine for BG's and insulin shots were all done in the a.m. with NPH. We even had a Tuck Shop (candies - yeah) - that is no longer offered according to my Goddaughter whose son has Type 1 - boo!hoo! Anyway, how times have changed - and even better - with the Internet and being able to share our ups/downs with it. Feels like home here for me - as I'm sure it does for others.
Christina Comment by Christina on July 5, 2009 at 3:38pm
Great blog, as always Danny. I really enjoy reading your blogs. You always get me hooked in. I'm so glad things have changed so I didnt have to carry those huge things around or pee on sticks lol.
Danny Comment by Danny on July 5, 2009 at 3:26pm
Jim, Thank you for the support on my blog... I love the photo of the urine test kit. Hopefully like bell bottom pants from the 1970's the urine glucose test kit will not be making a comeback anytime soon..... ;)

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