GETTING CLEAN IN SIN CITY #1 (STORY OF MY LIFE)

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In my first blog here at TU (9th grade English Class), I promised to write about the most difficult years of my life with Type 1 Diabetes, my twenties.

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, I have lived here for 37 years. It is highly possible to find yourself at some point in a downward spiral real quick in a city full of adult temptations....

I'd like to spend a moment recapping a little on my Diabetes. I was diagnosed October 1984 with "Juvenile" onset Type 1 Diabetes (also known as a Diabetic "lifer" as I like to call it) at the age of twelve. For the most part my Diabetic teen years went rather smoothly (big shout out to my mom, thanks mom!), other than a few extreme lows that I suffered. You know the type of low where you wake up at 5am from biting your tongue so hard with the sheets covered in blood and the paramedics (and mom) standing over you....or passing out during 9th grade English class and being wheeled out on a gurney right as the lunch bell rang, talk about Diabetic embarrassment at its best... haven't we all had this happen to us?...fun fun!

My early adult life of 18-21 years of age, I was surrounded with friends that were known as "straight edge", a punk rock subculture whose adherents make a lifetime commitment to refrain from drinking alcohol, using tobacco products, and taking recreational drugs. Absolutely the perfect type of lifestyle for my disease, right?... Guess what?... my lifetime commitment would not last long when I turned 21. Turning 21 in Las Vegas is like getting a free park pass into Disneyland. Many of my closest friends when I was 18 and 19 years old were moving away, they were going to college in other states and a few went on Mormon missions. I found myself slowly starting to hang out with new friends, the kind of friends that like to have a different kind of fun... the kind of fun that involves things (mainly alcohol) that are not the best for a Type 1 Diabetic.


Below is an actual photo of me New Years Eve 1999. (I was never the poor me, boo hoo, I have Diabetes type of drinker, I was the happy go lucky, life is wonderful.... now lets have mucho drinks to celebrate life!)

Summer of 1993, the beginning of my new way of life. One of my "new friends" was the top DJ & Club promoter in Las Vegas (he still is to this very day). He had all the hook ups to the top night clubs, concert events and places to eat, you name it and we did it all in VIP style. This was the lifestyle I would end up living for many, many years...My alcohol addiction started slowly in 1993 as a fun casual drink nightly and would steam roll out of control a few years later.

Fun Fact: We would get dressed up in 1950's Las Vegas style suits/clothing, hair styles and cars to match, go out every night to the clubs until 6am....could life get much better than this?

When I was a young boy, I remember my mom worked with a Type 1 Diabetic man that had a drinking problem. He had many complications due to the combination of Diabetes and drinking alcohol. I promised myself at 13 years old I would never be "that guy". Well, I guess I was unable to keep that particular promise to myself. The fun of the nightlife in Vegas was overpowering that young boys promise to himself... sad but true, that's life my friend (wink wink).

Lets cruise on back to 1990, I would meet a young and caring woman that would become my girlfriend from 1990-1998. She lived with me through some of the toughest moments of my life, truly caring for me every step of the way. She would try her best to get me away from my new lifestyle but I refused to change. Quick example, she was more interested in becoming a doctor and I was more interested in the next Vegas party, funny yet sad,eh? So we split after 8 years and went our separate ways in early 1998. Note, she is now a nurse anesthetists, happily married and has a few kids down in Oklahoma somewhere, yee haw!..... you go girl!

Moving forward to 1998. The five years leading up to this particular year, I was kinda being weighed down by my ex-girlfriend (I was only allowed to be in 4th gear with my ex-girlfriend and I wanted to be in 5th gear). Now that we were not together any longer, let the party begin. I seriously do not want to bore you any longer with all the party talk but this seriously went on for five more years. In the middle of my second five year stint I met my beautiful wife that I am still married to today. The first few years of us dating were wild, we partied together all over town etc ... (this became old after awhile which I will go into on my next and final blog)

During my ten year binge, I never ended up in the hospital or had any complications set in, this was way too easy. The man my mom worked with when I was 13 years old was apparently not doing something right with juggling his alcohol abuse and Diabetes. I had figured out a way to beat the odds, yeah!...So I thought, the biggest Diabetes related day of my life other than my initial diagnosis was about to hit me square in the face... (like a Mike Tyson right hook)....