Add It To The List

As if life wasn’t already hard enough having survived cancer, kidney failure, losing my teeth at an early age, and all the other long term affects of my cancer treatment, diabetes just had to be added to the list. I was 17 years old at the time of my diagnosis. I was having minor surgery to remove a catheter from my peritoneal cavity, after receiving my new kidney I no longer needed dialysis and I have my aunt to thank for such a wonderful gift. As it turned out I had a complication during the surgery which landed me in the intensive care unit. After a few days of being monitored it was discovered that I had diabetes. Never in my life have I ever been so afraid of juice as the day my nurse walked in and demanded I put the cup down because my blood sugar level was around 599. I think when people are first given their diagnosis they go into a state of shock but all I remember thinking was “Just add it to my list.” But nothing changes your life more than the day they give you a syringe and an orange.