Abby's All Stars

Here's my story,

About six years ago this February, I was diagnosed with Type One Juvenile Diabetes.  The weekend before I was diagnosed, I was at a swim meet feeling just fine.  I remember not swimming my best and drinking TONS of water.  I drank about 5 of those plastic water bottles.  I had this unquenchable thirst.  Of course all that drinking took a toll on my bladder and I was peeing every ten minutes.  Monday and Tuesday rolled along and I felt so... uncomfortable.  I was still drinking and going to the bathroom constantly.  My mom kept me home from school to be on the safe side.  I was planning to go to school on Wednesday, but Tuesday I woke up and got sick to my stomach.  So there was no school again on Wednesday.  Wednesday and Thursday were HORRIBLE.  I kept throwing up, I couldn't keep anything down, not even the water I wanted terribly.  Dark circles developed under my eyes.  I laid on the couch, motionless those two days.  Friday morning my mom got the sense this wasn't just a nasty case of the flu.  She took me to Urgent Care and I'm so glad she did, because if she hadn't I probably wouldn't be here today.

When we got to Urgent Care in Maple Grove we waited for what seemed like an eternity.  Finally they called us back.  The doctors looked at me and took my blood sugar.  That's it.  Their glucometer couldn't even read my blood sugar it was so high.  So I got to ride to Methodist Hospital in an ambulance.  My mom sat in the front with the driver while I rode in back with the other EMT.  I remember him giving me an air mask to put on (which just made me want more water) and him not being able to start an IV.

We arrived at the ER and the nurses got right to work.  I have absolutely no idea what they did, i fell asleep soon after we got there.  I woke up in a room, my mom and dad both asleep in chairs. I was hooked up to all sorts of machines.  The nurses came in every half hour to see if my blood sugar was dropping (turns out it was over 800).  I fortunately only had to stay one night.  We left the hospital Saturday afternoon.  Right when we got home I took matters into my own hands. I have done all my blood sugar tests and dosed my insulin from the start.

There are many ways I could have handled being diagnosed with diabetes.  I chose to embrace it.  I still have my bad days, but there are many more good days.  What some people don't understand is I can do anything I want to.  I'm just like you except part of my body doesn't work like yours.  Some day that will change.  That's why I walk.  I want to help researchers find a cure.  Please consider a donation to my team to help get a few steps closer to reaching that goal.

Thanks!

Abby