Finding the Rainbow in the Sugar, MY 18 MONTHS JOURNEY AS A TYPE 1

Written by Vero Kange

June 10^th 2018 was quite a day. There are millions of things I can say about that day but to sum it all in one word; ANSWERS.

On that Sunday evening, at Norvik Hospital, Kampala, I learnt why I had had tingles in my legs for a while, why I was easily losing weight despite my insatiable sweet tooth, why I peed volumes of urine all the time, why I was always thirsty, why I slept all the time, everywhere, you see, for a very long time, all these things bothered me and I had all these unanswered questions lingering on my mind. Quite often, I would actually promise to take some  time off and read on the possible cause of all these weird bodily characteristics I had developed but never really got around to doing it. Yes, feel free to roll your eyes like I've done countless times since. When I finally arrived at the answers though, my oh my, was I not prepared to hear them.

Nonetheless, 10^th June came, accompanied by information overload and panic, coupled with depression that followed through and just like that, a new chapter was opened. You see, the minute the doctor concluded his long speech on insulin requirements, delivering shots to myself, nutritional discipline, risks that come with hypoglycaemia, hyperglycaemia, the need to administer finger pricks more than once a day, Goooooooooosh!!!!!!!!!! My brain was locked on one fact, Death.

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is scary, and not only because it’s a serious disease with a cocktail of scary complications, but because of the financial implications, discipline and commitment required to manage the condition.  It's especially scary when you're in the prime of your life, young, ambitious, energetic and suddenly get such a shocking diagnosis that stops you in your tracks.

The situation is further complicated by the high levels of misinformation, myths and false beliefs about diabetes within our societies and communities. I had to quickly learn to deal with the  purveyors of herbal remedies- these ones are quick to recommend all types of roots, stems and concoctions apparently known to cure diabetes, while the miracle workers-will send you to all the Men of God in all districts, the ones that are quick to blame the victims for taking too much sugar over the years,  the pity parties- 🙅💀😩, Christ lord....people should learn some sensitivity! It’s enough dealing with the reality of your new normal, now imagine having to justify yourself to everyone in addition to doing your own personal research on the topic and having to change all the misconceptions while at it… Not funny at all!

Thank God for the sunshine overload that lies within me, I choose to think that God prepared me for the DM journey way before we found it. For some strange reason, I had been exercising a lot since Sep 2013, I had picked an interest in healthy eating habits, but most importantly, I had walked through a breast cancer scare in October 2017 which had taught me that everything starts and ends with the brain. I have learnt that if you learn to control your brain, you can conquer almost anything, that as a Diabetic, my support system draws all its vibe off me, this means that when I am positive about the condition, my support system stays positive, when I don’t cry about the pricks, the blood, the injections, the green meals, then my environment perceives the idea lightly with less weight so I worked on my brain, I chose positivity and with that, I was armed, I was ready and well, the support system was eagerly waiting. Together, we have learnt, unlearned and we re-learned. We continue to.

Enough with the sad stuff, this article is intentionally titled! Yes it is, you see, I am wired to find the rainbow in the storm 🌈, it’s simply who I am and well, if I was going to continue being the smiley happy Kange that everyone had grown accustomed to, with a needle detail of course, I had to find the rainbow in the sugar or the silver lining in the cloud, and yes, I did. There are very many days when am almost grateful for it, the lessons are immense and trust me when I say that DM is a gift that keeps giving.

The greatest lesson of them all has been discipline.  You see, discipline is a must have for all humans. We fail at very many things because we lack discipline. That diet plan that you continually slack on, that addiction you have failed to beat, that dream that you have failed to achieve, discipline has something to do with it. With DM, you have a constant motivational weapon at your disposal, you learn to constantly ask the question; is it worth it, is it worth the lazy feel that follows a hyper, is it worth the potential complications, is it? And just like that, u will choose a boiled egg over the samosas, you will learn to eat your vegetables, you will stay on the right path for most days because you will find that it’s normally not worth it.

And with discipline comes motivation, motivation to do what is right, motivation to take care of you, motivation to make constant good decisions. People wonder what motivates me to work out as much as I do, what keeps me eating as I do, how I pick my plate at the serving table and walk past the rice, the Irish, the matooke, and pick me some pumpkin, vegetables and salads and it’s a wrap. No science to it, I have one little secret, sugar!

So guess what, with healthy eating comes good radiant skin (ladies pay millions for that) good weight management, general well-being and a constant healthy feeling. A disciplined diabetic is the healthy eating threshold that "basawo" or doctors talk about, keep around one and what wonderful changes you will experience.

Not that it’s all merry, those tough days have a way of showing up, so you give yourself what I call the diabetic break, you misbehave, forget yourself for a minute and live crazy, its only human but again, the annoying tired lazy feeling has a way of putting you back in order. I guess the take away is that whereas we are allowed to be human, we must do so in moderation, everyone should but for the diabetic, you must. 

So for me, I choose to look beyond the pricks, I wake up every day and look forward to do the right thing not because sugar requires me to, but because I will look good while at it, I choose to live a limitless life because I am aware that on that 10^th day of June, 2018 with the kind of sugar reading I had, I could have died but I didn’t. I take those long walks, I attend those aerobic classes, not only because I need to control my sugar but because I want to be a hot 70 year old someday.

Diabetes is simply a small detail about me, it’s not the reason but rather the fuel that runs this engine. Like my Doctor says, Type 1s aren’t sick, we are only disabled on the inside.

With love

Kange,

 T1 Soldier.