\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll just stop at the hospital on the way downtown, and the rest of the weekend will be a blast,\u201d my mother said. I noticed the hesitation in her tone, but I didn\u2019t think about it for too long. I was too excited about our trip.<\/p>\n
Each year, my family would take a long-weekend jaunt to downtown Chicago. Although we lived only twenty-five minutes from the nation\u2019s tallest skyscraper and a lake so large it\u2019s often mistaken for an ocean, we\u2019d spend the weekend in a fancy hotel, walking along the Magnificent Mile and snacking on the sweet and salty Garrett\u2019s popcorn mix.<\/p>\n
The sun shined brightly through the car windows as we cruised along, and I smirked in the backseat imagining all of the fun that was to come. It wasn\u2019t until the huge brick wall of the hospital blocked the sun that I remembered my mom had wanted me to have a blood test. She had sensed that something was wrong for a while, but I was only ten and felt invincible — I thought I was thirsty all the time because I was growing. I figured we would stop at the hospital on the way downtown, and then continue on with the trip.<\/p>\n
I hopped out of the car and proceeded through the big automatic doors in the front of the hospital, hoping that the quicker we moved, the faster we could get to Chicago and on with the weekend. I wasn\u2019t going to let anything ruin my adventure in the city — definitely not an impromptu blood test. I tensed slightly as the nurse stabbed a long, shiny needle into my vein. I ignored her forced smile as she left the room with the blood samples, already annoyed that this was taking longer than I had anticipated.<\/p>\n
After what felt like hours, a group of people wearing scrubs came into the room. I perked up out of the bed thinking that we could finally leave, but the mood shifted as the doctor gazed right over me and signaled for my parents to come with him. Peeking through a crack in the curtain, I stared wide-eyed as they chatted outside the room. It wasn\u2019t until I saw a tear stream down my mother\u2019s cheek that the panic set in. What is going on? Why is my mom crying? Why is no one telling me anything? <\/em>Questions flew through my head one after another as my parents and the doctor continued to converse outside the room. My dad shook his head while my mom\u2019s cry turned into a blank stare.<\/p>\n \u201cYour blood sugar was five hundred and twenty four,\u201d whispered the doctor through pale lips, after gently pulling back the curtain that had been separating me from the reality of the situation. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, but you have Type 1 diabetes.\u201d His mouth continued to move, but I heard nothing.<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t that the disease from those scary commercials?<\/em><\/p>\n Didn\u2019t the old babysitter have that? And didn\u2019t she have to take\u2026SHOTS?<\/em><\/p>\n The walls felt as though they were closing in. I sat there feeling alone even though doctors, nurses, and my parents surrounded me. I couldn\u2019t get any words to come out. I couldn\u2019t even shed a tear. Before I could even ask what this all meant, an IV was shoved into my arm, my finger was pricked for another blood sample, and a needle containing a clear substance was jabbed into my thigh.<\/p>\n After I finally came to my senses, the doctor explained the endless shots, finger pricks, and carbohydrate counting that my life would soon consist of. My parents comforted me as he told me I would need to be transported by ambulance to spend the weekend in a different hospital.<\/p>\n I asked him where this other hospital was located. \u201cOh, it\u2019s downtown,\u201d he said, and, suddenly I felt much better.<\/p>\n That was the strangest part: even after everything I\u2019d just been through, spending my weekend downtown was all that mattered to me. Once the initial shock wore off, I still felt invincible — even after the doctor termed diabetes a \u201cchronic illness.\u201d And though in the weeks and even years that followed, I\u2019ve had plenty of fears and moments when I was unsure of what was to come, now at 20, that feeling of invincibility hasn\u2019t entirely left me. I\u2019ve managed to win a state championship in a sport and even make it into an elite university. Battling diabetes has given me motivation to pursue my goals. It\u2019s humbled me. It has made me who I am today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cYour blood sugar was five hundred and twenty four,\u201d whispered the doctor through pale lips, after gently pulling back the curtain that had been separating me from the reality of the situation. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, but you have Type 1 diabetes.\u201d His mouth continued to move, but I heard nothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":42247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1435,1431],"tags":[126],"yoast_head":"\n