Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday, the kids have been celebrating this all week long with various things at school, and today in celebration we had "Green Eggs and Ham" for breakfast. So in light of Dr. Seuss, I thought it would be fitting to find a quote from him that fits into our lives with diabetes, and I've found the perfect one."Don't cry because it's over, Smile because it happened"... You may be wondering how this fits into diabetes. Well think of it this way. We all look back on pictures of times before diagnosis, and if you are like me then chances are you have a hard time viewing these pictures. The "pre D" pictures. They depict a carefree life, pictures of countless amount of carbs being eaten without a care to count how many. Pictures of a sweet little sleeping face without the fear of death during sleep. They are hard pictures to look back on, and often the ones closer to diagnosis, I find myself trying to pick out signs that I "SHOULD HAVE" seen. But in order to move forward with your new life and diabetes you have to figure out a good balance of things. This involves letting go of the guilt of not catching it sooner, and thinking about the memories that you that you often block because you you don't want to think back on simply because it's too hard to do so. So from here on out I challenge you to think of "Pre D" life according to Dr. Seuss. Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
The most important thing you can do for yourself and your family after a diagnosis of diabetes, (New or old) is to move forward, and choose to be happy. Yes we still live in fear of what D will do, but it doesn't have to run out lives. If you are a parent, like myself to a child with diabetes, I know how hard it is to not give into that fear, to not let D take over. But in order to show our children that living with diabetes isn't the end of their life, we must accept that it happened, and it's here. We must show them that even though they have diabetes, diabetes doesn't have them.
So instead of looking back on a "Pre D" picture today and crying for the carefree childhood lost, smile because they had a chance to experience it, even as brief as it may have been. Don't let diabetes have more control in your life than it already has....
