Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Going Back

About a month ago, I got invited to go to Oktoberfest with my friends in Newport, RI for this weekend.  I am the type  of person that will always choose to do things with my family or friends. I've been looking forward to this weekend and these friends because I haven't seen them in quite a while.  As last Friday rolled around, I was getting a little nervous. 

In 2003, I was just like most of my other friends really excited to go off to college.  I was off to Salve Regina University with two other girls from my high school.  I can look back now and say that I was not ready to go to college; it is blatantly obvious.  Back then though, I was obviously ready.  My academics suffered, my social life suffered, but most importantly, my diabetes suffered.  Shortly before Thanksgiving, I got really sick, throwing up everywhere and the Resident Director decided that enough was enough and I needed to go to the hospital.  Off I went in the ambulance to the Newport Emergency Room where my blood sugar was recorded as 789.  We later learned that my insulin had expired, but if I had been more on top of it, I could have prevented such a high high.  From there I went to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence where I was in the ICU and surrounded by diabetes educators.    I had high school friends calling every day, my parents with me day & night, and I was determined to get better.  That was my diabetes rock bottom. I went back and "finished" my semester, only to return to pack up my things.  I can't really blame it on anything but me, but if a lot of things had been different, maybe it wouldn't have happened?  I can't be sure.

I've been back a time or two before, but always with people who knew my SRU history.  I am not proud of that time of my diabetes history, and I don't like to talk about it, so these friends had no idea.  My life since they have been in my life has been positive.  I'm not saying that my diabetes control has always been good, because I'd be lying if I said that.

 

It's good to have a good memory from Newport, but it's still the one place that I get nervous about every time I go.

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