Patrice O'Neal---his battle with diabetes and what it means to me.

I had a lot of items to write about saved up in my browser's favorites for today, but something happened yesterday that struck me and hit me hard, so I'm going to be a little selfish today.  Patrice O'Neal died last night.  He was 41 years old.  Hang with me, you'll soon know how I fit in.  Patrice was a comedian if you don't know the name.  I first learned of him when he worked on WebJunk 20 for VH1.  It was basically Tosh.0 before Tosh.0.  It was ahead of its time.  Well if you are a reader of my blog, you'd remember me writing about him when the Charlie Sheen Roast first aired.  That was the last time I saw the guy and he didn't look healthy and people were taking low blow shots at him about this disease he had.  I felt so bad for the guy.  They kept saying it was going to kill him and they made fun of his weight.  He went off at the roast, I think not even following what he had written down.  The disease he had was diabetes.  He didn't take very good care of himself, saying doing all of the work isn't worth it.  I would know because for those of you who don't know I am a juvenile diabetic.  I was 12 years old when I was first diagnosed.  I started having to go to the bathroom a little more.  Driving home from school one day, my mom was like "you may have diabetes."  That's a scary word for any age much less a 12 year old.  I shook it off and said, "No, I'm just a little sick." It kept getting worse and worse.  My mouth began to dry up instantly.  I had to have something to drink at all times.  I began to get really weak.  I used to love playing Sega. My sisters were taking turns playing me in this game, but I was so weak that I couldn't push the button in on the controller.  All I ever wanted to do was sleep.  I lost 10 pounds in a week.  The morning I was diagnosed, I remember being able to peel an entire layer of skin off of my tongue.  I tried going to school...In hindsight, I had no business being there.  My mom taught at the school, so about an hour in, I went to the nurse and she sent me to my mother.  She got me a drink from the faculty lounge, and had my aunt pick me up.  She thought it was a good idea to spread out my drinks.  I remember being miserable the whole day there because she would only let me have a drink once an hour.  After school, my mom had scheduled me a doctor's appointment.  I was a walking zombie by this time.  We stopped at this store near the office and I ordered the largest blue slushie they had.  It was gone in seconds.  I went in and the doctor checked my blood immediately.  Their meter read, "HI." I didn't really know what it meant, but the doctor said, "He has diabetes," to the nurse and I burst into tears.  It was the hardest news I've ever gotten.  They took me to a back room to wait to get a ride to the hospital.  During that time I remember throwing up my entire slushie.  Blue was everywhere.  At the hospital I was in this wheelchair as I was getting registered with not much ability to move and my sister Sarah, 6 at the time, pushed me around like a maniac.  They did a bunch more tests on me which I learned that my blood sugar was around 1000 which is unheard of.  Doctors couldn't believe I wasn't in a coma.  I stayed in the hospital for a week to learn to live with diabetes and of course to get me healthy again.  I met with nurse practitioners, dietitians, doctors, counselors, and nurses.  I learned how to give myself shots, what has carbs and what doesn't, how to measure food, how to check my blood, what I should drink (all diet- I tried Diet Faygo everything, orange, purple, and Barque's Red Cream Soda which I loved so much I got burnt out on it and never have drank it since those early days...I remember it was right when Surge first came out and I loved it.  I only got to enjoy it for maybe a week), and so on. I learned there were two types of diabetes.  I had type I (juvenile diabetes).  My pancreas chose to stop working entirely.  Type I is a birth thing.  No matter how you live your life it was going to happen.  Type II is like people who are overweight, or have diabetes run in their family, or just aren't healthy.  Their pancreas would still work if they have a healthy diet and exercise regularly.  They can take pills and aren't insulin dependent like type I.  The average person doesn't know the difference between type I and type II, so there's your lesson for the day.  I always joke and say I'm racist against type II because they give us all a bad name.  I think I'm really just jealous of them, because they have the opportunity to get out of this life.  I don't.  I wish I had that chance.  I always say I am a fan of all diabetics, celebrity or otherwise unless your name is David Carr, Adam Morrison, the Jonas brother with diabetes, or Jay Cutler.  I know their pain.  I know what they go through.  It's a lot of work and you can see it as a person without diabetes but you don't live it.  You have to pay attention to it everyday or you will be sick.  You could get low and potentially have a life threatening seizure, short term effect or run hi and have long term problems like Patrice O'Neal.  He died from a stroke brought on from complications due to diabetes. He didn't take care of himself.  He basically said it wasn't worth it and allowed himself to die at 41.  41. I'm 26 years old now and I have been pretty lazy with taking care of myself.  Patrice O'Neal dying hit me.  It made me realize if I keep living like this, I may not see my 40th birthday.  I may not get there.  It's a reality check.  It motivates me to get healthy again.  I don't want to die at 40.  I want to die an old man...with both legs.  I loved Patrice's comedy and even though he was black I saw myself in him.  We have similar comedic styles and senses of humor.  When he passed, I said to myself that could be me.  I can't let that happen.  This is my request to you.  You guys are my friends.  When I'm around you and I don't cooperate about my diabetes, stay on me.  Be my support system.  Make me check my blood.  Make me count my food.  I have a tendency to get mean about it because I don't like talking about it, I'm surprised I'm writing about it in a public forum, but keep hounding me.  I want to see 41.  I want to see 50.  I want to see 75.  I want to die an old man.  I will add this note, it's expensive too.  The pharmacists are crooks.  They know how much you need insulin, like you literally can't live without it so they charge a ton, even with insurance.   


Quote of the Day: "Life is not over because you have diabetes. Make the most of what you have, be grateful."-Dale Evans