My First Week with Diabetes, and the Price of Insulin

When I was 12 years old, I started having this feeling.  I had to pee a lot and I became more and more thirsty as days went on.  This was right around the time that Surge came out.  I remember because I was on a field trip to Bellewood Lanes with my sixth grade class.  I remember trying Surge for the first time.  I was hooked like many other kids of my generation.  My love affair with the drink wouldn't last long.  I remember feeling pretty weak that day at the bowling alley.  I remember contributing it to fatigue, because I was a pretty active kid.  I know most of you find that hard to believe, but yeah I threw it down back then.  I was on a basketball team at the time.  I somehow was a starter which makes no sense to me but I am sure I was just as beastly then as I am now.  The Blackout is coming in March people.  Fear It.  Anyway, this isn't about my wonderful skills in basketball or my love of Surge.  As the week went on I began to get more and more thirsty.  I remember my mom saying, "David, you may have diabetes."  I ignored her and she didn't force me to get checked out, mostly because she knew I wasn't ready for the news.  Diabetes.  That word just sounds scary to a sixth grader.  The only thing I ever heard about diabetes back then was people getting their legs amputated, being confined to a wheelchair, and old people dying from it.  Of course me, a 12 year old, couldn't have it.  

Me on the far right, around the age of 12, maybe 13.  I am terrible at the guess your age game.  I could never work at King's Island. Yes I am the one wearing the nWo Wolfpac shirt.

Days went by, and I began going to the bathroom more and more frequently.  I began getting weaker and weaker.  My tongue began drying up if I didn't have a drink on me at all times.  The amazing thing is, I still went to school.

The Moment of Truth

I believe it was a Thursday night; I could be wrong about the day but I remember this happening.  I was sitting downstairs watching television and I could barely keep my eyes open.  I was too weak to walk normally.  My sisters were trying to make me feel better so they invited me to play my favorite game on Sega Genesis.  My favorite game to play was NBA Live 95.  Hands down.  The game was ahead of its time, giving Dennis Rodman dyed hair on the Spurs. 

The year was 1997 though so the game was getting old to me.  Around the time of this story, my favorite game was TinyToon All Stars.  It was a game that had multiple sports you could play using the TinyToon characters.  I remember there being bowling and soccer.  I can't think of the other sport.  I'm not going to Google it and cheat either.  Speaking of Google, they are getting on my nerves lately.  I will leave it at that.  Okay I just looked up the case and I discovered it was basketball.  That is the sport I somehow forgot even though, besides diabetes, basketball is the biggest topic in this blog.

I was playing the game with my sister, but I remember being so weak, I couldn't push the button on the controller.  I remember falling asleep with the controller in my hand.  I woke up all through the night, having to urinate and drink.  It was terrible.  I still somehow willed myself to school.  My mother was a teacher at the school so I guess it wasn't that scary that I went in.  When I woke up, I remember running immediately downstairs to the water faucet and peeling an entire layer of skin from my tongue and splashing water into my mouth.  I still have no idea how I went to school.  I literally lasted 15 minutes until I went to my mother's room and told her I had to leave.  She took me to the teacher's lounge and bought me a drink and had my aunt pick me up.  She drove me to her place where she basically torchered me because she wouldn't allow me to drink anything but liquid jello every half hour.  I needed more drink than that.  I laid helpless waiting for my mother to pick me up and take me to the doctor.  Time went by so slow, and I was extremely dehydrated.  I almost passed out several times, but I willed myself to stay awake.  I began thinking if I fell asleep I may not awake.  3:30 could not come soon enough.  My mom picked me up and drove me to the doctor.  We stopped at a market near the office so I could drink a large slushee.  I drank the entire thing in less than two minutes.  The rest of my memories occur in flashes.  I remember sitting in the doctor's office, and the nurse pricking my finger.  I remember the decorations and the wallpaper.  The room seemed to be for patients around 2 years old.  I remember the paper you sit on at the doctor's making noises as I moved around nervously.  I remember then the doctor looking at the monitor.  "David," he said, "your life is going to change.  You have diabetes."  I, in that moment, thought my life was over. I began crying.  I still to this day, have never cried so much and so uncontrollably as I did on that day.  The doctor explained to my mom that my blood sugar was too high to register on their in-office monitor and I needed to go to the hospital immediately.  I then remember waiting to leave while my mother gathered information from the doctor.  I vomited up the blue slushee.

I then remember going to the hospital and my little sister playing with me in the wheel chair while my parents handled the insurance stuff and registration.  I remember her singing and pushing me up and down the hallways.  I remember after that doctors saying they have no idea how I wasn't in a coma as my blood sugar was over 1,000 (that is unheard of).  That is the last I remember of that day.  I remember leaving, and having to eat at scheduled times and having measured out food and being overwhelmed.  I remember meetings with dietitians, and the scary first time shopping and having to look at nutrition facts and carbohydrates.  I remember learning about the pancreas and the difference in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.  I remember my basketball team throwing a welcome back David celebration after a game.  I remember Diet Red Cream soda and Diet Faygo Orange.  I remember being really scared but thinking I was cool to be able to eat snacks in school.  

Fast Forward to Now

Nowadays, technology allows me to not have to eat on a set schedule.  I no longer take shots.  I now wear an insulin pump which gives me insulin throughout the day and I program in my meals.  Type 1 diabetics are insulin dependent which is why I am unable to take pills or diet to get better.  I have had my ups and downs, including passing out twice to low blood sugars but I am working on improving. 

Why Bring All Of This Up?

The reason I bring all of this up is because of how much debt this disease puts me in.  My insulin costs about $119.00 a month with insurance.  I also pay over $1,000 for a 3 month supply of equipment per month, not to mention the medical bills.  I get no relief for anything.  I was starting to think of how ridiculous it is that I pay so much money just to live.  Something is not right in the process.  How much money do the makers of insulin receive?  I mean, it's kind of a monopoly.  I can not live without it, literally.  They could charge a million a pop for it and I'd still have to pay.  Why can't their be some relief?  Do you blame the doctors? The insurance?  Who to blame?  I never complain about having diabetes.  In fact I usually hide it from others.  I don't want to be a burden on them.  I thought I received the worst news of my life when I was 12 years old. Little did I know that not only I would be affected physically and emotionally, but also severely financially.  Nothing I do gets me ahead. My life will forever be filled with payment plans.  I just plead that whoever is being greedy about the price of this stuff, would they please lower the price?