He told me to come back in a months time. (I thought he had gone off his rocker.) He did explain the reason so maybe he was not so crazy, he told me my Diabetes is going to go on Honeymoon. (Do I or Do I not have Diabetes?) He told me that I still had Diabetes but it will go away for awhile and then come back to stay FOREVER!...........
Here is a picture of the Hospital.
After the honeymoon I was admitted to the Rand Clinic. I remember that in my ward was one other Diabetic, whom relatives would come and visit, bringing with them food items, they once bought her Grapes and her next Blood Glucose reading was sky high and the nurses gave her hell for eating so many grapes. Funny things that you remember. Next to me in the ward was a lady that was suffering with depression and kept on crying even in the night. I remember on the first day or so while I was there that I reached to get something off the night stand and fell off the high hospital bed ouch.
I do not recall exact day spans it was 30 years ago but one morning the nurses came in and said now it is time to inject yourself. I don't know why but I had been expecting that I would first practice on an orange or a doll not go straight in. Number one thank you Dr D for not doing that it would have been of no use. I can say that because I just worked out maybe an estimate and not exact because when I started injecting I was not on 4 injections a day but 365 days a year x 4 x 30 = 43.800 times that I have injected myself since then. It feels like way more times actually. Those where the antiquated days of using a vial and a syringe. You had to flick away the air pockets in the syringe with your finger. My night time injection I had to use 2 vials and self mix my medication in my syringe, wow we have advanced. Thank you Nova Nordisk for the disposable pen and many other items you have developed to make life a little less difficult.
I can also remember in the beginning having a blood glucose monitor that came with a smaller strip attachment that you could replace the original with and then take each strip and use another device and a craft knife to cut the test strips in half. That sounds more than crazy now.
My Mum phoned the hospital to talk to me that day and tell me when she would be there to visit and the first thing I said was I have just done my first injection. She sounded a bit shocked, her child was not crying or sounding upset, I actually was quite proud of myself. This was the way it was meant to be, if the nurse had tried to inject me I would have been upset, If my Mother had tried to inject me I would have screamed blue murder, but I did it myself and I was way chuffed. I hear you saying didn't it hurt, to be honest falling off the bed hurt way more.
They had to work out a dosage for me of the insulin and then I was discharged to go home and start my journey as a Diabetic.
Just as a small footnote: This morning I could not remember if I had injected myself, not the first time I have forgot. My family are used to me saying did you see me inject myself. I suppose that it has become as habitual as brushing your teeth you are thinking about other things and you forget. Unfortunately you don't have the minty fresh breath to remind you afterwards. I have often said to Mr.P that there should be a device to tell you when last you injected. I went to collect my insulin from Dr.X today and I was looking at a Diabetic magazine in the waiting room and I found the devise I have been looking for all these years, purely by accident. I need to still do more research as on line you can only buy in pounds and then it needs to be sent to RSA from the UK and our postal service has been on strike for roughly 6 months. This is pure genius and with comments like "the best part about it is the simplicity of it." on their Facebook page. I am definitely going to add this device to my essentials shopping list. Ha just remembered my brother in law is coming out from the UK in December maybe I can get a personal delivery man.
This is their video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxLvbMK2c38
And their Website:
http://www.insulcheck.com/
This is the simple little gadget.
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