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My Journey
God had a plan for me even before He knitted me in my mother’s womb. He knew I would develop diabetes and would use it for His purpose. He knew my mum would be in heaven all too soon from devastating diabetes related health complications, He knew that 3 years after mum went that my dad would develop diabetes aged 83. He knew I wouldn’t be nursing clinically but would keep my hand in the field, perfect for a moment like this. He knew my heart posture would be toward my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who desperately need His words of love, guidance and encouragement in their walk with diabetes. He knew all of these things, and that He would make them all work together for my good, and for yours too.
He is a God of love and redemption.
In 2022, I was diagnosed with diabetes after developing the classic symptoms of fatigue, blurred vision, unquenchable thirst and constant trips to the loo.
Having a healthcare background, albeit mostly non-clinical administrative roles, I knew what these symptoms pointed to. I went to my GP and asked him to check my blood sugar level explaining my mother had Type 1 diabetes, my most recent HbA1c was perfectly non-diabetic and what my symptoms were. The blood sugar meter maxed out and read HIGH, which on most meters means above 33 mmol/L (600mg/dL). We both knew what that meant. I was on my way to hospital straight away. With a recently perfect HbA1c, it wasn’t type 2, it could only be type 1 autoimmune diabetes.
You may know that feeling of already knowing the answer before anyone says it out loud.
Blood tests confirmed autoantibodies. Type 1 is diagnosed at a level of 2 or above, and mine were over 200. I had been recovering from a nasty virus, and as the research suggests, it had triggered an autoimmune attack on the insulin-producing cells in my pancreas. I started on fast-acting and slow-acting insulin that day and was discharged from hospital the following morning.
I had experienced gestational diabetes during my first pregnancy and managed it with insulin. Together with my nursing foundation and my mum’s experience, that meant much of the practical information was already familiar.
I knew what to do, and at first I believed resilience would carry me through. Later, I learnt that knowledge does not remove the emotional and mental workload of diabetes. Even when you understand the condition at a higher level, living with constant decisions can become exhausting.
My mum's story – same but different
My mum was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes before I started my nursing degree, so my diabetes radar was up in my late teens and stayed up through my twenties and thirties. Type 1 only entered the picture when my mum developed cancer, and the run of blood tests that followed revealed antibodies. She was reclassified as having had Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adulthood (LADA), the slower developing form of type 1. By then, she had been on short acting and long acting insulin for years, and tolbutamide before that.
My mum also had scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. That lead to significant pain and reduced mobility and movement, disrupted sleep and other health pressures made her diabetes increasingly difficult to manage. She developed insulin resistance alongside autoimmune diabetes, a combination sometimes informally described as “double diabetes”.
Over time, blood sugar levels that remain above a person’s individual target can increase the likelihood of complications affecting areas such as the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart and blood vessels. Mum experienced several serious health problems, and watching her become increasingly unwell had a profound effect on me.
It is one reason I care so deeply about helping people receive useful information and appropriate support. It is important to know that your risk factors do not define what comes next. Treatment, regular screening and achievable improvements can all make a meaningful difference to health outcomes.
If you have watched someone you love go through anything close to that, you will know why I write about this the way I do. My writing and resources are for those with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, some info is not applicable to the other, but mostly, the information is compatible for both and I'll say so if it's not the case.
My dad’s diabetes story
Pa, my step-dad has been my Dad since I was five. He’s a sprightly eighty-three. He's sharp, funny and stubborn in all the good ways, and he hadn't had a blood test in nearly two years. He was in good health and had no particular reason to see the doctor.
Then the clinic rang. He was overdue for a routine catch-up, so would he come in for a blood pressure check and some bloods. He went in, saw the nurse, had the blood drawn and went home.
He wasn’t sitting waiting for results. He’d got on with life and more or less forgotten the appointment. Then a text landed: "Your blood test shows you have developed diabetes / high blood sugar. We have started you on metformin, 1 tablet daily. Script sent to pharmacy".
His wife, my mum, had died of diabetes-related complications three years earlier. You can imagine where his mind went.
There’s a difference between a result you’re braced for and one that arrives when you’d stopped thinking about it. Pa found out he had type 2 out of the blue, from a text he wasn’t expecting, with nobody there to talk it through. Calling him in was important, and it caught something that could have gone unnoticed. It was the way the diagnosis landed that was hard: unexpected, by text and with nobody present to talk it through.
Life on the homestead means a variety of tasks to include espalier fruit tree training to shifting my friendly cows between paddocks, collecting firewood to name a few. Managing my blood sugar when moving about is easier with
a continuous glucose meter and mentos mini's in my pocket.