So I entitled my blog "A Simple View" because I am a simple person, and I do not think that I have complicated views of the world.  I also do not have just one subject that I am keen on writing about on a regular basis. So it's a struggle.  There are so many times when I have thoughts about something and I think to myself, "Oh, I need to write about this", but then I don't get around to it.  So I am at a point in my life where I think that I can start prioritizing things so that I have more time to organize my thoughts and ideas and start blogging on a more regular basis.  I really do hope this is the case.

Right now, my main issue going on is my health.  I am a stay at home mom, with four kids, three of which are teenagers and are starting to have busy lives with some extra classes and jobs and so forth, so a lot my time is driving people around taking them where they need to go and picking them up.  Unfortunately, due to circumstances I am driving around in a vehicle that does not have air conditioning and only one of the windows rolls all the way down and the Kansas heat is really getting to me. 

I am diabetic.  I am also uninsured.  So this is where my opinions come into play.  I have one very major opinion about diabetes right now and that is that there is not enough education out there that is informative enough to make people care about the fact that type 2 diabetes IS preventable. Which I am sure a lot, if not most, people know that fact, they don't have enough information to care about preventing it.  They don't know unless they live with someone who has it, how devastating living with type 2 diabetes can be. 

So I am going to tell you a little bit of my story and how it has affected my life. 

The first time I had diabetes, it was gestational with my last son.  However, I think that I should have probably have been diagnosed with at least my last three pregnancies with gestational diabetes.  Once you are diagnosed with it, you get thrown into all the classes and are given so much information that it can be very overwhelming, especially when you are pregnant.  Once you have gestational diabetes, you have a much higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years. 

There is all kinds of information out there, but most people don't look at it until it is too late. Diabetes can develop without you knowing and you can actually have it for awhile before it gets diagnosed.

So my experience definitely isn't a worst case, but it hasn't been easy.    At first, I was exhausted all of the time.  We are not just talking tired like a little bit, I am saying that staying awake was almost impossible.  I was so fatigued and sleepy that my body hurt.  I couldn't understand what was wrong with me.  I was unable to really function in life because I was just too tired to do anything half of the time.  It made for being a lousy parent and wife and homemaker. 

After I was diagnosed, I was immediately put on a drug called Metformin.  Metformin is the go-to drug because it is inexpensive and it does work.  However, the side effects can be less than pleasant as it can cause all kinds of gastrointestinal issues, cramping, diarrhea etc. 

So while dealing with the fatigue and trying to get my blood sugar under control with Metformin at first which is still hard, because as much as they stress the importance of diet, you really have to start getting to know what affects your sugar.  And I was, and still am kind of horrible at it.  They recommend that you keep a food journal, which I would try to do, but let's admit it, as busy moms, sometimes keeping up with eating at all is almost too much, let alone writing it all down.

Then the foot stuff started happening.  At first, my feet just seemed to be extra sensitive.  The sheets irritated my toes.  Then my toes started feeling just kind of weird, kind of numb, kind of tingling, or somewhere in between.  After a while, it went from that to pain.  Then it started to spread from my toes to my feet.  There would be days where the pain in my feet would be unbearable.  Or sometimes my feet would feel like they were so cold that they were burning, but if I touched them, they felt fine. This is called neuropathy.  It can start in your feet, it can start in your hands.  This is external neuropathy, but you can also get internal neuropathy that affects other things.

Internal neuropathy can affect how your body regulates its temperature. Me, I can NOT be hot.  I feel so sorry for my family because I have to keep it pretty cool or cold.  I sweat, badly, it is really embarrassing.  When I get hot, my blood sugar goes up and then I get really tired. 

Internal neuropathy can also cause other issues, such as incontinence.  I am not going to go there, but it can happen. 

Your immune system gets compromised and therefore you can be sick a lot.  I catch everything that comes my way, and then it takes a long time to fight it off.  When we were living in the house that ended up having mold and everyone in the family got pneumonia?  I ended up getting septic pneumonia and had to stay in the hospital for 5 days because I was so sick and then it took months to recover, almost 6. 

These are just some of the things that I have dealt with over the last 5 to 6 years.  There are other ways that diabetes can affect you.  It messes with your head, it can cause depression, or make depression worse because if you feel awful all the time and you cannot function like a normal person you can end up berating yourself, feeling guilty, feeling worthless, just to name a few of the emotions it can bring on.  But for those of us who are trying to be Godly women and follow Christ, at least for me, it is extra hard.  Because it is hard to walk a loving and Godly walk when you feel like crap.  I am just being honest.  And there were and still are days when I am on my knees pleading with Him because I feel so miserable physically that I am emotionally drained.  I cling to Him in my mind and my heart.  I cling to my verses. 

So, this is just a little bit of what life is like for me as a diabetic.  I don't want to be the person who has diabetes defining their life.  So I have decided to change that.  I have decided to take control no matter what.  I have decided to put my health first, so that I can be the mom and the wife that I want to be and that my family deserves.  It's going to be a struggle. But at this point in my life, and at this age with new understanding that the 40s bring, I believe that I am ready to do this. 

So here I am.  This is me.  Hopefully, this journey will continue and I can move forward and get healthy!!! I'm looking forward to it.