It was Christmas eve, 1981. An evening that is usually spent celebrating with family and friends. But this year was different. Little 5 year old me was drinking and peeing a lot. Enough for my parents to take notice and be concerned. Back then there were no BG meters available for home use so the way to test one’s BG was via urine strips. Since my father was a type 1 diabetic himself, we had those in the house. They tested me using those strips and the result was very dark. Dark meaning there was sugar in my urine. My father called his own endocrinologist and he recommended that my parents take me to the hospital and so we went, leaving my poor twin sister with family on Christmas eve. It was confirmed once at the hospital that my BG was elevated – I believe around 300 mg/dL or so and I was admitted. I was in the hospital for about 2 weeks, spending time at two different hospitals. I transferred to another after my parents picked a pediatric endo for me to be under the care of. I was very fortunate in that I didn’t go undiagnosed for long at all. I wasn’t even sick yet. My parents knew the symptoms well and recognized them very quickly.
That was it. My life as a diabetic began. And I don’t remember what that life changing event felt like. I really only remember life with diabetes.
Please note that much of this is not based on my own recollection but that of my mother and father’s over the years.
The Girl with the Portable Pancreas 
Hi Stacey… just came across your blog after seeing a reply you posted on SixUntilMe. I enjoy reading what you write about and will definitely keep following your blog! I think we come from a similar situation… I was also diagnosed in 1981 and have been on the pump for the past five years. (But for me, no history of D in the family, except for – I think – a great-grandmother, but how would they have known? Also, no twin.). Look forward to reading more!
Thanks so much for coming by Scott! Really appreciate your feeback 🙂
wow, I am so sorry. Your blog is awesome. It made me see that I am not alone!!!!!!!!!
Glad you found it Patty! Thank you so much 🙂
So glad to come across your blog. It is interesting the diagnosis process when you already have a diabetic in the house. My son was diagnosed last summer. My husband is Type 1 and we were able to test him ourselves when the drinking and peeing became obvious. Our hearts dropped when the meter did not display a number, but just said “High”. Right to the ER we went. The real number was 800+.
Look forward to following your blog in the future.
Thanks for following! 🙂
Upsetting to read that it happened on Christmas eve. But good that you were diagnosed on time. The doctor I consulted could not diagnose me and my condition just worsened. My bg was 512 and ketones 4+ when I was diagnosed. There’s no type 1 history in my family. I have just started blogging. It’s nice to see type 1 bloggers here. Nice blog 🙂