Feature Friday: Timothy & Family!

Welcome to Feature Friday!

This week I wanted to feature someone who is thriving with his family by his side. I know you will enjoy this story as I have and understand that denial can turn into self-acceptance and love! Timothy has been a realtor for 13 years, has been married for 20, and is the father to 4 beautiful children who motivate him to be healthy. As a Type 1 Diabetic, he has overcome being misdiagnosed twice and learned a lot along his journey! Enjoy…

Your children and Diabetes:

Since my 5 year old is with me a lot, I taught him how to dial 911. If he’s not able to wake me for any reason. We practice often. My older kids will probably just let me die.

His Diagnosis story:

In 2012 I was diagnosed pre-diabetic. I was sure that I could exercise and eat better to cure myself. This process started working for a while, then I became complacent over the years and put diabetes out of my mind. I was cured, at least that is what I told myself. In 2016 I began to feel extremely tired,moody, thirsty, waking up to pee every hour at night, and peeing every hour during the day. I thought I could fix all this on my own by eating better and running more. I noticed I had swelling on my index finger on my right hand. However, I thought maybe I scratched it during yard work or camping with our youth group.

After 2 weeks, my finger was very sensitive to touch and now had a white milky substance near the fingernail. I decided to go to a nearby urgent care office. After the doctor looked at my finger, he decided to check my A1C. It was 14.8, basically a 15! After he drained my finger, he wanted me to go to the emergency room that night. I refused with the promise that I would see a doctor the next day. I found a family doctor that would see me the same day. He saw me for all of 5 minutes then referred me to a diabetes specialist, who diagnosed me with type 2 diabetes.

About a week later, his nurse called to tell me to stop taking the Metformin and the prescribed insulin for T2D, because I had T1D! I was devastated and it drove me to denial for a long while. ED became the embarrassing symptom around 2019 that finally motivated me to get help with T1D. I now have an amazing and caring doctor that’s helping me live and “thrive” with this evil disease. April 2021, will be one year taking insulin. 

Initial Thoughts:

For what I knew about T2D, I was confident I could overcome it with diet and exercise. When I learned I had T1D, I was devastated that it changed to denial. Over the past 9 months taking insulin, I’ve had ups and downs emotionally, questioning “why me” often.

Diabetic tip/trick:

My tip is to keep learning by joining T1D focus groups and following on social media, amazing people that are “thriving” with T1D for years, and learning their tips and tricks. One of them is to keep glucose tablets or something sugary around just in case your blood sugar drops below 70. I learned this the hard way. 

Share what the word thrive means to you:

 To keep positive. To keep getting better at it. Not given up, even during the days I don’t feel my best. 

What helps you thrive with diabetes?

My family, especially my very active 5 year old. I have a strong desire to be healthy and around as he continues to grow. I have noticed exercising and eating healthy plays a positive role with my numbers. I really enjoy running!

Words of encouragement or hope:

We all can “thrive” with T1D! I’m a witness!