Hello!

Hi,
Welcome to my little corner of the internet. Here you can read about my life with diabetes and being a teenager. So a bit about myself, my names Rhona I'm 16 and I live in England. See I could make this really cheesy and go on about everything i enjoy but that would be very boring a similar to everybody elses blog.  So have a diabetes fact file instead because that is way more interesting for you.

DOD(Date of Diagnosis): 28th February 2003
Blood Testing Machine: Accu-Chek Aviva Combo
Pump or pens?:Insulin Pump
Pump: Accu-Chek Spirit
Length on Pump: 3 Years 1month
Lowest Blood Sugar Level: 1.8mmol
Highest Blood Sugar Level: HI (completely off the scale of my meter)
Major complications: None
Hospital Trips: Quite a lot the first couple of years after diagnosis but none for a few years

Okay so the story of my diagnosis. I was six and I only remember bits of it vaguely but I remember the incurable thirst and peeing a lot. So my mum took me to the doctor who took a urine sample but couldn't figure out what was wrong. Which I don't understand as there must have been glucose in it but anyway, my mum says all my cuts got infected. I was a very active child and was always getting cuts and scratches, anyway we ended up in hospital where they figured out quickly what was wrong. Then that same night the diabetic doctor came to visit us and it must have only be about 9pm but i was completely out of it trying to stay awake to find out what was going on. What I do remember is that she said she had a present for me and that she had a backpack for me. I was very confused about whether the backpack was the present or not. They took my blood and I could swear it was 26mmol but I think it was probably higher than that. Anyway it turned out I had diabetes and they started me on insulin pens. By this point they had put me on a drip but they had a medical student do it, I'm sure they are going to be excellent doctors but they need to stop trying not to hurt me. Eventually they got a nurse to do it who grabbed my arm and stuck it in, it didn't hurt but she wasn't worried about whether it hurt or not. So far I haven't met a doctor or student who has managed to get it in my arm first time, the record is seven attempts. Anyway I was stuck on a children's ward filled with babies. Who cry. All night long!

My first injection was fun, I still remember the nurse who did it and if I'm on the ward for things like bloods I will always end up seeing her. I screamed with the first injection but it was a tiny needle so I don't know what the fuss was about. The ones I use now are bigger and I don't have a problem with that. I quickly , well my mum quickly, learnt how to do the injections and off we went!

The first weekend after I was diagnosed my diabetic nurse at the time came to check I was injecting ok and our neighbors front door was open. So she went into their house to find my neighbor cooking breakfast. I don't really remember this being six and all but it still makes me laugh ten years on.
Okay so that's a little bit more about me, the aim is to write every week and we will see how it goes.

Rhona x