Hello World and welcome to my diabetes diagnosis story.

Preface: Part of my bachelors degree in Tourism and Travel Management was an internship abroad which I spend on the Island of Majorca. I returned to Germany at the end of February 2011 and after my return got sick with a very bad cold. In retrospect that’s probably the time my immune system went crazy and my beta cells stoped working and therefore my diabetes story began. But it would take me two more months to find out.

I remember that one day: some details are very fuzzy after 10 years but others are weirdly burnt in my memory. It was late March or early April 2011. A pretty warm spring day. I had to go to university for a block lecture in accounting or human resources. Since the start time of the lecture matched with taking the express train I took the train that day. Taking the express train meant a journey of less than 1 hour from my front door to the lecture hall. And during that 1 hour trip I had already drunk more than half of my 1 Liter water bottle. Which was very odd because I am really, really, really bad at drinking enough, let alone enough water. I remember being so thirsty that day it made me buy another 1.5 l water bottle during the lecture break. This was in addition to the diet coke and coffee I usually drank. I also remember emptying just the last drops of said bootle when arriving at home that afternoon. My mum was in the courtyard working on something and I remember standing in the sun and telling her that I just had to buy another bottle of water that day and that I hoped my body would finally give me normal drinking signals. Until that day it wasn’t unusual for me to sometimes drink less than 0.5 liters in a day.

The next thing that’s partly fuzzy and partly burned in my memory is my second trip to London in the second half of April. After having had an extraordinary great trip to London in 2010 my friend and I were super excited to spend our easter holiday again in this great city. A big part of my Memories from this trip I only ‘remember’ from all the photos we took. What I remember vividly is something that’s super obvious now but to us absolutely wasn’t at the time.
I remember having to pee all the time. And by all the time I mean ALL THE TIME. Going to the bathroom before leaving the hotel only to already search for the next city loo after stepping off the bus 20 minutes later. Thinking about using the toilet twice before leaving those city loos because after washing my hands I was pretty much ready to go again. Making a deal with the security guard at Westminster Abbey to let me in after I returned from a trip to the toilet on the other side of the street while my friend was already let in. 

• I remember my mouth being so dry I had already drunk my water bottle during that before mentioned bus ride.
• I remember craving Fanta instead of diet coke and craving sweet fruits and chocolate.
• I also remember being tired all the time and struggling to start the day or to keep my eyes open.
• I remember my friend asking me if I was okay in the middle of the night because my legs were cramping so terribly that she too woke up. And I remember the pain those cramps caused me while walking around the city the next day.

I also remember explaining it all away:

• Drinking a lot: the weather was super warm for an easter weekend
• Peeing a lot: well, I did drink a lot… so that’s pretty natural
• Being tired/craving sweets: we were on a city trip, we were walking a lot and I was being much more active than at home, of course my body needed more fuel
• Leg cramps: walking a lot must be terrible on my muscles…

Late on Easter Monday we went back to the airport to spend the night there because our flight was leaving very early the next morning and being students meant not paying for a hotel room when you only use it half the night. I didn’t sleep much that night because I was too afraid someone would take our stuff. So when I arrived back home that Tuesday morning I had a shower and went to sleep for the day. After a few hours my sleep was interrupted by a recurring radiating pain in my chest. It came and went similar to a hickup. I remember going to the supermarket early that evening with my mum to choose what I would like to eat for dinner and I remember enjoying my last “Amerikaner” (sort of a black and white cookie) without thinking about it’s sugary icing and all the carbs. Later that night the chest pain still kept coming and since there’s a history of heart diseases on both sides of my family my mum took me to the ER.

The lady at the registration was not pleased. I wasn’t bleeding or otherwise in visible pain and therefore she was convinced I should visit the on-call doctor in our village instead of being at the ER. I totally understand that there are a lot of cases where people spam the ER with non-emergencies and understand why these cases should be turned away – since I ended up in the ICU an hour later, THIS was not one of those cases. My mum had a gut feeling about what was wrong with me that night and therefore unleashed mama bear. She told them there was no way we were leaving without a doctor looking at me. She was so determined the lady now just waved me through to the doctor. 

I remember them taking some blood for testing and doing ultrasound on my whole body. Since I had been on a plane that day the doctor wanted to check my veins for blood clots. I remember having that sticky gel from the ultrasound on my legs and arms and everywhere and I remember someone consulting with the doctor about a test. A test that they had to do a second time because the machine didn’t give them a result. Shortly after they told me I had to be taken to the ICU. They put me in a wheelchair and brought me to my bed for the next 3 days. I remember protesting that I am well able to just walk to the ICU but they insisted on the wheelchair and I gave in because I was just too tired. 

This is me in London. My pale face in this picture reminds me a lot of my grandma.

My blood glucose that night was over 700 mg/dl, I had an acidosis and a great number of  ketones in my urine. I was lucky I did not slip into a diabetic coma. I know others have with way lover numbers. They hooked me up on a lot of tubes. I remember that they gave me insulin as well as glucose to slowly bring my blood glucose back to normal and I remember someone pricking my finger or ear every few hours to check it was working. The next two days are mostly lost to me. The next day that I can remember clearly after all of this was Thursday. The day I took my first shot of insulin by myself. I remember when the nurse that took care of me told me it’s time to do so and that I can do it. He himself has diabetes too and therefore knew exactly what he was talking about and brought a lot of personal experience in teaching me. I remember thinking: just do it the way you did with your grandma and just don’t think about it being your own belly. My grandma let me help testing her blood glucose or giving her shots while I was still a child. She involved me in managing her disease and explained stuff to me instead of keeping me out of it. And to this day I am very grateful for that.  I was lucky that the first shot I took myself did not hurt.

I remember getting off the ICU on Friday. The day Prince William married Kate. And I remember being annoyed that I missed their vows on TV because of being relocated. But with the relocation came the perks: I could welcome visitors. I remember my friends and family visiting me and making that weekend in hospital less boring. I was released from the hospital the next Tuesday. In the Afternoon. With just the bare necessities for taking care of my new normal. I remember going straight from the hospital to my GP to get all the prescriptions. 

I remember how between an Easter vacation and a hospitalisation my whole life changed.

But on April, 26 I mostly remember not dying. 

As terrible and life changing that day in 2011 was – it still is the day my family and I found out what was wrong with me and that gave me a second chance. And for that reason I believe in celebrating Diaversarries!

Have a good day today!

xoxo Kara