4/17/14 - I don't want to die in a bathroom stall!

I'm Rae. I was diagnosed last Monday with type 2 diabetes. I knew it was coming sooner or later - My mom had it, my dad had it, my older sister has it, I'm overweight, and I had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy so it was just a waiting game to see when it showed up. I don't like it but it happened. Now I have to change. Change my diet, change my exercise (or current lack thereof), change my shopping habits. Change is not fun.

Changing my food should be easy enough, I know what I should and shouldn't eat and how much. They trained me for that with gestational and now with this new diagnosis. It is a matter of the willpower to do it. I'm a stress eater, and I don't know any mom these days without stress. I may have an extra helping though it seems. My 8 yr old daughter, while smart, beautiful, and funny, she's also been diagnosed with ADD (attention deficit disorder - inattentive type) , OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), Anxiety, TS (Tourette's Syndrome), and mild SPD (sensory processing disorder). I call it the alphabet of issues. Not easy. Then my almost 18 mo old son, his adorable happy self was diagnosed at birth with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot (AKA Blue Baby Syndrome) so for the 1st 4 months of his life he could have turned blue at any time. He had open heart surgery at 4 months old and is fine now but may need surgery in his teen years. In addition to that diagnosis, it comes along with some other fun stuff - developmental delays. So now my lil man is in speech therapy and physical therapy. Thankfully my husband is pretty healthy, and for my stress level, he better stay that way ;-) (for his sake too of course haha).

I wish I could say based on family history all will be well so I shouldn't worry about any of this, but I do. Thankfully my older sister is fine and controls her diabetes with diet and meds. However, my parents are a different story. My mom's heart gave out in 2010. Her co-workers realized she was missing and went to find her and saw her arm dangling down in the bathroom stall and called 911. They couldn't get her back and the doctors said her heart just gave out, no heart attack, it just stopped. She had high cholesterol and high blood pressure, both of which can easily coincide with diabetes. My dad passed a year later from Alzheimer's and he also had blood pressure and cholesterol issues.

I don't want to die in a bathroom stall, so change is going to happen. I realize that is morbid and scary to think about, but it is reality and I don't sugar coat anything. I have many years left on this planet, God willing, and want to see my babies have babies and maybe even their babies. I want to grow old and grey with my hubby and he the crazy cat lady down the street where he and I sit on the porch in our rocking chairs and talk about the good old times. So this is just the beginning.

I hope this blog can be a way for me to share and maybe vent about all the stuff that will be happening related to my diagnosis but also stuff related to my family and kids and all their own medical/neurological/psychological issues.