Birthday

Today is my 41st birthday. This month also marks 39 years of living with Diabetes. I remember up until the 70's and 80's the medical studies indicated that Type 1 Diabetics on average were expected to live 20 years after diagnosis. I believe it was based on an old study from the 1950's but that 20-year number was still being thrown about as late as the 1980's. I remember in my teenage years up until I turned 22 (20 years of living with Diabetes for me) thinking oh my God I only have a few more good years left. Then I hit 25-years with Diabetes and 30 and 35. Now here I am at almost 40 years with Diabetes and little to no complications. So I have now lived almost twice as long with Diabetes than the average Diabetic was expected to in those mid-20th Century studies. Of course science and medicine have come a long way in the past 30 years. But it's amazing thinking back on some of the scare tactics (for lack of a better phrase) that were generated by the medical community.