Mountain Lions International

I met a man through my factory work that was interested in music as I was. We became friends and started "jamming" together. November of 1999 was the first practice. Members were from Sierra Leone West Africa, the Philippines and the United States. In early 2000 Mountain Lions International was formed.

This experience would prove to be very enjoyable and also pose difficult problems because of my diabetes.

Back To School

It did not take long to realize that I did not want to work in a factory for the rest of my life. So in the Fall of 2000 I went back to school.

I have always had trouble keeping a regular schedule. (managing my diabetes by the seat of my pants) A regular schedule is important to maintain normal blood sugar.

So I would go to school in the morning come home in the afternoon sleep for about four hours in the early evening and be at work for an 8 hour shift starting at 10pm. I only did that for about a month. That would have killed me if I kept that up for very long.

It was a two year school that I was attending. I commuted. One hour worth of driving everyday.

Entering The Workforce

I finished a year of college and dropped out halfway through the next semester. I had failed and I fell into a deep depression because of it. A friend of mine had gotten a job through an employment agency so I figured I could do the same thing. So in April of 1999 I got my first assignment. The job was not too physically taxing but I was working third shift and it messed my schedule up. I was having many low blood sugars. When they became too intense I asked to be moved to a new location and a different shift.

I was now working second shift. I still had problems. One night driving home from work. I could not figure out where my home was. I felt a low blood sugar coming on and grabbed a candybar before I left but it did not help. I drove around the block a few times and barely made it home.

It was a rough time in my life but at least I had some money.

The Evolution of Insulin

There have been many changes in types of insulin and delivery systems. I have had four different combinations of insulin and two different options of delivery. First it was Regular insulin combined with NPH. NPH lasted longer than the regular and had an extra substance in it. You had to gently roll the vial to mix the solution before you injected it. You could mix the two insulins together in one shot. It lasted maybe half a day.

After that was regular insulin and something called lente. Then came humalog and lantus. Now I take novalog and lantus. Each change came with longer lasting long term and quicker acting shorter lasting short term.

In the beginning everything was delivered with a syringe. Now both my insulins can be taken with a pre filled cartridge or "pen". I keep one as a pen and the other with syringe. Over the years I stock piled on syringes so I figured it was a good idea to keep that option open.

I haven't thought too seriously about the pump.

I expect the type of insulin I take and the way I take it will change again and again as time goes by. I would also expect longer lasting insulin. In fact I saw somewhere that longer insulin is already being talked about.

Had An Incident The Other Day

I got home late Friday evening. I felt my blood sugar was high so I took a dose of insulin. I needed to be up early in the morning because I was going to an event where I would be physically active all day. So I was awaken before the alarm I was sweating profusely and was feeling strange. Because I was semi conscious I decided to fight the low blood sugar. I fell back asleep. The alarm went off at 7:30. I got up and was still low. Was able to get sugar in me without further incident. I made it through the rest of the day and had a good time.



This was a mistake I could have had my day ruined. Even after 15 years of experience I still make mistakes. I should have gotten up immediately. I got lucky.

Near Death Experience

After my first semester at college I came home and met up with my high school friends. Went to a party on New Years Eve and got very drunk. I did some things that I may never live down. I had a hangover that lasted nearly a week.

This experience should have told me to be careful with alcohol. It did not.

My school had a winter semester. It was one month long. The college that I went to was about five miles out of town and in the middle of a corn field. You drive by a bunch of farms and then there is a college surrounded by cornfields. One friday it snowed and classes were cancelled for the day. I lived on campus but there was enough commuters to cancell the classes.

So to celebrate a friend and I got a bottle of liquor. We drank it one shot glass at a time. We didn't quite finish the bottle but we were pretty close. Then we went to a fraternity house to drink more. After that I don't remember. I was taken back to my room. I woke up with my sheets and clothing covered in vomit.

I stayed in my room the rest of the weekend. I couldn't eat. I would drink a little water and then puke it up into a bucket. I remember walking to the bathroom to urinate which was maybe 20 paces away from my room. I put my hand on the wall and I could feel my own heartbeat and I was having trouble breathing.

Monday I didn't go to class. My roommate came back from class saw that I didn't go and that I wasn't getting any better. He took me to the nurse. It was just a short walk from our room to where the nurse was but I needed all the help I could get from him to get there. Soon after I was inspected by the nurse I was taken to the emergency room via ambulance.

I spent five days in the hospital. It turned out that even though I was throwing up everything that I put into my mouth. My blood sugar was still high. My blood sugar reading was 1200. By the way a norml reading is between 80 and 120. My pulse rate was 200. And my blood pressure was extremely low. I went to the nurse without a minute to spare.

Missing a week of class during the winter term was equal to missing a month in a regular semester. I did a couple of things to make it up and I think the professor took it easy on me. He gave me a D in the class.

I had bad heartburn for at least a month after the experience. Swallowing was extremely painful.

This experience definitely should have told me to be more careful with alcohol. It did not.

The College Years

I graduated high school in June of 1997 and I was glad the worst years of my life were finally over. I went to a private college in Sheboygan WI. This was the first time on my own. The first few months I shined. I was doing well in my classes and my blood sugar was under control.

So for three months I did very well. My major was computer science so I got a job working in the computer lab.

In 1998 I didn't do very well I learned how to party. I gained more friends and I joined a fraternity. So I spent most of my time drinking versus studying. I passed my classes but just barely.

Wisdom Teeth Removal

I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed.(I am still as wise as I ever was) They were impacted and the way that they were coming in threatened the work that was done to straighten my teeth four years prior.

Normally when someone has their wisdom teeth removed they go to the dentist office and he or she puts you under with gas and you go home shortly after the procedure is done.

Well not for me. I went to the hospital they wanted to monitor me more closely to make sure my sugar level was just right.

And I wasn't allowed to go home until I was able to eat something. When surgery was finished and I became conscious again they put food in front of me. I really wanted to go home. With all my might I force the food into my mouth and swallowed as much as I could. I remember the nurse coming by to check on my progress and I was hoping that I had done just enough to go home. "You have to finish everything on your tray."

Shortly after that everything that went in came back up. I definitely was not going home. They kept me over night.

I was given injections to combat the nausea and bouts of pain. My blood sugar was also checked on a regular basis.

The next day I was able to eat a little more and they let me go home.

It is very difficult situation if you have diabetes and are not able to eat.

Check Blood Sugar

In the beginning checking blood sugar was very interesting. I checked every chance I got and wrote it down in a book. As time went by it became less interesting. Maybe I would check, but I wouldn't write it down. Now fifteen years into it if I don't have testing strips it's not a big deal. It should be a big deal and I need to change my attitute about this.

A New Hobby

I needed somehting to keep my mind off troubling things. I "played" the alto saxaphone all through school but I had little interest for the instrument. What happened was me and a couple of friends witnessed a "show" where kids our age were putting on a performance. It was punk rock music. So friends of mine that were in the school band decided to become a rock band. We had to get new instruments. It would be very difficult to play rock music with a couple of saxaphones and a trombone.

My new instrument was the bass guitar. Because of my recent struggles it wasn't difficult to convince my parents that this is what I needed in my life.

So August of 1996 i began playing the bass guitar.

The Great Weight Gain

I had lost 25 lbs the summer of 1995. I was not very big to begin with I went from 150 - 125. I was involved in sports football, wrestling, and baseball. Keeping weight in wrestling was always something difficult to do. So I was happy when the coach told me not to worry about my weight. Where ever I was at was where I was at.

The doctors put me on a 3000+ calorie diet to gain back the weight that I had lost. I would eat a meal and after the meal I would drink a shake. Perhaps I was on this diet for a little too long. I was eating more food than ever and I also put myself on a muscle training program.

September of 1995 I weighed 125: September of 1996 I weighed 185. 60lbs in one year. It was a definite help for the football season. And it was the most I ever weighed in my life.

Acceptance Difficulties

The first few months on insulin I was able to keep my blood sugar under control. During those months I was also lashing out. I envied the people who had diabetes earlier in their lives. I had sixteen years as a non diabetic and I had trouble coping with this new reality. I got into trouble at school and was having difficulty dealing with my parents. I wanted to go out and do different things and they (especially my mom) wasn't allowing me for fear I would have blood sugar problems. The first year as a diabetic was difficult for me. I had the regular teenage angst along with problems coping with my diabetes.

I'm glad that time has long since past.

The first day

I remember the doctor telling me that I have diabetes. I was confused. I really didn't know what diabetes was and I figured it was a really bad thing.

I remembered a student in my elementary class who had diabetes. She always had snacks in the afternoon sitting at her desk. And I always wondered why she was allowed a snack and no one else was. That was the only experience I had with diabetes.

I had just got my drivers license and my mother and younger brother were with me at the doctor's office. I drove home and I remember traveling on the rural road that we lived on pushing 70 MPH. I pulled into the drive way parked the car threw mysef to the dirt and had a crying fit. After a few minutes writhing on the ground my hand grasped a piece of metal and I jumped to my feet and threw it at the wooden wall of the shed. The metal piece stuck into the wall like a throwing knife. It remained there for many years.

Misdiagnosis

When I first started this posting I figured I would write in chronological order. I got to thinking about how I was misdiagnosed and was curious how common this is.

In June of 1995 I had no symptoms. I was going to the doctor for a sports physical for school. They found sugar in my urine and shortly after that the doctor diagnosed me as a type 2 diabetic. I was prescribed pills and they didn't work because I'm a type 1 diabetic.

So I will pose a question. How many people with diabetes were originally diagnosed as the wrong type?

The Beginning of My Life With Diabetes

I was diagnosed a diabetic in June of 1995, unfortunately for me I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic. That is unfortunate because I'm a Type 1. The doctor made a serious mistake. She made it sound like she didn't want me to take shots but I think she was pushing a pill.



Anyway the summer of 1995 was not very fun. I lost 25 pounds and was getting more and more sick. The pills obviously were not working.



One of the main symptoms of high blood sugar is frequent urination. One instance I went to the movie theater. I went to the bathroom before I left my house and barely made it to the bathroom at the movie theater.(a 30 minute drive) Then I had to go again during the movie.



The most disturbing time I was playing right field and there was no bathroom near by. I just let it go and hoped the ball wasn't hit to me. Now you're probably thinking "oh big deal kids pee their pants all the time. And on the baseball field." I was 16 years old this particular occasion. Luckily I didn't get teased I think I was the only one that knew.



At the end of the summer I showed up for football practice 25 pounds lighter than the year before. I was extremely weak and barely made it through the first day. The next day I went to the hospital. They gave me insulin and I instantly felt better. I spent 5 days in the hospital where they taught me to take insulin by myself and kept watch on me to figure the correct dosage. They also taught me the symptoms of both low and high blood sugar.



That was the beginning of my life with diabetes. Cure diabetes now.