Six Until Me: Your Story: Troy's Story

I'm a Type 1, diagnosed nearly 22 years ago at the age of eighteen.

There was no history of diabetes on either side of my family at that time. I was working part-time at a gas station and started to notice my vision getting worse, drinking obscene amounts of liquid and losing weight. I self diagnosed myself with one of those medical books that my parents had in the basement prior to seeing the local doctor and spending a week in the hospital.

Since that time, I made myself a promise that in fifteen years I would be cured and not require the constant management of this disease. Unfortunately, that deadline has come and past. The progress made since 1985 in my regiment include:

1. Improving meters.

2. Changing mixing and injecting from the syringe, then to 'the pen' and just recently to the pump.

3. Adding several new 'cures' that still require years of testing to tease us with a false sense of hope.

Now to get back to my story...

After high school, I attended College and focused my intentions on becoming a police officer. I graduated with good marks and kept physical fit through the school program and continued to play hockey. After several attempts, I was unable to land a career with a handful of police agencies. Generally, I did well on the fitness aspect and initial interviews. I still seem to think that when questioned about my diabetes in the final interview stages, it became an issue that became the roadblock to progressing in that field.

Currently...

I work in the Nuclear Industry with the Fire Protection group. I took College courses and progressed from firefighter ranks to management level. This field of work directed me to become involved within the community as a firefighter. These opportunities also allowed for participation in the Firefighter Combat Challenge at the National and World Levels.

I'm married (Debbie) with two children (Sarah/Jacob) and two cats (Isabelle/Borris). I recently switched to a pump with the continuous monitoring system (but don't use the monitoring system because of insurance coverage for the sensors). For 21 years, I've managed to keep my diabetes a secret, but feel I have 'come out of the closet' when I switched to the pump. My children still do not know of my diabetes.

My little guy is unknowingly involved with the TRIGR Study (Trial to Reduce Insulin-Dependant Diabetes in the Genetically at Risk. TRIGR is the first diabetes trial that will assess the relationship of infant formula consumption to the likelihood of developing type 1 diabetes in genetically susceptible infants). I don't let having diabetes hold me back from doing what I want to do. I do get tired of the management, and never getting a 'vacation' from this disease. When I'm struggling, I have my wife for support and also the Charles H Best Clinic that is in my area. I've recently started reading diabetes blogs, but have Six Until Me and Diabetes Mine saved as favorites.

Comments

You are a gorgeous family! I'm always curious about how parents with diabetes handle the subject with their kids since I have a one-year-old and am not sure how I'll approach it as he gets older. Is it that your kids just haven't asked or are you purposely not telling them about your diabetes? If (b), I'm curious as to why. Hope I'm not being too nosy, but like I said, trying to figure out how I'll handle it with my own one day!

Posted by: Tesney | July 11, 2007 03:05 AM

Six Until Me: Your Story

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