Personal Essay Blog

 Diabetes and How It Relates to Me 

 

When you think of things that children and grandchildren inherit from their family what is the first thing that comes into your mind? The first thing that you think of are probably things like eye color, hair type, or even freckles but did you know that diseases can also be genetic? Some common diseases that can be inherited through birth are heart disease, sickle cell, and down syndrome. What a child inherits depends on their family history and all the traits that it contains. However, in my case the gene that runs in my family is the one pertaining to diabetes. 

One of the questions that you may be asking yourself is what exactly diabetes is and what does it do to you. Diabetes is when your body cannot make its own insulin or use it the way that it needs to be used. Diabetes also affects how your body can turn food into energy. Diabetes can be categorized into four main sections such as type one diabetes, type two diabetes, pre-diabetes, and gestational diabetes. Type one diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, is when the pancreas produces little to no insulin; without insulin blood sugar cannot reach the cells to get back into the bloodstream to build it up. Type two diabetes is when there is a problem in the way the body functions and uses sugar for fuel. Pre-diabetes is a condition in which a person has slightly high glucose levels and usually this condition indicates that a person is at a higher risk for having type 2 diabetes. Gestational diabetes is when women who are pregnant develop diabetes, but it usually goes away after the baby is born. 

As far as my knowledge goes, I can trace diabetes back into the lives of my great grandparents. When I was little, I remember being around my great grandparents and hearing the mention of the word diabetes; although then I did not know what the word meant. Some memories that I have of seeing my great grandparents dealing with diabetes include when my great grandma’s blood sugar had fallen low so I had to go to a neighbor's house so that she could receive medical attention. Another time was seeing my great grand pa navigate around the house on a walker because he had lost his leg to diabetes. My great grandma had only type one diabetes in which she was able to get rid of it with proper eating and other health habits; however, her husband who is my great grand pa had type two diabetes and his was much more severe. My great grandmother had seven boys and out of those seven boys four of them have type two diabetes. One of those four is my granddad whom I was raised by. My granddad has type two diabetes in a more severe way. As I have grown up, I have seen my granddad constantly struggle with his diabetes; in ways such as low blood sugar, high sugar levels, sick spells, feet/hand numbness, and so many other complications. I’ll never forget the story that he told me of how he first found out that he had diabetes. He explained that his vision began to fail him so much that he could not see the hood of his car when he drove, he was always hungry and super thirsty, he kept on losing weight, he was always sleepy, and had begun to urinate out sugar. When he finally went to the doctors to see what was wrong with him, he was so sleepy that he had dozed off in the waiting room and the nurses had to come and wake him. When he finally made it into the examiners' room, he learned that the sugar was in the 800s which is like coma level. The doctor explained that he could not have him walking around in such a terrible state and that he had to be admitted immediately. Although the doctor had explained to my granddad that he had diabetes, he still did not know exactly what it was because it was something that wasn’t really discussed among him. A few years ago, we learned that his wife, who is my grandmother, has also developed diabetes and her mother now has it too. My grandparents’ children, which is my mom and aunt, also have been affected by diabetes. My mom has just a trace of it so far, but my aunt has type two diabetes. My mom has four kids, out of those four kids only three have a trace of diabetes so far, I have no trace. My oldest sister had her first child two years ago and she dealt with gestational diabetes in which she experienced numbness in her hands and feet and sick spells. After she had her baby, however, the diabetes went away. Currently she is pregnant with her second child and feels that she is again experiencing symptoms of gestational diabetes. As you can see, the diabetes factor is strong within our family and continues to grow unfortunately. 

In conclusion, I feel that seeing and living amongst my family that has diabetes has provided me with an education that a book could never do justice. In a matter of years, I have learned what living a life with diabetes looks like, how to survive it, and how to overcome it on a daily basis. My continuous journey with my family’s diabetes helps me to learn ways to keep from getting the disease myself and stay as healthy as I can. I also make sure to have plenty of conversations with my doctor and get my blood analyzed each year to be sure that I am not showing traces of pre-diabetes. Diabetes may be a disease that has been constant in my family, but I am determined to stop it from passing onto to me and the generations to come.