Happy Birthday To Me!

Today is a very special day for me ~ today is my birthday. Today I am 29 years old and I am excited to be alive!

Growing up, my mom was told that her mom, grandma, and great grandma all died at age 33. My mom was terrified that she too would die during her 33rd year of life and on her 34th birthday probably breathed her first real breath in one year’s time. She had made it! My mom survived the curse and I know now, more than ever, how she felt and her relief, now that I too, have survived the curse.

After some investigating, we learned that only one of the three women had died at age 33, the other two died in their late twenties. It doesn’t, however, change the fact that illnesses happen and take lives. My grandma (Mary) died at age 33 in a car accident (my mom was four years old). My great grandma Zelpha (Mary’s mom), died at age 28 of pneumococcal meningitis. This started as an ear ache, which turned into pneumonia, which turned into meningitis - all lasting a little over one month before it took her life. My great-great grandma Zora (Zelpha’s mom), died at age 27 of pneumonia. She became ill on a Monday in January 1917 and died the following Friday. If it were not for the discovery of insulin in 1922, merely 88 years ago, I would be listed alongside my grandmas… I would’ve been dead at age 28 from diabetes mellitus.

According to Wikipedia, the term diabetes was coined by Aretaeus of Cappadocia (1st century AD) who attempted to treat diabetes but could not give a good prognosis; Aretaeus commented that "life (with diabetes) is short, disgusting and painful."

I am thankful that I did not have to suffer and die from diabetes in a “short, disgusting, and painful” manner. People diagnosed with diabetes, prior to 1922, died shortly after diagnosis. I am blown away every time I think about this. I have a chronic terminal disease. Diabetes will eventually get me (if nothing else does before then). I vow to do everything in my power to keep it at arm’s length, but I cannot escape the fact that I will most likely die from complications of diabetes. How about we celebrate sixty more birthdays before we let that happen?  ;)

Today is a very special day for me ~ today is my birthday. Today I am 29 years old and I am excited to be alive!! P.S. Today was a GREAT day!