Brenda Erickson

I remember so clearly the day I was diagnosed with T1D, October 23, 1971, my dad’s birthday. I went to the doctor. Before school for a Fasting blood sugar test. I was really tired at school, sluggish and felt blah and the next thing I know my doctor himself came to get me from school & took me to the hospital. On the way he told me, that the only person he’d seen with a blood sugar as high as mine, was dead. I couldn’t process what I was being told, that I would be extremely lucky if I lived to be 25 or 30. Panic set in my entire body, was I going to die? What did it mean to die? And how do I change what I was hearing? I remember that I had to learn to do my own shots, I went through two weeks of training. What was a five year old to do? My world was spinning out of control and I had to stop the spinning to get this under control. At the end of the two or three week training, I was finally told what my blood sugar number was, 1143, not that I knew what it meant! When I was released from the hospital I was a different person and I had to learn how to get control of my T1D. I had to poke my fingers several times each and every day, I didn’t like shots but I gave them to myself because I knew that the medication would help me feel better. I struggled over the years to get & keep my A1C down, it was a constant battle. I remember mixing the 2 kinds of insulin and giving the shots. And the advancements in medical equipment and technology over the last 52 years always being the next best thing shots, Glucose Monitors, a spring loaded mechanism the syringes went into then just press it against the skin and ta-dah shots done. Then on to the “Dana Diabicare Insulin Pump” and advancing to a few others to 2020, using the tandem X2 pump.

I fought high numbers and I fought extreme low numbers too. I’ve given and had others give multiple glucagon injections to bring my blood sugar back up & I’ve also had numerous hospital visits as well.

My life as a T1D changed February 9, 2017 when I went into DKA after a busy day at work, I was the secretary of a small K-12 Christian Academy, housed within a church. I was found three hours later, in the sanctuary and taken to the hospital where they performed an “I/O” on me, which is where they drill a hole into your bone so they can get fluid into your body whenever they can’t get an IV going. (I am forever thankful that the technician had just returned from training on how to do this procedure!) My blood sugar number at that time was 7. No longer recognizing the sign of my blood sugar going low I set in motion to get a Dexcom CGM. But while I was waiting and not knowing how long it would take I began looking into getting a Diabetic Alert Service Dog (D.A.D.). They cost a lot, $20,000 and up … but hey what was my life worth?

I went to a local non-profit and asked if they would hold a dinner fundraiser to help me in getting my D.A.D.? They said they would and put the idea in my head to have an auction too, but I had yo make all the arrangements for the auction, we set the date just 2.5 months down the road. And I got to work, I went door to door to every business asking for donations, I wrote letters, made and put up flyers, went to bigger cities in my area and asked for donations too. This was going to happen, and it did, it was a good start to raising the funds I needed for a D.A.D. I received my Diabetic Alert Service Dog a year after I started using the Dexcom CGM and I have to say that while the combination of Tandem with Control IQ and the Dexcom CGM, my D.A.D. alerts me before any alarms on my Pump or my cgm are going off. He has alerted others also but he isn’t quite able to do what the Tandem Pump and the Dexcom CGM can do together.

In the meantime, It seemed like I was constantly fighting to get my A1C down to 8 or lower, it was an ongoing battle. Now after living with T1D for 52 years and through the many medical advances with the Tandem Insulin Pump then the Dexcom CGM, using this combination over the years, my A1C is down to … “wait for it … come on, I said wait for it” … between 6.o and 6.3!

Who-hooo! Happy Dance!

The advancement of technology & the amazing abilities of my Diabetic Alert Service Dog and the Tandem X2 Insulin Pump along with the Dexcom G6 CGM I have to say the fight of 52 years of being a T1D is worth it!! Here’s to another 25 years of thriving with & as a T1D WARRIOR!

I so look forward to getting a 50 year surviving with & living, & thriving with T1D Medal!