Ricky Perrone

So there were obvious signs I was getting sick coupled with extenuating circumstances that made it hard to spot. I had been a high school rower for about a year and a half. We were training very hard 6 days a week and I was building muscle but losing a ton of weight. I was also constantly extremely thirsty my thirst was unquenchable, prior to my getting my license my mom would drive me around places and we literally could not pass a gas station without stopping to get something to drink. We would make two or even three stops on even what would be a 20 minute drive. At this point I had probably been sick for a few weeks. I had dropped from 185 to around 165 pounds. My face was becoming noticeably skinny. I was at a party the night before I was diagnosed and the girl I was with remarked that my breath smelled kind of like paint thinner. There were signs. The next day I was driving with my dad somewhere I kept falling asleep and my dad just looked at me and said Ricky you look really bad we need to get you checked out, at that point I also knew something was up and said “ok” A quick finger stick at my family doctor and I was whisked away to the hospital. Within hours I was told I had type 1 diabetes. I had no idea what that truly was, honestly I still don’t think many people understand outside of the T1D world. I had no idea what I was in for. I took it really well, I obviously wasn’t stoked but I’ve always had sort of a “it is what it is, lets figure out how to get past this” attitude. Diabetes is different because there is no getting past it. Its yours for life. I remember two events from the hospital that sort of stand out to me. I had quite a few visitors and I remember the nurse at one point was taking my blood pressure and just then my high school crush walked into my hospital room, I noticed her but the nurse didnt. The nurse right then says “this really odd your blood pressure just went way up. It was really embarrassing at the time. The other thing that happened is a friend came in my room to visit with me and one of the first things he said was “well, your living on borrowed time now.” He wasn’t wrong. This was in 1999 and while diabetes had many leaps in advancement since the discovery of insulin diabetes management at the time was nowhere near advanced. The meters were huge and took forever to tell you your blood sugar which you only really checked maybe like 5 times a day. The insulin was terrible I forget what it was called but it would have a bell curve which forced you to eat on a very strict schedule and take your insulin on a very strict schedule. Needless to say the issues with these things would often present as extreme highs and lows. Checking for ketones, staying up until your sugar came down so you didn’t fall into a coma. I woke up in an ambulance or with paramedics over me having seizures brought on by lows so many times. There is nothing more frightening than not knowing your name and waking up out of a sleep not having a clue where you who you are or what you are while paramedics are sticking you with glucagon. It’s the stuff of nightmares and I vividly remember the feeling. Anyways the advancements during my time having this shit disease have been huge. CGM has literally saved my life. Good long acting and short acting insulins have made management so much easier. Today I have a beautiful 7 year old girl named Capri and believe that without CGM both her and I would not be here today. I am able to snowboard and paddle board and camp with her in relative peace knowing both her and I will be safe with tools available to me today. Today and for years now diabetes just seems like a fact of life remembering to check my sugar, take my long acting, take my short acting before meals and to counteract highs, keep my needles on me, keep my glucose on me, keep an extra meter on me, keep my cgm receiver on me, keep the charger for it on me continually check my sugar, count carbs at each meal. These all feel second nature now but looking at it would surely feel like a lot to anyone who is fresh to it. I’ll be forever grateful I’ve gotten to experience being a father to my little girl and for the time I’ve gained and the experiences ive gotten to have thanks to the advancements. It truly is a journey and the best piece of advice I can give is to find other T1Ds to connect with as much as your friends and family would like to understand they thankfully never will.