CHILDHOOD
I can really identify with the children growing up in a topsy-turvy world with diabetes. I was one of the youngest children at Chattanooga's Children's Hospital to survive a diabetic coma when I was diagnosed at 13 months of age in 1953. I was so small and they had to take so much blood to do a blood sugar, they took the blood sample form the arteries in my neck and where my legs are attached to my body. Three weeks prior to the diagnosis I was vaccinated for small pox and reacted with a 104 degree fever. We suspect that the body's autoimmune system took over when the fever erupted and destroyed my insulin islets. Prior to the diagnosis my mother, who had two previous healthy daughters, noticed how lethargic her one year old boy was and how many wet diapers I had. My cheery personality had also shifted to one of crankiness. When I would not wake up one morning she took me to the emergency room. She knew little if anything about diabetes in children.
As a toddler, my mother would squeeze my diapers to get a urine sample, then go through all the procedures to get a very vague notion of what my blood sugar was. Every morning when it was time to take my insulin (only one shot of NPH) she would have to search through the house to find me to give me a shot. My favorite place was inside the dirty clothes hamper. She watched me very closely around meal times to make sure that I did not pass out. She did an excellent job controlling my disease while I was a youngster. My personality returned although I still occasionally would have an insulin reaction.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
By the time I entered school in 1957, I knew I was different from other kids. When I went to birthday parties, everyone else would have cake and ice cream and I would have crackers and milk. On the first day of school each year my mother would go and talk to the teacher and told her/him how I acted when my sugar was low. She gave the teacher a roll of Lifesavers to give me if I acted funny or if I would tell her/him that my sugar was low. Luckily it was a small private school and most teachers knew our family. One day I just did not eat the toast my mom fixed me for breakfast. She walked to the school with the toast in her hand and got me out of my first grade class to eat it....I was so embarrassed! I took my lunch every day, so my mother had full control of my carbs. Because I took one shot each day, my whole family was tied to the clock. I ate breakfast between 7 and 7:30, lunch between 11:30 to 12:30, supper between 5:00 and 6:00. My dad would ask me "are you hungry?" Any variance created trouble and possible reaction. This went on until I went to multiple injections at age 26. What freedom I realized when all I had to do was to take a shot just before I ate. Every Saturday we would sterilize the glass syringe and steel needles. When I was nine my mother assigned the task to me. Sometimes she had to remind me.
Insulin reactions and convulsions happened occasionally. We had no glucagon. My mother would mix table sugar with water to get me to swallow it. I would wake up in my pajamas with a stiff shirt from the dried spilled sugar water. The headaches and body soreness from the convulsions were severe. Coming out of the convulsions was also traumatic. I would lose my short term memory. I would ask anyone who talked to me what time it was or what day it was. Over the next four to six hours I would regain my short term memory and finally get back to normal. In elementary school, I really did not want others to know about my condition. This was risky because if they did not know what to do when I would crash, the results would be a more severe insulin reaction. At this time I should have worn a medic alert bracelet, but I did not. It wasn't until I went to high school that my mother required it. Elementary school was a good time for me even though I had to watch my disease. I played basketball, football, ran track and did what just about everyone else did. I always carried the Lifesavers and used them regularly to keep up my sugar.
We did not go out to eat very much, but when we did, my four sisters would ask "Can I have Steve's dessert?" I would then negotiate the cost of them getting it from me. My sisters were aware of my condition, and knew where my lifesavers were.
Going to the doctor was something I feared. The blood technicians carried a wire mesh tray which had glass test tubes and glass syringes which clinked as the technician would walk down the hall. I could see the white shoes and white uniform of the technicians through the vent in the door as I heard the clink and I knew it would not be long before they would come in to stick that enormous needle in my arm. Finally the technician would enter the examining room and ask me to lay down and stretch out my arm. The pain was excruciating every time. When I was six I fought so hard that it took two technicians to hold me down. I finally learned that if I did not fight that the pain would be less.
I did not give myself injections until I had special training. I could not spend the night with friends until I could give myself insulin injections. My folks sent me to The Tennessee Camp for Diabetic Children in 1960 when I was eight years old. I remember it well. It was the first time I was ever away from my parents. It was a two week camp where I was schooled in diabetes and diabetes management. Everyone there was a diabetic...even the counselors. There were people like me! Before every meal we would have a "Urine Run" We would urinate in a bottle and the staff would run urine sugar tests. Each day a new person would be assigned take the wooden carrying box of urine bottles to the counselors. Every third day we would have blood sugars done. Blood was taken from the arm to get enough blood. Overall it was a good experience and I learned a lot. The camp is still going and I would recommend it for all diabetic children.
I had hernia surgery when I was 11 years old. I know it was a tough time for my mother. They took blood samples from my arms every two hours to monitor my blood sugars. I would grimace every time. Because of the excellent dietary control of my mother, I healed quickly. Regarding diet, my mother would tell what was allowed and what was not. In my mind I would hear her say "If you eat a cookie, you will surely die". This is the rule I used to refuse anything that I KNEW was bad for me to eat. I did not know that with multiple injections that I could have regulated what I ate. I was chained to my diet. I was trained that diabetes management was extremely strict for me to survive to become an adult. To encourage my self esteem my mother gave me comic books with diabetic heroes....sports heroes, other adults with diabetes who were successful EVEN THOUGH they had diabetes. I read many times the story of Drs Banting and Best who discovered insulin just 27 years before my diagnosis...these guys were my heroes.
I am an extremely healthy diabetic because my mother schooled me, questioned me and gave me the tools to live with my disease. She was the general who drilled me to take up the battle. She still quizzes me about my A1C levels when I visit the doctor.
HIGH SCHOOL
I entered high school with little trepidation. I am sure my mother had many nervous days. She did not know the teachers, and she told me it was my responsibility to take care of myself. I was smaller than most of my classmates, and I was on a 1500 calorie diet. Once again the clock was my enemy. I watched the clock near meal times and ate the Lifesavers. I did not want to talk about the disease much with my friends, but I did tell them and not dwell on it. I had only one severe reaction during my four years in high school. In 1968 when I was a sophomore, one Sunday I played basketball for four solid hours. I used up all the sugar reserves. The next morning my urine test said I spilled no sugar...not very precise. I had a little more breakfast, but not enough. My sister and I had to run 3/4 of a mile to the bus. I burned up the breakfast. For the next three hours I was in a hypoglycemic dreamland. I was talking to people from a subconscious state. I had the glassy eyes, but I was not aware enough to eat anything. The balance between breakfast, exercise and insulin was ideal for a surrealistic dream state. I finally passed out. I scared my biology teacher to death and they took me to the emergency room in an ambulance. I woke up in a private room with an EKG beeping. My mother was at my side crying. I cried too...I let my diabetes get out of control. I have only had two insulin reactions that severe in more than 34 years.
The first time I took the ACT test was on a Saturday, the day after a night at a school dance. I did not eat enough for breakfast to compensate for the sugar I burned the night before. Halfway through the test, I could hardly read the test booklet. I ate all my Lifesavers, but it was not enough. I didn't pass out, but I did very poorly on the test. I went immediately to a hamburger shop and had a milk shake. I took the ACT on the next time available and pretty well. Make sure your child has enough to eat on test day.
High school was a great time for me. I was in several service clubs, student government, ROTC, math team, cheerleader, sophomore class president, and acted in two school plays. My diabetes was NOT a hindrance. It just changed my pace a little bit.
COLLEGE
College was a challenge. I knew as a diabetic I would have to show remarkable superiority in academics to compete in the job market with non-diabetics. In reality that was probably not the case, but it drove me to study with conviction. One shot a day drove my schedule. I had to eat on time or I would have a reaction. If I had extra exercise, I would eat. I was still taking NPH. Judging my blood sugar was still a guessing game done with TesTape urine analysis. Today's blood sugar analysis is an absolute dream for me. I know what my sugar is any time, anywhere.
Undergraduate school went well for me. I applied to three graduate schools and was offered a full scholarship to all three. But one school, Minnesota, had full medical coverage for students through the U of M Medical school. My doctor was a woman who had studied with Dr. Best in Toronto. I was VERY impressed. I had only one severe insulin reaction...it was after a day of heavy exercise. My wife woke up and I was convulsing in the bed. She injected me with Glucagon and called an ambulance. The ambulance arrived in about 15 minutes as I was coming out of unconsciousness. They tried to put an IV into my hand. It hurt and I at 120 pounds threw two grown men across the room. Needless to say my wife told them not to put the IV in and take me to the hospital. Once again the recovery from the headache and the muscle soreness took almost a week.
In 1978 I found out that the Joslin Diabetes Foundation offered a quarter century award to diabetics with good control. I had a number of x-rays, blood tests, and other evaluations of the eyes, pulses etc. That summer I was awarded the Quarter Century Award. I was really pleased.
Since college I have only had one severe reaction and it was the day after we moved in 1985. I misjudged the energy I expended and overnight went into convulsions. My wife once again gave me glucagon and I recuperated at home. It took me three days to get to a point where I could function normally. That was 17 years ago. Once again, diabetes has not restricted me from doing the things I want to do. I have practiced engineering successfully for more than 25 years and have done quite well.
There was some concern by some of my relatives that I would not have a "normal" life. My grandfather, who knew very little about diabetes thought that my brain would be damaged from the disease. This is definitely NOT the case. I graduated from elementary school as salutatorian, graduated from high school as valedictorian in a class of 287, graduated magna cum laude with honors in mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, won an award for the engineering student with the highest GPA, received a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota to study Civil Engineering and received a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering two years later. I tell young diabetics this. "Diabetes is as big or small a hurdle as you let it be. Either you control it or it will control you."
Stephen E. Meyer, P.E.
If you would wish to contact Stephen Meyer please do so through this site.
Ashley's Diabetes Information Center
Tennessee Camp for Diabetic Children This is the camp Steve went to in 1960.
Kimberly Advent Site Owner