50,000 injections later.. [View all]

I'm "celebrating" 50 years with Type 1 this month.

I spent the better part of a week in a diabetic coma at the age of 7 and woke up with tubes in my arms and ankles. I have done remarkably well, considering BG meters didn't come along until several years later, and Humalog and Lantus insulins after that. We old-timers can remember boiling the glass syringe and stainless steel needle each morning and peeing in a cup to test our sugar levels. And the only time our actual blood glucose was measured involved getting a horse needle stuck in our arm.

My A1C's are nearly always in the high 4's or low 5's; essentially in the non-diabetic zone. The ophthalmologist called my eyes "phenomenal" a couple of months ago. I'm testing a good 8 to 10 times daily.

That cure always seems right over the horizon and would sure ease the transition into my senior years, but I realize it's a very difficult task.