Death is a funny thing. I think about it far to often for it to be healthy. But it's hard not to think about death when you have a chronic disease that takes so manY lives. I will admit that through the last 8 years, there have been times where I've given up on life. Life was too hard, the struggles of every day was too much, and loss was too great. Those were times that I was being selfish. Only thinking about a way out for myself. But this time was different...very different. This time I was fighting for life. Trying to keep my life together, trying to be the best employee, trying to impress my dad, I was trying. It seems I was being selfless, only thinking of how I could affect others. I guess I should have paid attention to myself more because this time death was more than a thought in my head; it was a reality.
I don't remember November 24. I remember the morning, going to work, feeling naseous and ill and going home. I remember thinking maybe I just need a nap. I remember the last insulin injection and reading 433 on my glucose meter. And the rest is blank. The memory just fades away like I'm in Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind I don't remember myself leaving my body or the look on my dads face when he found me. I don't remember seeing bright lights or all the lights going on in my house as my dad and stepmom frantically call 911. I don't remember how long I was out or how long the ride to Tulane was. I woke up the next day, realized where I was and felt like I truly had something to be thankful for this Thansgiving.
It wasn't filled with delicious Turkey and stuffing or cheesy baked macaroni. There was no laughter or dancing from tipsy family members. Thanksgiving was in the hospital with sounds of beeping from machines all around me. No alcohol but sodium chloride pumping thhrough my system. Not tipsy but hydrated from the IVs all over. No big extended family gathering but intimate gatherings around me from people who would truly care if I was gone. It wasn't a perfect holiday but it's one of most meaningful.
When something like his happens, it changes you. It's very different knowing that you failed evern though you were trying. It means I have to try harder. It means I have to change my priorities. It means putting my health first and everything after. For so long it's been my career first and then money,relationships, family,etc. My health has always been on the back burner because I guess in way I took for granted the resiliency of the human body. I must become selfish in a way and finally put me first and let everything else come after. I should control the things I can control like my health and let thing I can't control like the economy, the job market, the actions and feelings of others fix themselves.
And because of this new outlook on life, I'm letting everyhing go. I've finally understood why I'm a cynic and carry resentment. It all stems from acts of betrayal in my life. Being violated, my parents divorce, their secret marriages, getting diabetes, hurricane Katrina, my body, being used and taken advantage of, Tj and Jamie saga, being lied to all the time: Betrayal. Betrayal by family, parents, friends, boyfriends, and even God. Carrying all that and never being able to release it made me dwell in it causing more and more resentment. It made me hard. It made me so hard. Most mistook this hardness for strongness when in reality I was living in sorrow. I willnever go back to this. Holding on isn't good for the soul and my eyes have been opened. That week in the hospital I let it all go. All the resentment and sorrow, grief and betrayal, and the hard shell that took 22 years to develop just left my body. A wave of peace filled me instead and now I'm gonna work on loving life despite the everyday struggles. I want to truly be able to call myself a strong woman: a woman who's physically strong with a strong sense of self, a strong work ethic, a strong circle of friends, and a strong determination to be self sustaining.
I'm changing the way I think. I'm changing the way I feel. I'm changing the way I live.
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