For World Diabetes Day I participted in a postcard exchange. I was sent a name and address and I sent the postcard above. It's impossible to read in the picture; on the actual postcard I realized the contrast wasn't so great on the circle itself where I put a timeline, but I pressed hard so the letters were readable by me and my parents (they have old people vision). I wrote a bit about me on the sides (including the address of this blog), and I mailed the postcard to David.
In return, I recieved the layered, detailed, artsy postcard above (that's the front of it). The postcard he sent has two layers- two white cards, with a blue card in the middle. The blue circle was created by cutting a hole on the paper so you can see the blue below, and The back said it was from David, who has had type 1 diabetes longer than I've been alive (he was diagnosed in 1986- I was born in 1988). His one word about diabetes is fight, which he exemplifies with advocacy and with continuing on, even though he is legally blind. There is no excuse to give up, he says.
I do sometimes think that people with other disabilities are under represented on the diabetes online community, and I'm glad to see more of that presence. I also do find some hope in people with complications getting along with their lives because it makes my future less scary, because retinopathy had already occurred in 86% of the Wisconsin Diabetes cohort, 20 years post diagnosis.
David, I hope you were able to magnify my card to readability or found somebody to read it to you. Thanks for the card!
3 comments:
Hello, Jonah. I received your postcard in the mail just today. It took me ten minutes to read, but that's okay. My right eye is useless and my left is only partially useless. I can see decently enough. Just can't drive. (That grinds on me the most.) Anywho, I thought Lee Ann's idea was neat and am glad to have this opportunity. I've read your blog. Wow! Retinopathy is my worst issue. Reading your issues makes me feel like a crybaby. Like I said, though, keep up the fight. Chin up and all that. Don't fear what you can't control. It's hard enough to get a handle on the things you can control. I don't blog. I'm fairly computer illiterate. (It's almost been 5 years online!) I do Facebook, though. If you'd like to be eFriends, that would be cool. I've enjoyed your story(ies) and postcard. One question: what box did you cut that from? LOL
Glad you could read the postcard.
I cut it from the bottom of a box of syringes- BD.
Sometimes I feel like nothing can get me and I'm not scared of anything, but other times I'm really scared. I think it's the uncertainty that gets to me, and I can sort of conquer that by learning about what's what, but I can never get rid of uncertainty about what will happen to me.
There's no shame in crying sometimes.
I don't have a facebook account.
Like the saying goes, nothing is certain but death and taxes. Crying is perfectly acceptable. Ask my momma. ;-) You've not made a FB account? You're far smarter than I! It's cool, you can always email. You should take a train to NY sometime. Come meet the NY DOC. We're a fun, eclectic group. Very supportive.
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