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Friday Afternoon

Shortly after the previous post, I received a phonecall from the Diabetes department at the hospital. They said that I needed to be there within half an hour as they had only just seen my referral letter and were concerned for my health. When I got there, they expected me to be much worse than I was and even had admission papers ready. Luckily I appeared to be OK, although my level was still 25 mmol/l. This began what was a very traumatic afternoon, not physically but mentally. Even though (being a scientist) I understand the mechanisms of Insulin action, I knew little about the condition. The reality I was told was that I had type I diabetes, and therefore would need to inject insulin for the rest of my life. This didn't hit me immediately as my needle phobia had well and truly taken hold. However, through the excellent support of the entire team (or so it seemed) at the diabetes clinic and my wonderful wife, I was able by the end of the afternoon to self-administer the first of probably 75,000 insulin injections I would need in my lifetime.

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