Jul 20, 2012

Special treat for our BHS fans!




We have a special guest blogger today! Her name is Mollie Busby. You may know her from the Mollie Shambeau Show.You can read all about her here. The reason I found her so intriguing was her journey from fashion writer to being thrust into the world of Type 1 when she met professional snowboarder, Sean Busby, who is also the founder of Riding on Insulin, and her husband! I know how it is to be a caregiver to a Type 1 diabetic from a Mother's point of view but was interested in how it is to be a spouse of a T1D.  So thank you Mollie for sharing your story with us!!


 BHS Fans; here is Mollie's story...enjoy!! 


Marrying into diabetes
Greetings to friends and fans of the Blue Heel Society. I am so please to be guest blogging for this fabulous cause. As you may know, I’m Mollie Busby and I am married to Sean Busby, a professional backcountry snowboarder living with type 1 diabetes.

Today I want to write about what it’s like to “marry into diabetes.” It sounds funny to say, but that’s how we, the diabetes spouses, refer to it. I remember meeting the wife of one of our Riding On Insulin board members last December, and it was completely normal for me to ask, “Did you marry into diabetes like I did?” (Her answer was yes—needless to say we had a lot to talk about!)

When I met Sean, I knew next to nothing about type 1 diabetes. I was just a style editor who—as I used to say—“shopped” for a living. I thought diabetes happened to kids, and I knew there were people riding bikes to raise money for the cause, but that’s about it. After I met Sean, I remember asking him to go over the deal with sugar and insulin—what raises your blood sugar, and what lowers it. Seems pretty obvious, right? But I have to remember that back then, it wasn’t obvious because diabetes wasn’t my reality. Now it is.

My first real encounter with diabetes happened with Sean in the Cook Islands. During summer of 2010, Sean and I took our first trip together. Day one was amazing… we watched the sun rise, snorkeled, explored the island and drank margaritas. Sounds like vacation, right? Day 2—not so much. I got food poisoning from what we thought was a latte (we figured it was the water because we’d eaten all the same things that day). My bout got so bad that I had to go to the hospital to get an IV of fluids to rehydrate my body. I remember we discussed that if anything happened to Sean, I would get him to the hospital right away. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before we could put that vow into practice. We figured out the real cause of the food poisoning after Sean ate the leftovers from our spaghetti and meat sauce the night before… sure enough, a few hours after dinner, he was throwing up and I was fumbling with the testing supplies to see if his diabetes was the cause, or if it was food related. I’d never actually tested his or my sugar before so I remember being extremely nervous. Soon thereafter, we were off to the hospital once again—this time for an overnight stay. You can imagine my delight when I heard that! I spent the night on a mattress (on the floor) next to Sean’s hospital bed in a non-air-conditioned room while lizards darted across the walls… and I will never, ever forget that night!

From that day on, I resolved to learn all I could about T1D, and today I’m proud to say I’m currently enrolled in the prerequisite courses needed to obtain my masters in dietetics, which I plan to use to become a certified diabetes educator. Plus, running Riding On Insulin—our nonprofit organization, keeps me up-to-date with the diabetes community on a daily basis.

It’s funny how my life has come full circle… from fashion writer to finger-pricker. But you know what? I wouldn’t trade it for anything... even an all-expense paid vacation to the Cook Islands.

Mollie Busby writes a lifestyle/adventure blog called The Mollie Shambeau Show. Find her online at http://themollieshambeaushow.com.