Nora's Poem

This trimester my daughter, Nora, is writing poetry. Their first assignment was a free for all...write whatever. She's 13. In the 7th grade. It sucks. And she has diabetes. 

Here is her poem: 

I felt really ill one day.
So, my parents took me away.
I was in the emergency room,
It had a very odd fume.

When my family arrived,
We hoped I was still alive.
My Mom checked me in,
So, I could go to my room then.

I was scared of the needles,
They stung like a beetle.
I was in such doom,
My heart went BOOM BOOM BOOM!

I was only year four,
I wanted to walk out the door.
My life turned into a mess,
But I gave no fuss.

I had to stay hydrated so I drank from my cup,
And I dared to give up.
In my hospital bed I would lay,
The only thing I could do was pray.

I thought my life had ended,
But my family's faith hadn't ended.
The doctor's told me to what I could only cope,
All I gave was my great hope.

I still have a fear,
I pray for just a cure.
God wouldn't let me give up,
So I chose to get up.

I stayed brave,
For I was saved.
As long as the wait,
There is still always strength.

I had been diagnosed with a deathly disease,
Called Type 1 diabetes.
I still had my friends,
I knew it was not the end.

~Nora

A guest post from my daughter, Nora...

So apparently, I've passed on the blogging bug to my girls. I LOVE it!! Sometimes it's so much easier to write down how you feel and I respect that. We are all so busy living and putting on a brave face that sometimes we just need to get it out. And that's what my baby did...

Dear Diabetes,

It's me,Nora. Why do you have to make my life so miserable? Why can't I just be like most of the other 12 year olds in the world? You surely get in the way of a LOT but, it doesn't stop me though. I just walk right past you. I really hate you but...one thing I do like about you, is that you ONLY make me strong. So I guess no thank you but thank you? Goodness...you are complicated. Whenever I'm playing a sport you just HAVE to mess with me. I mean like excuse me but, when I play sports it's MY free time, not yours. I am not being selfish. If anyone is being selfish...it's you. You just take my life away and not in a good way. This past summer you just had to get into my sister. Is this a joke to you? It's not a joke to anyone else. Well...I'm not waisting anymore time on you right now.
Not Yours Truly,
Nora

p.s. to anyone else that is suffering with T1D ��STAY STRONG��

Nora's Post #1: My Life

I wrote about Nora applying for JDRF's Children's Congress and some of the questions she has to answer you can read about it HERE. With her busy school/sport schedule we decided to break the questions down one at a time and then compile her answers into one long essay. However, that means multiple posts for you to view. With her permission here is HER answer to "Tell us your personal story living with T1D":

My Life

            It all started June 13, 2005. Why am I in a hospital? What is diabetes? Why are the doctors and nurses poking me with a needle? Why are people giving me all this attention? I didn’t get it. At four-years-old I had a LOTof questions and even some of the questions haven’t even been answered. I didn’t really know that there weren’t many four year olds without diabetes. I thought that everyone went through what I was going through like taking shots every time you eat and every time you blood sugar is high or drinking an apple juice when you blood sugar is low. I wish I still had the confidence I had when I was little. When I was seven I got the Medtronic Mini Med pump. I was so happy that I didn’t have to take shots anymore but to be honest, I had no clue what a pump was. Why was this purple thing attached to my stomach? This is when I started to feel “different”. Now at the age of almost twelve I know there are a ton of people my age that judge others. They shouldn’t, they shouldn’t at all. It’s just another way of pointing out the obvious that you wish you could change. I have to wake up in the morning check my blood glucose, eat breakfast, and plug my carbohydrates into my insulin pump (I have to do this every time I eat). At nine-o-clock I have to take my blood glucose and treat for it if it’s high or low. I have to check it AGAIN before lunch but I don’t treat for my blood sugar. Than after I eat lunch I correct for my food. At three-o-clock I have to test my blood glucose and treat for it and I do the same EVERY three hours. I also test when I don’t feel good which is plenty times a day. Did I tell you that during all this I am either in school or playing sports? Well it’s true. I am very active; I play basketball, softball, volleyball, and track. It’s so hard for me to stop playing whatever sport I’m doing at the time and test my blood glucose if I don’t feel very good. The number one question or being told from the referees or umpires is “What’s that thing around your waist” or “What is that,” pointing to my emergency alert bracelet or “You have to take that off” pointing to my pump or bracelet. It gets annoying, really annoying actually but, does that stop me from playing sports, NO! Now believe it or not I’m not the only person in my family that has T1D! My eighteen-year-old sister just got diagnosed this last summer. I busted out into tears once my dad told me. It was kind of weird because I got a flash back to when I was in the hospital. I felt like my life was just going to come to an end. I’m just happy it didn’t! So now my sister and I have diabetes and my little four-year-old brother has a bleeding disorder called hemophilia. Hemophilia is a disease in which if you start to bleed or get a bruise you cannot stop bleeding until you get a special type of medicine. I just pray and pray over and over again that he doesn’t get a bleed. I wish both diseases didn’t exist! I may be different but I can do everything you can do.