My First Blog by Genevieve Roberts

Hello…My name is Gen and this is my first ever blog.  I thought this would be easy to do but when you’re staring at a blank computer screen, nothing seems to come to mind.  Well, I’ll start by introducing myself.   I was born in the Philippines and lived there  for the first nine years of my life with my sister.  Our parents were already in the United States at the time and we were raised by family.  We then joined my parents in New York, and been living here ever since.  So my formative years were spent abroad which I think has really shaped how I see the world.  I’m now married to my wonderful husband and we have two cats named Buddy and Lil.

I’m relatively “new” to the diabetes world.  I was an adult when diagnosed and have only been living with diabetes for three years.  I have to admit, it hasn’t been easy for me.  I was and maybe am, still in denial.  It didn’t help that I didn’t have the greatest endo in the beginning. He just didn’t seem to understand what I was going through and was fairly dismissive of my situation.  I decided to change endos and it was one of the best decisions of my life.  I think having a good relationship with your health care providers is so necessary if you are living with a chronic illness.  So that denial I was in, well I had very poor control for a while, and it’s really something that I still struggle with.  I’ve been getting better, I think, or at least until the next A1c test.  Meeting fellow type 1′s, and acknowledging I need to have better control has made me change my eating habits.

Living with diabetes is not easy, and it’s hard to keep a positive outlook.  I do let it get me down more than it should.  But at the same time, I’m grateful that I’m still here.  I’m thankful that I get to be on this earth with my husband and be with my family and friends.  I also hope to make a difference to the type 1 community.