A Life with Diabetes
"The first thing I had to change was my attitude"

(Like many people facing diabetes, Melissa had a hard time coming to terms with her diagnosis. If you're just joining us, read the rest of her story.)

Home Sour Home
Sunday, March 13, 2005

As the erratic blood sugars and seizures continued, other things in my life were also out of control. I was in a damaging relationship, a job that I couldn't stand, and in a city that brought the worst out in me. I needed a change; well, several changes. That's when I decided to move home. Changes certainly followed, only not necessarily the ones I was looking for.

I arrived back in my original stomping grounds with the confidence that I made it in New York, so I surely could make it here. I had big dreams: to change my career, get a nice car, live someplace that wasn't up six flights of stairs, and get a dog. Well, I got a dog, that's the bright side of the story. However, the rest of my changes didn't go as planned.

My search for a new job was disappointing to say the least. Journalism jobs were scarce in my hometown, and I soon found myself leaning back on a trade I learned well in college: waiting tables. Before I knew it, I was getting coffee and biscuits for pushy brunch brats and rude regulars with a couple of nice people peppered in between.

The stark comparison of my life in New York to my new life at home was enough to spin me into a new level of depression. Instead of grounding me and bringing my life, and my diabetes, under some control, my move home spiraled into damaging days of self-destruction and complacency.

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Early Days

02/10/2005: The Diagnosis

02/19/2005: My First Seizure

Independence & Denial

03/03/2005: The College Years

03/09/2005: New York, New York

Unfamiliar Revelations

03/13/2005: Home Sour Home

03/29/2005: Taking Responsibility

04/02/2005: My Search for Control

11/01/2005: The Final Chapter