Needles: a memoir of growing up with diabetes is a detailed autobiography about Andie growing up with juvenile diabetes alongside her older sister, Denise. Denise was Andie’s role model for just about everything and Andie wanted to be just like her. Andie knew a lot about diabetes and what it meant to live with the chronic illness prior to her diagnosis at the age of nine, since Denise had diabetes ever since Andie could remember. As a child, Andie played with her sisters insulin needles, giving shots to her stuffed animals after she used them, but never knew what role those same needles would have later in both of their lives. After Andie’s diagnosis, the two of them were able to manage their diseases together. They truly bonded in their experiences…
With my first week of clinical affiliation from the HCR ManorCare-Pittsburgh location under my belt I can give a sigh of relief that I have gained an understanding into the early expectations that my Clinical Instructor (CI) and staff have for me. From day one to current I have been asked to handle and comprehend tasks that I discovered during my academic and laboratory learning at CCAC such as goniometry, transfers, parallel bar training (to name a few). So for me being able to translate what I have learned and apply this to my inpatient setting has been invaluable. Yes, the way they document (electronically via IPad) and use of electronic stimulation placements are slightly different then what I’m accustomed my goal will be to learn these…
I had some experiences, such as assisting in the transporting of individuals going on scheduled activities, helping them bath, dress, oral hygiene, toilet, feed and groom, ensuring the environment is free of safety hazards by correcting any hazards found and reporting them to the supervisor, observing persons served for signs and symptoms of disease, injury, reactions to medications, interacting them, and entertaining them by dancing and singing with them. I would like to serve this population as a medical doctor,…
Today was a Monday like the passed Clinical day. I wake up feeling anxious and with some fear of having to do something new, but that is how we learn to do everything so although I am a little scare, I am the first in line to do wathever we have to do to be a great profesional nurse in the future. My patient was a man of 68 years old who ws very good with me. He came to the Emergency room on november 2 because he was having fever of 102 F of unknown causes and weight loss of 17 lbs in 2 months.…
Imaging its a beautiful day in December you wake up to the calming cold crisp feelings of the air the snow is like tiny angels falling from the heavens. You walk down stairs to the welcoming aroma of breakfast filling your lungs as you walk into the dining room your mouth water like the Niagara Falls. You look around only to soon realize that you are home alone with a note on the refrigerator from your parents "we're off to the store we'll be back in less than an hour there is breakfast on the table" after she eat she goes back upstairs to wash up she gets dressed and walks down stairs to encounter her parents are home she notices that they are both unhappy and asks what is wrong she her mouth looks at her and tells her to sit down next to…
Talking about diabetes in one thing. Talking about diabetes while it waits your doorstep is a whole other story. I live with a high risk of diabetes. Countless members of my family have been diagnosed with this disease and some have passed away because of it. Diabetes runs through both sides of my family. My paternal grandmother, my maternal grandfather, my maternal grandfather’s brothers, and my maternal grandmother’s older sister all suffer from the same disease. For all of them, the daily routine never changed. They all swallowed pill after pill and conducted blood test after blood test. To this day, I still remember watching them swallow pills the size of almonds and cringing whenever they pricked themselves to conduct a blood test. I…
Success through struggle is a story of one young soldiers attempt at something great. Through the struggles that I endure in this story of my attempts of joining an elite military organization are a testament to Army Values and the warrior ethos. You will learn that even if you do not succeed at first you will find success in other avenues. This story is not for quitters it is for those who enjoy tales that show triumph of the mind, body, and spirit.…
It requires a commitment to regular preventative care and for some is great motivator for positive health changes like losing excess weight and quitting smoking. Good diabetes management also become a lifestyles choice. Seemingly simple tasks like eating meals, going for a walk or bike ride, driving a car, and going away for the weekend will take extra preparation and planning. Daily routines like work and school start to pose new challenges, and special occasions may seem particularly hard to deal with. Even the change of seasons can mean changes in diabetes control. By meantime, type 1 diabetes also face emotional and psychological issues such as depression and denial. Coping with the demands of a chronic disease is hard, and often discouraging,…
time for me to begin my 10 minute warming up. I move my head side to side, stretch my legs, and I begin to walk briskly. I drank my water because I need to stay hydrated. When I was ready I sprinted out like a rocket. My brother began to time me. It took me 12 minutes to finish my one mile. Once I felt that my heart was pounding, my stomach started to develop painful cramps, and my My throat was as dry as a bone. I stopped and took deep breaths in and out. I took a five minute break and finished my 3 miles by walking. Once I finished my three miles I felt proud of myself and motivated for the next days to…
While medical care was available growing up, there were financial or situational periods where it was not necessarily accessible. I am from a single parent family. My mother moved in with my grandparents after her divorce and works two full time jobs to help provide for my brother, grandparents, and I. Since my father went to jail and my grandfather passed, we have had to make many adjustments financially. This was the case due to my father not providing payments for child support for the time he was incarcerated nor occasional months prior. There has also been a complication with my mother and I having our identity stolen, which has created additional problems when applying for governmental aid throughout my undergraduate years. I worked…
When I was thinking about writing this journal post a particular experiences came into my head. I pushed it aside for the fact that it didn't fit the criteria for this journal. However, after struggling trying with writer's block, I gave in to my original thought. The experience I am going to be talking about doesn't fit the criteria of being a patient/nurse interaction because I wasn't with a “patient” or in a clinical setting.…
Before I was saved, I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle. Being the youngest in my family, I was constantly spoiled and protected. This led me to become a very prideful and ignorant child. I thought the world was great, my life was great, and I was great. Now I am not saying any of those things are not true, but my views changed quite a bit once I hit middle school. My sister had moved onto college at this point and I was alone to tackle middle school. I discovered a lot during those years but my biggest discovery was probably about my family. I learned that they weren’t the perfect figures I thought they were. My parents fought constantly and that left me devastated. On top of being spoiled and arrogant, I was also depressed.…
My life turned around, I thought I was going to suck at diabetes and die or somehow end up without a limb. It then taught me to thrive and bounce back because of the challenges it brought. I know it was appropriate because I stayed calm the whole time just for my mom and I wouldn’t have changed it cause I didn’t care how scared I was, I remained calm for my mom because she thought I was in so much pain. Honestly, now I go throughout my days like a normal kid and now I can manage my disease by myself but it just taught me that anything is possible but I go to learn how to adapt and thrive in new conditions. I believe it connects to the be ready for anything and be ready to adapt and thrive theme because I had no idea what was diabetes but…
I was four years old when my life came to a crashing stop. I have had people tell me that there is no way that I could so clearly remember something that happened to me at just four years old. My family has filled in some details for me, but there are things that I remember as if they only happened yesterday.…
My life would have been completely different had my parents chosen to go back to China in 2001. At first, my dad came here alone for a job offer, and my mom and I came to visit him a year later. However, our family’s intended short visit soon became a permanent residence. They chose to stay so that I could have a better education and ultimately, a better life. But in order to attain what they initially envisioned when making that life-changing decision, they have had to endure numerous hardships and obstacles.…
