{"id":88713,"date":"2009-12-18T12:29:25","date_gmt":"2009-12-18T17:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/?p=3647"},"modified":"2009-12-18T12:29:25","modified_gmt":"2009-12-18T17:29:25","slug":"one-patient%e2%80%99s-story-my-type-2-diabetes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/88713","title":{"rendered":"One patient\u2019s story: my Type 2 diabetes"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Mirna \u201cMinnie\u201d Ortiz is a lot like most 16-year-olds. She likes hanging out with her friends, watching television and has dreams for her future. Unlike other teens her age, Minnie is the only person she knows that has Type 2 diabetes<\/a>. Minnie recently shared her story with PBS in an online video series<\/a>. Here is Minnie’s introductory video in the series, and below she shares her story about being diagnosed with Type 2 and how it\u2019s changed her life.<\/p>\n

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Minnie\u2019s story<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was getting really sick towards the end of August 2005. I was throwing up, really thirsty all of the time and felt like I could sleep all day. I was constantly asking for sugary drinks and foods. That\u2019s what my mom would give me. She had no idea at the time that I had diabetes.<\/span><\/p>\n

On my first day of 6th<\/sup> grade, I was sitting on the couch at home and then out of nowhere I fell into a diabetic coma. My family took me to the hospital and the doctors told my mom I had ketones<\/a> and that my sugar level was 1,200, which is incredibly high and potentially dangerous.<\/p>\n

I was in a diabetic coma for week. I was fed through IVs because I wasn\u2019t allowed to eat. When I finally woke up, I was really disoriented because I didn’t remember anything that had happened to me. I thought, Why am I in the hospital?<\/p>\n

The doctors told me that I have diabetes. Before that moment, I had never even heard the word diabetes before. I had no idea what it was. While the doctors were explaining it to me, all I heard was that there would be needles and a lot of tests. I was going to have to stay in the hospital longer for them to figure everything out. I was only 12 at the time and didn\u2019t really understand it all.<\/p>\n

\"type2pullquote\"My life has changed a lot since then. I never had to worry about my blood sugar. Now I take medicine twice a day to help control it and I have to keep track of my sugar levels in a log book three times a day.<\/p>\n

The doctors talked to me about my diet<\/a> and said I couldn\u2019t eat candy anymore. I used to love candy. Twizzlers were my favorite. But sugar is bad for me now, so I don\u2019t eat them anymore, except maybe on Halloween. I\u2019ll eat one <\/em>Twizzler. I used to drink a lot of Pepsi and Sierra Mist, but now if I drink soda it has to be diet. I mostly drink juice or flavored water like Crystal Light. I used to not pay attention to what I ate, but I have to be responsible for myself now.<\/p>\n

I was also told that I had to lose weight. If I didn\u2019t, my diabetes would get worse. I hate to exercise, but know that it\u2019s important that I do. I get most of my exercise in gym class and I actually like to play basketball and walk around the track. I have lost some weight thanks to exercise and a change in my diet. I eat smaller portions, three meals a day and always have fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

Life with Type 2 can be hard, especially since I don\u2019t know anyone else my age who has it. So, I just write in my journal when I need to vent. It\u2019s been really helpful.<\/p>\n

My family is the real reason I have survived this. They motivate me, and if it wasn\u2019t for them, I wouldn\u2019t feel pushed to control my diabetes. They\u2019ve even started eating healthier too.<\/p>\n

I want other kids with Type 2 to know that they\u2019re not alone. That\u2019s why I did the project with PBS. I know how it feels when you first find out you have diabetes. You feel shut out and really confused. I hope that when people see my video diaries they see someone they can look up to. I want other kids with diabetes to be more open about expressing themselves and to not get stressed out about it. I just don\u2019t want anyone to feel like they\u2019re alone.<\/p>\n

Here’s another interesting story<\/a> about how diabetic kids may focus too much on carb counting.<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you dealing with diabetes in your home? What’s the hardest part about it? What have you learned about yourself as a result?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mirna \u201cMinnie\u201d Ortiz is a lot like most 16-year-olds. She likes hanging out with her friends, watching television and has dreams for her future. Unlike other teens her age, Minnie is the only person she knows that has Type 2 diabetes. Minnie recently shared her story with PBS in an online video series. Here is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":481,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}