Hello, everyone!
My name is Maggie. I'm a rising high school senior, and on August 7, I'll celebrate my two-year diabetes anniversary.
For two months after my diagnosis, I used syringes to administer insulin. After that, I started using a Minimed 722 insulin pump. About two months ago, I started using a continuous glucose monitor. I'm the only one in my family with diabetes, but my relatives and friends are very supportive in learning about this disease. I have a mother, father, 14-year-old brother, dog, and cat.
As everyone with diabetes can attest, this disease can be frustrating. However, I thank my experiences with diabetes for making me more in-tune to myself, both physically and emotionally.
Since my diagnosis, fitness has become an integral part of my daily life. As Ginger and Anna, among others, have written, exercising with diabetes is both complex and rewarding. About a year after my diagnosis, my mother, a half-marathon runner, encouraged me to accompany her on short jogs around the block. Being both headstrong and determined, I slowly increased my mileage while adjusting my insulin doses. One year and hundreds of sweaty miles later, I run about 25 miles a week, and this spring I finished my first half-marathon seventh in my age division! In addition to running, I love swimming, weight lifting, and hiking. Especially when I am stressed from school, lacing up my running shoes releases stress, increases my confidence, and gives me a healthy dose of self-satisfaction.
Another of my passions is travel. I especially love visiting countries where a different language is spoken, although I still enjoy visiting new parts of the United States and Canada.
I've traveled throughout Western Europe with my family, but in the summer of 2008 I set off alone to spend six weeks living with a host family in Finland. This experience gave me a new perspective on my life in the United States, and made me more responsible and independent in caring for my diabetes. I have become more flexible with every travel experience; I've lived with an unfamiliar family who had no prior experience with diabetes, eaten new kinds of foods, and lived according to different cultures' ways of life. I've got a long list of countries I'd love to visit!
In school, my favorite subjects are science (including biology and chemistry,) and I'm especially interested in exercise science and nutrition. I also like learning foreign languages. I've studied French for more than five years; on a recent trip to Paris, I talked to a curious French woman with diabetes who had never heard of an insulin pump. I've also studied Arabic for two years. When I get older, I want to attend medical school and spend time practicing abroad. In short, I love learning about anything and everything, as well as meeting new people--especially when diabetes is involved!
I'm so exited to talk to anyone about life with diabetes, whether travel or exercise-related or not. Feel free to send me a message to ask a question or just to say hello.
