A diagnosis of diabetes – whether Type 1, Type 2 or gestational — is a life-changing event. It’s possible to live well with diabetes, but doing so requires intensive education about the disease process. The latest statistics on the prevalence of diabetes indicate that approximately 10 percent of Kent County residents are affected. Because many of these individuals are asymptomatic, they are unaware they have diabetes and have not sought treatment.
That was the situation in which Rock Hall resident Terri D’Angelo found herself last January. “I felt very sick,” D’Angelo recalls. “I had a scratchy throat and I was constantly thirsty. I went to my doctor and she thought I might have a virus. I went back three weeks later and had lost 10 pounds. She sent me for bloodwork and called me over the weekend to tell me to go the hospital as she believed I had diabetes.”
D’Angelo, 63, spent the night at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown where she learned that she has diabetes – not the Type 2 that is prevalent among adults, but a late onset of Type 1 diabetes. “When you are in the hospital, you know it’s serious,” D’Angelo said recently. “I knew my life would change and I didn’t know how I would handle it.”
Fortunately, D’Angelo – a former teacher – had the support resources of staff from the UM Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology who provided outpatient, follow-up treatment for her at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown. “They are just top-notch,” said D’Angelo. “The nurse educators and other staff members don’t let you get defeated and they support you in every way possible. They don’t sugarcoat anything but they let you know you can lead a healthy, normal life.”
“Terri is an inspiration,” says Chrissy Nelson, diabetes nurse educator at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown. “She goes out of her way to safeguard her health; she is totally positive and compliant with the changes that she needed to make.”
According to D’Angelo, the most difficult challenge is having to structure her day around checking her blood sugar, counting carbs and eating at specific times every day. “That has meant planning very carefully – even taking a cooler of my allowed foods to a ballgame at Camden Yards,” she says.
“Life will never be the way it was before my diagnosis,” she says. “However, I am now healthier. I feel blessed – I know I have to take care of myself. I eat better, I live better and I am looking forward to more years with my family and friends.”
The Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology is offering two events in Chestertown during November, which is National Diabetes Awareness Month: an Open House, Wednesday, November 16, 1-4 p.m. at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown; and a diabetic-friendly grocery store tour at Redner’s Market in Chestertown, Monday, November 28, 1 p.m. Both events are offered free of charge.
More information may be obtained at http://umshoreregional.org/programs/endocrinology or by calling 410-822-1000, ext. 5195.
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