New Info on Islet Transplantation

Everytime I see a new article on Islet Transplantation, I feel this hushed excitement but always just tell myself... "surely not in MY lifetime and in MY life, right?" It seems like just this thing I was always promised and always dreamed of and I admit, I even used it as my crutch as to why I didn't really have to care...because I will one day be cured.

Well, now I know that I can't rely on that crutch as an excuse to NOT care for myself because it may never come for me... but if it does, I sure will be excited!!

The JDRF just sent me this article: News in Islet Transplantation.

The thing that at first discouraged me, and then confused me was the very first sentence: Islet transplantation can be an important therapeutic option for adults with unstable type 1 diabetes-individuals who, despite their best efforts, have wide, unpredictable fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

My first reaction was, well darn!! I know that with close control I can generally keep my blood sugar right where I want it. Sure, it takes a lot of time and effort, but I can do it, so I am certainly not unstable.

Then I thought, but Ah ha!, even when I do dedicate all of my time and effort and energy to controlling this darn disease, I still despite my best efforts have wide, unpredicatble fluctuations in blood sugar levels...

Soooo...that means we ALL qualify, right?! Don't we all of some unpredictable fluctuations that are never explained, no matter how darn hard we try?!

Now, as a disclaimer, I have not yet read the entire article... I stopped at the first line due to the absolute conundrum that statement presented to me, but heck, I think it should give us all a little hope, since, from what I have learned over the past year from all of my diabetes friends...no matter how hard we try, every now and then we will have that unpredictable high or low and that it likely isn't our fault, it is probably just due to some unknown bodily response to some unknown bodily function, and that we don't need to feel blame or guilt or discouragement. We just fix it and move on, and be thankful that we will all qualify for Islet tranplantation :)