My name is Tracy. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 22.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disorder in which the body no longer produces insulin, a hormone needed to digest food into energy for survival. There is no cure, and this type of diabetes cannot be changed with diet and exercise.

That’s right. No family history. No autoimmune deficiency. No genetic precursor. Just one day, my pancreas gave up, and I’ll probably never know why. If you want to get personal, read my book, Sugarcoated. I talk about the whole experience from pre- to post-diagnosis.

But let’s back up a second. So I write. I’ve been writing since I was nine-years-old (creating stories since as far back as I can remember). And then diabetes came along. I stopped writing. I didn’t want to talk about it much less write about it.

Then I moved to Baltimore to pursue a graduate degree in creative writing and publishing. There, I wrote about my experience with diabetes, how sometimes I wished I could stab it to death and other times give it a great big hug for all the eye-opening lessons it taught me. In writing about it, I came to accept my lifelong partner and how it’s changed me. It’s not cancer. It’s manageable. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like to poke fun at it or yell into the void when it gets me down.

When I was diagnosed, I didn’t know anyone with the disease (at least anyone close). I managed surrounded by people learning just as I was. Looking back, I wish I could have had a community or at least some guidance that was more than a 15-minute appointment with my endocrinologist.

This blog is not that guide, but I hope it creates community and provides an opportunity to show others how much diabetes interferes or should I say “complements” my daily life. And maybe, just maybe, gives me an opportunity to blow off some steam.

Okay diabetes, I may be married to you for life, but let’s just say we’re in the midst of a divorce.

In addition to Type 1 diabetes, I also write about mental health, grief, dating, Disney, a cat called Norm, and being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Some of my more popular posts:

• A Day in the Life with Type 1 Diabetes
• Diabulimia: A Personal Struggle With Body Image and Diabetes
• Being Adventurous with Diabetes: Whitewater Rafting
• The Little Mermaid is My Favorite Disney Movie, and I Finally Figured Out Why
• ‘Never Have I Ever’ Too: Growing Up Perpetually Single
• Failing DC
• Needles, Reservoirs, Cannulas and More

Some of my favorite posts:

• I am Bisexual: Confessions of a Former ‘Straight’ Person
• Thoughts on Grief and a Rare Kind of Connection
• Finding the Joy Within
• I Am Amazing: How ‘Thinking and Acting Like a Man’ Changed My Self-Perception
• How the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare Saved My Life
• Contemplating My Own Mortality
• Live Your Stars: My Tattoo for Creative Living
• In the Prime of Life: Roscoe’s Imprint