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Diabetes Brain Trust
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Hi there!,
I am much more than my autoimmune diseases. I'm Mom to a daughter and son - both in their early 40's. Wife to my current husband for a long time. And Nana to three wonderful grandsons, one is 19 (and a PFC USMC), one is 17, and one is 9, and they are brothers.
As you'll see in my signature, I was born with an autoimmune diabetic kidney disease (64 years ago). Then came Rubella at age 3. How about a little Rheumatic Fever thrown in - not once (age 7), but twice (age 22 or so). Rheumatic Fever is a systemic autoimmune disease -and in my case, is also an inherited one. Vitiligo (also autoimmune
) at age 15, keeps my arms in small, lovely shades of no pigment. There have also been spells of adrenal issues through the years. My true love work wise, was specializi ng in Trauma Radiograph y, after earning my college degree of A.S. in Radiologic Technology . From the time I was 7, I knew I would work with x-ray stuff. I also tutored radiograph y students at the college level. Gave inservices to the radiograph y department (s); and conducted the monthly radiograph y tours to elementary school age children - using terms understood by those age groups. I was a member, during my working years, of my profession al radiograph ic organizati ons. Since retiring from radiograph y, I've worked with wood, and have my own little woodshop biz at home. My volunteer efforts included for domestic violence shelters; nursing homes; and as a teenager, I was a candy striper, and earned that coveted cap after 1000 hours. 
My volunteer efforts now, are devoted to the ADA forums, helping other diabetics, and specifically on the Type 1 forum. I'm also a photograph er, hand quilter when I can still see well enough to do tiny stitches, embroidery , crocheting , and learned to sew when I was 9. I loved tennis and bike riding. I also founded and published - three small community weekly and monthly newspapers (tabloid size), of which I was the only person to do all of the work, including layout and paste-up, along with writing the editorials , etc. Before I did my newspapers , twelve of my Letters to the Editor (one letter each month) of the area major newspapers , were published in three newspapers at the same time, of which one became (a 1/2 page in a full size newspaper) a Community Commentary section, on Domestic Abuse. Type 1 Diabetes is a part of my life, but it is not all of my life. ~ Trisha ~ IDDM (Type 1 autoimmune ) 30 years
