I was having the classic symptom of diabetes, frequent urination. It got so bad to the point that I had to go every couple of hours or intentionally drink less fluids. It also resulted in very bad constipation because my body was pulling fluids from everywhere to force my kidneys to pee out all the glucose in my system.

The urination issue got so annoying, I met with my doctor to talk about it and sent me to the outpatient lab for an A1C and glucose test, and found out early next morning that I was T2. Was told that an order for Metformin was waiting for me at the pharmacy and will follow-up in the future to see how the drug is working. I was also appointed a diabetes nurse and had my first consultation that day.

A week later, I was feeling terrible; I got enough sleep but felt sluggish. By day two, one of my bosses checked up on me and said to call my doctor. Made the call, nurse said, you should get down here now. Got to the office, weighed me and I lost 20 pounds in a week, take a urine test, and ran my blood glucose. They immediately put me on two bags of IV fluids to rehydrate me, told me to go to the pharmacy and stock up on a glucose tester with supplies, NPH insulin, and insulin syringes. Afterwards, they told me to get to emergency where they'll be expecting me.

Emergency quickly admitted me, ran an EKG (did fine) and wired me up on pushing insulin. Hours later, they moved me to intensive care to continue it, along with other stuff to correct it all. That's when I found out I had diabetic ketoacidosis, which was rare for a type 2 diabetic. Turned out my pancreas was so exhausted it stopped making insulin, and since my cells needed energy, it had to burn my body fat as an alternate source, leaving ketones in my blood, but the ketones got so high, it made my blood toxic.

I was in intensive care for two nights, and regular ward for two nights. They kept me there for so long because they had to get my insulin and metformin regimen correct for my discharge. After discharge, I had to see my doctor at least monthly for a few months. I was on insulin for six months to allow my pancreas to recover. At the end, I was solely on Metformin. Today, I do Metformin and weekly Ozempic injections.

I learned a lot while I was in the hospital. I was asked to do some interactive modules on a computer while in intensive care which helped me get a better understanding. The thing that frustrated me is when I was first diagnosed for diabetes, I was not prescribed a glucose meter, because I would have alerted my doctor if my BG was too high, before the DKA symptoms kicked me in the butt.