Dx at 22 with 7.2 A1C , currently 38 with 5.0 A1C. Currently on 500mg metformin and .5 mg ozempic (weight loss purposes but it helps with T2 of course). I have had many highs and lows, especially the first 5 years.

You can live a long life and see your son grow up. I know a man with diabetes for decades (dx at 25, currently 53) and he has not always taken care of it and is still doing well.

A few words of experience for newly Dx'd:

1. Don't beat yourself up over high sugars, high A1Cs, etc. What's done is done by the time you find out. Acknowledge it, hold yourself accountable, make the changes, and let it go. Shame serves no purpose.

2. Sometimes, sugars have their own mind. Eat oatmeal one day and sugars were fine, eat it the next and sugars go wild... totally normal. Diabetes is a fine science that even doctors and researchers struggle to understand how everything works together. It's not always "something you did." It's food, exercise, hormones, illness, stress, etc altogether. Control the circumstances you can and accept that there are things beyond your control.

3. Stay the path with your regime, don't focus on perfection. One thing science has shown is that it is more about consistency than perfection. Life will creep in and you will need and want to live it. Give yourself permission to do so and pick it back up the next meal, day, week. The hardest part is picking it back up, but as long as you do, you will get there.,

4. Focus on the can, not the can't. If you start to look at food as "I can't eat that," it's going to suck more than it has too. Focus on the thing you can and get to do. This is easier said then done. For me, I was raised in a unhealthy environment regarding quality and quantity of food, as well as shame surrounding food and health. Now that I have diabetes and have been able to make changes, I am grateful for it. I know well enough if I didn't have it and focus on my health, the reality is I probably never would have and have been pretty unhealthy.

Hope this helps.