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photo of Bill Stacey
I'm William Stacey, from Athens, New York. Call me Bill. I'm 77-years-old, and I've had diabetes for 70 years. I was born on August 28, 1925. My wife's name is Elizabeth, and my son's name is George. I remember when I was diagnosed, it was March 25, 1933.
My parents figured it out; I was going to the bathroom, and I urinated a lot, so it probably became clearer over time. They took me to the doctor, who diagnosed me with diabetes.
Back then, to test my blood, I used to have to get what they called the Benedict Solution. It had a regular kit that came with it, which had a little test tube in it, and a dropper to put the Benedict Solution in. I think it was five drops of the Benedict Solution, and five drops of urine into the little test tube. Then, I had to have a little burner that burned the alcohol in the test tube. There was nothing to throw away with it.
We used glass syringes. They were "reusable." We had to boil the syringes and everything every time we used them. We also had to keep an extra one, in case we happened to break the syringe. I know some people even re-sharpened the needles, but we didn't sharpen them; my mom just bought new ones.
When I first began, I took shots three times a day--in the morning at about 8 am, about noon time, and at night, all Regular insulin. When I lived near school, I used to walk home for my meals, I mean, at noon time. I lived about two blocks from school.
Well, there was a girl who lived next door. She was about my age, and every time my mother would call, "it's time to take your insulin," she'd run over, you know, and watch. Later, she moved, about a half a block from me. Every once in while she'd ask me, "do you remember that?" and I would say, "Yeah, I remember that. Every time my mother used to call me in and say 'it's time to take your insulin,' you'd run over."
She called here once, and told me she was having problems. She was diabetic, too. You know some of these people would tell me: "oh, you can eat that," and I'd say, "no, I can't eat that." You must realize that she's dead, now. I mean, you know, if she took care, she might be living today, like I am.
I had insulin reactions every once in while. My mother kept pretty good track of that. I used to carry little cubes of sugar with me. Well, you had to do something. Now it's a lot easier. Now, I carry glucose tablets with me, and if I get to feeling a little funny someplace, I just chew a couple of them. They bring my blood glucose back up in a hurry.
When I first got married, my wife wasn't used to dealing with it -- that was about 1948. Well, that was the first time we went to the hospital. My blood sugar was really high -- all the way up to 571.She really didn't know much about it, back then, but she's really on to it now. She asks me every time she thinks I'm dizzy, "you feel all right?" It's nice to have somebody like that. My son is the same way. He gets a little upset, you know. He calls in, and checks on me. My son, he thinks quite a lot of me, and he takes good care of me. He's married, and has two children of his own.
I told my wife, I says, you know, you gotta learn to give me insulin. She says, "I can't do that. I can't watch." I said, "Well, why don't you do like my mother did. She practiced on an orange."
I learned how from my mother. I can't remember that well, really. She just showed me. I guess I must have caught on pretty quick.
But anyhow, my wife asked the doctor for advice. The doctor told her that in the hospital, if the kid didn't like a needle, they'd just throw a towel over the patient's head. The nurse in the hospital would do it. They had to give a needle, you know. I can't give you any details about what I didn't see. The doctor said the nurse would throw a towel or something over their head, but I can't see how they would give the needle.
I had a reaction once with my coach. My wife said, "you really ripped into him." I was stronger than anything. So the next day, I said to him, "George, I want to apologize for what I did last night." He says, "That's all right, just watch it." You know, my wife gets excited about it.
I was pretty much a "brittle diabetic," 10 or 15 years ago. I got afraid to travel without taking my son with me. I was having problems, you know, low blood sugars and everything. I got a good doctor at over at Columbia County. But, I remember going there, and the first thing he says to me, "Now I want you to do what I tell you to do, otherwise, don't come back again." He was pretty stern, you know.
So I went back. He really got me straightened out. He's a lot better than the doctor I see now.
This new doc had me try this different stuff, like this 70/30. I couldn't take it. I wasn't doing at all well with that. That was too much, you know? So now I'm on Humulin R, and Humulin NPH. So in the morning, I take 14 units of N, and three units of R. At nighttime, I usually take four units of N and three units of R with my main meal.
I test it four or five times a day, and five times a day I take a pill, after the test. I have to keep track of it in a log book. Whenever I go to the doctor, I take that log book with me. He says "Well, you're pretty good. You seem to adjust it yourself everyday." I've had a lot of practice at it.
I've had bad hypoglycemia, bad reactions, where I had to go to the hospital--but only once or twice. No real diabetic complication problems, though I had a cataract operation.
My doctor gave me a prescription for Glucagon. I have two of them on hand right by the night stand. My wife give me one of them once.
I go to the eye doctor every six months, and he checks my eyes. Every time I go, they say, "you're a diabetic? How long have you been a diabetic?" The last time I was in the hospital they said: "Well, you ought to get a prize for that. I can't believe it," to look at me, you know. Yesterday I got a thing from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. I got a little scroll like thing. So, I made a donation to them, and I wrote on it how long I've been a diabetic, and all that. It's the first I've ever heard of them. I got it yesterday and sent the donation out this morning.
I worked for a while on an ice cream truck. I used to transport ice and everything, too. I never had any trouble there. I would always carry sugar pills with me during those days. I always kept sugar in my pocket. When I worked in a place, I kept some in a jar.
I'd like to tell people that if they've got diabetes, take care of themselves, and they can live to be like anybody else. I worked with this fellow once, he used to ride back and forth to work, and he asked: "I can't understand why you're working? You can work?"
I said, "What do you mean? Just because I'm a diabetic?"
He said, "Yeah."
I said, "Well, that don't mean nothing. You take care of yourself, and you can work like anybody else."
A diabetic is like anybody else, I mean. I worked with this one fellow, in a drugstore once, and I was behind a soda fountain. You know, we had a soda fountain. He was diabetic too. I asked him, when he'd come in and get a big soda, or banana split, "how do you eat that stuff?"
"Well, I just load the thing up with insulin," he said. But yeah, that's no good. I worked with him once, and I saw him come in, and he's having an insulin reaction, and man, it took seven or eight guys to hold him down. Well, I know that if you get that way, your strength is extra strong, I mean.It's a lot easier now to be diabetic compared to what I went through. It bothered me a bit. I mean I did all kinds of work things. Looking back now, I don't understand how I did all that. Well, I read about Vi Shugrue [in the January 2003 Voice], and she's about the same as I was when I was trying all this insulin. She says it's about how you take care of yourself, and you'll live to be old, too. She's right. You take care of yourself, and you can live to as long as I have.