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Person with diabetesBorn in Somersham in 1941.
Diagnosed Type 1 in Somersham Huntingdons in 1945
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Overview:
Joan began to lose weight when she was three. Her doctor had never seen a child with diabetes and so failed to act until she was critically ill. When she recovered, she had to weigh every slice of bread, but was allowed extra wartime rations of cheese, meat and fish. She has been married to Clive since 1962 and has one son. She would like to have worked as a children`s nurse, but was advised that she wasn`t fit enough, and she was would like to have had more children, but had three miscarriages, which she attributes to diabetes.
There is also an interview with Joan`s husband, Clive.
Please note that Overview relates to date of recording Thursday, October 11, 2007
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samples |
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1 Joan was diagnosed before the National Health Service was created in 1948 and, though she was an only child, her family could barely afford the extra expense caused by diabetes - particularly as the hospital was nearly twenty miles from their home. [ 60 secs ] |  | 2 Although Joan has had disappointments in her life, she feels she has been very lucky to be married to Clive. [ 58 secs ] | |
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01 Only child. Mother shop assistant. Father carpenter – away during war. I became ill - GP didn’t take it seriously. May 1945 – ordered to Addenbrookes hospital. Parents stayed in Cambridge c. 3 weeks – feared I would die.
Urine testing. | |
| | 02 Letter to mother – prayer that Joan may be ‘spared’. Hospital full of injured soldiers, so I was in converted school. Glass syringes, thick needles, bread weighed. | |
| | 03 No-one thought child could have diabetes – nurse told aunt to give me sweets; GP had never seen it before. Extra protein rations. | |
| 04 Missed school - illness & hospital visits – expensive taxi to hospital; long wait for blood test result. Allergic to penicillin.
Injected self from around 7. Different insulins. | |
| | 05 Food packed to take to parties. Child said I’d been eating sweet things – untrue - never did. People afraid to take me out. One family took me on day trip to sea. | |
| | 06 Expensive taxi to hospital 20 miles away. Went by train once – arrived too late for blood test. Insulin & syringes free, but needles restricted. Paid doctor. Avoided doctor who’d nearly let me die. Later doctor good, but caused problems. | |
| 07 Not allowed ballet lessons. Exercise not part of regime. Allowed to cycle. Always obeyed – for sake of diabetes. Aged15/16, in bed all winter with high sugars. Visitors forbidden.
GP advised against nursing career. Worked for solicitor. | |
| 08 Boss good – didn’t stop wages for hospital visits.
Met husband when I was 19, he was 29. | |
| | 09 Engaged after year. Married 1962. Pregnant next year. Husband coped with hypos. 10 weeks in hospital. Son born 1963 – heavy. | |
| | 10 Next year, had miscarriage. Next year, husband had cancer. 1966 – Fallopian tube operation – told no more children. Two miscarriages, 1977 & 1982. Poor control. Better since DAFNE. | |
| | 11 Always ‘brittle’. Epilepsy diagnosed 1970s – maybe some childhood hypos were epilepsy. Most frightening hypo in hospital, 1977. | |
| | 12 DAFNE - Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating – good. Test blood, adjust insulin to meals, not so time-tied. But diabetes cured, won’t be able to stop clock-watching. | |
| 13 Diabetes stopped me working with children & having children. After marriage, worked in husband’s business. Miscarriages increased understanding of others.
Husband treats me as normal, has supported me through low sugars, miscarriages, moods.
Aged 15, worked part-time in village school – loved it.
Grateful to doctors, especially Owen Edwards. | |
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