Essay by Abby Froelich
My name is Abby Froelich, a 27-year-old wife to my husband, Alex, and a proud mother of two wonderful children—a vibrant six-year-old daughter and an adventurous three-year-old son. By day, I'm immersed in the bustling world of working at a dental office, while my early mornings are filled with passion as a fitness instructor at Mandan's Heat House.
My journey with Type 1 diabetes began at the tender age of four, launching my family and me into a whirlwind of learning and adaptation. Early on, my parents became my steadfast allies, mastering the intricate dance of insulin dosages and carb counting. By kindergarten, I was taking charge of my injections, driven by a desire for independence. As I write this, my daughter is currently in kindergarten, so I can only imagine what my parents went through daily trying to teach someone so young something challenging.
Over the years of my childhood, I witnessed remarkable advancements in diabetes management technology, from insulin pens to sophisticated pumps; then came the pump with built-in glucose monitoring. Each innovation, of course, brought new challenges and triumphs. After living with my pump for a while, my mom remembers me telling her, "I never knew what it was like to feel so human! My blood sugar is much more regulated, and I feel great!"; To this day, the technology for pumps and built-in glucose monitoring systems have only grown for the better.
Yet, the road was never without its bumps, it was about junior year of high school when my diabetes started to challenge me. After a long battle, multiple hospitalizations, and a lot of testing, the doctors in Bismarck discovered that my colon was shutting down and not working correctly. The doctors sent me to the children's hospital in Minnesota to meet with a specialist there. After several tests, they concluded that I had nerve damage from my diabetes in my colon, causing it not to work. This takes me on another huge technological advancement that I got to see firsthand. They had a device called a sensory nerve stimulator that they used in other countries to help stimulate the nerves in the colon to function correctly.
Was I a candidate?
Yes. Did we know if it was going to work? No. They let my parents know we could do a 2-week trial where the device leads would run outside my body along with the physical device itself before they implanted. They wanted to test it to see if it would stimulate my nerves enough to make my colon function. My parents' insurance told them that if this worked, they would pay for the device. But the insurance would not pay for it if it didn't work. My parents knew we needed to do something, so I went to the operating table to have the device hooked up and start the 2-week trial. Two weeks went by, and it worked! I was able to function
correctly, so they permanently implanted the device in my lower back, where still, to this day, it pumps the nerves in my colon to make it function. By the time I had this surgery, I had graduated from high school and was in school to be a cosmetologist.
At this time, I was 20 years old when we found out Alex and I would be parents. We could not believe it. I was told from a young age that my diabetes and complications might make it difficult for me to have children. Even though I was considered a high-risk pregnancy, everything went well until about 30 weeks, when I went into preterm labor. The remainder of my pregnancy had its ups and downs and lots of doctors'; visits and hospital stays. Still, we made it to 37 weeks and welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. After a short 5-day NICU stay, we got to take our girl home. After having our daughter, I started working out and coaching at a local fitness studio in town while working as a cosmetologist. I worked in the cosmetology industry for a few years until we needed something more stable for our family. That led me to my current job at Deeter Dental. Since working full time, I cut out working at the fitness studio and focused on work and my family.
Alex and I got engaged in August 2019 and were married the following August 2020. We talked about trying to have one more kiddo. With my diabetes and the complications, we had with our first pregnancy, we didn't want to wait until I was too much older. We discovered we were expecting again and got to love a baby boy this time. Again, being a high-risk pregnancy, we knew what this road might look like. I made it to about 25 weeks into my pregnancy when I landed back in the hospital with preterm contractions, which eventually led to preterm labor that we thankfully stopped. After several hospital stays and a long journey, I made it to 33 weeks, when I was hospitalized for a week, again with preterm labor. We got things stopped, and I went home on a Thursday. The following day, I had an afternoon checkup with my doctor.
Throughout that week in the hospital, I gained an excessive amount of water weight. I was swollen from the top of my head to my toes. Alex was very concerned about my breathing throughout Thursday evening. I could barely walk; I couldn't lie down because I felt like there was an elephant on my chest. I couldn't breathe, and I could barely talk. It was so hard to catch my breath. I couldn't wear shoes or clothes because I had gained so much weight in one week. I went for my follow-up appointment on Friday and had officially made it to 34 weeks. I was hooked up for my stress test and blood pressure check and earned a ticket to labor and delivery because of very high blood pressure readings. I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and had to be induced after we had just stopped labor a few days prior. I remember telling Alex and my mom that there was no way I was going to be able to give birth; I could barely move, and my body was exhausted. After several IV medications and an insulin drip, my blood pressure was under control, so they started the medication to induce labor. Around 6 PM, while we patiently waited for things to pick up, Alex and my mom noticed I wasn't myself. They checked my sensor and realized my blood sugar was getting low. They called a nurse in to get me something to take care of my low sugar, but they couldn't act fast enough. In a matter of seconds, I went unconscious. A rapid response was called, and a team of doctors and nurses, along with my powerful husband and mom, worked at my bedside to bring me back. My sensor shut off because my blood sugar was dropping so fast it couldn't keep up. My mom has been caring for me and my diabetes since I was four years old. My husband, for several years now. Neither had ever seen anything like this.
Everyone was so confused about why this was happening. Was it stress? Was it the medication I was given to help my pre-eclampsia? They stopped all medications going into my IV and stopped the labor process. Finally, I remember waking up to more people than I could imagine would fit in my tiny hospital room. They gave me a little time for my blood sugars to level out and to start feeling better before they started the medications again to induce labor. Still baffled at what had just happened, we continued with what we were there for. At 3 AM, we
welcomed our beautiful baby boy! He and Alex quickly went straight to the NICU.
A little time followed my delivery, and my doctor returned and talked to my mom and me. He said he knew why my blood sugar dropped and what caused it. With sadness in his voice, he shared that a medical error occurred when I had been hooked up to multiple IVs. It was new to the nurses to have such a complex delivery, and two of the IVs were switched around by accident. It was on an insulin drip and IV fluids. This means that I was given almost an entire bag of insulin in roughly an hour. As he was telling me this, I assured him it was okay. I said, "I'm okay! and mistakes happen! "; But my doctor said, "It's not okay. It's a mistake that
almost cost you your life." Even in complete shock over almost losing my life, my focus was still on our son in the NICU. Despite what happened, I must be thankful for what God has blessed us with.
Our son was intubated shortly after being born because he had trouble breathing. We had a journey in the
NICU that brought something new every day. It was the most challenging 31 days of my life. Being a NICU parent is just something I cannot even put into words. It brings so many emotions. Tears of joy for small accomplishments and tears of sadness when we would take a step back. Being broken when you feel you should be at home with your little one there, but also wanting to spend every moment watching that little human grow and fight in the hospital. The NICU stay tested our resilience, but we emerged stronger, bound together by love and faith. We prayed for our son's strength and for him to grow, and 31 days later, we finally
took our sweet boy home to meet his sister! While recovering and getting my body to heal after all the stress it went through, I finally had all my people under one roof.
Fast forward to the winter after having our son, I had an annual eye exam, which showed several hemorrhages in my eyes. They called this diabetic retinopathy. I knew that my A1Cs were doing relatively well after my tough pregnancy. I wondered why this could be and why it was another thing. I've always known that diabetes can cause nerve damage and affect your eyes. It already took out my colon. Does it need my eyes, too?
With lots of worry and thinking I was not even going to see my kids graduate high school, I had some further testing done for macular degeneration. I got the good news that I was in the clear but that we would continue to monitor that and the diabetic retinopathy. I knew then that if I didn't start to take control of the things I could control (like eating better, exercising regularly, and taking care of the body I'm living in), more things would start happening to me that I couldn't control. This disease will never go away, but at least I can say I am trying and doing everything I can to fight this ugly battle. My doctors figured my eyes were affected by my pregnancy with my son and having to take in triple the amount of insulin from what was considered normal to control my diabetes throughout that pregnancy.
I decided to face this challenge head-on. I changed my lifestyle and started to focus on what I could do. After getting things like my diet and exercise reined in, I had more follow-up appointments (anyone with a chronic illness knows the appointments are endless!) The hemorrhages in my eyes had decreased tremendously! I must correlate that to the lifestyle changes I made. Fast forward to now, I feel amazing, and my A1Cs have been better than ever just by eating well and working out regularly.
I started coaching at Heat House and continue to push my body and strive daily to be my best self. I want to be able to say that I did everything possible to fight this battle and this disease. I will not let this disease define me. I want to show my kids and my husband that I'm doing it for myself to feel good, but I'm also doing it for them because I need them, and they need me to be the healthiest I can be. Is getting up and being at the studio at five o'clock in the morning every day easy? Heck no! But it feels so good once I am done. Is meal planning and cooking healthy for our family time-consuming? Yes! But I will continue to do it. I will continue to set that activity mode on my pump to keep my blood sugar in check throughout my workout and work hard.
I tell you this story because we all have something and I want to inspire others to face their challenges head-on. We all have a story; mine may be just half the harrowing story the next person might have, but I'm here to encourage you to keep pushing. Show up for you. Show up for your family and continue to strive to be the absolute best version of yourself because God made you, and your body deserves your best. You get one body to live in for your entire life, even if there's a disease there that you fight against or something you struggle with every day. Take care of that one body because you, my friend, are excellent.
So, no matter the obstacles you face, remember: You are capable, resilient, and worthy of every blessing life has to offer. No excuses, no giving up—just unwavering determination and belief in yourself. This is your year, your day. Embrace it, own it, and never stop believing in the incredible strength within you.
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