Guest Blogger-polooza Day 5: Gina

Gina Capone is the President of The Diabetes Resource and writes at The Diabetes Talkfest Blog.


I've gotten to know her personality a bit on facebook and have found her to be just a downright amazing person. Her story of inner healing is moving, and also a reminder how community makes all the difference in the world. Thank you Gina for taking time to writes for us!

When I first found out what blogging was from my husband (when we were dating) he said I should write a blog. My first thought to myself was… what the heck is a blog? Then, what the hell am I going to write about? I don’t even know how to put a sentence together. Who is going to even read what I write? I let the idea of writing this blog soak for a few months. Then said to myself, what the hell…and went for it.

I made my first post back in June 05’ and had no idea what would be in store for me and my elementary school style of writing. At first it was so hard to think of topics on what I wanted to write about, because I have never been a strong writer. But, then thought—my life with diabetes was a perfect topic! Day after day I would think of this crazy stuff that happened like Pump Gushers, or intimate feelings I had, and *poof* out came a post like magic. I really felt like an idiot writing my feelings down (I am not really the expressive type) and having it go into the dark hole of cyberspace somewhere…well I got over it.

Eventually, my stupidity paid off and I really started enjoying this thing called blogging. I had content at my fingertips, literally… everyday, all day (see finger stick). The words I wrote started becoming my way of expressing exactly how I felt on that particular day. It was so therapeutic to write it all out and not have to lash out on family members…well not all the time haha My anger for my disease was slowly disappearing and my health started to improve slowly.

The high stress level I once had was less, and as the days came and went I was getting more comfortable with my thoughts, and letting these cyber space people that didn’t even know me personally read about my life with diabetes!

It became a way for me to communicate with others living with the disease and for them to communicate with me as well. All of us who were writing about diabetes started finding each other slowly, and formed a common bond from our chronic condition… The Diabetes Online Community – DOC (DOC mascot). We write about things that we could understand. Especially naked showers and being high. For the first time I did not feel alone in my battle.

We formed a community that has become a force to be reckoned with. We raise our voices on topics and concerns together as an online community, a family… and we advocate for ALL those living with diabetes.

I started writing about my health as a fluke, a joke not even knowing exactly what I wanted to write about. It then became much more than that, it became me writing about growing within myself, learning how to live well with diabetes, improving my health and mental state from an online support system, and finding others that understood me… which led me to become an activist for this disease called diabetes, a silent killer that no one truly understands.

So I explain it to you with words…at The Diabetes Talkfest Blog. Stop by and say hi!!