A Day In the Life...

You may recall from my preview post on Friday that dozens of us from the Diabetes Online Community are participating in what's now dubbed Diabetes Blog Week. Today is the first installment, and it's designed to take readers through a quick rundown of an average day with diabetes and all the ways in which this chronic condition touches our lives - blood tests, site changes, high and low blood sugars, meal planning, anything that comes along. This can be a log of an actual day, or a fictional compilation of pieces from many days.

I've written about this topic recently in a post entitled A Glimpse of Understanding. But in honor of today's topic, here's a spinoff of that issue based on a comment received on that post.

The comment: "I've been diabetic for 23 years, since I was 4 years old, and it has never been as complicated as this makes it seem... "

My short response: I'm envious. Particularly if that person does indeeed manage his or her diabetes as we're all supposed to.

Longer answer with a central message: Each person's diabetes varies. What may be complicated for this person, may not be complicated for you or another. We all have our differences and what works for one doesn't for others. That's a key. (Just ask Bennet at Your Diabetes May Vary)

But there's another aspect that should be acknowledged here: My D-Life with Type 1 wasn't always this complicated. We can talk about the Day in the Life for those of us pushing for good control, but so many of us have experienced times when we just rebelled and pretended The D didn't run our lives.

There was a time, mostly in my teens and early 20s, when I didn't take care of myself. That rebellion phase. Diabetes was ignored, denied, pretended to not exist. Yes, I still had to test every once in a while and take shots (before my pumping days began), but it wasn't as full a task as for someone who's actively trying to stay in Tight Control or improve their management. While the test strips and insulin might have lasted a little longer and I didn't "stand out" as much because of the avoidance of testing and shots as needed, my A1Cs hovered in Scary High places. It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't worth it. Now, I am glad that each one of my day's does have diabetes in it and that it's a priority in my life. While it's a work in progress with a LONG way to go, I try... It's a constant state of mind.

Recent Example: The past week was a crazy one with a work conference, and being on deadline I was rushed to finish my newspaper stories and I fell behind on sleep. But no matter what's brewing at work, you take a minute and stop what you're doing every couple hours - whether at your desk or at a conference in Chicago - to test your blood. If there's a correction needed you either hit a couple insulin pump buttons or draw out the syringe, maybe finding your way to a rest-room so the U.S. Marshals watching you don't think you're trying to stab a federal judge with a needle. After doing what needed to be done during the week, Saturday rolled around and I decided to sleep in until 10 a.m. Of course, this throws off my Lantus Pen injections as my times to take them are 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.... So, not wanting to be that far off, I decided to cut the dose briefly by a couple units. However, knowing that I'd be at the first birthday party of a friend's daughter later that day, I kept it the same knowing that I'd be running higher anyhow because of likely snacking, beer-drinking, and sitting around.

It's all a balancing act. Every Day. You can see to the right there some of my daily tools, used to help manage my diabetes as best as possible. Some times can be frustrating and mind-numbing, others can be a blessing as you hit that groove and get it right. YDMV, because mine certainly does all the time.

But despite the daily hurdles, we do what we do to live and hopefully be as healthy as we can. To respond again to that person's original comment on my previous blog, I wish that I could be healthy and not have to worry about all of these things each and every day, and so many moments each day. I wish. But I do. And I'm proud that I'm able to take control and sidestep the desires to just slack.

(For Tuesday 5/11: Making the Lows Go Away)