Monday, May 15, 2017

D Blog Week 2017: Diabetes and the Unexpected

Diabetes brings with it a ton of unexpected challenges. For example, take the humble banana. A simple food that, simply put, drives me bananas. One day I can eat the banana and take the right amount of insulin for it, yet my blood sugar will nose dive. The next day I'll eat a comparable banana and take an identical bolus and end up in the stratosphere. This is one of a million examples of unexpected challenges that people without diabetes will never truly understand.

The worst is when things to unexpectedly wrong and there's a possibility you could have prevented it. It's frustrating because something went wrong and because it's partly your own damn fault. Like the one time I decided to rely only on my CGM during a night out to maximize room in my tiny, fancy purse. Of course my Dexcom decided to give me the ??? of doom right when I needed it the most.

For my next example I'll give you a short (but true) story. Even when I thought I had everything planned out perfectly, things still went south. It was a few falls ago and I was going to a Georgia Tech football game (Go Jackets). It was a hot day in Atlanta and I had packed extra pump supplies, just in case. I sweated off the infusion set I had applied only the day before. Right there at the tailgate, I inserted a new set just as the pep band was rounding the corner to our tent and hoped desperately that I wouldn't have to head back to the car for my emergencies-only backup set. Just as we were heading into the game my tubing wrapped around something and nearly pulled all the way out. I was able to save it, but only just. Unexpectedly I had to locate the first aid station and hope they had some medical tape or a Band-Aid.

The upside to all this unexpected nonsense is that I get less worked up over unexpected happenings that are out of my control. Also, I'm more prepared than a Girl Scout in most situations. Usually if someone needs an emergency Sweet Tart, I'll have some in the bottom of my purse. They might be linty, but I have them. Diabetes has trained me to be prepared for the unexpected.