D-Blog Week: Day 1 Share and Don't Share

Today's Topic:  Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one's daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don't see?

Firstly I am so excited to participate in this years Diabetes Blog Week. I am going camping on the long weekend so may end up doing some double posts etc to squeeze them all in :)  Anyway, to today's topic.

I have often wondered if my health care team read my blog.  They know that I have one and I have written the name down for them to check it out, but they have never mentioned whether they have actually checked it out. If they do then a big shout out to Dr. Greg, Leona and Lisa!

Things I wish they could see about my daily life with Type 1 diabetes.  Mostly I would love them to see how I manage diabetes with all the activity I do.  How much effort it takes to get the fuel and basal rates right for the different sports I participate in.  My main sports, running, biking and swimming all do different things to my blood sugars and it can be quite the balancing act to get it right.  If I am running or biking in the evening I have to start my preparation earlier in the day to ensure I don't have too much, or too little, insulin in my body.  I think they would be happy to see that I check my sugars before, during and after and will adjust where necessary.  I can often be seen wolfing back some blok shots mid-spin or run so that I can continue. I would like them to see that I push my physical boundary's and that it can be done with Type 1 diabetes.

I would want them to see how I really make an effort to be as healthy as possible. I test regularly, count my carbs the best I can, get good sleep, take care of my feet and eyes.  I would like to see how the majority of the time I face the disease head on and don't let it get me down. When I attend my appointments and my health care team study my numbers and ask me questions about why I suffered a certain low or high, I would like them to see that sometimes I can pinpoint it but most of the time there is no reason.  Diabetes can be crazy like that. I would like them to see how hard it can be to get through a low blood sugar, how I sweat and slur and shake and how much willpower it takes not to eat the entire contents of my fridge and cupboards (wow that sentence has a lot of and's in it, bad grammar!).  I want them to wake up with me each and every night at 3:00am when my alarm goes off to check my blood sugars to make sure I am safe until morning.  I want them to see how I take my disease very seriously and work damn hard at maintaining it.

There are definitely things I would not want them to see.  I rarely change my lancet and wait until it is so dull I would have better luck biting my finger tips.  I do not change my infusion site every three days as recommended.  Heck I wait until I am down to the very last drop of insulin before I do, usually about every five days (does not seem to make a difference for me).  Sometimes I even change the infusion set right before bed (however do set my alarm to check to make sure all is good).  I do not really follow the 15 - 15 rule.  I do treat my low blood sugars with roughly 15 grams of fast acting carbs but rarely do I check again 15 minutes later.  If I suffer lows in the night I will treat and then just go back to sleep.  Sometimes I just go ahead and eat a treat without caring what my numbers will do.  I can adjust later.

All in all I would love to for my health care team to spend a couple of days with me to really get a sense of what it is like to be an active Type 1 diabetic!