Hey daydreamers! I’ve got a bit of a different post for this week, because as of Wednesday, January 27, I’ve had Type One Diabetes for three years. (Seriously, I almost wrote five, that’s how normal it feels now!) I’ve gotten a bunch of new readers since Blogmas (hey there!), so some of you might not know that I have diabetes. If you don’t know what it is, basically my pancreas (an organ) doesn’t make insulin (a hormone for regulating blood sugar). Because of this, I have to take insulin through a pump and constantly monitor my blood sugars and carb intake to avoid my blood sugar going high or low.
I thought it would be interesting to show you guys what I keep in my diabetes backpack that I carry with me everywhere! At the end, I’m also doing a little Q&A answering all of your questions about life with T1D. Let’s get into it!
Life is full of highs and lows. Especially when you’re me. Because, as of today, I’ve been living with Type One Diabetes for two whole years – and those years have been, quite literally, filled with highs and lows.
In case you didn’t know, I have this chronic condition/disease thingy called Type One Diabetes. Basically, my body can’t create this hormone called insulin, and insulin is something your body needs “to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy”*. So I take an artificial medicine version of it and monitor my blood sugar.
It’s weird though because it honestly feels like SO MUCH more than two years! I actually just wrote five years by accident. That just goes to show you – and me – that this is my new normal now! Even though sometimes I’ll forget to bolus for dinner, I’ve basically forgotten what it’s like to not need insulin to eat! In fact, I almost told my sister the other day to bolus for her brownie, like everyone needed to do that. 😂
I mean, some days I kinda want to scream “WHY CAN’T YOU JUST BE A FULLY FUNCTIONING PANCREAS LIKE A NORMAL PERSON” at my pancreas (😂), but other days I’ll wake up and be like “Hey, I’ve raised about $5,000 total for Type One Diabetes, and I’ve been an ambassador for the JDRF gala in my area and I’m gonna be this year, too, and I’ve helped people with my story!” Like I said, highs and lows!
It’s kind of crazy to see how far I’ve come from that first day back from the hospital where I was so stressed, wondering if my blood sugar would ever, ever come down and I was freaking out when I couldn’t eat things and I had to get used to taking four shots a day and constantly keeping my blood sugar in mind
Now, when I want to do a correction, I tap a few numbers into my pump (and an auto-correct ((haha! autocorrect)) update is even coming out soon!!) , I basically can have anything minus non-diet sodas (which is a choice) and I just have to swap out my pump site every three days and change my DexCom CGM every ten!
When I think back on that fateful day two years ago when I was slogging through an entire basketball game while in diabetic ketoacidosis, spent hours in a waiting room, getting the news that my current resting heart rate was 144, being rushed to the ER, getting the news I had Type One, and being rushed to the ICU…now I see less of all of that stuff, and more of the good things.
Like how we accidentally got the head nurse when we weren’t supposed to and she figured it out. Or how in the middle of the night, comforting worship lyrics came like a whisper. Or how my Grandma just happened to be there so she could take care of my little sister when I was in the hospital. Or when I got home, my family had cleaned my room for me and people had brought gifts and meals for me. All the little things God gave me, helped me, comforted me.
So…yeah. It’s been two years of highs and lows, but it feels like I’ve had this my whole life! And even though sometimes I get frustrated and I miss out on things and I feel bad when I’m low, I’ve been able to help people because of this. And, right now, I’m perfectly healthy.
So thanks to my mom and dad for being my pancreas, my mom for being my emotional support human and my dad for being the resident IT guy when it comes to my pump and numbers, to my awesomely supportive sister, to my whole entire family, to JDRF for all of the support and opporunities, to my amazing friends who don’t treat me any differently, and to you, the person reading this. Thanks for your amazing support. ❤️❤️❤️
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Diary of a Daydreamer 