trying to make things stick
One day, you’re going about your normal life: sports, school, friends, repeat. The average life of a 13-year-old girl who has no worries in the world. Then, all of a sudden, you’re sick, you’re rushed to the hospital, and the nurses are making you practice giving needles to an orange?? What in the world is going on here? Mom, can we please go home… Why are they making me give this thing called insulin to an ORANGE?
Well, before we leave, you’re going to have to master the art of giving yourself this needle, they tell me. Because from now on, it is your job to properly manage this thing you have called Type 1 diabetes. It’s not the end of the world… The doctors say you need to have Skittles on hand at all times. Something my younger, 11-year-old brother was VERY jealous of.
From that very moment on, you have been trying to STICK to a routine of healthy eating, constant exercise, and living life in the range of 4.5–13.0. What the heck are these numbers??
Trying to stick to this range is exhausting, my goodness. You mean to tell me that I can’t just eat a massive piece of cake at my friend’s birthday party like everybody else?
Yes, you can. I mean, as long as you check your blood sugar beforehand, properly measure the exact amount of carbohydrates in the piece of cake, take your insulin 15 minutes before eating it, and then, yes, you can eat it just like everybody else!
Wow… kinda takes the fun out of eating the cake.
Then you get older. You start to appreciate the taste of vegetables and the way foods with lower amounts of carbohydrates make you feel. You start getting used to the process. It becomes easier to STICK to the plan. You learn how to manage various meals, sports, and activities. You learn what you have to pack when you go away for a few nights. Not so bad. I still have my Skittles… well, now I’ve moved on to gummy bears.
But you run into other road bumps. Other struggles with making things STICK… this time, it’s a little bit more literal.
That’s right. Now you don’t have to use a needle, and you don’t have to prick your finger every few hours.
The rate at which diabetes technology has developed over the years is truly incredible. The latest gadgets, as I like to call them, allow us to track our blood sugar 24 hours a day, seven days a week. New pumps, like the Omnipod 5, allow for seamless insulin delivery and an almost independent system, as they can communicate with our Dexcom continuous glucose monitors.
As an active person, this technology has made managing my diabetes sooooo much easier and way less stressful, especially at night. I don’t wake up to nightly alarms nearly as often. My boyfriend is equally as happy about that as I am. Hehe.
HOWEVER, yes, there is a caveat. We are still dealing with the same issue of making things STICK. This time, it’s about how we make these things actually stick to our bodies for the required number of days (10 and 3).
Between the sweating, swimming, rain, rubbing, whatever… I have not gotten the method down 100%.
Most of the time, I make it to the end of the 10- or 3-day period, but just barely. We’re hanging on by a thread here. I have ordered overlay patches, but those get wet and itchy too.
Has anybody figured it out, or are we all in this moist, itchy, sticky (not-so-sticky) situation together?? PLEASE tell me if you have figured it out more than I have.
Your Diabuddy,
Camille