Alrighty, I signed up for this and not sure why - perhaps to give my blog a bit more of a kick start. I never regret blogging - much like my philosophy for taking photographs - but finding the time to do it is always a challenge.
The topics for each day from May 10-16 have been set out by a woman named Karen from Diabetes1.org .
Today - day one, is all about a day in the life of a type one-r.
This was my day from day one, ie, Monday May 10.
Pretext: My last Hba1c, received about ten days ago, was my worst result in five years. Not that it was a bad result - 7.3% is pretty good - but the fact it was so much higher than normal was a real shock to the system. Motivation at the moment for better control has been pretty good this past week!
Morning: Wake up as Ewin gets ready to ride to work. Check BSL - A OK. No ride for me this morning so I need to factor in the strong chance of going higher than normal from the lack of activity. Go back to sleep and wake up 40mins later, feed the dog then consider taking him for a walk. Problem is I need to allow him to digest breakfast enough so he will take his morning dump prior to the walk. I bolus for my own normal breakfast and wait.
I wait too long. Suddenly I have no time and the dog still needs walking. I grab the gear and hook him up. He is so excited - as he is every morning. But as I am about to hit the park I realise the time. I need to get back home, shower and get ready to go much earlier than normal. I have a special work meeting on the eastern side of the city and need to catch the exact city orbital bus - which I will meet a colleague on - or else it is game over. The ball throwing component of the morning walk is ubruptly cancelled. The dog is rightly devastated.
As I get home I realise that I also need to factor in breakfast. I can't skip it. I have already bolussed! I race home, jump in shower and try my hardest to scoff down as much breaky as possible. But I have no time. I grab my stuff, including hairbrush, sunscreen and a pack of lollies. All three tasks are dealt with prior to the colleague joining the bus a few stops down. I continue to account for the overdose of breakfast insulin with a few more lollies as we circumnavigate the city.
Work Workshop: I barely know anyone in the room. No worries, the topic is right up my alley and I really enjoy the content discussed. However, my Navigator starts beeping! Crap crap crap! Grab the unit and shut the alarm off. Unfortunately the alarm is not from being low. As I re-use all my sensors (using the supply I received last year with Team Type 1), the connection is playing up. The sensor is almost dead and ready for a change, but for now it will still give me data but also will set off a connection error at any time. I sit the unit on the table, which is bad because the alarm is best heard by everyone that way, but is also my only chance of shutting it off as quickly as possible. The woman next to me continues to give me looks as I repeat the same dance: the alarm goes off, I jump out of my skin and lunge for the unit before rapidly shutting it off, and then relaxing again as if nothing happened. This routine continues all morning.
Early arvo: the frequency of the alarms from the Navigator seem to have subsided. Until I return to my desk and it arks up again. I know my colleagues hate the sound, but they are used to it by now. I seem to be sitting higher than normal, forcing me to keep a closer eye on how I am tracking over the afternoon. I want to avoid unnecessary highs. My afternoon snack also needs to be accounted for - I take correctional bolus along with the bolus for the snack.
Early evening: I catch the train home - also a very unusual event but as I didn't ride to work I have no other means of getting home. The minor correctional boluses seem to have caught up with me, and by the time I get home I have gone low. No time though, we are off to our ergo session. I eat as much as I can but I really don't feel like stuffing my face with lollies. I hate moments like this.
Ergo: Knowing I am low I eat as much as I can on arrival. Tonight we are doing more sprint efforts so I hope the adrenaline from this activity will help me with raising the levels. Not so. The Navigator continues to alarm all session, but this time it is from being continuosly low. I finish the second set and feel sick. I step outside for air, but have to return to eat more lollies for the low blood sugar. Crap.
Evening: I crawl up on the couch and try not to move. I still feel sick from the sprint efforts. It is comforting to know I can push myself so hard while on rollers. The pride is diminished by my nausea though! Fortunately I recover quickly and hoff down dinner. We watch some TV and then it is on to sorting out my tax. The task takes forever, and I forget to bolus for dessert (tinned fruit). I do a correctional bolus and keep plugging away.
Late evening: I am almost done and sooo ready for bed when I realise that my OmniPod is due to be changed. It alarms at me as a reminder that I need to change it very soon. I hate hate hate doing this when I am exhausted and just want to go to bed. But I can't put it off - it has to be done. I collect insulin from the fridge, and a new pod, and go to the bedroom to change it so I can fall into bed straight after. Just as I finish priming the pod, the 'petzo alarm' goes. This is a different alarm and is a super rare occurrence, but a problem was detected in the priming process forcing the new pod to shut down and decommission itself. I need another new pod and some more insulin. I get up out of bed to collect more stuff, this time bringing the entire pod box: just in case. I manage to get almost all the new insulin back out of the decommissioned pod and relocate it into the new pod. The second time works well and I am finally online and ready to bed. It is 1:30am. Sleep for now.
1 comment:
So glad to have you joining us for Diabetes Blog Week and thanks fro sharing your "typical" day - although there really is no typical when dealing with diabetes!!
I just wanted to add that I'm not affiliated with Diabetes1.org in any way. Although they have been kind enough to help get the word out for Diabetes Blog Week.
Post a Comment