Today is the big day!
I am sending myself on a “pump vacation.” My Minimed insulin pump is
receiving a one way ticket to my diabetic supply drawer. I do not know how long my “vacation” will
last, but that is the purpose of this blog, documenting the good, the bad and
the ugly of my MDI (multiple daily injections) experiment and my ultra-low carb
lifestyle. I hope along the way that I
will be able to educate some people out there in cyber space and maybe help out
a few other individuals that are considering the same path I’m on. I guess we’ll see!
As much as I’ve prepared for this new adventure, with all of
the reading from Dr. Richard Bernstein, consulting my own endocrinologist in
Richmond and asking opinions of fellow T1 diabetics, I am nervous today. The last 12 years of my life, I have solely
relied on 1 piece of medical equipment.
I’ve known how to navigate the choppy seas of my T1 diabetes with my
pump clipped to my side. Today I’m
re-entering a territory last encountered when I was 13 years old and when my
parents did all of the injections, carb counting and calculations for me. Today, I’m losing an insulin pump and gaining
700 syringes & 12 bottles of insulin in its place. Today, I’m gaining the ability to finally
enjoy wearing dresses, to wear clothes without thinking about pockets, to go to
the beach and not worry about sand and adhesive bandages, to not be pulled out
of the airport security line to be checked for explosives (seriously), to not
catch my 32 inches of tubing on every door knob, dresser pull, button, or hook,
to SWIM without worries of losing my insertion site in the bottom of the pool
or ripped out my the rough ocean waves, I can finally enjoy a hot tub, my
husband can touch me without worrying about where my site is and won’t have to
be afraid of hurting me or irritating my insulin pump site, people won’t continuously ask me what kind of
pager, smart phone or iPod I’m wearing on my belt(seriously people, this got
really old), I can float the river
without fear of the impending high sugar at the end of the trip or the fear of
my $6,000 pump becoming the latest gadget lost to the bottom of the James, no
more “no delivery,” or “low
reservoir” alarms @ 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am,
no more kinked cannulas=high sugar, and last but certainly not least, hopefully
no more weight gain!
This is day 1, my starting point, a fresh start to a new year. Maybe, just maybe, year 17 with diabetes will prove to be the best yet.
~D
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