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Monday, May 15, 2017

D-Blog Week 2017: Diabetes and the Unexpected

It's diabetes blog week! And true to my word of getting back into the diabetes community, I'm doing my best to get back on this bandwagon :)

Diabetes can sometimes seem to play by a rulebook that makes no sense, tossing out unexpected challenges at random.  What are your best tips for being prepared when the unexpected happens? Or, take this topic another way and tell us about some good things diabetes has brought into your, or your loved one’s, life that you never could have expected?  

The Girl Guide motto is "Be Prepared".

Considering that Guiding is a huge part of my life, as is T1D, I find this connection really funny.

I am not always prepared, okay. I try to be, but it definitely does not always happen. I have definitely run out of insulin on many, many occasions far from home.

My best tip is don't panic. My blood sugar doesn't go up too too fast due to only the absence of insulin, so this usually isn't the biggest deal. It's a bit panicky and definitely needs sorting out - and I always promise myself that I'll carry insulin next time (doesn't always happen. Getting better, but not always).

I try and carry an 'emergency kit' with me all the time - it's a dollar store button bag stuffed with strips, a site, a quarter, a battery, a cartridge and sometimes some other miscellaneous things. It's never got the thing that I need when I need it - I don't always refill them in a timely manner.

I put stuff everywhere - I have glucose tabs in every purse, I have emergency kits in every backpack and car, and I always try and do a double check for my glucometer/enough strips/Dexcom/glucose tabs/etc. before I leave the house.

Basically, all of this is a trial and error and I'm still figuring it out. There was a while recently where I couldn't seem to figure it out and I was literally panicking because of things I couldn't help. That was not helpful. Still struggling with that a little bit, and it is still not helpful. I cannot be perfect all the time, and I just need to get over that and get on with it.

We can't do everything right always. Deep breaths, do your best, try again next time. Phone your mum - she'll help fix it.

It's okay not to be okay. It's okay not to be perfect. Do your best to be prepared, but do not beat yourself up about it.

And if you're struggling, find the community. Beyond Type 1 is a lifesaver, my friends from camp are the bomb, and reading other peoples' blogs is amazing. It's a deep breath, it's not just me kind of amazing. That's what I expected the least when life threw this my way - that I would find such an incredible, inspiring, tight community who completely and totally gets it. Love you guys <3

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great reminder...I definitely need to tell myself not to panic from time to time!

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  2. I always need that reminder that it's okay not to be perfect. And it's absolutely true!! Things will go wrong, so how we handle them is what counts, and you sound like you've got it down!

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