I watched the CNBC show D-Life on Sunday, and they had a story that made me think. The reporter (a guy living with diabetes) was asked what he would do if he had 24 hours to live without diabetes. In order to answer his question, he asked a few of his friends living with diabetes.
So I ask you: what would you do if, for 24 hours, you didn’t have diabetes?
There was a guy who said he’d eat a donut. I think that is a cop-out answer, for the record, but his point was a pretty good one. He said he would eat like he used to eat. Then he recognized that if he ate like he did before he developed diabetes, all he would do was develop diabetes again. But he still said he’d eat a donut.
Another lady said she’d carry a smaller purse. Then she yanked from her purse a full jug of glucose tablets. Hmm. I’m sure that there are smaller containers, and I’m pretty sure you rarely have need for 50 glucose tabs at any one time. But again, I got her point. She has to carry a lot of stuff with her. We all do.
Another guy said he would sleep. I guess he is always concerned about going low when he’s asleep. This is a valid concern, but I never seem to have trouble sleeping—I have more trouble when my continuous glucose monitor tells me I’m 80 and wakes me up every 20 minutes while I’m trying to sleep! So that response made me sad; I think there are a lot of ways to prevent going low while you sleep, or to protect yourself from going low so you can rest.
Another lady said she’d go diving for a few hours. With the faster insulin and insulin pumps (no long acting insulin on board), we can’t be unconnected for very long. I start to freak if I’m off for more than an hour. Just me, but it is a pretty small window for any of us to be disconnected.
There were a few more variations on these themes, but the one thing that everyone said was that they would get to stop THINKING that day. Living with diabetes really does mean that our minds are always running, always doing our best to function for our body in a way few others do.
Some days that feels like a burden, of course, and some days, believe it or not, it feels pretty good. We are doing an absolutely amazing thing when we can function for our pancreas. Go us.
