I feel kinda silly posting this on the same day that Scott E. posted something very similar over at Rolling in the D… But, what the hell? Here it is.
But be sure to go over and read Scott’s post too. You’ll probably get more out of it anyway.
This story is nothing that should shock you. But it’s something that happened yesterday, and I think it’s an important story to tell.
I suspect I don’t get a huge amount of viewers here, but I do recognize there are some. Somewhere between some and huge is where my viewership is right now.
Anyway… It’s easy as a writer, and the person who basically oversees everything that gets posted here (after all, it’s my blog)… It’s easy to make everything about my life seem perfect and special. It’s even easy to make it seem like those moments where I’m not perfect are not exactly my fault.
Well, yesterday, I woke up, remembering I needed to change my infusion set. I had about 5.5 units of insulin left in my reservoir. Of course, those of us with a Medtronic pump know that 5.5 units means that you really have (probably) many more units than that left.
Knowing this, I had breakfast without changing my set. And I had a couple of chores around the house to take care of, so I didn’t change my set after breakfast either. I also didn’t change after getting my hair cut, or even after lunch. It wasn’t until we were nearly out the door headed for a movie that I finally remembered to do my set change. At this point, my pump was probably showing something like this for five hours or so:
So apparently, just in the nick of time, I finally got that set change in. The reservoir had a little insulin left, because it was still pumping, but once I pulled it from the pump I could see there wasn’t much.
It wasn’t an epic fail, of course, but it’s something that happens in the course of day after day, year after year living the diabetes life. You’re bound to forget something now and then. You’re likely going to make a mistake once in a while. How do I know this? Because I make mistakes too.
Don’t let it get you down. Don’t let it make you feel like someone you read occasionally has his shit together, and you don’t. Because that is simply not true.
Instead, just pick up and move on. With diabetes, it’s good to be able to remember things. But don’t spend any time feeling bad about one thing or one day. Don’t ever let something from yesterday cloud the joy you’re seeking today.
By the way, we did make the movie. Monuments Men is a good one. Great acting all over the place.
Diabetes Blog - Happy-Medium.net 
Comments
Ppfff… I read your blog all the time.
I love coming here. Don’t ever sell yourself short because someone else wrote a similar post. Yours is different.
Yesterday out for a walk I discovered a hole in my jacket pocket when I went looking for my insulin pen that had jettisoned itself some hours earlier without me knowing. I had no more backup pens. So I had a cartridge and syringe. Then I forgot it all this morning and had to go out and buy all new shit after I already got to work.
happens…. to all of us.
Usually it means diabetes isn’t on the top of our minds which is great but it’s also bad.
LikeLike
Well said Scully… Thanks for the encouragement
LikeLike
What, you aren’t perfect??? 🙂 Yup, this stuff happens. And it makes me think, you know how the pumps beep every 5 seconds (or so it seems) when you suspend them? Well, maybe it should do that when your reservoir reads ZERO (even if a few more units are eking out) just so we remember to actually change it.
LikeLike
Brilliant idea! Maybe they can work that into the specs for the 530h(?).
LikeLike
Think of it this way: if you (referring to anyone, not you specifically, Stephen) think you ARE perfect, you’re just not paying close enough attention. There are always mistakes being made and always room for improvement.
And Karen’s right. I’ll get “Low Reservoir” warnings all the way up to zero, but nothing AT zero. Bizarre. But I did lower my threshold for a Low Res warning, so when they occur I know to take them seriously — I used to get them all day on my third day that I would become oblivious.
This isn’t the first time my blog post was on a similar topic to someone else’s (not counting the “hot topics”, of which we had one last week). It’s pretty cool when that happens. Thanks for referencing mine, but we’re really not competing to see who gets more out of it… 🙂
LikeLike
Agreed! I never noticed about the low reservoir alarm stopping when it hits zero, but now that you mention it… interesting. Thanks!
LikeLike
I think we all make mistakes. Yesterday I was crazy-famished and devoured my lunch without remembering at all to test or bolus. Fortunately it was a salad, so when I remembered an hour or so later, I wasn’t high.
I’m with Scully on this one… it just means diabetes isn’t at the top of your mind.
LikeLike