We’ve talked about this before…
Why is it that we are all so good at making life with diabetes look normal?
The reality is that life with diabetes is anything but. Diabetes is not for sissies.
– How many times have we worked hard, over a period of years, just to get our A1c down to a range that we and our endocrinologists can be happy with? How many times have we worked hard, over a period of years, to keep our A1c from growing higher?
– How many times have we voluntarily engaged in the tradeoff that includes using a sharp tool that causes us to bleed, just so we can help maintain our diabetes management?
– Pump users: How many infusion set changes have you completed over the course of living and pumping with diabetes?
– MDI users: How many injections have you had to endure over the course of living with diabetes?
– How many hypoglycemic moments has your diabetes included? Lows that knock us down… but often we get up and go on with our lives like nothing ever happened. And the people who we would most like to know, don’t have any idea at all what it’s like. Side note: I tell those people that I went through a near-death experience. Because I did. I want them to know how precarious the balance between high and low BGs really is.
– Show of hands: How many of us have had workouts that were cut short due to the fact that our bodies use insulin way better when exercising, and getting the basal/carb/exercise mix is difficult and ever-changing?
– Have you had an endocrinologist tell you that your A1c was high, and you’ve been trying so hard, and you just wonder if you should keep trying anymore? But you do, because, what’s the alternative?
– Did you get one of those unhappy A1c reports, or a high or low number on your meter, or a pump occlusion that causes you to do more than one set change in a day, or a low or high that just doesn’t seem to quit, but…
We forgive ourselves? That, my friends, is real bravery.
I haven’t even started on all the things that parents of kids with diabetes have to go through, much of which is even more out of control than what I go through.
There are many things that diabetes puts us through, on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, year-by-year basis. Sometimes we can feel like a failure. Like we’re weak. Like we’re not as good as someone else. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
It’s easy to forget the fact that we’ve endured a lot, and come through it despite the tough moments (or weeks, or years) that come with living with a disease that is with us all the time, and is so volatile.
Fact: Diabetes ain’t no sissy game. If you’re living with diabetes, and you’re alive, you are a champion.
Have anything else you’d like to add? Feel free to tell me how you’ve endured through the months or years by leaving a comment below.
Diabetes Blog - Happy-Medium.net 