Wednesday 28 May 2014

I Can...can't i?

The theme of Diabetes Week in 2014 is I Can - so i've decided to write a little blog on the phrase 'I Can'

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in September 1990, that makes me a relative newbie in terms of my life with diabetes, I know there are many who may read this who will have had the condition longer than I have and whose experiences are even more challenging than mine, but hopefully they will allow me license to say my bit and then share their own experiences too.

I Can....

In 2014 'I Can' now test for blood glucose in a small discrete bg meter that requires only a small amount of blood and get accurate readings of my blood glucose to a decimal point which it will keep in memory and allow me to reference back and calculate my average bg reading.

In 1990 all 'I Could' do was squeeze my finger till it hurt to get sufficient blood to cover a test strip that I had to wait one minute before I wiped the blood off and then another minute inside a meter for it to may be decide to read it and give me a somewhat accurate result based on the colours that the test strip had turned into, and even then the message 'Err' was a regular occurrence so you spent your time trying to decipher if the top line was a yellowy brownish grey colour and how blue the bottom blue line was so you could check against a chart on the strip bottle and do your best to make a guess at what the reading was.  And don;t get me started on the meter itself - it was the size of a small brick!

In 2014 'I Can' follow a basal/bolus regime of multiple daily injections with a long acting background insulin, other methods of delivering insulin are available, but this is about me!  I can enjoy the flexibility of deciding what to eat and when by adjusting doses to match my food and my activity, and I can inject there and then, no waiting, ok I might not get it right all the time, but I try my best.

In 1990 'I Could' inject a human mixed insulin, I had to wait half an hour to eat after doing this and then I had to watch the clock post food and feel how my body was reacting to the peaks and troughs of the insulin, it wasn't exactly an accurate tool, I had to be constantly ready to treat a hypo if the walk I did to school or the walk to work meant that I didn't have enough glucose in my system, and again, like today, I might not have got it right, but I did try my best.

In 2014 'I Can' use a disposable needle which can be 4mm, 6mm or 8mm, its relatively painless.

In 1990 'I Could' use a disposable syringe with a 12mm needle, not too painful but a bugger to work with if you didn't have 'fat' bits!

In 2014 'I Can' worry about my blood pressure, my cholesterol levels my weight and my kidney function and my feet and a myriad of other things, I can take tablets to deal with all this and i can survive.

In 1990 'I Could' pre-diagnosis live life without worrying about my blood pressure, my cholesterol, my kidney function - ok my weight wasn't brilliant, but hey there was chocolate and crisp to be had!

Things move and things change - there are advances to our benefit which we embrace and support and we long for even better and more advanced changes.

But we also have the reality of dealing with the fact that organ failure of the pancreas, because lets face it that's what Type 1 Diabetes is, is as bad for our health as long term kidney dialysis is for people with kidney failure, we are using technology to mimic a healthy body, but at a cost to our health.

i 'CAN' appreciate the tools i'm given; a lot of those tools and treatments were developed through the lost lives of others and lessons learned from that loss and advances demanded to ensure it didn't happen again

i 'CAN' enjoy the benefits that innovation brings...but i 'HAVE' to endure this condition.


No comments:

Post a Comment