Life as a Diabetic

It's been about a week now, and I think I'm getting the hang of this.

I check my blood glucose seven times a day, once first thing in the morning, then two hours after I eat, every time I eat. I've been given a diet plan that includes eating three small meals and three snacks a day, so I have to check my blood six additional times during the day. So my day is compartmentalized into these two hour blocks of time where I'm either eating or waiting to take a blood glucose reading.

Some things I've learned about myself in the process:

• I'm very unstructured, and I have a tough time adapting to a schedule with so many hard stops (my 2 hour glucose readings)


• I loathe wearing a watch, and would rather put it on my keychain than my wrist


• I am a perfectionist. I got one reading of 128 last night and was upset that it was going to throw off my 14 day average (I'm supposed to be at or below 120).


• I am a control freak. I have to know what I'm eating at each meal and snack at the beginning of the day. I do not like winging it.


• I'm a little paranoid. If all goes well up to my next OB visit, my doctor will probably let me take fewer readings during the day. But I will probably keep taking all seven. I'm obsessive like that.

All in all, it hasn't been as bad as I feared. It's good to get used to it now, since I now have a 50/50 chance of developing type 2 diabetes - possibly as early as sometime within the next five years (that was an eye opener!)

I've seen up close what this disease can do. Family members and friends have suffered very severe complications from it. And while I always knew it was serious, and that I was at an elevated risk, I never really thought about it too much myself.

Oh how things have changed since I got that diagnosis last week! I'll do what I can, God helping me, to stay healthy and hopefully stave it off. But even if it does happen that I do develop type 2, at least I'm starting to learn now how to live with and manage it. That's not a bad thing at all.