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A Relaxing Weekend with Diabetes

This weekend was filled with a lot of excitement, well at least I think so.  What I mean by exciting is a relaxing weekend with diabetes.  I don’t even know where to begin, but I guess I will just start on Friday.  Friday night may have been boring for most people, but to me it was great because I had a chance to relax and catch up on some reading and reviewing certain things, mainly healthcare reform debates, and not have to worry about being anywhere in the morning or at night.  The night started out a little rocky because at football practice my infusion set had fallen out.  No big deal though because there was only about 20 minutes left of practice and when it fell out I checked my sugar and it was 75, so I didn’t need any insulin for a while anyway.

After I got home and showered, I sat down and reviewed President Obama’s speech from last week again, but this time with a little more detail and not just taking it all in like I did the first time.  But more on that later on in the week.  The rest of Friday night was spent researching the options in creating a business in the state of Florida.  A lot of paperwork and dumb fees, that’s what I concluded!  Finally the night ended with a refresher course on basic HTML.  I know how boring this night sounds, but it was so damn relaxing for me.  And the whole time my blood sugars were at great numbers.  Just to stress this point, a Friday night life of a diabetic is not much any different than a Friday night of someone who isn’t, so take that diabetes!

Saturday morning did not start off too well however.  I volunteered to help out with the local JDRF at a sidewalk sale where all profits went directly to JDRF.  I drove down to Boca and when I got there, I was getting out of the car and riipppp.  My infusion set tubing got caught on the door and it pulled my infusion set out.  Two infusion sets gone in 2 days, not a bad pace.  I had to go back home and by the time I did all of that, there was really no point in going back down to the fundraiser, so I had to miss out on this one.  Saturday night came and it was a little like the night before.  I didn’t do as much work because I decided to just relax and watch the USC-OSU game all night.  I did very little work.

Sunday came which means my Philadelphia Eagles.  I made myself a promise that I would not allow myself to get all worked up and make my blood pressure and blood sugars go crazy anymore. I would not allow these 5 reasons to affect me this week.  The game was pretty much wrapped up after the first or second quarter, so I was not on edge like I normally would be, but my blood sugars were perfect.  I tested before I went into the sports bar and then again 3 hours later after I left.  It was 175 when I entered and 106 when I left, and that was after French Onion soup and a chicken quesadilla.

So, that was my exciting weekend.  Not much to it, but just a normal day living with diabetes.  Now it is time to enjoy some Monday Night Football (Brady, Moss, Pats Defense all on my fantasy team) and watching this incredible match between Federer and Del Potro.

Have a great day and night everybody.

Back to School, The Diabetes Version

It’s time for all the little kids, big kids and college kids to go back to school.  For some however, there is the diabetes version of going back to school.  Thinking back in my own life, this was the time of the year that football had just started so I was so excited to see all of my friends again and start playing sports also.  It was also time to go to the Reading Outlets in Reading, PA where it was school shopping central.  Going to the Jansport outlet store was the hottest place because I obviously needed a new backpack for the coming school year.  And not just any backpack, but one that nobody else had.  Then it was off to K-Mart to get notebooks, pencils, folders then eventually Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart didn’t open in my area until I was in 5th or 6th grade.  Finally, it was the morning of the first day of school.  Time to get dressed in all your nice new clothes and new shoes and stand next to my brother because my mom had to take a picture.

Growing up as a child I didn’t have to worry about much other than making sure my homework was done and making sure that I was at football practice and learning all of my new plays.  As I grew up and went through high school the basics stayed the same, however some things became a little different.  Didn’t care about the backpack, stopped going to Reading Outlets because they decided to shut them down, sad sad story by itself.  Then it was off to freshman year of college.  Wow, was that totally different.  Now it just wasn’t about going to Wal-Mart for notebooks, but to Wal-Mart for a fridge, futon, and other neat college dorm supplies.  But everything changed that April night in 2004.  Diabetes had entered my life and now preparing for the next school year became a lot different.

As I entered my second year of college, it wasn’t just all about remembering my textbook and notebook for class.  It now required me to remember my meter, strips, insulin pen, a few pen needles, alcohol pads, some candy in case of a low and an emergency card.  Paying attention in class at times had become a lot more difficult as well, especially when my sugar would start to get lower.  So as most people are taking notes while the teacher is talking, I am pulling out this weird machine that beeps and makes people look at you because you’re making noise and then digging through my bag trying to find that bag of Skittles that I put in there this morning, or did I forget them today?

I finished my last 4 years of college, yes I was on the 5 year plan, with diabetes and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  It forced me to accept my diabetes and share it.  I had about 8 different roommates in that span of 2 years of living on campus and it all started out the same way.  “Hi, I’m Chris, and I’m diabetic.  This is where my sugar supply is. This is what to do if I get low.”  It also gave me the opportunity to introduce diabetes into the lives of 8 people who otherwise had no clue what it was.  I was even lucky enough to sit next to 2 other diabetics in some classes that I had.  One on an insulin pump and one on MDI.  It was great to be able to talk to them and see them test their sugar, so that way there was 2 weird people in the class now.

As I watch my girlfriend, Amanda, get ready for school this morning (she is a teacher) I think about how different my life would have been growing up with diabetes.  Would I have been the same person that I am today?  I would like to think that it would have just made me a stronger person and mature at a lot faster age.  Since I wasn’t diagnosed until my freshman year of college, I never experienced diabetes in elementary school or middle school.  As I read some other blogs about parents taking their kids to school and making sure every teacher knows and nurse knows etc, I truly respect you for what you go through on a daily basis.  Obviously my future children run the risk of becoming diabetic, so I may one day have to deal with it, but until then, I will continue to learn from others how to deal with the school year coming around.

On the bright side of things, I would really like to hear some funny stories about diabetes and going back to school.  We always here the bad about diabetes, but let’s share some funny ones.  If you have any, please comment, I would love to hear them.

I wish you all a day better than yesterday, hope your blood sugars are under 150 all day.