Even though the title may sound like I was trapped in a cave with type 1 diabetes, that’s not the case. Although, that would be one hell of a movie, if Hollywood could get it right of course.
Anyway, we decided to take a family trip to Crystal Cave out near Kutztown, PA with myself, wife, daughter and my brother’s family, including my niece who also lives with Type 1 Diabetes.
I have never gone into a cave before, so I was not 100% sure what to expect.
I was told that the tour would take about 45 minutes in total, so I assumed a lot of walking. Because of that, I wanted to keep my BG at about 200 before entering the cave that way I would hopefully not have to correct while I was on the tour.
Start of the Tour
We were starting the tour around 12:45 and I did not eat lunch yet, jut breakfast and decided to have a few of my daughters chips before heading into the cave for the tour.
The tour started with a 10-15 minute video explaining the history of the cave and how the cave was formed and what some of the things we will be looking at inside the cave are. Once the video was over, it was time to head into the cave.
I knew going into this that the cave was going to be cold, and it was. It was a constant 54 degrees, which that’s actually not cold to me, that’s perfect temperature.
For me, the heat drives my BG straight down, so I knew the cool, damp climate inside the cave would not be effecting my blood sugar.
The tour was slow, meaning that we walked about 20-30 feet and would then stop at the next station for them to explain what we were seeing. During this time my blood sugar was staying around 200-220 and pretty flat and steady.
The walking part of the tour lasted about 20-25 minutes and when I walked out of the cave my BG actually went from 200 to about 245, so there was no drop at all from the activity of walking through the cave. Grant it, there really wasn’t any steps or much walking uphill. There was only one section that we could opt-in to walk up to the highest point of the cave, which was maybe 30-35 feet high.
As soon as we got out of the cave, I asked my sister-in-law what my niece’s blood sugar did while in the cave. Her answer, “stayed flat”. Exactly the same that my blood sugar did.
Lunchtime
It was then time for lunch and I was hungry and started eating before I took my insulin. Actually, I finished my entire meal before I took any insulin.
What happened next… I’m sure you can guess that.
A straight shot up like the mountain we were standing on. And that BG of over 350 lasted for several hours and made me feel like crap.
Luckily, after the cave, we went to pick strawberries and it was getting hot, so that helped bring the BG down a bit too.
I’ve been doing much better at pre-bolusing and this was an example of exactly why the pre-bolus is so important.
All in all, the cave adventure was fun. Check out some of the photos below.
Cool Pictures Chris!!!