Today I'm posting a message about the day in the life of a person with type 1 diabetes, stated as the questions I typically ask myself on a daily basis. It starts with the beginning of my day:
Daily Life
- Was my pump alarming all night?
- Every 30 minutes?
- Why didn’t I wake up?
- Could the neighbors hear that?
- Does that bother them?
- Am I going to get a noise violation from the apartment complex?
- Is this the day I should move my insulin infusion site?
- Can I get another day out of this site?
- Two days?
- Three?
- How long has it been since I last changed the site?
- Similar line of thought, how long since I last changed the CGMS sensor?
- Do I have everything I need to change the site?
- Have I sterilized my skin enough?
- Am I ready to pull the trigger?
- Why does it so hard to push the button? Why does it take 3 or 4 tries?
- Is it going to hurt? (of course it is)
- Is the site bleeding?
- Is this level of pain “ok” or should I worry that the site didn’t go in right?
- What is my blood sugar?
- Am I low?
- Am I high?
- Am I wearing my medic alert items (anklet, necklace, wallet card)?
- Is my blood sugar high enough to drive? (above 70)
- Can too high of a blood sugar influence my driving?
- How much is my copay on insulin? On test strips? Doctor visits?
- How long can I keep using my parents insurance?
- What about when that is done?
- Should I “cobra” with the existing policy?
- How much will that cost?
- How long can I do that?
- Should I purchase the student insurance policy our university provides?
- Does that cover visits to an endocrinologist?
- Does it have a prescription plan?
- Can I afford it?
- Will it cover preventative treatments?
- Can I be legally denied coverage?
- How can I get the most out of the money I have as a student?
- Why should I have to save extra money for emergencies, when my peers don’t?
- Why doesn’t this work or school topic make sense?
- Is this material just complicated?
- Should I test because I’m confused?
- Did anyone see me test?
- Is my blood sugar high enough to “take this test” / “give this presentation” / “sit through the rest of this lecture”
- Should I keep reading diabetes blogs, or get back to work?
- How much time have I wasted today looking a d365 pictures? (not wasted, spent learning)
- What if I pass out in class?
- Am I just tired, is this teacher boring, or is my blood sugar low?
- Can I successfully test my blood sugar and/or treat low blood sugar without drawing any attention to myself? (don’t want to be disrespectful to professors)
- Does it look like I’m playing with a cell phone when I’m really adjusting insulin via my pump?
- How can I assure the people around me (family, friends, coworkers) that I’m doing everything I can to take the best care of myself?
- What happens if my blood sugar is low around these people?
- Will I act stupid?
- Will I say things I regret?
- Will I refuse their advice?
- Do they even have good advice to give me?
- Do I surround myself with people that I ultimately trust my life with? (I do)
- In the event of an emergency, will people see that I’m wearing medic alert items?
- Because I try to hide my medic alert items, will people see them?
- How do I let my friends know that I’m a totally normal person, except for this one major difference?
- How do you date someone without a fear that you’ll eventually become dependant upon them for health care?
- How do I stay an individual?
- Can I wait another hour to eat?
- Am I hungry or is my blood sugar low?
- Why does this tortilla shell have over 20 carbs?
- Don’t they use those to make low-carb wraps?
- Why do I really, really, really want a doughnut right now?
- Did I remember to take insulin (bolus) for dinner?
- How many carbs does this have?
- Should I take the exact amount of insulin or should I adjust the number?
- Am I eating a healthy diet?
- Why don’t I have any fat on my stomach?
- What if I run out of fat? Where will I inject insulin then?
- Is the info on this nutritional panel correct?
- How much juice do I need to drink to add up to 15 carbs?
- Is that 3 gulps or 4?
- How many ounces are in a gulp?
- How many test strips did I use today?
- Didn't I just check 10 minutes ago? Why can't I remember the number?
- When do I need to refill my prescriptions?
- Why don’t they all expire at the same time?
- Why did my doctor only write a prescription for 4 test strips a day, when he knows I test over 10?
- Why is my copay $100 for test strips now?
- Why do test strips cost $1 each?
- Can I get medicine cheaper from
- Is it trustworthy?
- What limits am I willing to accept in sacrifice for affordability of healthcare?
- Did I remember to take my blood pressure medicine?
- What would happen if I took it twice today?
- When is my next endocrinologist appointment?
- Have I written down all the questions down that I want to ask him?
- Why didn’t I ask any of the questions I wrote down?
- Will my lab results indicate how hard I’ve been working to be a good patient?
- Why are all waiting rooms cold?
- Why am I the youngest person here?
- Why do all the good endocrinologists have over a 3 month waiting period for new appointments?
- Is my endocrinologist a good endocrinologist?
- Am I happy with the level of treatment I receive?
- Could I get a better doctor?
- Would my current doctor be offended if I started “looking around”?
- Do doctors get offended?
- Is this nurse stupid?
- Did she just ask me if I’m taking a stopgap medicine (glucagon) daily?
- Should I see a doctor about this bump? This runny nose?
- Whats a doctor going to tell me that webmd doesn’t already know?
- Is my foot numb because it fell asleep or neuropathy?
- Did my vision just change?
- How much of a “change” do they mean when they say I should see a doctor?
- Did the doctor understand my overly complex description of the blurry spot I’m seeing, or did they just write down the word “blurry vision” on my chart and assume its all the same?
- How long have I had diabetes? (diagnosed
- Do I prefer to be “a diabetic” or “a person with diabetes”?
- Am I a hypochondriac?
1 comments:
As I read this post, I found myself reading faster and faster as I recognized each question and realized that I ask the same ones: every day. It made my head spin a little bit.
Very good post. Definitely representative of the stream of consciousness of a diabetic. (I prefer diabetic. :))
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