A day in the life of a Middle Manager...

An Anniversary

No, I'm not talking about 7-11's slurpee-fest...

I'm talking about it being one year today that the DX of my IDDM became official...

It is one year today that I lay in hospital close to death with a BG reading of 58 mmol/l (1044 mg/dl to any Americans reading). A normal reading is < 7mmol/l (126 mg/dl). I am thankful for the skill of the doctors and nurses who got me through that as without their experience I wouldn't be here today. I am also massively thankful for the love of my wife Carla as she's had to go through a lot over this past year too...

What have I learned in that year? Well, for one thing, I've learned a heck of a lot about how the body metabolises food. I've learned that sugar doesn't cause diabetes nor is sugar banned from a diabetic's diet as most people think it is (being honest, I knew nothing about diabetes before being DX'd).

I've learned that there is a lot of misconception about diabetes and most people think it is a self-imposed condition -- for the record, IDDM isn't self-imposed. Currently even the world's experts don't know what causes it! All I know is that I was under a fantastic amount of stress when I started to feel ill and, talking to other people, it seems that stress appears to be a common thread...

What else have I learned in the year? Well, I've learned to be more easy-going for a start. I've learned a lot about food and now I'm a lot more choosy about what goes into my mouth. I recommend reading "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser and "Fat Land" by Greg Critzer. Out of the two I prefer Fast Food Nation as Fat Land is a more technical read.

I've also learned how easy it is to get used to injecting yourself every day when your life depends on it. People I know say they just couldn't do it -- I say to them that they'd soon learn to accept it if they knew they'd be very ill within a couple of days if they didn't do it. And TBH, it doesn't hurt (well sometimes it does but no worse than a mosquito bite mostly).

Diabetes is now part of my everyday life and every day is a learning experience.