Diabetes Stinks!

I had a bit of a hiccup in my health last week and wasn't up to working on projects or blog posts for a few days. So I thought I would take this opportunity to write a post about something other than DIY stuff.

Throughout my life, I've been blessed with relatively good health. However, six years ago I was diagnosed with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. I feel so fortunate that I didn't get it as a child, and my heart breaks for those who do get it at a young age. With type 1 diabetes, the body doesn't make any insulin, meaning I must give myself insulin for the rest of my life. While it has been a life altering sickness I'm so grateful that it's treatable. I've been using an insulin pump for almost four years and I love it. I don't miss giving myself shots 4+ times a day and it certainly helps me feel a little more "normal".

Here's the pump that I use.

Unfortunately, I had a rough few days last week that threw me for a loop. Last Sunday we were getting ready for church and I changed my insertion site (a small canula that is inserted into your skin that supplies the insulin); this has to be done every 3-4 days. For whatever reason it was very painful to place so I had a feeling that maybe it had kinked on me causing it to block the flow of insulin. I checked my sugar a while later and sure enough, it was much higher than it should be. I decided to replace the canula to avoid this experience and fortunately a little later my blood sugar began to trend down.

Later in the afternoon however, I started feeling really sick and I subsequently discovered that my pump was malfunctioning. I had a feeling that it was dying on me so I called the pump manufacturer, and they confirmed that it had failed. They told me I wouldn't be able to get a new pump until Tuesday since they don't deliver on Sundays, so I was stuck giving myself shots until then. This wouldn't have been that big of a deal except I only had the short-acting type of insulin available as this is what the pump uses. This meant that I needed to give myself shots every couple of hours to maintain the right level of insulin in my body. However, maintaining that appropriate level is easier said than done, and my body was not used to all the resulting up's and down's in my blood sugar. Even after getting my blood sugar closer to a normal level, I felt weak and shaky (typical for low blood sugar) and nauseated (typical for high blood sugar).

At first I thought I might need to set an alarm to wake me up for insulin doses throughout the night, but that wasn't needed as I was up all night vomiting. Fortunately I was able to start keeping fluids down and didn't need to go to the hospital or anything. The next day I still felt off, but overall much better.  My new pump came Tuesday, and since then we've been back in business.

In writing this, I'm certainly not looking for sympathy, but rather just want to share some more personal things happening in my life. Don't worry, I don't plan on making this type of post a common occurrence. In fact, I'll be writing about some new projects shortly. I really have appreciated all of the support and encouragement I've received over the short time since starting this blog. While it has been more time consuming than I had anticipated, it has also been a lot of fun.