A weighty decision

When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I took one insulin injection a day: a little bit of Regular and a little bit of NPH mixed in a syringe before breakfast. That quickly shifted to twice a day: before breakfast and before dinner.

I had a glucose test kit that stayed in the school nurse’s office. In 1981 (1st grade, diagnosis), it was a urine test, in 1991 (11th-12th grade) it was a blood test. But it was there, not with me.

The only thing I carried around with me everywhere I went was a little box of Sun-Maid raisins, in case I felt low. Or maybe a roll of Life Savers, which always ended up permanently stuck to the paper wrapping (and each other) ensuring I had plenty of fiber with my low BG treatment.

At some point I switched to blood tests, first by holding the strip up to a  color chart, and later by using a big, clunky meter. I took it with me on family outings, but I don’t remember ever taking it to school. All I took was the box of stale raisins to treat lows; or maybe a roll of Life-Savers, inseparably stuck to the foil wrapping and each other.

I don’t ever remember carrying a meter with me in school. In 9th grade, I had a late lunch period and consistently went low during my biology lab period before. But I fought through it like a champ chump, traveling light.

I can’t remember if I carried a meter with me to class in college. Twelve years later after diagnosis, I was still on just two injections a day, each was a mix of Regular and NPH, taken before breakfast and dinner, with the Regular dose on a sliding scale that increased with my blood sugar. The scale matched the intervals on the old Chemstrip color chart: 180-240, add 1 unit. 240-300, add 2 units. 300-400, add 3 units, and so on.

PWDs make me jealous

Sleek, sexy, identifiable Dexcom
(image credit: Bernard Farrell | Flickr)

In general, when we hear of PWDs we think it stands for People With Diabetes. But within that community is a privileged subset, whom I also refer to as PWDs. But in this case, the D doesn’t stand for diabetes. No, the PWDs I’m referring to are People With Dexcoms.  And I envy them.

That’s right, Dexcoms. The Continuous Glucose Monitor whose name mysteriously connotes a form of sugar known as dextrose, not glucose. The CGM which doesn’t talk to any insulin pump currently on the market. That Dexcom.