Balancing Diabetes by Kerri Sparling

Author:Kerri Sparling [Sparling, Kerri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781938170386
Publisher: Spry Publishing LLC

Chapter Ten

Fitting Diabetes Devices into Daily Life

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, there weren’t a lot of options for treatment. I needed insulin immediately, so when I was seven, I started taking injections. At first, I was only taking two shots a day, but as the years progressed, insulin changed and my treatment goals shifted. I needed to take more injections in order to achieve the best results. When I was about 23 years old, I realized I was taking upward of nine injections a day: a morning Lantus dose (long-acting), three pre-meal boluses, two or three pre-snack boluses, and an evening Lantus dose. Add in a correction bolus here and there and I was poking holes into my skin every time I even thought about food.

I wanted to try out an insulin pump. I was itching for something that gave me tighter control opportunities without making my skin feel excessively porous. And even though I was in my early twenties and had yet to meet my now-husband, I was always thinking about that baby I knew I wanted to have someday. An A1C closer to that “healthy baby” range was my goal, and I knew a pump would help me get there.

But it’s an external device! A thing hanging from a tube on my body. Was I ready for an external symptom of diabetes? Was I willing to give up true nudity in favor of cyborg badassery?

My pump arrived via special overnight delivery. On a Saturday, no less. The room shrank as the box sat unopened.

I made myself a cup of tea and sat down on the floor. Peeled back the packing tape. The flaps sprang open and a few stray foam peanuts flung themselves onto the floor, falling victim to the big paws of my calico cat. Reaching into the box, I foraged around until I found the green, white, and blue box inside. “Medtronic MiniMed. Paradigm 512.”

It looked like a pager. Slightly bigger, maybe, weighing in at just a few ounces. Smokey gray in color and almost transparent, I could see all the gears and wires inside.

Sipping my tea, I clipped it to the top of my shorts and stood up, to test it out. I felt unbalanced, as though I would tip to one side if an aggressive breeze blew through. Leaving it attached, I jumped up and down. Nothing happened. I sat on the couch to see if I would feel its presence. I walked over to the window and looked out onto the deck, hearing the soft clink of the pump as it touched against the window sill.

The box of infusion sets was decidedly dodgier. Twenty-three inches of snaky, thin white tubing. The round white patch of gauze with the bright blue lid on it. A 6 mm cannula.

Prying open the infusion set packaging, I touched the tip of the needle with my finger. It was hollow and very sharp. I lifted up my shirt and exposed my stomach, daring myself to press the needle tip against my skin.

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