Share and Not Share

Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one's daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don't see?

I’d like for my healthcare team to see and appreciate that every day is different. Having the “right” basal rates or insulin/carb ratios in place is certainly a desirable thing.  But my activity levels, work times, food choices, etc. are very fluid.  In fact, there are really very few constants.

 

One of the most hated questions for me is “so what does your blood sugar normally run?”  Sounds innocuous, but it makes me want to scream…THERE IS NO NORMAL.  There may be A1C’s, other averages and standard deviations, or a % of the time spent in a certain range, but there is no normal.  If you really want to know, download my meter.  Most of the time endoc’s know better than to ask that question, but other members of my health care team (opthamologist, obgyn, etc.) seem to have the annoying habit of asking it at every single visit!  I would like for them to really see how hard that question is to answer.

What do I hope that they don’t see?  Now that is interesting to ponder.  I think it would be best for me if they saw everything.  Hmmm…sounds kind of like God’s role though.  Human to human, I guess I’d rather it not be known how lazy and just tired of the whole thing I am at times.  How I choose to eat something else sometimes even when my blood sugar is high.  Or how I go to sleep more nights than I’d like to admit not testing after dinner because I’d rather fall asleep on the couch watching Survivor or Dancing with the Stars.