Guest Post: Getting By With A Little Help From A Friend

Today’s guest post is from friend and fellow DOC member, Kate Banks.  Kate lives with type 1 diabetes, and deals with some Anxiety as well.  Today, she talks about an experience she had this past weekend.  Thanks so much for sharing, Kate.

This week has been full of changes for me in my diabetes management. Changes for the better, mind. Due to anxiety that I have, and have had for a long time, I don’t manage diabetes very well. It’s hard for me to take insulin and test and do all the other millions of things that come hand in hand with diabetes because I’m seriously afraid of low blood sugars.

Diabetes is a lonely disease. In my day to day life, I don’t get to be around other PWDs much. I have the wonderful DOC, which really helps to keep me afloat. I wouldn’t be here today without all of the help and support from the DOC. But back in here in my everyday life, I am the only person in my world, or day, with diabetes, for the most part.

There a handful of times during the year where I get to be with other people my age with Diabetes, due to a support group we set up here in town a couple of years ago. But I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like.

Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised when my friend, C, turned up where I worked and spent the day hanging out with me. I hadn’t seen her since D-Camp during the summer. Seeing somebody standing in front of me with pump tubing hanging out, testing their blood sugar, it just made me feel…better.

My goal this week has been trying to test before I eat, and bolusing for the food that I eat. That is a lot easier when there is somebody else around, doing the exact same thing. Thinking the same things I am, and fearing the same situations and outcomes.

I invited her back to my place for the night, and it was the best time I had all week.  Being in the company of another PWD is very comforting for me. It’s like you’re not fighting that big scary battle alone. You’re not the only one feeling the pain and the impact of this disease. Somebody else is too, and I realise I’m really not alone, and that maybe everything will be okay.

It is so alien to me to see somebody else sitting next to me checking their blood sugar. So weird to see somebody pulling out their pump and wondering what they should bolus for what we just eat. It’s like the people without diabetes are the odd ones out. I felt like I wasn’t singled out for once.

The last 24 hours have been a lot easier for me just because somebody else with diabetes was here with me and I wasn’t alone. So for the last 24 hours, bolusing and testing was just a background thing. It wasn’t the be all and end all of my day. Now let’s focus on the next 24.