Sing Along

 

"Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

Such a fine sight to see

It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford

Slowin' down to take a look at me."

"The song “Take it Easy” was started by Jackson Brown who broke down in Winslow, Arizona in 1970. He got stuck after writing the first verse. His neighbor, Glenn Frey (of The Eagles), helped him finish it, adding the now-legendary flatbed Ford line.

For Your Listening Enjoyment:

https://youtu.be/AaBw37-nWaY?si=ukiiKdxxbEQkdLUn

The Day I Forgot My Pancreas

Today, I made a rookie mistake. Not an "I've had diabetes for six months" rookie mistake. An "I've had diabetes for years and should absolutely know better" mistake.

I took a shower and forgot to put my insulin pump back on. Simple, except three hours later, my pump was screaming at me about high blood sugars. I was annoyed. I was confused. I was mentally reviewing everything I had eaten. Then I looked down to check my connections ... No pump. But I found it. In the bathroom. On the counter. Sitting exactly where I had left it before my shower.

I went three hours without insulin because the pump, forgotten in the bathroom, is the only device that delivers my insulin. The funny part is that people often assume diabetics make mistakes because they don't understand the care and treatment of diabetes. Sometimes that's true. More often, at least for me, mistakes happen because I am human.

I was thinking about grandchildren, writing projects, neighbors, retirement, and a dozen other things. My shower routine was interrupted for exactly one moment for these great, deep thoughts, and then my brain skipped a step. The result was rapidly climbing blood sugar.

If you're new to diabetes, or helping someone who is, I want you to understand that ridiculous things can happen.  You can count your carbs. You can understand insulin. You can wear the latest technology. You can do almost everything right. And then one day you leave your pump sitting on the bathroom counter after a shower. Wham. Bam. Thank you ma'am. You are HIGH in diabetic terms, of course. 

The goal isn't perfection. The goal is to recognize the problem, fix it, and move on. Years ago, a mistake like this might have ruined my day. I would have been angry with myself. I would have replayed it repeatedly.

Instead, I plugged back in, drank some water, and let the insulin do its job. Because after all these years, I've learned something important. High blood sugar numbers are information, not a character flaw. 

Sometimes the explanation is complicated. Sometimes the explanation is that you forgot your pancreas in the bathroom. Either way, you just solve the problem and keep going. You are T1D Strong. 

End of story.