I’ve been sharing online a bit lately about what it’s like to be a Type One Diabetic. I’m not quite sure why really. It’s not for attention, and I’m not sure there’s much point to “creating awareness” because everyone has their challenges and I don’t think I’m one to complain about my own.
I’m seeing videos and posts more and more lately about Type One. First person perspective of the reality of living with it. Ways of looking s at it hat I hadn’t thought of before. For example, we (Type One Diabetics) don’t think much of the fact that we regularly experience and manage a medical emergency every time our glucose drops. Glucose lows which, if left untreated, would kill us. It’ all very melodramatic really, but it is actually true. We are confronted with hypoglycemia, address it, and go about our day like it’s no big deal.
I shared two videos recently about it. This was the first…
And this was the second…
Today is a work from home day for me, and in the middle of it, I got a text my friend, Maria that she was stopping by to drop something off. She had commented on my second video weeks ago with “That sounds exhausting to deal with Cydney and I’m sorry that so much time and brain space is taken up by maintaining your numbers. It’s a lot and you are a rockstar for staying on top of it and being willing to share this with the rest of us. Sending you a huge hug” It was a very kind thing to say which also made me squirm a bit. It’s true what she says about the brain space T1D takes up, one thousand percent., but I don’t really share about my T1D, so being “seen” is unusual for me.
She arrived and we chatted on the porch briefly. Her kids perform in the same marching band she and I performed in during our high school days together. At the end of our chat, she handed over a box. She told me she’d remembered reading in the comments on my first video that I recommended green apple flavor glucose tablets to another diabetic (type 2) who’d inquired. She handed me a box of apple flavored glucose melts “I saw them in the store and thought I think those are the ones Cydney likes!” So she bought them for me and brought them to me.
It was such an incredibly nice gesture that I thought I’d share it. People doing kind things for other people.
