Happy anniversary, baby
It’s been how long since I posted? Well, crap. I’ve taken on too much in life once again. But I HAVE to post today. It’s my anniversary. That’s right, it was one year ago today that the UPS man brought me a red label box that changed my life.
So I’m not sure what to say. I wanted to write some awesome, witty, deep essay. I’m sitting in my office watching the cows and the horses next door. Waiting for a awesome, witty, deep thought to come to me. Well, double crap.
My A1C is up. Why? No hypos.
My energy is good. Why? No fear.
My life is good. Why? Because even though I have diabetes I have an interesting, useful, satisfying job. (OK, so that really has very little to do with the Guardian, but I thought I’d throw it in there anyway.)
So today marks one-full year with Medtronic sensors in my body. With the exception of a brief few weeks last spring when I couldn’t afford them (read: nerve wracking weeks from hell) I’ve been wearing them 24-7 for a full year. No infections. No problems. No regrets.
Is my control perfect? Hell no. I get busy. I get lazy. I don’t try as hard as I should. When I worked in photography some of the best shooters had the most basic of gear, and there where some folks walking around with ten grand in camera gear that couldn’t take a good picture to save their lives. Moral of the story: the gear doesn’t make the man. The best BG monitoring system in the world won’t work if you don’t pay attention to it. We are not up to the closed-loop artificial pancreas. Lots of folks wearing pumps with A1Cs in the nines….
But I am safe. And that makes it worth the work and the investment.
I am now so used to continuous monitoring that I can’t quite remember or imagine what it would be like without it. What would it be like to actually have to take a finger stick instead of pressing a button? I considered dropping my pump recently, do to the chronic money trouble, and going back to SHOTS. I dunno….hopefully it won’t come to that, but I think if I have to choose between the two, I’d rather have the CGM with a FlexPen than have the pump with old-fashioned finger sticks.
So, I want everyone have a happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for. Yes we have diabetes. But for those of us with T-1, we could have had it in 1892. Think about that for a moment.
We don’t have a cure; (By the way, you probably didn’t know this, but diabetes has been cured seven times. Of course, each time the big Pharma companies have kidnapped the researcher, shot him in the head, buried his body in a field and burned his research.) but we do have good treatments.
I have believed for a while, and I still maintain, that in 10 years the little BG meters will be obsolete and most of us D-folk will be using continuous meters. For those of you who hope that in ten years there will be no diabetes, I’ll just say that no doubt there will be more bodies buried in the field and we’ll all still be facing the same struggles and generating all those billions of profits.
That sounded more cynical than I wanted it to. I’m gratefull for big pharma. Thankful to them. Thankful that I get to watch my little boy grow up. Thanks Novo. Thanks Smiths. Thanks Medtronic. Have a piece of pumpkin pie on me. Lets see, crust is 10 carbs, filling is 15, the whipped cream is sugar free, now the honey….where did I put my PDA?
What?
You guys finished the pie before I could count the carbs? Oh man, that’s just wrong…..
So I’m not sure what to say. I wanted to write some awesome, witty, deep essay. I’m sitting in my office watching the cows and the horses next door. Waiting for a awesome, witty, deep thought to come to me. Well, double crap.
My A1C is up. Why? No hypos.
My energy is good. Why? No fear.
My life is good. Why? Because even though I have diabetes I have an interesting, useful, satisfying job. (OK, so that really has very little to do with the Guardian, but I thought I’d throw it in there anyway.)
So today marks one-full year with Medtronic sensors in my body. With the exception of a brief few weeks last spring when I couldn’t afford them (read: nerve wracking weeks from hell) I’ve been wearing them 24-7 for a full year. No infections. No problems. No regrets.
Is my control perfect? Hell no. I get busy. I get lazy. I don’t try as hard as I should. When I worked in photography some of the best shooters had the most basic of gear, and there where some folks walking around with ten grand in camera gear that couldn’t take a good picture to save their lives. Moral of the story: the gear doesn’t make the man. The best BG monitoring system in the world won’t work if you don’t pay attention to it. We are not up to the closed-loop artificial pancreas. Lots of folks wearing pumps with A1Cs in the nines….
But I am safe. And that makes it worth the work and the investment.
I am now so used to continuous monitoring that I can’t quite remember or imagine what it would be like without it. What would it be like to actually have to take a finger stick instead of pressing a button? I considered dropping my pump recently, do to the chronic money trouble, and going back to SHOTS. I dunno….hopefully it won’t come to that, but I think if I have to choose between the two, I’d rather have the CGM with a FlexPen than have the pump with old-fashioned finger sticks.
So, I want everyone have a happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for. Yes we have diabetes. But for those of us with T-1, we could have had it in 1892. Think about that for a moment.
We don’t have a cure; (By the way, you probably didn’t know this, but diabetes has been cured seven times. Of course, each time the big Pharma companies have kidnapped the researcher, shot him in the head, buried his body in a field and burned his research.) but we do have good treatments.
I have believed for a while, and I still maintain, that in 10 years the little BG meters will be obsolete and most of us D-folk will be using continuous meters. For those of you who hope that in ten years there will be no diabetes, I’ll just say that no doubt there will be more bodies buried in the field and we’ll all still be facing the same struggles and generating all those billions of profits.
That sounded more cynical than I wanted it to. I’m gratefull for big pharma. Thankful to them. Thankful that I get to watch my little boy grow up. Thanks Novo. Thanks Smiths. Thanks Medtronic. Have a piece of pumpkin pie on me. Lets see, crust is 10 carbs, filling is 15, the whipped cream is sugar free, now the honey….where did I put my PDA?
What?
You guys finished the pie before I could count the carbs? Oh man, that’s just wrong…..
posted by Wil | 2:17 AM
7 Comments:
Happy Anniversary, Wil!
So glad to hear that you're safe and happy (and watching cows and horses from your office? That sounds fantastically bizarre.) and checking in on us from time to time.
And I love your reason for good energy: no fear. That's the way to roll, my friend.
-- Kerri.
Happy CGMSiversary brother!
I really appreciate the points about the gear not making the man. So very true.
It is good to see that things are going well for you, and that you're still up to being WAY too busy for one guy to handle.
I think of you and your family often, and I hope you all will have a happy holiday too!
'Gear doesn't make the man'... I've thought the same thing for years. I bet Tiger could take a set of Wally World clubs and do just as good, but then what would happen to the Golf industry?
Congrats on a successful year and have a good Thanksgiving!
So good to hear from you Will!
Very interesting comments about the cure. My "diabetes doctor" from my teens was saying the exact same thing back in the mid-1990s. It's pretty sad, but true, I'm afraid.
Don't be a stranger now! And Happy Anniversary :)
Great post, Wil. Happy Anniversary and happy Thanksgiving!!
- AmyT
Happy anniversary and Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy sensoranniversary! It's so nice to have you posting again.
If you could choose now without concern about the $$, would you choose the Paradigm that would receive the data from the sensor/transmitter?
Ellen
Post a Comment
<< Home