Snowstorms in my Snow Globe

"My Life as a Snow Globe"

This was the title of my fourth post after beginning this blog. The analogy of a snow globe helped display the emotions and frustrations that surfaced following my diagnosis. 

Not including Type One, this past week was absolutely amazing!

Including Type One . . . I would say I have run into a few "bumps". 

Christmas Eve I was due for a new infusion set (the port that attaches to our body)

Usually, I don't have a problem with a new site, it hurts a bit - but is way easier than 8 shots a day! The problems occur when your body begins to reject the sets. 

About 10 minutes after my first site, my pump alarm went off . . .

NO DELIVERY

 

If you ever have a pump, you know what this means. Either your hose is kinked (easy fix), or you have a bad site (not-so-pleasurable fix). For me, it was the not-so-pleasurable fix.

After checking for kinks and any obvious problems with the site, I proceeded to pull it out of my stomach. If it is a "bad site" we usually see blood in the hose or bent needle. In this case there was nothing.

To shorten this night . . . I ended up going through 3 painful, eventually bleeding sets - before finally switching to my arm.

After moving my site to the arm, it seems that the insulin started to absorb more efficiently.

Why, you may ask?

 

Lows

And Thursday was full of them! 

No matter how much sugar I inhaled . . . nothing seemed to avail me.

 I began feeling low after eating at McDonald's so I tested my blood sugar. 

52 

When you go an entire meal without giving any insulin, and your this low means its time to get serious about getting your blood sugar up.

I began to feel painfully weak and numb . . . panic mode. 

Mom ran to get the glucagon out of the van . . . 50 isn't quite "coma-worthy", but when I was feeling prepared to pass out - it was obviously time to bypass what the tester said. :) 

Thankfully, after I gulped down 3 sugar-infused sodas . . . my blood sugar began to rise! 

Now . . . I could go into detail about the following three lows I had that day, but I'd like to come around to the point of this blogpost.

Although the snow is settling and Type One is a reality that I am coming to peace with, I've found that as a Type One, our little "snow-globe" is going to get shaken. And from the looks of it, it may get shaken a lot . . . that's the not-so-pleasurable part of this disease.

That's the side that provides a 55 at 1:00 in the morning, that's the side that constantly looms overhead - the snowstorms.

But it's nice to remember a few things . . . 

First of all, snowstorms don't last forever: it will a clear up again.

Second, make sure your in your snow gear: if its a bad storm, you want to be ready!

Finally, Type One is hard - that's the truth . . . but the hardships bring us closer to both God and those we love. It takes a lot of work to live with T1. But at the same time, it molds us into more than we could have been without it.

Knowing God is in control helps shift seeing the danger of the snowstorm, to seeing the amazing beauty the snow provides!