One Great Thing

Second entry for Diabetes Blog Week: One Great Thing.  As in giving yourself credit for doing one diabetes thing really well, even though it is impossible to be perfect.

I have to say, this is a really hard one for me. I don't generally feel like I do any diabetes related thing "spectacularly". I forget to bolus, I forget to carry glucose, I forget my test kit at the restaurant we ate at...200 miles back, I don't adhere tightly to diet guidelines, I don't exercise enough. 

Yeah, I can see why you'd need to give a diabetic a specific instruction to name something they do very well.

Okay - here's two things: 1)  I do always get my checkups for kidneys and eyes, and my HbA1C regularly.  If there is any damage or complication developing I am committed to address it head on and not bury my head in the sand. I've always felt that way, and after 32 years, the only complication I've had to address  so far is the gastroparesis. Hopefully, being diligent with those annual and periodic screenings will assure that anything else is detected early enough to avoid drastic consequences.

2) I still have my sense of humor after all these years.  In the D-blog world, I'm clearly not alone in this - but I also know several people with chronic disease who seem to get consumed in the anger and depression that pretty much all of us have to fight off at least sometimes.  I do get pissed off about diabetes. I do get totally down sometimes.  But I often surprise myself with some witty or sassy or funny take on the situation that helps get me back through the day to day grind of managing this disease.