Macgyvering a Glucose Check

I was in the middle of a pretty important staff meeting at work the other day. From memory, I believe I had just eaten a few skittles to bring my glucose levels away from edge of hypo territory. I was sitting there, listening intently, but also wondering whether the skittles had done their job.

The looks I get when using my Libre around others are absolutely hilarious. This was a pretty serious discussion, and I didn’t feel like it was the right time to be pulling out an out-of-this-world device and scanning my arm.

I was trying to push the thought of my BGLs to the back of my mind, but I couldn’t. I thought about getting up and leaving, but I didn’t want to miss any of what was being discussed (rare for a staff meeting, right?).

My Libre reader was sitting in my front shirt pocket. I stuck my hand in my pocket and switched it on. I brought my Sensor-bearing arm a little closer to my pocket. I navigated my reader over to the sensor on my arm, and successfully obtained a blood sugar result.


All without the reader ever leaving my pocket.

Happy Wednesday.

Why Matters of Diabetes Ignorance Won’t Bother Me

I’m posting this with a little nervousness today (please don’t shoot me).

I won’t be bothered by the matters of diabetes ignorance that circulate around the diabetes community.

Am I saying that it’s okay to discriminate against people with diabetes? Absolutely not. 

I just don’t feel compelled to get angry about an offensive sign that was put up on the other side of the world, or a message written on a coffee cup. I wouldn’t personally feel compelled to speak up unless I felt that it directly affected me.

I will point out for those who remember, that I did write an angry post about the CrossFit debacle a year ago – something I am not proud of today. In hindsight, I simply don’t think it was worth my attention.

Being diagnosed at age 17, I see diabetes from both sides of the fence. I didn’t know the first thing about it before I was diagnosed. Thinking back to the days before my blog, I knew very little compared to what I do now. Even today, I’m still very much learning new things about diabetes each and every day. Last week alone, I had two conversations where I had to explain that I did not get diabetes from eating too many lollies (or in my case, chocolate).

These days, I actually love being asked about my diabetes. I feel very confident when talking about diabetes to others. I feel proud of the knowledge and insight that I can offer to help others better understand the condition I live with – something that wasn’t true two years ago. I don’t feel that anger would ever produce the same result.

I simply think that there are greater issues worth my attention. If the e-mails I receive each week are anything to go by, I would hope that my writing here brings to light the realities of life with diabetes. I would hope that others will discover the power of peer support that I did last year, and realise that they are not alone in this.

I guess another thing that bothers me is that lack of respect in each other’s different opinions towards these types of situations. Craig over at Insulin Nation penned this piece in response to one recent matter of ignorance, and to be frank some of the commentary I witnessed in response to his opinions were nasty. 

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My opinion on the issue of diabetes ignorance certainly isn’t the only one, or the right one. It is however, my own, and one which I hope will be respected. If you feel like the matters of ignorance are important to you, I’ll certainly respect that. (So long as you’re not a walker, of course).