16:22 I arrive home. Blood sugar is 4.6 with a downward arrow and around 1 unit of insulin on board. Little guy has not yet been for a walk today.
16:33 I prepare a milky coffee and grab one of the Walkers Shortbread Festive Shapes from the cupboard. 15 grams of carbs. Enough to course correct the hypo, with a little extra glucose for the quick walk I’m planning.
16:54 Almost ready to walk and my Libre is still reading 3.4 and steady. A finger prick reads 4.3. I figure I’ll need a little more glucose for my walk, but I really don’t feel like glucose tabs today. I open the cupboard, delighted to find a packet of pretzels there. I measure out 15 grams of pretzels and chew them down.
17:01 I have the little guy’s attention before I’ve even grabbed his lead from it’s little drawer. Just before I’m about to head out the door, the phone rings. I pick it up, and decide on a quick detour to the train station to collect my sister from work since I’m heading out anyway.
17:06 Today’s walk will probably be lighter than usual, given that I have the little guy in tow who’s still recovering from surgery a few weeks ago. I bolus for half of the pretzels I ate as I’m sitting in the car driving towards the train station, figuring I’ve overestimated my glucose needs.
17:15 My sister asks if the little guy has been for a walk today as we’re heading back from the station, and I explain that I was planning on doing so prior to this detour. She then says that she is going for a walk with a friend, and offers to take him with her.
17.19 Back home. Blood sugar is 5.3 and trending upwards. Too polite to explain how much of this afternoon’s groundwork hinged on me taking the little guy for a walk, I convince myself I have other things to do and bolus for all of the insulin I missed. And then some.
Exercise with diabetes is so damn hard.
Hi my 13 yo son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes only 7 weeks ago. We stumbled across your blog, thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts. In this piece I was interested to see the difference between a CGM reading and a finger prick, my son has had a CGM for just a week and has experienced both this scenario, and also a lack of readings (‘no signal’) for hours on end. Does this also happen to you or others? Thanks
Jen, it does happen often, depending on the make and model of CGM, placement location and sometimes it just happens. Frank is a great resource. I suggest you also drop by diabetes daily or TUDiabetes.org where there are always helpful folks.
Hey Jen, welcome to the world of type 1. I should clarify that I use the FreeStyle Libre, which isn’t quite the same thing as a CGM. Have you been told about the lag time between finger pricks and CGM data? The CGM data can lag behind finger pricks by around 10-15 minutes as it’s a different type of fluid that is measured.
Most of the time I find that my readings are within 1mmol of each other, but sometimes if it’s a bad sensor or placement the readings are out by more. I also find the accuracy is worse the higher my BGLs are.
Frank, I think diabetes makes everything more difficult. But think of the skills you have developed. The ability to balance blood glucose, talk, walk and weigh pretzels. Now those are transferable skills. 🙂