Yesterday was my birthday. It was a lot of fun, celebrated with animation, drinks and an enormous brownie dessert. When you have a birthday, it gets you thinking about life, and how we divide it into units. It makes you take stock of the units in your life; the measurements and the achievements. This comes naturally to a diabetic, as diabetes is measured in units, levels, numbers.
So, how did my diabetes measure up this year?
For one thing, I've had 12 birthday-units without diabetes, and now, 16 with. So, 4/7ths of my life is now in the diabetes era. Way more than half at this point.
I definitely haven't had enough D-meetups this year. Last year was definitely better. That doesn't mean that I haven't been corresponding with my D-friends through #dsma and #candoc respectively. I even won #bgbingo once, though I'm still waiting on my prize due to the ravages of Canada Post. Chatting is much more of a prize, however. I received two lovely postcards for World Diabetes Day, spread a whole bunch of awareness, and sent out a postcard in return (I am so sorry to the person who I didn't realize was assigned to me until it was way too late, and I still intend to send you a postcard).
The numbers on the scale are definitely better this year, though I've a ways to go. My pump units have been adjusted several times. I've had to trade in Pumpy 1 for Pumpy 2, still far within warranty (and with three years before I can think about shopping around for something new, but I'm pretty happy.
My readings still act fairly strange whenever I perform; especially now that I've started to open for bona fide rockstars! I'll take some wonkiness for the chance to be on stage, though. They're still a bit weird when I teach, too, but it's worth it for the chance to be a professor, and to write a whole new course at the BA level, to be taught to who knows how many years of students to come.
My blog has been read a couple thousand times, which surprises me. I should post more, however. I definitely need to finish Law and Order: Special Pumper's Unit, at least for its one devoted fan.
My diabetes never prevented me from being lucky in love, and since my last birthday, I've gained a fiance, although the engagement was really just a change in title for a long and stable relationship. If the stability of my relationship was a CGM graph, I'd have an eight-year no-hitter, and we all know how precious that is.
Lows: On our roadtrip this weekend, I went low in two countries, one province, and four states over the course of one day. I think that is my new record, though not a pleasant one. Can anyone beat it?
Finally, one last discussion of units: this year I achieved my lowest A1c reading ever. EVER. In sixteen years. A reading of 7.2 may not be the best A1c anyone's ever had, but it represents a major achievement in my grown-up life with D. And, it amuses me to say that I got to be 7.2 at 27. Let's just hope that trend doesn't mean I'm 8.2 this year!
I'd like to thank everyone, online and off, for supporting me all through this year. It hasn't been perfect, but where's the fun in that? Just like there's no such thing as a perfect diabetic, there's no such thing as a perfect year; just an interesting one, a fun one, a sweet one, a loving one.
Thank you to my 27th unit of life for being all of the above. Now, let's bring on #28.
-Ilana
