I'm Diabetic

Almost three months ago I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I haven't talked about it except for with close family members, but I did mention in a post awhile back that I'd seen my family doctor for the first time in 10 years. The meeting wasn't about concerns over potential diabetes but we decided to do some bloodwork as part of the health check up. My blood sugar was crazy. Since I was asymptomatic we had to do a second test to confirm and I was consistently above the diabetic threshold.

I'm on several medications now and I'm wearing a glucose monitor called a freestyle libre. The monitor is like a little computer the size of a button, which fastens to the back of your arm. You can download an app and use your phone to scan the sensor to get information on your blood sugar at any given time. You can see your average levels throughout the day separated in three hour timeslots, you can see a chart of your levels each day that you use it, or see one based on an average over seven days, 14, 30, or 90. It has alarms to notify you if your glucose is high or low, and today I just started using a notes system that you can use to record your behaviour when your sugars are acting strange. I thought I would hate being monitored all the time but it's actually pretty cool. Each sensor is supposed to last 14 days, although that isn't always the reality.

You have to apply the sensor yourself, and it's very intimidating at first. I didn't have a person to guide me, just an instruction manual that came in the box and some steps presented by the app. It uses really clinical language, like "place applicator over injection site and push down to apply sensor", which is a fancy way of saying STAB YOURSELF IN THE ARM WITH A GIANT NEEDLE.

The needle does really look absurdly large at first, like the stinger on a murder hornet. There is a spring mechanism in the applicator, so it's not quite like just pushing it into your arm. The weird thing is that it doesn't hurt. The first two times I tried to apply a libre failed. The first one started to itch and it fell out inside an hour, and the second one stayed and I was able to set it up, scan it and get some data but it fell off while I was sleeping that night.

The relevant change I needed to make to keep them on, was I needed to shave a patch of hair. I also got some additional adhesive to put on my arm. The instructions just told me to clean the area with plain soap, swab with an alcohol wipe and let air dry, which is what I did the first two times. Now shave the injection site, then shower, washing with soap and exfoliating, then clean with an alcohol swab, let air dry, then use skin tac, then apply the sensor. Four different liquids hit my arm before injection.

My first successful sensor was fastened to the side of my arm, because for some reason I had trouble figuring out where the back of my arm is. It lasted the full 14 days. I had it on my left arm because I figure you move your less dominant arm around less, so you're not as likely to knock it against something, same reason you wear a watch on your left hand. I realized though that I usually sleep on my left side, so the second sensor I put on my right arm, but it only lasted six days. It didn't come loose, it just stopped working, I'm not sure why. Third sensor I put back on my left arm and it lasted 12 days but it stopped working the same way that my second sensor did. I'm on my fourth right now, and it's on my right arm again because when I see my doctor they're going to want to take my blood pressure on my left side.

I've had to cut out almost all carbs and added sugars. So I'm not supposed to have juice, pop, bread, pasta, rice, or potatoes. Pasta isn't too bad and I never made a regular habit of drinking juice or pop, but I've got some of my identity wrapped up in my status as a baker. In Katimavik when we divvied up house manager duties during the last rotation, I was selected to be the group's bread maker. I kept my family in homemade bread after finishing the program, and I made a habit of giving people surprise loaves of bread. I even gave Lee-Anne a loaf of bread before we started dating and I was trying to impress her. Katimabread is my first post on my recipe blog.

Rice also sucks. I've often said that fried rice is my most basic conception of food, that if I were sent into a kitchen and simply told to "make food" I would produce fried rice. I've often said that it is the perfect cross-section of sustainability, nutrition, affordability, flavour, and ease of creation. Many times, when not knowing what to make for dinner I would start to prepare a protein, start throwing vegetables in, make a cup of rice, throw an egg on it and only then see what I'd done, add some sauces and call it fried rice. It was the first thing I learned to cook after leaving for college, which I did by reverse-engineering the stirfry sold in our campus cafeteria. Among other impoverished students that didn't know how to cook, I was a king when I whipped up a giant pot of fried rice.

I can kind of get back into using rice, but it's got to be long grain brown. Not too bad since my favourite was basmati, which is already long grain. I like to buy the giant sacks of rice that you can get in the international aisle, and luckily I found one with long grain brown basmati. The sack is plastic, not burlap like my previous brand, but it's still cool.

Lentils share many of the virtues of rice, with their sustainability and affordability and they are diabetic friendly. Canada produces three times as much lentils as India, the next highest lentil-producing nation, 95% of our crop produced in Saskatchewan. I'm trying to make lentil soup the new fried rice.

My sugar levels have been really good. Like, non-diabetic good and consistently low. That doesn't mean that I'm cured, though. It means I'm able to prevent active damage to my organs with the help of medication.

I've had to get my kidneys, eyes, and feet checked. These are the three areas they use to determine if you're symptomatic. I'm still okay in all three of these categories, and I've never had a dizzy spell or anything like that either. We only know about my condition through the blood tests, which is a good thing.

It's hard not to speculate about when I developed it. Since I didn't see my doctor for ten years it could have been any time within that span. It could have been when I was working in the group home, doing obscene hours. At one point I was doing sleep shifts full time, while maintaining four direct support contracts and taking five university courses. I kept clothes in my backpack and did my laundry at the group home, kept a bar of soap on me and showered at local pools, and ate leftovers at the grouphome or fast food all the time. I was so busy I was functionally homeless. My body could have crapped out then.

Or it could have been near the beginning of the pandemic when I went full survivor-mode. I thought society was going to collapse, and my fear drove me to exhaustion. I didn't leave my unit except for groceries for months at first after having been accustomed to walking over 50 km per week. Combination of stress and sudden drop in physical activity could have done it.

But I guess we will never know. All there is to do is keep trying to lose weight and keep my sugar at a healthy level.