A Typical Day
I've said it before, diabetes is hard. Not just the constant monitoring, poking yourself with sharp things, and monotony of it. But because it doesn't play fair. You can do and eat exactly the same things and treat exactly the same way 10 days in a row and get different results every single day. And just when you think you nailed something, like how to bolus for pizza, diabetes says F you and everything changes.
The picture below is a "typical day". As typical as it can be, anyways. It doesn't include failed pump sites, sick days, middle-of-the-nights highs and lows, the "what's-that-on-your-arm?" questions, the "my cat/grammy/uncle/pastor had diabetes" comments, the "have you tried changing her diet?" questions, and so on.....
Try setting your phone alarm for every one to two hours and then pause for a few minutes to think about what you ate, did you count your carbs properly, did you remember to bolus, do you have enough supplies with you, do you feel high or low, is your pump site working, are your batteries dying in your pump/meter, does your pump have enough insulin in it for the rest of the day? Now do that along with all your other responsibilities and make it appear effortless. And imagine doing that at age 8, 12, 16, and forever for the rest of your life.
As many as 1.25 million Americans are living with T1D including about 200,000 youth. 40,000 people are diagnosed each year. Between 2001 and 2009 there was a 21% increase in prevalence of T1D in people under age 20. 5 million people in the U.S. are expected to have T1D by 2050, including nearly 600,000 youth.
WE NEED A CURE.
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