Friday, February 26, 2010

Not alone

My previous boyfriends have never had such an active role in my diabetes care. They all pretty much just trusted that I was taking care of myself. For the first few years we dated Steve learned what he could but pretty much just trusted that I was doing what I could to take care of myself. He would get me juice when I was low and be understanding of highs.

I'm not sure what happened but around 6 months ago Steve decided he wanted to know more and wanted to have a more active role. He read books and did research online on diabetes. He would ask me why I was doing things.  He wanted to know everything he possibly could.

For the first time ever I let somebody else in on my diabetes care.

Since going to boarding school 3,000 miles away at age 14 I have been completely in charge of my diabetes care. My mom took a backseat and more often then not I wouldn't let her "in."

I have pretty  much always lived alone, with out roommates so nobody was around to make sure I hadn't gotten so low in the middle of the night I passed out. Even when I did have roommates I never relied on them to have the responsibility to make sure I was ok. My mom and I would talk on the phone everyday and if she didn't hear from me she would start to panic.

When Steve and I started talking about living together my mom was happy that I would be living with somebody who I would listen to. It took me years to trust somebody else with my diabetes care.

He has learned how to count carbs and the importance of testing 2 hours after eating. When my Dexcom alarms in the middle of the night he runs off to get my meter to test me. I knows not to pour me too much juice even though I get super hungry when  I'm low.  He encourages me to eat as healthy as I can but doesn't criticize me when I eat a sweet.


Earlier this week Steve had to travel on a business trip.  I realized how much I've come to depend on him when he was gone this week. As annoying as he came be when he is asking me a million questions I just feel safer knowing he is around. He has taught me that despite my long standing belief that diabetes was MY disease and didn't affect other people it is not true; it absolutely affects those around me.

Sometimes I think we, as PWD get caught up on the details of diabetes care and forget how important our support system is to our health. Having Steve around makes me want to take better care of myself and he helps me do just that.

2 comments:

  1. OMG Adrianna! We need to catch up! Lauren is going to George Mason in the fall. :-)

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  2. I totally hear ya on this post! I always thought this "my war to wage." Not anymore :)

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