May 25, 2012

Guest Post ... Your Diabetes Mission

We would like to give a big BLUE shout out to Guest Blogger, Meagan Esler.


Meagan is a freelance writer based in Chicago and has been featured in Diabetes Living magazine and Diabetes Health. Enjoy Meagan's post about a Mission Impossible!


Your Diabetes Mission, Should You Choose to Accept
I know a healthy life with diabetes is possible, but sometimes I feel a bit like my life is a version of a Mission Impossible movie when it comes to managing my diabetes.  Like Tom Cruise, I do my own stunts.  Admittedly, my stunts aren’t nearly as cool as scaling a towering building in Dubai.  One of my regular stunts actually just involves trying to eat some Chicago-style pizza without having sky high blood sugars. 

Another stunt involves trying not to go low during a lengthy morning meeting at work.  As the meeting extends on into the afternoon, I hear the Mission Impossible theme song as the shaking starts in my hands.  That stunt always ends in my grabbing some juice, a previously sworn off donut, or any glucose source from my purse – lint covered or not.  Disaster is thankfully avoided before going low enough to pass out.  If you have diabetes or care for someone with diabetes you understand that those scenarios make for some real edge-of-your-seat stuff.  Each of my stunts offer a level of danger, it’s just not the kind delivered with undercover agent swagger.   

Other Mission Impossible similarities include some of the gadgets that are the key to having good diabetes control.  A blood sugar meter is as important as Tom Cruise’s best agent.  Technological advances with insulin pumps, diabetes iphone apps, and continuous glucose monitors remind me of the Mission Impossible contact lenses that take pictures or offer facial recognition.  Have you heard of the contact lenses they are working on that change color with your blood sugar levels?  That’s some serious Mission Impossible stuff right there.
A crucial part of a diabetes mission is to find a team that you trust.  It might not be a team of agents, but rather, a team of people living with diabetes, or other parents of children with diabetes.  These people will have your back day or night.  The Blue Heel Society is a beautiful example of this. 

Maybe our lives aren’t as thrilling as a movie, but they sure are worth living.  You may not have a choice of getting diabetes, but you do have a choice in how you deal with it.  Our mission, should we choose to accept, is to live a long, happy, and healthy life with diabetes.  We shouldn’t let diabetes slow us down.  We shouldn’t let it hold us back.  We shouldn’t let it destroy our sense of humor because diabetes requires humor to survive.  So don some blue shoes, put on some dark shades, and crank up the Mission Impossible theme song in your car.  Your diabetes mission is in full swing and it’s the most important one you’ll ever have.