Ups and Downs

Today's been a momentous day for me, without wishing to take anything away from the events that have dominated the news. King Charles meeting the people waiting at Buckingham Palace, the 96 gun salute, one for every year of the late Queen's life and King Charles' speech from the Palace.

During this time, life goes on and today I had an appointment that I've been pressing for for a long time. I've been diabetic for a long time, i was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1974, that's 48 years. During that time I've fortunately been able to manage it successfully without too many problems and no long term side effects. 

There have been a great many changes in management over the years. When first diagnosed I tested my blood sugar dipping a stick in a urine sample and checking it against a colour chart. I had a glass syringe and a stainless steel needle which I used to draw up insulin for injection. 

For a few years now 'flash monitoring' has been available but its availability has depended on where you live. It hasn't been available to me except in certain circumstances and I've been pressing my GP to let me see the hospital clinic to assess my needs. This didn't happen until I changed to the surgery here in the village.

As you age changes occur in the main organs which affect the condition. This can make it more difficult to manage. One of the things I've found is that any kind of exercise is likely to result in low blood sugar later on. I've always tried to exercise early in the day so I can cope with the dips but this has become more difficult in recent years and that's why I've been pressing for the new technology so that I can continue to exercise and keep myself fit.

My appointment today was very comprehensive and tremendously useful. I now have a sensor on my arm and with my phone I can now see what my blood sugar reading is. I can see if it's going up or coming down and I get an alert on my phone (and watch) if the reading goes below a certain level. How useful is that? There are still things to do, adjustments to be made but that will be easier now we're getting the data which will also be sent to the Diabetes team at the hospital.