Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Diabetes: A Meter's Point of View

Shortly after I posted my first request for guest bloggers for the then untitled "Your Voice" project, a facebook friend, Jessica Munoz, contacted me with a great post. She was actually my first reply.

I'd like to thank Jessica for sharing her post and her time. :) Comment and leave her some D-OC love!


I wear a sticker that states “It’s just a number” but I can tell by her face it’s much more than that. Had I known how much I would be cried on, yelled at and occasionally thrown I would have switched part places at the factory and became a digital watch instead. Or perhaps I would have aspired to be a meter model; flashing those lovely 95’s and 113’s in the fancy pages of magazines.

But alas, my days are filled with 400’s and 43’s flashing HIGH and LOW. I wait patiently after the LOW wishing she would come back and test again. I shout “I’ll give you a better number this time!” in the quietness of my dark zippered case eager to not see the flashing lights of the ambulance reflect off of my scratched screen once again.

She always comes back to me, thankfully, she always comes back.

Today she comes back to me with a renewed sense of hope, fresh test strips in hand. She has received the encouragement she needs to look forward to another day. An improved A1C, an “I know it’s hard but you can do this” from Dr. B, a hug and a “We love you” from her sweet boys.

The countdown begins; she is holding her breath…3, 2, 1…126! I get the smile I’ve been longing to see. It is just a number sweet girl, remember that. Keep coming back to me and we will work through this together.

Jessica was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in February 2000. She's been on the pumping for 10 years and lives in sunny San Diego with her husband and two boys.

8 comments:

Lorraine of "This is Caleb..." said...

Made me smile. Love the perspective. :)

shannon said...

what a great post! can't wait to share it with my kid when she gets back from d-camp! thanks! :)

kim said...

i loved this! i have to get me one of those stickers for my meter too!!

Meri said...

What a wonderful creative post! I love love love it! Wonderfully poetic!

Cara, you are genius for coming up with this project. It is just the right project for your bright spirit!

Jessica Munoz said...

Thank you, Cara for allowing me to be a part of your blog. And thanks for the nice comments as well. I got the sticker from the Behavioral Diabetes Institute here in San Diego. http://behavioraldiabetesinstitute.org
I don't see the stickers on their website but you may be to write/call to get one. They also have some great resources for the burnout. Thanks again!

Alexis Nicole said...

Awesome post!! Love hearing the meters thoughts. Ill go play nice with ours now ;)

Colleen said...

Love this!
Thanks for the smile this afternoon.

Karen said...

This was a fabulous post!!!! It made me smile and also made me a little bit sad. Thank you both for sharing!!