It is a cloudy Monday morning and I am about to head to UCSF’s Diabetes Teaching Center for my first afternoon in a 3 1/2 day insulin workshop. On the agenda for this afternoon?
- Diabetes-focused consultation and physical exam with an diabetologist
- Consultation with certified diabetes dietitian educator
- Consultation with certified diabetes nurse educator
You might be wondering, as I am, why I have signed up to spend four full days learning about insulin a mere week and a half before I have to pack up all my belongings and move to the east coast. Frankly, I am not really sure. I’ve known about these workshops for a long time — six years, in fact — and my endocrinologist had often encouraged me to attend one. But four days seemed like a big commitment, so I kept putting it off. And now, inspired by the idea of creating a comprehensive diabetes training course online, I am finally attending.
I’m a little worried that after 9 years of living with diabetes, I’m going to know a lot of what they’re planning on covering. But I am interested to have a chance to finally ask some of the questions that have plagued me. Like, for example, squeezing a hematoma to get out the blood: a good or bad idea? (Pumping Insulin says it’s good, and that book is my bible.) What do you do if scar tissue starts preventing your insulin from absorbing correctly? What experiments should I be doing to learn how to correctly manage carbohydrate-filled meals (as opposed to my current strategy: avoiding them entirely). What do you do you if you think you’ve got a staph infection in your stomach? It’s going to be interesting to see what new information and skills I learn from this — I’m sure there will be a lot.
In the meantime, quick update on stomach cyst: nearly gone. Also, a food suggestion: yesterday I made dinner based entirely on recipes from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors cookbooks. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: that woman is a diabetic’s friend. There’s plenty of low carb options in there (I made a leek and fennel gratin that was fantastic) — plus, Deborah shares my appreciation for cheese.
More later!