{"id":14831,"date":"2011-03-17T12:01:58","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T16:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:44:25","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:44:25","slug":"life-with-diabetes-a-never-ending-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831","title":{"rendered":"Life with diabetes — a never-ending game"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been back on a continuous glucose monitoring system — the\u00a0DexCom Seven Plus<\/a> — for almost two weeks, and for the most part, it’s been great. Sure, I have my frustrations and complaints about the system, but I can’t deny the utility of being able to see my blood sugar in near-real time. I already feel like my control is better.<\/p>\n

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But I’ve been experiencing an unexpected side effect of wearing a CGM: the renewed realization that there’s no cure. One of my favorite things to do with my CGM is to scroll back in time to see how good\/bad my glucose levels have been (which is why I’m particularly frustrated that the DexCom only lets you see the past 24 hours). Whenever I have a particularly good day — one where my graph is pretty flat and I haven’t gone too far out of my target range — I feel a sense of satisfaction. It’s kind of like I’ve been playing a really complicated video game and have gotten past a tough level.<\/p>\n

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But whereas most video games eventually have an endpoint, the problem with the DexCom is that the information it’s tracking — and the disease that necessitates it — doesn’t have a final level. There will be no triumphant moment where I successfully “beat” diabetes, where my graphs are so good that I no longer have to keep track of them. And that’s a really depressing realization, one that’s almost worse when my trend lines have been great. I want to feel pride and satisfaction — and in a small way, I do — but then I’m smacked with reality: I’m going to have to keep going. With this disease, there is just no way to “win.”<\/p>\n

\n

I’ll admit: it’s been getting me down. What’s more, this morning as I was getting dressed I caught sight of myself in the mirror and noticed all the crap that’s on my body right now. I’ve got my pump site, obviously, with a cord leading to my pump (at that moment clipped onto my underwear — watch out, Victoria’s Secret). Then I have my big CGM patch, the adhesive currently coated in a layer of red lint from my tshirt. And adding to the fun: a big, dark purple bruise on my stomach from Monday, when I hit a blood vessel while giving myself a shot of Symlin. It wasn’t a pretty sight.<\/p>\n

\n

Don’t get me wrong: I’m grateful for all this equipment. As awkward and frustrating as it is, it makes my life with diabetes inestimably easier, and I wouldn’t want to live without it. But I do think it’s important to occasionally recognize the difficulty of all this, and give ourselves some credit. Forget the mental burden of diabetes — there’s a lot of physical burdens to carry around, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLife with diabetes -- a never-ending game | ASweetLife<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catherine Price\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831\",\"name\":\"Life with diabetes -- a never-ending game | ASweetLife\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-17T16:01:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-27T20:44:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f16ebb52b0d6b1882336149c48618b74\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14831#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Life with diabetes — a never-ending game\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f16ebb52b0d6b1882336149c48618b74\",\"name\":\"Catherine Price\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/991f86d105bb54022be9be587aa788fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/991f86d105bb54022be9be587aa788fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Catherine Price\"},\"description\":\"Catherine Price was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. 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