My Diabetes Diagnosis Story
Over the past few months I’ve lost 38lbs fat and muscle. My thirst has been insatiable - at least a gallon of water per day. Plus anything else I can get my hands on. Juice, pop, milk. I eat anything I want as much as I can. And I sleep all the time. I’ve slept through the whole winter (or been sick in bed).
Monday of this week I had a doctor appointment to discuss these abnormalities. She instantly knew that I’m diabetic. These are pretty typical symptoms.
Tuesday morning I did fasting lab tests. That afternoon the doctor called me in a panic asking me if I was feeling okay or if I need to go to the hospital. She said I’ve been badly diabetic for at least 3 months. She kept asking me if I’m feeling okay and said my lab results are “ridiculous”.
Wednesday I spent 2 hours at the diabetes clinic getting needles and insulin.
Thursday my blood sugar levels started to come down.
Friday I went to the hospital to see an internist. To get an official diagnosis on the type of diabetes I’m being referred to an endocrinologist in a nearby city. The internist said it looks more like type 1 than type 2.
Today I feel so much better.
As I look back I realize some of the symptoms started much earlier - maybe even a year ago or more and have been smouldering. Like the severe headaches in the night after exercising - probably hypoglycemic. Blurred vision - I thought I needed new glasses. Other stuff I reasoned was just me getting older or not being well.
Welcome. This is my own personal sprint retrospective. I use the scrum questions to reflect on my week and make notes as a developer journal entry. It is one form of working in public.
What now?
This isn’t a typical weekly review. My life was turned upside down this week.
Since Tuesday night I’ve had interrupted sleep at night due to stress (and a sick kid). When I get out of bed in the morning I’m checking blood glucose levels and injecting insulin. Then I need to eat fairly soon afterwards.
I believe that I can get back to my usual morning routine in time. For now, I’m on a steep learning curve and I’m forgiving myself for not achieving my weekly goals.
What will I commit to doing in the next sprint?
Adjusted Morning Routine. Get out of bed at 06.30. Go downstairs. Check the furnace and the house. Fill up my water bottle. Come back upstairs. Check Blood Glucose and inject insulin. Shower/Shave/Dress. 07.15 Make a quality breakfast. (2 eggs fried in 1 tsp of olive oil). 07.30 start personal/professional development time. 08.30 go for a brief walk. 09.00 start day job.
Buy a smartphone. As some of you know I’m a digital minimalist. I haven’t owned a mobile phone for 5 years. It has been wonderful. When people ask how I manage I tell them “it is like camping all the time.” However, I think the benefits for a diabetic having an internet connected device on your person are tangible. It seems like an insulin pump is in my near future. A continuous glucose monitor(CGM) will accompany that. When paired with a smartphone a CGM can send alerts to others when my blood sugar drops to a dangerous level (for example, if I have an episode while cutting firewood alone at the back of the property). In the meantime, I’m fielding a few calls from specialist offices for appointments and check-ins with the diabetes nurse. It is very important to me that these calls reach me (previously, I think it is fair to say that not a single phone call I received was terribly important to me).
