Happy Tuesday, friends! I am so excited about today because my favorite show, This is Us, comes back on tonight! I can’t wait!
Last Thursday, Liz “celebrated” living with Type 1 Diabetes for 9 months! I can’t believe it’s already been 9 months ago that her life was changed forever.
Type 1 Diabetes is such a “silent” disease. Not many people know about it unless they truly live with it day after day.
It is my goal to bring awareness to others about Type 1 Diabetes. I am so thankful Liz has embraced her disease and knows that this is who she is now! She’s not embarrassed by it or ashamed of it, she truly wants to make a difference with others that are diabetic also.
With Liz’s permission, I thought I would share with you what a normal day looks like for a Type 1 Diabetic. (Well, I guess as normal as normal can get!)
<Be prepared for information overload>.
Liz woke up that morning with a blood sugar of 142. This is a pretty good reading! Normal blood sugar for her is 70-120.
For breakfast, Liz ate:
Cereal- 31 carbs
Milk- 5 carbs
Granola pieces- 19 carbs
For every 15 carbs she eats, Liz gets 1 unit of insulin. So for breakfast, Liz had to get 3.5 units of insulin.
Lunch time:
Ramen noodles- 39 carbs
Chips- 19 carbs
Peanut butter crackers- 22 carbs
Grapes- 7 carbs
To cover the amount of carbs Liz ate at lunch, she needed 6 units. However, her blood sugar right before lunch was 190, so she needed a correction dose.
For every 50 points Liz’s sugar is over 150, she receives an extra unit of insulin. So, for lunch Liz received 7 units of insulin!
At 2:00, Liz’s Dexcom alerted us that she was going low (85 diagonal arrow down), so she ate a package of gummies. When Liz’s sugar goes low, she has to eat a fast-acting sugar to get her blood sugar up. Gummies or apple juice are usually our “go-to” snacks for this.
At 4:00, Liz was hungry, so she ate 1 cup of popcorn. It was only 8 carbs, so this was a free snack. Any snack under 11 carbs is considered a “free” snack and she doesn’t have to take insulin for it.
Supper time:
Subway footlong- 70 carbs
Chips- 31 carbs
For the amount of carbs eaten, Liz needed 7 units. BUT, her sugar was 298 at this time, so she needed 3 correction units. This makes a total of 10 units of insulin for supper time.
At 9:00 every night, Liz receives her night-time insulin. This is the long-lasting insulin that has to be taken around the same time every night! It BURNS bad and I hate to give it to her! (She takes 10 units of basalgar for her night-time insulin).
That made her 4th shot of the day!
Right before bed, Liz’s sugar was 174 with diagonal arrow up. We don’t allow Liz to go to bed if her sugar is below 120, so we were pleased with this number and sent her off to bed.
Overall, it was a VERY mild day!
I hope this lets you see some of the background things that a diabetic goes through every day.
Diabetes is tough, but our Liz is way tougher! She makes me so proud!
Hope you have a great day!
~Jen
SO crazy you did this post. Thursday is Leland’s 4-year diaversary and I have the same thing planned as a post… a day in his life. Liz is such a strong girl, so proud of all of you for handling this with such strength and determination.
I will be anxious to read that post! You are in inspiration, momma! So thankful we have each other to understand what the other is going through!
I’m sure it was a difficult adjustment for Liz and your family, but it seems like she handles it well. The 9 PM injection sounds rough. What a tough girl!
She handles it so well! She is a total rockstar. Hope you are doing well!
She is one tough cookie, and so are you! My heart was breaking when I read about your roller coaster weekend dealing with the highs and lows. Hang in there, friend!
Yes, that is exactly what it is~a roller coaster! We have learned you never know what you are going to get each day. We don’t let it define her though, and she is a warrior!