I never quite know how to introduce my status as a type-one diabetic. My track-record has been pretty awkward. The first conversation at work went something along the lines of the following:
Me: “I have another doctor’s appointment next week. Nothing’s wrong. Don’t worry, I’m not pregnant. It’s just the HMO primary-care referral requirements and I’m a type-one diabetic.”
Colleague: “Oh, my brother was a type-one diabetic.”
Me: “That’s cool. How’s he doing with it?”
Colleague: “Awkward sad stare.”
Me: “Oh. He WAS a type-one diabetic. I guess you don’t ever get cured from that, so that means…”
Colleague: “Yes.”
This is actually on the mild end of my awkwardness in introducing my disease-status to folks. But, I’m writing this blog and get to control it, so: I’m a type-one diabetic. My doctor e-mailed me earlier this week to tell me about a clinical trial testing a form a glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone that your liver releases if your bloodsugar is low. If you’re diabetic, this process doesn’t work, so the bloodsugar can drop and if sugar doesn’t get to your brain it shuts down and that’s about the end of things. There are more steps in between where your body tries to step in and force you to fix it, but there are sometimes complications with those steps. The clinical trial is testing a potentially injectable form of glucagon that could possibly stay in the body for a day or it could potentially be pumped into the body through an insulin pump to prevent low bloodsugar.
I cannot even explain how amazing this would be. I get low bloodsugar multiple times per day and at least once every night. It really sucks. I’ve seen people attempt to explain the phenomenon before and I’ve never seen it explained well, so you’ll just have to take my description at face-value. IT REALLY SUCKS. I have signed up to be evaluated to join the clinical trial of this drug. This is really exciting stuff. Never in my life have I had the opportunity to volunteer to be involved in the process of developing cutting-edge medicine. I’m completely giddy, basically a total Mexican jumping bean about the just the prospect of being selected. I’m pretty sure I meet all of the qualifications though!
Cup of Pencils 