Blood Glucose and Puppies.
Jeff
16 Comments
DOWN, BG! Down.
Gooooood BG.
Now Staaaay.
Managing diabetes is like training a puppy every day of its life.
At first, there’s a lot of out-of-control peeing. You’re always wondering what it’s doing. You have to learn what and how much to feed it. It has to be taken care of even when you’re away from home. It can wake you up in the middle of the night. It often needs to be corrected. Sometimes you want to send it to obedience school. Not everyone knows you have it. It’s going to cost you money. You always remember when you got it, and how long you’ve had it. You never take it anywhere without bringing a snack.
It can make a big mess that’ll take time to clean up. At some point, you wonder why you got it. It often won’t behave unless you make it behave. You have to check on it regularly. It can be a lot of work. You really don’t want it with you on a first date. Once in a while it needs to be checked by a professional. Other people have their own ways of dealing with theirs. Some days it does quite well. Some days it’s completely out of control. Everyone wants to tell you how to handle it. It always wants a treat, even if now is not a good time for one. When friends come over, you hope it doesn’t do anything crazy. Sometimes it makes you feel like you’re a hundred years old. It’s a huge, personal part of your life, and you just can’t give it to someone else. It seems to have a mind of its own, but don’t expect it to say anything intelligent.
You often have to ask yourself “Who’s in charge here, anyway?” You can always tell when you’re doing a good job with it. It doesn’t keep still for long. Traveling with it on an airplane can be a problem. It will always be there for you when you get home. Some people think it’s easy. It doesn’t give you a day off. When you sit down to watch a movie, it sits right there with you. It has the potential to bite you in the arse. Sometimes, it just stinks. Even when you’re exhausted after a long day, it needs to go out for some exercise. People who’ve never dealt with it usually don’t have a clue what you go through every day.
And some people think they can wean themselves off of it!
Can you think of any other ways that managing blood sugar is like training a puppy every day?
Reader Comments (16)
Managing diabetes is like having a puppy (love the analogy Jeff!) because even though you OWN your diabetes, i.e said puppy.
Sometimes it feels as if diabetes can own u.
You have to continually remind it whose boss, and give it treats for good behavior!
Ha! This is GREAT!!! So many ways that they are similar!
It can also grow up to be a large unruley dog that yanks you around on it's leash. But with proper training (of you, not the dog), you can have it be more well mannered.
Now if only we could figure out how to leave it with the dog-sitter for a day!
What comes to mind first is that your article is unmistakably analogous to raising a child. The second paragraph in particular rings true of the teenage years, most especially the part about making one feel a hundred years old.
To compare managing diabetes to raising a puppy I have only this to say: There are always those tragically misinformed who feel compelled to rub the noses of both diabetics and puppies in consequences of conditions over which neither holds sway.
Jeff - As the mommy of 6 puppies, this made me laugh my head off. It is all so true. I read it to my husband & he laughed, too. I love the part where you said, “Who’s in charge here, anyway?” That says it all - for both puppies & diabetes. Perfect.
Kelly -- Yes, the Big D sometimes DOES seem to own me.
Scott -- Thanks. The similarities are almost endless.
Laura -- It would be great to find a D-sitter once in a while, wouldn't it?
NancyTS -- I re-read paragraph 2 with teenagers in mind. It really fits!
Donna -- I'm so glad that you, especially, liked this piece. NancyTW just asked me if this all means she can swat me with a rolled up newspaper next time I have a 3am low! This post started out as a "Top Ten" list, but it just grew and grew and grew out of control. I was hoping you'd get a kick out of it.
Amazing! SO so true... and for me, since I neglected to get puppy training with Bella for a year and a half (hmmm, about 10 years human time...) and we are finally going tonight...reminding me of my 10 year vacation and recently becoming "born again"...I suppose my puppy and my diabetes have a lot more in common than we first realized!
Great post!
Suzanne -- Absolutely! I see a lot of commonalities between Bella's training and your own control over the Big D.
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Jeff,
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope it's the best ever!
Hi Jeff, I AM training a puppy right now. Thanks for reading my blog over at Diabetes Daily. I have a new blog that I am starting that is my personal blog, while I will keep the diabetes blog for diabetes related posts. I want to separate some of the personal or emotional things I write about from the diabetes blog, especially since my family reads it and I don’t really want to be more vulnerable than I have to be to their judgments. I will still blog at DD, but please join me at my new blog, Awakening Grace, over at http://www.awakening-grace.com.
Thanks, NancyTS.
Amylia -- I'll see you there!
DUDE - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
k2
Hey, Thanks Kelly!
I suspect Halle Berry has/had gestational diabetes during her pregnancy. As the American Diabetes Association states "Gestational diabetes usually goes away after pregnancy". http://www.diabetes.org/gestational-diabetes.jsp
Many people do not hear or understand what their doctor tells them and Helle Berry is probably no exception. She understood she had diabetes and understood it could "go away" if she did all the right things. The statements she made should never have been reported and her doctor, bound by the physician/patient confidentiality, could not correct her publicly. She's just an actor and actors usually need scripts written by those who know what they are talking about. She obviously did not know what she was talking about.
LOVE it!
Thanks Jen.