November

I don’t need a special month to be aware of diabetes. I wear this little machine at my right hip, day in, day out. Just now I felt the tight pinch-burn of the insulin entering me, high on my right thigh. This infusion site needs to move. The smell of insulin. Waking up at 3am in a cold sweat to stumble downstairs for juice. Colds that last for weeks. Infection. Depression. Constant calculation before ingestion. Carb:insulin ratios. Test strips. Lancets. Infusion sets. Reservoirs. AAA batteries, and a penny to unscrew the compartment on the pump. Temp basal rates. Hard fingertips. Exhaustion. Determination. Doing all of this on auto-pilot. Awareness becomes second nature. Survival