Well, after a week of feeling pretty damn awful, I can officially announce that I am over the cold from hell.
I am now almost 100% healthy again...
...well, except for that chronic disease that seems to always be hanging around.
I had a lot of time to think over the past few days (in between fits of coughing) and I spent some time comparing being diabetes sick to being real people sick.
Diabetes is never-ending (hence the term chronic). It's like a barnacle that takes hold and never ever lets go.
The thing with barnacles is (according to the humpback whales I interviewed for this story) you get used to them. Sure, they affect your ability to swim. Sure, they're itchy sometimes. But if you get over the fact that they're always there and will sometimes slow you down, they're relatively easy to live with. In fact, after a while, you even start forgetting about them for little bits of time.
Real people sick is different. When a cold or flu does strike, it totally sucks. You feel that tickle in your throat and you think "no, No, NOOOOO!!!!. I don't want to be sick!" You start sucking back vitamin C and anything else that people tell you to try but it's no use. You get all stubbed ub and can't tahk white. Having a cold disrupts work routines and it disrupts exercise regimes. Food becomes tasteless and sleeping for more than an hour at a time becomes nigh on impossible. For days. Everything revolves around the fact that you feel crappy.
In fact, I decided at one point that I would take diabetes any day over being real people sick. If I could never have a cold or flu again - I'd take diabetes. Without a doubt.
And then my blood sugar dropped to 1.8.
And I drank two juice boxes.
And tested again.
And it was 1.9.
So I drank two more.
And tested again.
And finally it was 3.1
That's when I realized that I was wrong. I do not prefer diabetes to cold and flus. Yes, colds and flus are really annoying and they make people feel really crappy for a while.
But diabetes is scary. It's unpredictable. And it's deadly.
And just because we get used to it doesn't mean it's not any of those things.
One. point. eight.
Oh. my. god.
one point EFFING eight?! omg. 4 juice boxes would have made me vomit!
ReplyDeleteI don't care what anybody says, a cold or flu here and there vs a lifetime of diabetes? there'd be no choice.
You're right, although D can sit dormant like an ugly itchy barnacle, it's still a disease. a deadly disease.
I hope you recovered fully. I hope this wasn't in the middle of the night?!