Kayaking Your Way Through Diabetes Management

Have you ever been in a kayak and seen how hard it is to go in a straight line? Sometimes it seems no matter how perfectly you paddle, you literally go all over the place. Your 1 mile straight paddle becomes a 3 mile adventure into unknown territory. You start to veer one way and you over-correct and end up going too far the other way. When you tandem kayak then you have two propellers, who lets face it are hardly ever going to be in sync.  Well, over this past summer I attended a wonderful meeting for people with Type 1 Diabetes in San Diego. I went with a friend, who also has type 1 and we had an amazing girls weekend, learning more about diabetes and talking to others who face our same battles.

While in San Diego, we visited La Jolla Beach and saw the seals and sea lions, we were so close we could actually almost touch them (although they tell you not to do this so we did not). I could have spent hours just watching them play and sleep on the rocks while the waves crashed all around them. After an hour or 2 of sea lion gazing, we were able to go on a kayak tour of the area, again to paddle alongside these adorable creatures. As we got prepared to start our journey, we decided I would be in the back since my friend had recently had shoulder surgery and was not sure how much paddling she would be up for. As we paddled along trying to stay in sync, I couldn't help but point out how type 1 diabetes is like a kayak trip. Paddle too hard on the right, you go to the left. Paddle too hard on the left, you go right. Take too much insulin, you go low, eat too much food, sugar goes up. Paddling in tandem adds a whole other level. If you can't stay in sync with your partner you go nowhere. Or you go in circles.

Just like blood sugars some days they are great and your CGM tracing is totally flat, while other days it's like hiking through the mountains because there are so many peaks and valleys. To me, diabetes is like a never ending kayaking trip. Some hours (that is right I said hours not days or weeks or months but hours), it is so easy and smooth. At other times, it is so frustrating and unbearable and you just want to scream or crawl under your sheets and sleep til you are normal again. In my life, I have found that people who do not have diabetes, will honestly never understand the struggle we go through. This disease is hard. It is impossible some days, yet, here we all are, day after day, paddling around in our kayaks going whichever way the hour steers us. It is not hopeless, but it is a never-ending adventure and with a little help from one another, I know we got this!! :-)