Work? Diabetes? Where does the time go?

The month of August marks two anniversaries for me: the first, it's been 14 years since I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I cannot for the life of me remember the exact date, but I do remember my friend Troy, when visiting me in the hospital, saying, "Be glad you're not a diabetic in Turkey." That was the year when that country had a massive earthquake and, at the time, watching the TV coverage from my hospital bed, I had been thinkng the exact same thing!

Now, many folks with diabetes think of the diaversary as a big deal. Apparently, it's just another day to some of us. I don't remember what it's like not to automatically calculate carbs.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my excitement over my new, touch screen meter. I have slowly found myself, once again, being lazy about data input (and with diabetes, data is king). So, earlier this week, I finally got around to downloading the software I need to be able to generate reports and, hopefully, use the notes function. I figured the shiny new technology might motivate me.

I should add here that I attempted to do this on a day where it took several tries and a full two minutes at lunchtime to realize that the reason why my meter wasn't allowing me to test was because I had stuck the strip in backward.

After a few false starts, I figured the software out and I ran a few reports. (I like the snapshot best, so far.) Alas, I still can't figure out the notes function. As a test, within the software program, I entered "help" under notes. Now, on my meter, when I select the notes function, I automatically attach "help" to every entry.

Appropriate when you think about it.

The other anniversay? Can you believe it's been eight years since I joined the HME News team!

Theresa Flaherty
Type 1 diabetes, 13 years
HME News staffer, 8 years