Friday, April 20, 2012

News you can use

I got this phonecall. If I was interested in sharing my experience with others. It involved diabetes and to be more specific: living your life hooked up to an insulin pump. I have been pumping for nearly 6 years now, so I can say I have some relevant information to share. Over the years I have shared my life with 3 different devices. They were my life savers, really. They provided my body with insulin throughout the day and at each mealtime. The insulin pump makes my life a whole lot more flexible. I was thankful for my insulin pens as well, don't get me wrong. But things were different back then. I had to follow a more strict regime of eating same amounts of food around the same time. I hated that way of life. I am young and free and I like to go out with friends. It was no fun if I had to inject insulin and eat beforehand so my bloodsugar wouldn't drop. I never minded shooting up insulin at the table in a restaurant, but the pump gives me so much more freedom. I am no longer bound to scheduled mealtimes. If I want to skip a meal or eat an extra snack, my pump helps me to stay tuned. The representative of my pump company is a good guy. We got along from day one and he has been a great help so far. So I did not hesitate when he asked me to help him out with this workshop on the pump. He asked me if I knew another speaker, who had recently made the transfer to the pump. I had one person in mind. A young man who got his insulin pump just last November. For 17 years, he had been shooting up insulin with syringes, twice a day. Trading his syringes for a pump, is probably the best move he could have done in his diabetes career. His life has improved and freedom lurked just around the corner. So the two of us agreed on speaking in public, for a group of adults who were interested in a new life with an insulin pump. It was not my first workshop on diabetes, but for my friend it was a whole new experience. I had faith that he would do well. His knowledge on the pump technology is so much better than mine. He understands the logic behind the scenes and that is something I lack. We made a good team and the audience was excited and interested. It's fulfilling if you can help others make a decision for the better. I wish our mutual girlfriend would dare to jump into the deep and say: okay, I'll give it a shot (how ironic was that?).
I'm curious to find out if our presentation had an impact or not. We were not there to convince others of the advantages of pumping insulin, but being a huge fan myself, I'm sure the enthusiasm was catching.

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