#003 Convenience

Diabetes is not scary, ignorance is.

Sometimes I face difficulties when my patient does not bother at all whether he/she is hypo or hyper, it's just an ordinary number on that glucometer.

Sometimes I face difficulties when my patient does not stay calm, he/she worries about all.the.numbers. They freaked out on all.the.numbers.

ALAMAK ADUHHH. Diabetes and the homosapien are both complicated!

Whatsapp story

I was explaining to this very smart, diligent and humble, uncle R about ICR (Insulin Carb Ratio) and how do we set different ICR for different main meals in a pump. 

ICR (in grams) is each unit of analogue insulin can cover how many grams of carbohydrates. Different people will have different sensitivity for different meal timing. Don't freak out, it is the art of the pancreas.

For example:

My breakfast is ~7am, lunch ~12pm, dinner ~6pm, occasionally supper after 10pm. So I can set in a pump: 

12am - 6am: 8g/unit

6am - 11am: 10g/unit

11am - 5pm: 12g/unit (maybe you're pretty sensitive for lunch)

5pm - 10pm: 10g/unit

10pm - 12am: 8g/unit (maybe you're less sensitive for supper)

Then, R was like, "Wow there will be time when people do not know what to do if their insulin pump fails!" 

Nahhh, insulin pump is created by human being, it gives convenience. It does not replace the need for us to think like a pancreas. Time, effort and experience are needed, through "try an error" and "guess-timate" for the best setting in a pump.

If you want to know how much insulin to inject, I will ask my pump
Adapted from: danscartoons.com

#002 Maturity

I was diagnosed when I was 17 year-old. I know what is biology, hence I know where the pancreas is located at. I scored well in my mathematics, hence it wasn't hard to learn how and when to inject more/ less.

When I knew that diabetes is a lifetime commitment, the first question that I asked: Why me.

But, if you are a 5 year-old boy with type 1 diabetes, diagnosed at 4 year-old, what's in your mind?

If I am the boy, I would be thinking: "I will get rid of injections when I grow up", "My mom can help me do all the injections, and I will be fine", "What's wrong with not injecting?", "The doctor really talks a lots to my mom, it's so boring here!" etc 

True story #002

The mother almost regret shouting those words to her son, Z on that day. Those words would most probably result in: little Z not wanting to do injections anymore and who cares if there is no injections! However, instead of regret, the mom was stunned.

Kids remain as kids. Z eats slowly, gets distracted easily. 

Games or meals, of course he would say: Games!

Food was served on the dining table already. Z was called by mom to come over and have a meal injection. First call, he ignored. Second call, he thought: I am really not hungry, I want to continue my games play! Third call, with Z's baby sister crying in the background, his mom got frustrated, shouted at him: I will not help you to inject anymore, if you still do not want to come over now! Worrying what reply she might get from her son, but strangely, Z looked panicked. He ran to get his insulin pen case and brought it over to his mom at the dining table, "Mommy, I am here already. Please help me to inject, can you?" 

The mother told me that Z's teacher finds less innocence in him, compared to the other similar-aged children. When it is almost time to serve lunch in the pre-school, he would just walk to his bag pack, take out his glucometer bag. Despite curious children asking, "Why is there blood? Why you have to do this every day?", the boy would just ignore those questions and continue what he has to do. 

Adapted from: www.jantoo.com

#001 Sarcastic

It's like ten thousands days since my last post. I have to admit that I have been lazy to write, not busy.

Currently, I am working in an insulin pump company, seeing diabetes patients everyday (and I do on call at night too!). Working day and night, but helping people like me is like bigggg satisfaction ever. 

So now, get the engine ready for my blog posts again!

True story #001

Today I started pump/ diabetes education for a new patient. R is a type 2, middle aged. 

In the mid of teaching her, suddenly her boss came in and asked me to open the fridge in a tone that was very poker-facely. First, I was shocked because he didn't even allow me to say hello first. Second, I just only realised that there is actually a fridge inside R's room. Third, I was like: Is that an order for me? Why would I simply open a fridge that does not belong to me?  I hesitated, I did not open. Then he repeated: Open the fridge. Okay fine. I opened the fridge wide, thinking what kind of monster will jump out of the fridge. 

To my amazement, there were just mineral waters, packaged drinks, and a couple pieces of cakes. Food that are usually found in an office fridge. And he asked, "What are those?". I said, "Food?" (lolll because his face was so poker! Who knows if what I saw are not food)

In the meanwhile, I could see R was totally ignoring him, complete awkward breeze in that room. I was like in the middle of them, not too sure what I should do next, till I finally figured out what the boss was trying to convey to me.

I really wanted to make things cool, so I told him that actually I am a person with diabetes too, and... He looked surprised, but his words were: "You should really see what's inside your fridge".

Alright, there you go, the little red man inside my head @#!$%&@#$

                                                       

"Food is not the cause for diabetes to happen and this fridge is shared by all staffs right?"

Guess what? R's boss is a doctor.