'Divabetic'

Welcome to my blog, ‘All Pumped Up’. I guess if you are here you are diabetic, or know somebody that is. Or maybe you’ve found yourself here through curiosity, or by accident. Whatever your reason for visiting, I hope you find what I have to say interesting, and come back again soon.

I am Kim, a 21 year-old self-confessed ‘divabetic’, about to receive my first ever insulin pump on March 3rd. And blog about it of course. Before you track my experiences with this new phenomenon, you should know that I am not going to paint a pretty picture. This blog is going to be an honest account of living with Type 1 diabetes, warts and all. It won’t be all doom and gloom though! As you may or may not know the insulin pump is a relatively new technology that is offering hope to Type 1s across the world. I also like to think of myself as a bit of a ‘comedienne’, and I’m sure there will be plenty of amusing anecdotes for you all to read in relation to my pump... but I will let you be the judge of that.  I aim to give diabetics, and non-diabetics an insight into life with the pump, so that you won’t be diving into it head first like I am.

I’ll start from the beginning, and explain why I am getting a pump. I was diagnosed with diabetes in May 2005, aged 15. To say that it was a shock is a great understatement. I had no idea what to expect, why this had happened to me, and what my future held. I’d be lying if I said I still didn’t think this way sometimes. But I have an incredibly supportive family, who coaxed me through my ‘honeymoon’ years as a teen diabetic. Up until the age of 18 I had relatively good control of my diabetes, considering I was studying for A-Levels and discovering alcohol. My HA1bc* was about 7%, and I wasn’t suffering from any complications. This all changed once I moved away to university, and left the watchful eye of my parents. Suddenly I was in charge, and I did a lousy job of looking after myself. For the first couple of years at university, diabetes was at the bottom of my priorities. I buried it underneath endless nights of partying, eating rubbish and making new friends. I went through a stage where I ‘forgot’ I had diabetes, and didn’t even test my blood sugar for 3 months.

But my diabetes was never going to disappear, and eventually it reared its ugly head a year later. My general health was poor, and I was starting to show the early stages of retinopathy. The thought of one day going blind because I was too stupid to even test my own blood sugar was a kick in the teeth, and I quickly got my act together.   

Despite all my efforts over the last year to bring my HA1bc* to 7% again from 13%, I simply don’t have the good control that came so naturally when I was living back home. I test my blood sugars at least 5 times a day, I carb count, I exercise, I eat well... but nothing has changed.

So here I am. On the waiting list for the insulin pump. I was put as a priority case due to the fact that my consultant understood how frustrating it is for me to regain control, and quite frankly my blood sugars baffle him.

You may be thinking to yourself ‘What on Earth is a divabetic?'. Well, the way I see it is diabetes is a part of my life, but it isn’t who I am. I’m a bit of a diva, well OK, a lot of a diva! I am a girly girl through and through, with a stubborn and fiery personality, chuck in the occasional tantrum when I don’t get my way, and there you have it...a diva. I think there is a great stigma attached to being a ‘diva’ through celebs, but you’d be surprised how far my diva-ish ways have got me. I’m very independent and determined, and if I want something, I give it my all to get it. Add diabetes to the mix and voila, a ‘divabetic’ is born.

I realise that this first post hasn't really explained much about the pump at all, but it does explain me a little. In my next few posts I will be blogging what exactly the pump is, how to get one and talking through my pre-pump nerves with you. 

Just so you can put a face to a name, or blog rather, here is a picture of me. Although I should tell you, like a true diva, my hair colour changes every month, so you probably wouldn't recognise me on the street... who knows, I could be blonde by next week!

*A HA1bc test tells a diabetic what their blood sugar has been up to over the last 3 months. A healthy HA1bc is 7%