April 9, 2008

Comfortably Numb: A Confessional of Immaturity

This month marks 3.5 years since my dx. My primary question is how it could possibly be only 3.5 years as opposed to, say, 35.

I’m bored. Diabetes is boring. This post will be boring too: It resays things others have said already, things I’ve said already.

These days I pretend to be as undiabetic as I feel I can possibly get away with. I test, I count, I treat lows and highs, I carry juice. I change the set every fifth or sixth day, I order supplies occasionally, I send Medtronic a few bucks as necessary to maintain the flow of said supplies. I eat pastries and ice cream in significant quantities. I drink more alcohol than is probably advisable for a person who takes insulin.

I don’t exercise beyond walking around the city. I don’t go to the endo. I don’t have my kidneys or eyes or any other parts of me checked for complications. I don’t wear a medical ID since my pretty one broke many moons ago. I don’t read the research, I don’t read blogs, I don’t send money to the ADA or the JDRF or any other acronyms. I don’t craft my diabetic experiences into small sparkling gems of creative nonfiction.

I just don’t.

Most of the time, most of me feels okay with all that. I don’t know my a1C, but then neither does the NYC Department of Health, which suits me fine. My control seems as good as it did when I did know my a1C. I screw up the insulin occasionally, but we all do now and then. I’m here. I’m okay.

I like pretending. It’s more comfortable than the alternative. It isn’t less boring, but it requires less engagement with the boredom, as well as less engagement with the parts that aren’t boring because they’re just plain scary.

Still, there’s a small corner of my brain that cannot repress the occasional flicker of recognition that I’m being Bad, to say nothing of childish, in a way that is not in the long-term interests of Violet. Hence this post.

My prescriptions are about to run out, and last time around the refill authorizations came through with a stern admonishment, delivered via the pharmacist, that I’d have to see the endo to have them extended. And if memory serves, my friends at Medtronic will be looking for a prescription renewal come July as well.

Fine, fine. I’ll go. But I refuse to be interested.

They can’t make me.

2 comments:

  1. I feel the same way sometimes. But I suppose I'm the kind of person who prefers knowing I'm doing well then just thinking I'm doing well. Mostly because I'm a horrible overestimater of things and tend to be terribly wrong.

    I hope you take care of yourself and that you keep doing well.

    I live in NJ, btw, about 40 minutes from NYC. If you are interested, would you like to have lunch sometime? We don't even have to talk about diabetes. I just like meeting new people cuz I don't have a ton of friends here.

    Cheers.

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  2. Good and interesting reading...girl be happy.That is what matters...but just try and follow the basic guidelines of the disease.It helps to be fit.

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