Every once in a while, you get some perspective on your life.

I’ve been reading everything I can about type 1 diabetes. I was just diagnosed in August of last year – I was incorrectly diagnosed type 2 seven years ago, but that’s a story for another blog.

One of the fascinating and horrible things I’ve found is the history of treatments in the lives of diabetics who had the disease decades ago.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s a crappy disease. Every day I have to carefully manage everything I eat and drink. No- strike that – I CHOOSE to carefully manage what I eat and drink. I choose to exercise. I choose to be as informed as possible, because I certainly didn’t choose this diagnosis!

Oh, but what a time to be alive and insulin dependent!

Disclaimer: this is just an enthusiastic nerd post, not a paid endorsement.

Right now I have a filament inserted just under the skin of my abdomen, attached to a blue tooth transmitter. This small, barely discernible bump on my abdomen is called a Dexcom. It’s a CGM – a continuous glucose monitor. Instead of having to poke my fingers dozens of times a day, I just glance down at my Apple Watch, and I know my blood sugar. If I start feeling kind of funny, one look at my phone will let me know if my blood sugar is trending up or down.

Miraculous!!

I run, go swimming, sleep…and always know my blood sugar. It’s ridiculous!! I’ve gone from manually checking my blood sugar a minimum of 6-10 times a day (that’s 6-10 finger sticks a day), to 2-3 tines a day. Two of those are for calibration purposes.

My husband and my daughter can watch my blood sugars, too – and they do. It gives me peace of mind knowing my back up has two back ups!!

If my blood sugar goes too high or too low, my Dexcom will alert me with an alarm and a vibration on the monitor and phone. My loved ones are also alerted. On more than one occasion, my husband has awakened me, food in hand, to let me know my blood sugar is low, and I slept through the alarm.

This is a great way to monitor, and to some extent control, your blood sugars. It’s not preventative medicine, but it darn well is near to it. It has revolutionized my diabetic life.

I know not everyone is able to use this technology – but if you can, do it!!!

It makes this disease a lot less crappy to deal with.