Yesterday, I tweeted the following:
A free shower day is exactly what it’s sounds like — free from any constraints. I wear an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor. Both are attached to my body at all times, the pump being tethered. When I shower, I disconnect the pump, but both sites remain on my skin. So a free shower is when I’m able to shower without either site. It doesn’t happen often because I wear my pump sites 3-5 days and my CGM sites anywhere from 7-14 days. So when the days cross where it’s time to change them simultaneously, I get super excited. Yesterday was one of those days.
When I got out of the shower, I was rushed to make it to a meeting, so I didn’t have time to put the new sites in. Before leaving my apartment, I checked my blood sugar (116 mg/dL), gave a quick shot of insulin to cover me for the next hour and darted out the back door. When I arrived at my office after the meeting, I pulled out my D-bag to redo both sites, but I paused. It’s been a long time since I didn’t have any contraptions attached to me. I decided to expand my free shower into a free day.
It was a glorious day. Each time I checked my blood sugar, I was mostly in range. (One blip in the low 200s that quickly came down.) I have no idea what I was between checks, and I’m OK with that. Would I go back to life before the pump and CGM? No, not right now anyway. But was it nice to have a random day off? Yes, yes it was. Perhaps my motivation was the night before — a night full of high blood sugars that didn’t come down till around 4:30 a.m. I didn’t sleep much, and my boss was gracious enough to let me shift my day back a few hours for some much needed rest. So maybe, just maybe, I wanted a free day because for the past 12 hours, I’d been plagued by beeping and bolusing. No matter the reason, I took advantage of the free shower day to its fullest.
I’m grateful for technology, and I can visibly see the impact it’s had on my health. But occasionally, it’s nice to feel like a normal person with no bionic parts. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go too long without my shadows, but it was a nice mini-vacation.
Anybody else ever enjoy having a “day off?”
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WOW- I would say that is one BIG little thing. I can’t imagine what it would be like to always be tethered to something on my body. The freedom you must have felt.
First time stopping by, from Lindsay’s party, and I commend your bravery to share your stories!
Oh Girl, I can only imagine! I’m sure it was glorious!
The glorious feeling of being untethered was finally what made me switch off the pump after using it for six years. I’ve now enjoy tether-free days for probably a year now! I loveee it! I’m sure I’ll go back to a pump someday when I start hating shots, but so far so good!