T1D Dop Kit

my t1d dop kit that goes everywhere… and the coffee that often accompanies it, haha

it’s a bit glitchy, it doesn’t work all the time, but for the most part the Dexcom Share app with the Apple Watch app have been an incredible combination for me. My Apple Watch arrived just before going away for a week, I was in the woods, so the NightScout option would not work well without cell reception, a perfect time to test drive the Apple Watch… there’s no learning curve, right? WRONG. Huge learning curve. I could do literally nothing other than check my blood sugar for the first week, but hey, that’s what I bought it for anyway… I asked myself before I bought it “Do I really need this? Is this really going to be so different than looking at the receiver?” but ever the tech geek, I used diabetes as a solid reason to buy the Apple Watch… it was an amazing choice. worth every penny. As with all type 1 diabetics, with me all the time is at least a BG meter, test strips, and a lancing device… in addition I usually have in my standard kit… my Dexcom reciever, fast-acting glucose, insulin vial, extra batteries, lancets, an extra OmniPod pod, and paperclip (OmniPod screetching stopper) (the kit also has a Tile in it in case I lose it) … not kidding, that shit comes with me everywhere, and by some standards that’s a “light” kit… if I were a diabetic parent rather than the diabetic I might carry more too (not sure what that says). Anyway, all of that fits into a small-ish REI dop kit bag… that comes with me EVERYWHERE. Most of the time this is fine, it’s in my briefcase or backpack and no one is any the wiser, but sometimes I’m just carrying the kit — social/happy hour type events where I just want to socialize and no one else needs “stuff” sometimes it’s awkward to have to carry my diabetic kit with me the whole time… the Apple Watch solved this. I was able to put my kit down on one side of a room and see my blood sugar without having to go back to check the reciver in my kit… I was still in range of the receiver, and like I mentioned earlier it isn’t perfect, sometimes I still have to go back and check it from the receiver, but I cannot describe how incredibly freeing it was to be in a conversation, wonder what my blood sugar is, glance down at my watch, and see my BG value right there… barely a pause in conversation, no having to explain anything, no conversation change followed by “What’s that?” having to launch into a whole… this is what type 1 is, no it’s not like type 2, no I can’t exercise it away, yes, I know you can’t believe that I was diagnosed as an adult, but really it’s not that uncommon, (insert other trite questions/explainations). Don’t get me wrong, most of the time I am happy to be the advocate, if I am the only type 1 someone has met and I can do something so that they have a better understanding, I’m all for that… but maybe just not all the time, every single time… just a few times I would like to be able to check that I’m safe without having to launch into all of that, this is what the Apple Watch has given me. I can’t explain what that 20 feet of freedom from the Dexcom receiver has meant… I could try to explain the emotional component to the technical and objective explanation above, but I just can’t put words to it… freedom, space, safety, independence, ownership, scary/amazing… I’m not a writer, just a diabetic with lots of feelings.