So diabetes is a rollercoaster; that's not new news to any of you.
When opportunities present themselves, especially regarding research and progress toward better diabetes care, it's typically bad form to turn it down. That is why I took on the task of participating in a local study on CGMs while I'm home for the summer. Two weeks of wearing 4 sensors, two on each arm, for the betterment of CGM analysis and data seemed pretty cool to me. So I agreed to participate in this study without hesitation.
What I didn't anticipate (spoiler alert: nothing in life is predictable) was that I would be going away for a long weekend at a professional conference to find an internship. But, of course, that's what happened. Four days of early mornings and late nights complete with nightly cocktail parties and, of course, cocktail dresses, ensued. This normally would not be an issue for me. Give me a margarita and a good conversationalist and I'm good for several hours! However my four sensors, each slightly larger than a quarter and strategically stuck on the back side of each arm, tended to draw attention while in conversation or as a conversation starter at said conference.
Now this normally wouldn't bother me. Talking about diabetes is something I am well-practiced at and comfortable with; I enjoy sharing my story with others and getting my peers excited about the future of diabetes care and the importance of advocacy. This particular situation, though, made it exceptionally annoying. When people came up to me and asked about my sensors instead of asking about how I was involved with this particular cause or why I was at this particular conference, my answer was more draining than it ever had been. The frequency of the questions made it even worse. I'm not one to ascribe to avoidance- I'm the least passive-agressive person you'll ever meet- so I didn't shy away from baring my arms and wearing a cute, sleeveless cocktail dress to these parties because a little sensor shouldn't stop me from doing so. I'll take this time to also say it shouldn't stop you from doing so either. It didn't keep me from wearing what I wanted. It did, however, draw more attention to my arms than to my brains which was the whole point of the weekend. Instead of the drawn out and complicated answer that I'm used to giving people who ask about my life with diabetes, I adjusted.
When someone asked "what is that on your arm?" or, jokingly, "are you a robot?" I'd answer: "They're continuous glucose monitors for a study I'm doing for type 1 diabetes. I'm Heather, by the way, but I do accept the nickname Iron Woman if you'd prefer." Now this answer might sound a bit crass or too sarcastic for a professional setting, but when those people who had the guts to ask me what I was wearing on my arm heard this answer they were delighted by it. Sometimes they'd ask for more detail, which was as draining as you can imagine it would be (because people know a lot less about life with diabetes than they pretend to, unless they're currently living with it), but most of the time they took my answer as-is and accepted that I didn't want to go into detail. The face value of my answer was funny and charismatic instead of sarcastic and mean (thankfully).
So the moral of my post today is that no matter who you encounter in your day-to-day diabetes routine and no matter what questions they ask, you are entitiled to answer in any way you choose. And if you choose to identify as Iron Woman, be that daily or otherwise, I'm right there with you.
Signing off,
-Iron Woman
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