We’re taking the month of December to take a look back at the past year living with diabetes. Last week’s question: What tools helped the most in getting through your biggest diabetes challenge?
This week’s question(s): How do you define success with your diabetes? What do you think was your biggest diabetes success this year?
Responses: Andy started off by breaking it down to what a successful day generally looks like, saying that it is one where he doesn’t have to rush for juice to treat a lot or “hear the CGM buzz high and say ‘not again…'” Similarly, Rich (@oldgoldrich) on Twitter noted that, “success is keeping my readings below 10 [mmol/L] while eating/drinking what I like + being able to educate and hopefully help others.”
Quite a few people talked about their A1c results. Ashley said she was happy when she “finally got [her] A1c back down to 7.0” and is looking to do even better in the future. Likewise, Veronica talked about being able to get her A1c down to a 6.6 from an 8.2, after starting on an insulin pump this year. Natalie took a slightly different perspective, saying that she felt being told by her endo that she was healthy, over being criticized for not having a “perfect” A1c, felt like a bigger success to her “…because we aren’t all the same, we can’t be standardized!”
Andrée also talked about the part her healthcare team’s feedback in her 2012 diabetes success. She explained, “When my highrisk OB and endo tell me I’m doing great and they don’t think my diabetes is affecting my pregnancy!”
Pat (@patjpaddles) on Twitter noted, “success for the year [was] getting on the pump, [an] overall feeling healthy and stayin’ alive”
Bahar’s personal success with her diabetes related more to accomplishing a specific tangible task. She wrote, “I know it doesnt seem big, but given where I was with taking care of (or lack there of in the past) my diabetes, any improvement at all is a success to me. This year I told myself I would go to each of my diabetic appointments, and I did exactly that ) on Twitter noted, “success for the year [was] getting on the pump, [an] overall feeling healthy and stayin’ alive”
Bahar’s personal success with her diabetes related more to accomplishing a specific tangible task. She wrote, “I know it doesnt seem big, but given where I was with taking care of (or lack there of in the past) my diabetes, any improvement at all is a success to me. This year I told myself I would go to each of my diabetic appointments, and I did exactly that.” Like Pat, Bahar is hoping to make getting on a pump her new success for the coming year.
Similar, with respect to its tangibility, Mark noted that his greated accomplishment this year with diabetes was finishing his first Olympic distance triathlon (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run.)
The UK organization Hedgie Pricks Diabetes (@HedgiePDiabetes) posted on Twitter that their success was getting up and running this year, reaching out to people with diabetes in order to help provide social and emotional support.
Finally, Ruth talked about her definition of success in raising her sons with type 1 diabetes. She wrote that overall “I see success every time I look at them. They are healthy and active, smart and inquisitive. They are thriving and normal.” For her personally, she felt her biggest succes this year was dropping her sons off at their first diabetes camp on their own and “reveling in their smiles, laughs and stories when I picked them up 5 days later.”
Virtue’s Take: People have such a variety of amazing accomplishments! Personally, I feel like my greatest success of the year was reducing the frequency of my hypos. It was great to see the successes that people had in the year 2012. Some people said that they thought their accomplishments were kind of small scale, but I think they were all a big deal in some way. To me, it is all relative to where you are at in your relationship with your diabetes care. I also really appreciated Ruth’s take on diabetes. I think her words really struck me, because I feel like it is easy to think of diabetes as just a blood glucose numbers thing, but Ruth’s comment was a good reminder that success doesn’t have to be about just keeping in range, but also the process of living with diabetes and thriving (despite its many inconveniences!)
Thanks again, everyone, for your responses to this week’s Monday in Motion question. All of those successes are something to celebrate! Want to share your diabetes success of 2012? Leave a comment below and keep the conversation going!
