I’ve been some degree of diabetic going back to my early 30’s. I was in Emergency Medical Technician school (I was a volunteer fireman) and we were learning how to do blood sugar checks as our daily topic. I had a Wendy’s Frosty right before class. We were learning by checking each other’s blood glucose. When it was my turn, my partner did the “stick” and mine read 300mg/dL (normal is between 80 and 120–most nondiabetics rarely go above 100). I was only 31 at the time. My instructor was a veteran paramedic for a busy trauma hospital, gave a puzzled look and said “there must be something wrong with that test strip. Let’s do it again.” We checked again and it was still 300. “There must be something wrong with this meter. Let me check mine.” He stuck himself and his showed 87.
“Did you eat something sugary before you came here?” he asked. I told him about the Frosty. “Let’s check it again at the end of class.”
We took it again at the end of class and it was back under 100. I forgot about it and missed the first big clue about my diabetes.
At the time I was a radar air traffic controller in Atlanta. We were the busiest facility in the world. As the years went by I would often use the bathroom during a break, come back, “plug in” and almost immediately have to go again. Everyone in my area started calling it taking a “Marcus” if someone had to go to the bathroom. I’m sure some thought it was anxiety from the airplanes but it was my body trying to get rid of the extra glucose. It’s a classic symptom of diabetes–frequent urination.
In my late thirties, I had just switched insurance companies and while reading the benefits realized that I had not been taking advantage of a free yearly physical. I had always been pretty healthy. I rode a bike all the time. My only “sickness” when I had been to the doctor for was high blood pressure. In my late 20s I was at a graduation party for a friend who had just graduated nursing school. Someone gave her a blood pressure cuff as a present and I said “take mine.” It was elevated. I made an appointment with a doctor and it was normal. I remember he asked me “was she pretty?” as if that might be the cause.
I went for a physical and was stunned when the blood work came back. It said I was diabetic. My A1c (a measure of how much glucose has attached itself to the red blood cell over the last 90 days–the lifespan of a red blood cell) was almost 7. I asked around work and one of my older colleagues was a neighbor with the head of Emory’s Cardiac Department. This neighbor gave me the name of what he said was Emory’s finest endocrinologist and I made an appointment.
At the appointment the doctor checked my blood glucose and it was over 200. He pronounced me diabetic and pulled out a sample of insulin. He explained to me that diabetes treatment was like a three legged stool. The three legs were proper nutrition, exercise, and medication. If you neglected any one of the three the stool would topple over. He showed me the basics (it was a basal insulin) and sent me on my way. It would not work very well and over the next few years he would add a fast acting insulin to bolus for meals (a single, large dose ). He also prescribed Metformin (a common diabetes drug that didn’t seem to do much for me personally).
Eventually that doctor started a boutique practice which cost $400 four times a year for the privilege of being his patient. I searched Google and read the reviews searching for a new endocrinologist. I landed up booking an appointment with a new doctor and the next era of my diabetes treatment began. My new doctor blew the old one away. She would actually listen to me and then offer her guidance. We didn’t always see eye to eye (in retrospect, complete stupidity on my part). We had entered the era of YouTube and influencers. I tried two different diets: ketogenic and vegan. They both worked but then I was back to my old ways. As I entered my 50s I just ate whatever I wanted and injected what I hoped were the right quantities of insulin. It was never enough.
Hypoglycemia was my greatest fear with insulin. I would dose for dinner, and hours later begin to feel the symptoms of going low. Sweating. A rapid heartbeat. I remember being on the phone with 911 in the middle of the night as my blood sugar dropped to 26. Lows were horrible and as a result I underdosed. My A1c was always terrible and every appointment I was offered medications in addition to the insulin. I thought I could do it with insulin alone but it was never enough. I clearly remember the last appointment with my doctor before the stroke where she said: “Look we are just trying to prevent a major medical event like a stroke or heart attack. It’s just a matter of time.” Ominous words which proved to be spot on.
When I was lying in the hospital after my stroke those words haunted me. I was so worried about side effects that I completely ignored the bigger risk. I swore to myself if I survived I would do everything in my power to reduce the risk of another one. “A new pill? How many please?” At my first appointment after I got out of rehab my endocrinologist told me I really needed an insulin pump. This wasn’t the first time she had suggested it. I had resisted her for years. I had always felt like once I started a pump I would lose control and always be on one. I deluded myself for a long time that I could beat diabetes and be normal again. Looking back it seems completely crazy, but I imagine it’s more common than you think. We fool ourselves all the time.
At my first visit after the stroke my doctor suggested using an Omnipod 5 with a Dexcom G7 Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). She wrote the prescription and put me in touch with her diabetes educator. I would delay another month because I was so busy with other doctor’s visits, but I finally scheduled a training session.
I honestly was not expecting much when I showed up for the training session. I figured I would be shown a few basics, kicked out the door with the supplies after a boring “training” session. I would then need to watch some YouTube videos and surf some internet forums to really figure it out.
I was completely wrong.
My trainer, Bethany, turned out to be a representative for Insulet, the manafacturer of the Omnipod. She had scheduled me with another older couple. The husband had been using the device and she let him demonstrate how to fill a new “pod” with insulin, attach it, and use the app on his phone. I had an issue with my iPhone’s Apple password and she patiently helped me figure that out. She helped me set up my pod and Dexcom. She showed me the app and how to get everything running.
It was at this point where I saw how stupid I was for not getting a pump sooner. I caught myself tearing up thinking about it. Emotions come quickly post stroke. I actually kind of like it. I feel more human.
I realized there would be no more carrying pens around and making sure I didn’t leave them in a hot car.
There would be no more buying endless pen needles and making sure I had enough to get through the day.
There would be no more forgetting to bring my insulin and having to decide between not eating or eating without a bolus and going high.
I could give myself smaller doses as a post meal correction without worrying so much about a low.
I truly felt my life change right then and there. I know this may sound dramatic to a non-diabetic, but it is not an exaggeration. Bethany was a fantastic trainer. She has a master’s degree in ? and even sprinkled some of that in to the coversation. It takes a special kind of person to convey the type of information she was giving me and make it feel useful. I felt like we really hit it off and I was excited to get started with the pod.
I’ve now been using the Omnipod 5 for a couple of weeks and so far it has been nothing short of miraculous. I pulled some of the data off of my old CGM (a different brand) and it showed that my “in range” time (the amount of time spent in a good blood glucose range) was only 20-30% (terrible). Some of that was with the Omnipod on which pulled those numbers UP! My average glucose was 208 (terrible) and even in the middle of the night when I wasn’t eating it was close to 180. I honestly thought I had terrible control because I was just a “bad” diabetic–that my disease was so bad it just COULDN’T be controlled. I never considered seriously that it could have been because I was grossly mismanaging my diabetes.
My “numbers” now are incredible. I know I’ve only got a couple of weeks worth of data, but that’s only the more amazing because of the quick change. My time in range is now EASILY over 85%. I’ve had a couple of days where it was over 95%. My average glucose is a hair over 140! My insulin usage has actually gone DOWN by a third from 90 units per day to 60 units. More importantly it’s proven to me that I CAN control my diabetes.
My doctor and her staff had been encouraging me for YEARS to try something like this and I was just too stubborn to give up “control”. What I realize now is the Omnipod 5 gives me MORE control, not less. It doesn’t take power away from me, it GIVES it to me.
I’m sure I frustrated my doctor through the years but I’m so thankful she didn’t give up on me. I’m just sorry it took me having a stroke to start listening. I gave her a big hug at our last visit.