It's An Adjustment

For quite some time now, Vince and I have had a very strict routine. Ok, maybe more on my part than his, but we both stick to it. There have been many times when I would call him during the day and he didn’t answer the phone. I would then rush home to find him passed out from a nasty low. Then he began using the Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) and things improved, but I was still not comfortable to leave for an 8 hour work day without checking in. So we made a plan. A schedule you might say. I leave for work around 8AM. I call him between 10:00 and 10:30AM to wake him up and check in. I then call him again around 2:00PM-2:30PM before he lays down for his afternoon nap. We have found that by checking in throughout the day, we are both comfortable in knowing he is okay.

Now a few years later, we are still doing this routine however the serious lows have been a thing of the past thanks to the CGM alerting him since he no longer feels them. The lowest I have seen him recently is in the 50’s and he is able to get something to eat and drink before it drops any lower to where he can’t help himself. Normally, he is alerted early enough to where he takes action before he even gets lower than the upper 60’s. When I started my second job, I would call him on my break. Usually my shift is 4-5 hours long however in the past week or so, I have tried going to my second job and not calling him on break. Surely he will be ok for 4-5 hours right? Yes, for now we are in a good phase. We have it down to a science you could say. But my anxiety pipes in and reminds me that with Diabetes, anything can change at any time.

So now, we are going to try adjusting our schedule. Although Vince does like to hear from me during the day (since he is home alone everyday) the multiple calls do get a bit much. How much can we possibly talk about every 3-4 hours? You get the picture. So what we are trying now is one call during my 8 hour work day around 1:00PM. I did ask him to text me when he wakes up and when he lays down in the afternoon but that is only going to be temporary. He hates to text. It’s hard for him to see the screen. So I asked him to just text me a bunch of nonsense letters, just so I know he is alert and well. Then after a few days when I am comfortable, we will go to just one call a day. It’s so scary for me. But I just have to remember, it’s only 4 hour increments so it’s not too bad. It’s bad enough to worry about him, but when you add in my anxiety, the racing thoughts take over and you can’t think of anything except the worst possible case scenario. We’ll see how it goes!