Calculations Are His Part

I have learned so much about Diabetes and I am still learning. This was a disease I knew nothing about 10 years ago. The only thing I knew was that Diabetes was “the one where you couldn’t have dessert cause it was bad for you” disease. Everything from the basics of carb counting to the complications that can occur have been taught to me first hand. I remember one of the first things Vince explained to me. It was the sliding scale. I am not sure if this term is used as much today, but this is what he would tell doctors when they asked his insulin dosage and regimen. He would say, “I take the amount of insulin needed based on what I eat.” It didn’t make 100% sense to me, but over time, I realized it was carb counting. With all of that being said, the one thing that I am not good at is the actual unit dosage he needs for a specific food. Sure, I know how to carb count. I know his ratios and corrections however as you all know, different foods react differently in everyone. So I may say to him that I think he needs 10 units to cover dinner, but he will take more or less if we are having a specific food that he knows reacts a certain way in his body. The only time I end up giving him bolus doses is usually corrections for highs. Lately, he has been running high in the early morning when I leave for work. I will wake him and tell him what he is running and ask him how many units he wants me to plug in. He will give me the total number in his drowsy state and I usually say, no way. I’m not giving you that many. I’m scared. I am scared to pump him full of insulin (literally) and then leave for work. A few days ago we went back and forth. He explained that when he hits over 300, then he needs more than the normal correction ratio. Does this make sense? No. Does Diabetes ever make sense? No. I argued out of fear and we compromised on a few units less. That evening I asked him how his numbers were when he eventually woke up. He said his blood sugar barely went down. I said how is that possible? I know when he is slightly high, say 180 or so, the normal correction that his doctor has programmed in his pump, is enough to bring him down back to a normal level. He didn’t have an answer. The only thing he said was that he knows his body. He knows what works and what doesn’t. He reminds me that he has been doing this for 32 years, and I can do nothing but agree. I made him promise me that he had to be careful when using a large bolus without me home. He agreed and said he understands my worry but knows what he needs in order to get it down. So, the next day, I woke him up because he was high again. I gave him the dose he asked for. And guess what? It worked. He didn’t crash. His BG came down to a normal level. So we have agreed that the bolus doses are on him. He is better when it comes to that part of his care. I have to just have faith and trust him to know what he is doing. It’s hard, but I know he knows his body very well. So we move forward.