When I got the pump when I was sixteen, skiing had to change. In years past, I woke up, ate breakfast, went on the slopes, stopped at 10 for snack, back on the slopes, lunch at 12:30 then back outside after lunch. Snack was at 2:30 and that's usually when we would end our day, because the trails are no where near as nice anymore. But all of a sudden I've got this $5,000 piece of equipment attached to me that needs to survive the elements. Plus, up until that moment, I was a lente and regular user, so I didn't need to test before every snack. Just meals and bedtime. So I got my cousin's hand-me-up snowpants which were bulky and seriously nice with giant pockets. (I am now 25, and she is now 18, and I got those snowpants when I was 16; in case you wanted evidence that I'm the short one in the family.) I got my pump March 16, 2002 so there was less than a month left of ski season, and it was during the mild weather, so getting that pump to last through the elements wasn't as much of a problem. It's the meter though that has always given me trouble. We still stop for snacks because we like to warm up a little and need a little human replenishing, not diabetes replenishing. I've spent countless ski snacks sitting there breathing on my meter waiting for it to be warm enough to use, while my mother sits there and tells me that I need to test before I can eat. And in my head, all I can think is "Yes, I know this, but right now this THING is not cooperating with me and I'm hungry! And oh yea, everyone else is nearly done already." So on Saturday I didn't bring my meter on the mountain. I had my juice boxes, tabs, insulin pen, phone and camera. And as we stood up to go buy a cup of coffee (in a different lodge than where our stuff is), my mother asks why I haven't tested yet. I explain to her how it's the only meter I have at the moment so I didn't need it to freeze. I get a "This is completely 100% unacceptable." I know that I'm supposed to test before I eat, but I made the choice to make sure this one meter I have lasts. I used to have two meters, but then the batteries leaked in the other one, so now I'm down to one. So I made the conscious decision to make sure it lasts. But since my A1C was good when Mom took care of it, she clearly knows better. Keep in mind this was pre-pump and early teen years. And that was about ten years ago. So Mom is really upset at me as we walk to get our coffee. But we drink our coffee and then we go back on the slopes. We went in around 1, and my lunch time BG was in the low 100s. I didn't make a big deal about it, but I wanted to yell "SEE!!" My BGs kicked butt all afternoon and I was pretty darn excited about it. When it was time to change my site though, I was in the high 200s. So I bolused with the pump, then changed the pump, and then we went to dinner.
I sat in my favorite ski bar with my parents, I hear the distinctive "beep beep beep beep beep" and I know that I'm getting a No Delivery alarm. When I changed my site, I started at 298 mg/dl, so I knew that I was already high, so no delivery was definitely not something that could be waited on. I had already had one bad site change, and wasn't too excited that the second one failing too. Somehow I remembered to put a new pen tip in my purse this week, so off to the bathroom I went and was soon able to go back to dinner. As I sat back down, Mom said "Did you go to the bathroom to shoot up?" And in between laughing, I said "Good thing Dad didn't say that because the whole restaurant would've heard and I'd be taken away by the police soon." I gave myself a correction and a food bolus, and enjoyed my delicious drink and food. We get back to the hotel and I change my site again, and test my ketones and there they are, small. I felt high the rest of the night, but a little less than 2 hours later, I was back in the 100s, and negative ketones. Unfortunately, I crashed at 3AM and then woke up low too. But at least I know how to keep steady while on the slopes.
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