Guest Post: The Benefits Of Going Bionic.

I'm mixing things up a bit this Tuesday morning - you'll find my post over at Our Diabetic Life (hope you have a great vacation, Meri!) today, and I'm bringing you a guest post here. Laura, a self-professed "tech geek" and blogger at My 3 Ring Circus of a Life, writes about finding something she can enjoy about having type 1 - the "robot parts".  :)

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I’m a tech geek. That’s the honest to goodness truth. I teach the technology classes at a small, private school, I’m attached to my laptop and my smartphone and I love video games. When I was diagnosed with diabetes (adult type 1, thanks so much body for revolting) right before my 34th birthday, I felt like I would have to undo my geek status in relation to my health. All I knew of diabetes was shots. Draw the needle up…stick it in your body somewhere and move on.

Then, I started suffering through crushing highs, rattling lows and all of the mood swings that come with the territory. I didn’t know what to do, as my schedule started not to allow me the time to really do what I needed to do to in some cases, stay vertical. It was, on some days, frightening. Others, it was just plain annoying. Then, there was the fact that I started to react from the needle sticks. Itchy, welty, red bumps were the order of business after every single injection. I was also bruised beyond belief. 

It was then that I visited my Irreverent Endo. I asked him about a pump. Yes, I had done my research. I knew that this would mean going BIONIC! I was bouncing at the prospect. I didn’t know what he would say to me, and frankly, I was prepared for every instance of no with an argument as to why I should be allowed to have this. 

Irreverent Endo said “Pump? Sure! I’m easy, but I’m not cheap. This will cost you.”

Cost?

I paid him in true irreverent fashion. With cookies. 

Yes, the diabetic requesting a pump paid her endo in cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies at that.

Never said I wasn’t a bit left of center either. 

It was at that point, I discovered the tech geek side of having diabetes. I actually became a bit less resentful of my body revolting against me and decided that this could be fun. I decided that it was high time that I got busy going bionic and stopped complaining about things. 

Having a pump changed my life. It changed the way I looked at being diabetic. It changed the way that I viewed my world. For the longest time, I figured I’d be doomed to a life of nothing good. No fun, no good food, no nothing. Everything was fire and brimstone-don’t touch this, don’t eat that, don’t do this, oh, my, your kidneys, oh, my. 

There wasn’t one good thing about this. 

Except for the pump. 

I get this huge kick out of plugging in a USB drive and downloading my pump. Totally makes me feel a bit like I’m out of one of my favorite Sci Fi stories, Johnny Mnemonic, where the guy has information in his head that he has to download. 

It’s just a perk of going bionic. 

I also have gained so much control-and for me, that’s the huge deal. I don’t hate this whole auto-immune thing anymore. I’ve learned to use the technology available to make my life manageable and easier. 

Having this pump is like having my smartphone or laptop. I’m attached to it, it makes my life easier and it can be just plain fun to own. Ok, it doesn’t play games, run apps or do anything that a lot of people find special, but for me, it has made me peek at things in a new light. Even if I had to go a bit more bionic to do it.

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Thanks again to Laura for sharing her thoughts here. (P.S. How does one get ahold of those cookies? Yum!)