The First Approach

Confusion. This is the term which better describes my state of mind in the days just after my dimission from the hospital.

I had been catapulted right into a completely new life, which I didn't feel as belonging to me. However, I immediately started to follow the guidelines provided by the hospital, which consisted in a very simple cure, based on fixed insulin dosis and a strict and always identical diet, in order not to overload me with calculations.

The result? An A1c of 8.0% 3 months after my dimission: ok for some excessively reassuring doctors, but not for me. In fact, I knew that that value was way too far from one which could have guaranteed me a life expectancy comparable to my non-diabetic peers. So i decided to change my approach, and my adventure outside the doctors' reccomendations began.

Alongside with my father, who has surely been the most relevant figure for the positive developement of my methods, proceeding by trial and error we created a strategy to calculate insulin doses based on the comparison with what had happened the day before at the same meal, taking into account several factors, such as fasting BG level, physical activity and, finally, the amount of carbs, for which we extimated a corresponding addition or subtraction in insulin doses in case they were more or less than the day before. This was the beginning of a truly free and enjoyable life even as a diabetic, as it was no more chained to that strict and not always easy-to-follow diet provided by the hospital.

By the way, since at that time for my own (absurd) choice I only used a glucometer to measure my glycaemia, at the following medical examination we were quite dubious about the outcome of our risky move. Instead, as the nurse arrived with the result of my A1c she was quite shocked: 5.9, nearly the value of a non-diabetic person. Not knowing anything about the change in our methods, the doctor ascribed the merit of this incredible result to my honeymoon period, even though he was truly astonished by the drop of my A1c from the previous visit. Saluting us at the end of the appointment he said to me that, being that value so exceptional, a worsening in it would have been unavoidable in the immediate future, and that I would have never been able to reach such a low A1c value again in my life.

From that precise moment I decided that I would have done everything possible in order to prove him wrong. And if you are curious to know how I finally managed to do it, all you have to do is to keep visiting this site.