KITLIVING
continued over
also given a blood test meter. I remember
it being the round Bayer one, and I was
given a rudimentary explanation of carb
counting, as well as what to do if I was too
high or too low.
"I never missed another day off work
since. As my wife and I worked at the
same school, and my older children were
also in the school, I knew that I was not
alone in dealing with my diabetes. Plus we
lived only a mile away, so there wasn't a
long commute either. I knew that I was
quite safe in my environment I just got on
with it. The consultant I saw at the hospital
was what I would call 'old school', but
also fairly sensible and relaxed - he knew
I had a life to live and that if I was a little
bit high for a short time it wouldn't kill me.
Within a couple of years I progressed
onto four injections a day, one being long
acting and the other being short acting,
so the basal/bolus approach.
"I've had a new blood test meter every
now and then over the years, and after
the drama of the first few weeks, the next
15 or 16 years it was just 'standard ops'
in terms of looking after my control. Every
year there was a school trip, where we
take away 40 children.With four other
teachers, I had no problem being in
charge of that. People quickly forgot that
I had diabetes. That makes it all sound
like plain sailing, but on two occasions I
have had a bad nighttime hypo. The first
was quite early on - I'd had a meal, done
an injection, then mowed the lawn, which
was not my usual habit. In the night I had
such a bad hypo my wife called for an
ambulance. The second time it happened
we were more prepared and had glucagon
to hand. My wife was able to inject me
with it and it pulled me around."
Going social
"Generally speaking I don't think I was
very interested in my diabetes, I just did
what was necessary in order to get on
Adrian Long gets out and
about, visiting Gawthorpe
Hall in Burnley, near his
home. He wears a simple
medical ID wristband as
well as (unseen) a FreeStyle
Libre flash glucose sensor,
plus an old-style Diabetes
UK hummingbird badge in
his lapel.