28KIT
My diabetes kit
Pete Davies
Pete Davies has been living
with Type 1 diabetes for 67
years. He gave a talk at the
recent the DRWF annual
United Through Diabetes event held
on 21 September, joking that he had
a fair few decades of experience to
pack into the short amount of time he
had to give it in. He also brought with
him a selection of relatively ancient
bits of diabetes 'kit' from over the
years. He also said that the point of
his talk was to give a little hope and
encouragement to others.
Davies was born on the 5th of
December 1954 in Kenya. He was
diagnosed on 28 October 1956, just
before his second birthday. At many
points in the talk, he noted some
of the advantages he had, bearing
in mind T1D was very rare back
then, and often fatal. However, his
mother was a state registered nurse
and midwife and his his father a
mechanical engineer, so he feels that
was to his advantage that there was
a bit of medical and scientific help
from his folks, whom he described as
'absolutely wonderful parents'.
He also recalls, "I was very lucky
to be put under the care of doctor
RD Lawrence. In 1920 he had nearly
died of Type 1 diabetes. Knowing the
cause of his illness and its inevitable
outcome, he had taken himself off
to Venice where he expected to die.
But a colleague sent him a telegram
telling him that they had some of the
miracle drug insulin and for him to
come back home immediately, as 'it
works'."
This was very soon after the
actual discovery of insulin. Davies
says, "I simply recall him being a
lovely man."
He then questioned, "Has Type 1
management changed? Wow, yes!"
He then proceeded to do a 'show and
tell' with the items he had brought
with him. "Back in the day," he said,
"the only kit was a glass and steel
syringe with a 28mm steel needle. It
was inconceivable that there would
be a time where the most used
needle to deliver insulin would be
a mere 4mm. However, over time,
I graduated to the iconic Novopen,
which I simply loved."
Glucose sensing
Among the array of insulin delivery
devices were some rather alarming
items. One was meant to be a syringe
delivery aide, but he says his parents
tried it on him once, and he wouldn't
let them do it again. Over time,
he graduated from multiple daily
injecting to using an insulin pump
about six years ago, when he went on
the Tandem t:slim insulin pump and
began using a Dexcom CGM sensor.
Earlier this year, he moved onto
the Omnipod 5, also with a Dexcom
sensor. So that's the insulin-delivery
side of the story. What about glucose
testing?
Indicating the array of old
equipment and paraphernalia that he
has used, then saved, over the nearly
seven decades that he's been living
with Type 1 diabetes looking at one
item, he explains the setup. "This was
a kit to test glucose levels in your
urine. The 'recipe' was five drops of
urine to 10 drops of water in a testPete
Davies with his mum about when he was diagnosed at age 3 in 1956..