With Diabetes Awareness Month in full swing, many of us will have seen the JDRF’s Type 1 Diabetes Footprintflash up on our SoMe feeds as diabetes friends show just some of the ways diabetes has impacted our lives.

This is my one: accurate as of last weekend:

This is just a sample of the numbers that show how much diabetes influences and affects our day to day (and night to night!). If we’re talking numbers when it comes to diabetes, (which I don’t really like to do), there are so, so many more. Here are just some of them… (all are totally random estimations – don’t take anything as gospel here, folks!):

  • The number of BGL strips found in unlikely places: 4,500,596,098
  • The number of fruit pastilles I can stuff into my mouth at one time whilst in the throes of an ‘I-am-dying-give-me-all-the-glucose’ hypo: 142
  • The number of hours being supported by friends with diabetes: 3 – and that’s just today!
  • The number of times I’ve caught my pump line on a door handle: an embarrassingly significant number (because: #NotGoodAtDiabetes)
  • The total weight I can lift/move when I am having a ‘super-power’ low: 1,450kgs
  • The number of red scarves bought at the ADA meeting ‘Stop Diabetes Shop’ because the bloody aircon is too cold at convention centres and I keep forgetting to bring a jacket: 3

  • The number of hours after my planned bedtime of 10.30pm I actually go to bed because I’m talking to DOC friends on the other side of the world: 2…3…4 (also: time zones suck)
  • The number of times my heart beats per minute when I realise just how low I am, and that there is no easy-to-grab glucose source in sight: 180
  • The number of days a Rockadex patch lasts on my arm: 7-10
  • The number of nights I’ve lain awake fearing what diabetes has in store for me:more than I care to remember
  • The number of handbags I have bought because I’ve convinced myself it will be ‘THE perfect diabetes bag’: 237
  • The number of frocks that are hanging in the cupboard unworn because there is no bra that works underneath it and therefore nowhere to house a pump and RL: 25
  • The number of supermarket aisles wandered around while low trying to decide what to eat: 8
  • The number of jars of Nutella in my house at any one time (for hypo purposes, of course): 4
  • The number of times I send out a tweet urging health writers to please be considerate when writing about diabetes: a few times a year.

  • The number of times I’ve thought a hypo simulator is a good way to explain what it feels to have a hypo to people without diabetes: 0
  • The number of gulps of water it takes to try to quench high glucose levels: 36
  • The number of times I’ve explained why #LanguageMatters in diabetes: 123,890,456…123,890,457…123,890, 458
  • The number of breaths I need to take before explaining – yet again – why I CAN eat that doughnut: 2
  • The number of times I have been grateful that diabetes didn’t stand in the way of me having a beautiful baby girl: every single minute of every single day
  • The number of ‘I know someone with diabetes, they died’ stories I’ve had to listen to: 6,984
  • The number of times I’ve said the words ‘No, it isn’t a pager/nicotine patch, mobile phone, fitness tracker’ etc to explain a piece of diabetes tech strapped to or hidden on my body: 9,465
  • The number of tears that have fallen because I feel overwhelmed by diabetes: countless
  • The number of times I’ve been glad to have been diagnosed with diabetes: 0
  • The number of times I acknowledge just how fortunate I am to have been born into a country where insulin is easily accessible: at least once every day
  • The squirts of surface cleaner needed to remove marks from wherever I’ve accidentally left blood after checking my BGLs: 3
  • The number of days I’ve wished I didn’t have diabetes: every single one of them
  • The number of days I’ve felt so overwhelmed and burnt out by diabetes that I find performing the most basic things (diabetes and non-diabetes) a struggle: Frequently. because diabetes sucks
  • Oh – and the number of times I’ve been wearing a white shirt when I’ve had a gusher: every time
  • The number of times I’ve said or written ‘My Diabetes; my rules’: 566,285 (3 of those have been in the last 20 minutes)
  • The number of times I give thanks to the brains trust behind DIYAPS: hourly
  • The number of alerts or alarms from my phone it takes before I actually take note and do something: 6 (unless sleeping and then: whatever)
  • The number of times I’ve accurately counted the carbs of anything containing rice: not once
  • The number of times I’ve asked ‘Have you spoken with people with diabetes about that?’: lost count…now I just weep
  • The number of lancets I have used in the last twenty years: probably about 18
  • The number of dot points on this inane and silly list: every single one of them!