Taking control with knowledge in my Type 1 Diabetes.

I think part of the organisation is around knowledge and not everybody is aware of symptoms all of the time. Even as a sort of long-standing type 1 diabetic, I was hypo-unaware for a few years and that kind of brought about the prescription of a pump and subsequently continuous glucose monitoring. But these sorts of things can still catch me unawares. So, you know, I can be sailing along, going to work, you know, I've worked in an office, I've worked on a ward, I've also flew. At the age of 61 I thought with the benefits of my continuous glucose monitoring and pump that I could be stable enough, not in terms of blood glucose control not to be a safety risk to crew and passengers on board an aircraft, so applied to work as cabin crew, which is something I'd always wanted to do since a small child. I realised I wouldn't be a pilot, I'm not sort of scientific enough, but sort of working with people and alongside people is something that's more important for me me, and was told, you know, oh no, you can never do that. So it was a great honour to be able to fly at the age of 61 as a crew member and actually have quite a chaotic lifestyle in terms of getting up times and meal times. You know, it wasn't regular at all. And because of the benefits of being on a pump and the CGM I was able to keep good control. You know it didn't matter that I was getting up at 3 a.m. to check in at 5 o'clock and then coming back again at 8 p.m. and not knowing when my meal would be because the pump technology and its basal insulin would keep me going. But organisation bit is that you do have to have kind of kit in reserve and so the crew bag, for example, if you focus on that period of time, my bag was probably heavier than most because I had a backup CGM device, I had obviously insulin. Then there were the kind of backup insulin files and pump accessories which kind of all took up space and you're only allowed one tabby bag plus a sort of small satchel on top. So you know my other aspects of what was stored was less important really, so I knew that I would have a change of clothing and a different pair of shoes, but they kind of had to be fitted around the more important insulin stuff. But having that bag and knowing it was there was very important all the time because one of the aspects of being crew is that you might be on a flight that is delayed, you might be on standby and have to go on the flight at the last minute, so you always have to have something that will tide you over and you know it's one of the rules that you have to take it with you, even if you're only going on a short flight because you don't know that's the only flight you're going to do that day. So being on a pump was my way in and had I not been on the pump I don't think I have had the confidence to apply for it. But there is a sort of need to have some backup supplies and many non-diabetics might not get it but you know there's always something you know for an there's always something in their handbag or there's always something in my man bag as it were. You can't just turn up at something with a credit card or a £10 note and expect that you're going to get through the day. You also have to have carbohydrate formats and then you have to think about the longevity of the carbohydrate formats if you're not actually using them regularly and flying you know you have to there's a limitation on the amount of liquids that you can take in hand baggage and I've actually had liquid glucose taken away from me at the security desk security screening and I said well you know this is important for my condition here's a letter from my doctor which says I've got diabetes yeah but it doesn't say this is a prescription item. So that had to go and there are sort of silly things that it's almost as if because I've gone hypo I've done something wrong and therefore having this snack is like a kind of punishment. It's correcting me for something that's gone wrong and I don't think it was as important as a child because you'd sort of eat sweets and and it was fairly normal. But as a 64-year-old carrying around sweets, I don't know, seems a bit juvenile. And you think, I should be over this by now. And there's also an element of, I have three proper meals at whatever times. I don't need to eat these snacks. they're all kind of adding to the calorie content. They're not helping me with my weight control. And so that again is part of the balance issue, I think, between insulin and exercise and diet. You know, sometimes you think, well, I've got to run a bit more in order to get rid of a high blood glucose. And then sometimes you think, right I've run too much because it's now gone low again so I need something else to compensate. So it is a kind of constant, I think it's a triangular thing with food and diet, with the insulin amount and with exercise that you kind of constantly have to keep in check and that's always at the back of my mind. It's sort of a subconscious thing, but I presume it's the sort of balance that anybody who doesn't have diabetes doesn't have to worry about.