I woke up on Friday morning, in my own bed. The start of my life as a diabetic.
The first thing I noticed was that I felt better than I had felt in a very long time. all sorts of things had been aching, and they weren’t any more. Most notably, my jaw wasn’t sore. It had been sore for so long, I’d forgotten what it is like to have a jaw that wasn’t sore.
I got out of bed and did a little housework. I hadn’t felt this good for months.
After about 15 minutes, I realised I didn’t have my glasses on; my vision had improved. I still need my glasses, just not as much. With my glasses on, I could stand at the top of the stairs and see the foot of the stairs clearly. I could even do that without my glasses.
I had a shower, and I was able to stand on one leg as I washed each foot. I hadn’t been able to do that for ages.
All of this with just one dose of metformin in me.
Friday morning was also the first day when I had to take a blood sugar reading when I woke up. It was 9.8 mmol/L. Not good, but not bad.
Next, we took my prescription to the pharmacy and I had some breakfast while the prescription was prepared. When we picked up the prescription, which was for metformin, test strips, and associated paraphernalia, they gave me a new blood glucose monitor. The test strips are brand-specific, and the brand they had was not the same as the brand the hospital gave me. So that’s how I ended up with a blood glucose monitor and a backup blood glucose monitor.
I should add that at this point the only out-of-pocket medical expense I had had was the cost of the initial GP consultation. The ED visit, the overnight in hospital, the medical assessments, the training, the metformin, and the blood glucose monitors were all free at the point of delivery. This is how it should be. As Bevin said, “Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune, the cost of which should be shared by the community.”
I also want to say that the pharmacy staff were excellent too. The staff at our pharmacy are always excellent. They are calm and friendly, and they cope with our household’s increasingly complex medical needs without any issues. Community pharmacies are as much a part of the healthcare system as doctors and hospitals.
Friday is a dialysis day, and Michael didn’t want to leave me at home on my own, so he took me up to the dialysis unit with him that afternoon. After that, we went to dinner, where I took my evening metformin, and we went home. Two hours after dinner, I took my blood glucose reading again, still on the original meter. 10.5 mmol/L. Not good, but not bad either.
Day one complete.