This blog post was written by my better half, Amar, about having a girlfriend with diabetes...
I was asked to write a blog about having a diabetic girlfriend (by my girlfriend, who is diabetic). It's taken me a little while. Not because I was reluctant to reveal my thoughts and feelings in a public domain (I have no shame). Not because I find it difficult to express myself. I took a while because I don't really think about it. To me, it's like writing a blog about having a red haired girlfriend. But when I think about it, it's something that has shaped and defined her life. And since we spend a lot of time together, it's become a big part of my life.
Before I met Laura I didn't know too much about diabetes. My grandmother had it while she was being cared for at my parents home, but I had moved away so I didn't see too much. All I remember was the constant struggle to get my grandmother to eat porridge for breakfast since it kept her sugars steady.
The first day we actually spoke at work, I didn't know she had diabetes. She was just the girl who sat next to me and asked me to taste her prune juice (not a euphemism). When I did find out, I remember googling it and asking her questions, but I didn't really find out about it until she linked me to a blog she'd written about hypoglycaemia, and that began me reading about peoples experiences and really finding about about diabetes. When we hung out it really didn't have an impact at first, except sometimes she'd give herself insulin, and she had no sugar in her tea.
The first time I really saw the effects I was with Laura at her place, and had a bad hypo, while we had been drinking. I went upstairs to find her in her room, in her bed, making next to no sense. I knew she needed food, so I went to get her biscuits. I brought them back and she spoke incoherently to me for some time, before feeding me biscuits with her feet. It sounds amusing, but at the same time I felt everything was completely out of my control, not something I'm used to. Afterwards she had no recollection of what she said (both due to the low sugars and the alcohol) and I promised not to bring anything up. I lied. It's been funny every time.
The next time a similar thing happened Laura was sober, and I saw the full effects. I was asked to leave the room as Laura hid under my covers. I went to the shop and returned with 7 chocolate bars (I know how to treat a woman) and left them with her. This is the day I learnt not to leave someone having a bad hypo with 7 bars of chocolate.
Day to day, I never really think about Laura's diabetes. But without it, she wouldn't be the person she is today. I'm probably just used to it now, sometimes we cut our days out short because she's having or has had a bad hypo, sometimes it's fine. I regularly ensure I have a supply of isotonic energy drinks. It's all normal to me now. Checking her sugars in the car, feeding her jelly babies, not putting sugar in her tea, making sure I don't pull out her pump as we wrestle. It's just our relationship.
Hardest short ramble I've ever written.
@AmarTailor01