One of the recurring topics I’ve noticed within my own blog and the blogs feeding my Google Reader is ‘control’. Control over diabetes. Control over life. Control over trying to maintain control. Part of that control is developing a solid routine to help keep balance in The Force. Doing my (our) best to prevent douche-bags like Hayden Christensen from going crazy, succumbing to the Dark Side and helping destroy nearly every Jedi in the galaxy. In case my Star Wars tangent was a bit much how about this: We do our best to maintain control so Diabetes doesn’t disrupt the rest of life’s happenings. When there is a great disturbance in The Force, Yoda gets really, really sad, and Diabetes cuts to the front of the line. Nothing else matters.

Pulling back the curtain a bit, these posts are written up the night before they are posted. Content filters prevent me from spontaneously posting at work, you can thank the DoD for that. On one hand, it forces me to to be thorough in my content, once I schedule a post for publishing it’s in your hands…eyes. On the other hand, it prevents the spontaneous wtf moments from being detailed. Thankfully TwitterFox isn’t blocked, don’t tell anyone though. When necessary, I use the notepad application on my iPod Touch, but typing on that thing is a chore and the only way to get that much text over to my PC is to email it to myself once I’m on my home wireless network. It’s about as convoluted as it sounds. Even after three months typing on this thing, I only use it as a last resort to get ideas down. Now where was I?

So I left my glucose meter at my office today (Tuesday). I didn’t realize it until right before I made a sandwich for dinner. Test. Stab. Eat. That’s the routine. I turned my backpack inside out, search my car, my gym bag, even a jacket that I didn’t wear today. A disturbance in The Force indeed. Forgetting my FreeStyle isn’t the end of the world, I know it’ll be at my desk in the morning, but it disrupts the comfort of a level of control I feel when it’s around. Feeling woozy? Test. Stomach not agree with lunch? Test. Knowing that I have that digital reinforcement of what I do right, and wrong diabetically speaking is something that I’ve come to enjoy. It keeps balance in The Force.

A little over two weeks ago I ran out of my last test strips for my glucose meter. The refill took an extra couple of days to process and as a result I went a week “flying blind.” Admittedly, before this blog, I went a pretty long time ignoring my glucose meter. Come to think of it, I think I went nearly 3 years without checking my blood sugar. Part of that was working on the road, but all of that was ignorance/arrogance. After resuming checking my blood sugar in the fall and taking greater control and care, going a week without the ability to test was hell. I suppose it is a good thing that I was looking forward to checking my blood sugar again, a sign that I am employing some good habits. Go me.

These momentary disturbances in The Force have their own emergency action plan. The insulin dosages stay the same, but traditional food consumption decreases by about 10-15%. Give or take a few chips. I find it easier to feel a moderate low than a moderate high, and I always have some juice on standby, just in case. It’s like guerrilla warfare. When necessary, you have to take unorthodox methods to try to maintain control. To keep a balance in The Force.