T1D Experience For A Day

The initial purpose of this site was to provide you with information you will need to take the T1D Experience For A Day.  This site will do that but it will also serve to provide high level information about Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and most importantly how our family deals with this lifelong disease on a daily basis.

Below is the information you need to participate in this experience, as you  take part I challenge you to take to heart and mind how a person with T1D lives day in and day out for the rest of their lives.  Your experience is for a single day….theirs is a lifetime; the intent is not for you to feel sorry for individuals with T1D but to have a much better understanding of what it means to have this disease and how it affects everything they do.  Including but not limited to – when, what and how they eat, what, when and how they do things, their moods, their experiences, friendships and their families.  By taking this challenge our hope is you will feel empathy and appreciation for the way folks with T1D conduct their lives.

Thank you for taking up the challenge as well as the the time to learn more about living with Type 1 Diabetes. I promise you will know much more about how a person with Type 1 lives their life after you spend 24 hours in the shoes of one.

Here is what you need to do to prepare for this experience

• We have created an account T1DEXP4ADAY ( Type 1 Diabetes Experience For A Day) you will follow via text to get the updates/directions you need to experience this.
• Text:  Follow T1DEXP4ADAY to 40404; this will allow you to receive texts on your phone

Depending on how realistic you want to make this I would suggest you gather representations of the items below and carry them with you throughout your day. You can actually carry an empty case around but we wanted you to know what T1D people have with them all the time.

• Get together your “supplies” and put them in  something you can carry with you everywhere you go 
  • You will need your testing kit (blood glucose meter, lancet, hand sanitizer)
  • You will need your pen to deliver insulin (you have not been able to obtain a pump yet – that involves much more thought and math)
  • You will want want to have some type of carbohydrate to take in case you are starting to go low so you can have a quick bit of sugar
    
  • You will need your Glucogon (emergency Glucose pen in case your blood sugar goes too low and you need very fast acting agent) this is used if you are dropping and the snack you took isn’t enough OR if you are sleeping and your parents hear you and they have to give you a shot
  • You will want to make sure you have all of this in one spot that is easy to reach so we suggest a backpack or some type of bag that you bring with you.  (Ladies your purse will do if there is room….a clutch probably wont cut it)
  • You will want to have something that tells you how many carbs are in EVERYTHING you eat so you can make sure to deliver enough but not too much insulin to cover what you are eating – no more just grabbing a snack on the run or because you are hungry. You have to stop and think about what you are eating and how it will affect you.  There are several smartphone apps you can download or you can buy a book such as The Calorie King
• Starting on the morning of Wednesday May 15, 2013 you will receive texts throughout the day and night giving you updates, suggestions and guidance to get you through your day as a Type 1 Diabetic