A few weeks ago I got sick with Influenza A. Apparently I haven’t had the real flu since middle school. How’s that for staying healthy? I get the flu shot every year as recommended for diabetics and I’ve been able to avoid great illness… until 2021… which saw my return to a classroom size larger than one. Let’s just say that I witnessed a LOT of snotty noses at school. I’d often ask a 2nd grader if they’d like to go blow their nose and the answer was usually, “Nah.” I’d sit pretty close to 1st graders as they practiced reading and, despite my mask, I knew whatever was virally floating around their own homes was also floating around my office. Towards the end of the semester I got lax with masking. And then… hello, flu.

I have a wonderful team of people around me urging me to rest and push fluids while sick. So grateful for them. But I had forgotten what it’s like to be sick when you have diabetes.

KETONES.

Damn those ketones. I’m no scientist, but I do know that illness can stress a body with Type 1 diabetes, which then produces ketones. You ended up with too many ketones in your blood and you can go into ketoacidosis—your blood is literally too acidic.  

So to review: when a person with diabetes gets sick they can’t simply sleep and wake up and drowsily drink Gatorade until they pass out again. That’d be too easy. There’s a lot of monitoring that needs to happen to avoid diabetic keto acidosis (DKA). 

I feel like Influenza A was a timely reminder for me that I cannot mess around with not masking right now. Much of our population can get sick and tough it out at home. Meanwhile I’ve got that little thing called ketones that can swoop in and kill me if not handled immediately. 

Our hospitals are full. They’re so full that people who need quick care may not receive it. On a good day when I visit a hospital it will involve entrusting my care—my very specific and detailed diabetes regimen—to a team of doctors and nurses who know far less about my situation than I do. Let’s just say that I do everything possible to avoid visiting hospitals. 

At this point in the pandemic, with omicron knocking down people left and right, I have to stay vigilant. 

(You can see how easy it is to be anxious! Working hard on that, too.)