Six.

Things I've learnt having been sans insulin since 2010:

• There's a life after diagnosis. 
• There are times when diabetes scares me. It's not something I voice often, but it does. 
• There are times I wish diabetes wasn't my reality. 
• On the flip side, however, there are people I wouldn't have met if it wasn't for this disease. People that I can't imagine not knowing. 
• And as much as I wish it wasn't my reality, what frustrates me more is that there are people in this world that don't even have access to insulin. And as much as I'd like a cure, I'd like to see insulin for all happen first. Because diabetes shouldn't be a death sentence. 
• Sometimes, diabetes is funny. Sometimes it isn't.
• Testing my blood sugar is the best way for me to keep my diabetes "on track" - I wish it were true that my pump just "sorts it", but it's just a tool that I choose to use to manage my diabetes, along with my Freestyle Libre. 
• Diabetes and food is so complicated. But a healthy balance can be found. 
• Diabetes changed me: it's made me more in tune with my health. I watch what I eat, I exercise, I see my health care team regularly. It's made me more appreciative of the world around me. It inspires me to do more, love harder and not let it hold me back. 
• I have type one diabetes = I'm a person with diabetes = I'm type one diabetic. Some people have preferences about this. I personally don't. Bottom line: my pancreas doesn't work.
• I am not alone. 
• Knowing that, community and peer support has become as essential to my diabetes care as the insulin I infuse. 
• Diabetes is not a character flaw. You accept me with it, not in spite of it. 
• Disclosing my diabetes acts as a barometer for jerks. When disclosing, I'm carefully watching, looking at how the person reacts.
• Emotional health is SO important: my blood sugars get chaotic quickly when my head's not in the game. 
• NovoRapid ain't that rapid. 
• Pre-bolusing is the one. As is actually carb counting, and not just guessing.
• (The point above first came out as "Pre-blousing is the one. As is actually crab counting, and not just guessing" because autocorrect.)
• Diabetes sometimes makes me cry, and that's okay. It can be a relentless fucker at times, and every now and then a good cry is what I need. In the same breath, I celebrate the victories too. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and it's totally okay to feel all parts of life, whether diabetes related or not. 
• That time flies pretty damn quickly! When I was diagnosed, hitting five years with diabetes seemed like forever away, let alone getting closer to the ten year mark! 
• That I can do this.