I was blind.

My very first week with my brand new buddy, Dex(com G4), has come to an end, and wow! Just wow.

Most people say they don't know how they lived without it, and I completely agree. Some of my friends asked me what it was like - I told them I think it's like I've been blind for 18 years, and now I've been given the gift of sight again. Up until seven days ago, I had little to no idea of how food and insulin in particular affected me and my glucose levels. Sure, you can check your blood sugar before meals and after them, but you otherwise have no idea how you got to the number on the screen, and also YDMV (your diabetes may vary).

With my Dex I now have the insight I've been missing out on for all these years, and I've been able to stay within a range that I've never been able to, because as it turns out I was taking TOO MUCH basal in the morning! WHAT?! I'm now taking less, and my graph is looking less like a roller coaster than what it did my first two days :)

Another major health impact that the Dex has been responsible for is the improvement on my mental health. I've known for a while the weight of a chronic disease didn't just affect me physically, but also mentally, which in turn again affected me physically - it's a vicious circle that one.

Since my first pregnancy, I've also struggled a lot with hormonal imbalance, which for one drives you absolutely crazy and affects you negatively in so very many ways. For me, it manifested (in extreme ways) a lot in how I felt emotionally, I was extremely short tempered and stress could take me out in a second. That on it's own is hard. When you pair it with staying at home with a loveable, but active and stubborn two year old, trying to study, trying to accomplish something more than getting dinner on the table (which was so difficult for me most days), it's pushing it towards needing some serious medical intervention.

But I tell you, the very first day I had my Dex, it was like that cloud lifted the moment I also got my sight back. I have never felt lighter. Being able to see where I am, where I am headed, instead of most of the time winging it, is the greatest gift. Being able to know that ok, I took too much insulin, or I ate too much, or I should eat before I sleep/drive/exercise, is like giving me my life back. I never felt like diabetes was holding me back from living life, but I do on some level feel like I've gotten my life back.

If you're considering getting a Dexcom, but the cost is putting you off. Don't let it. It honestly is the best thing I've ever done, and we have to pay out of our own pockets for it.

Knowledge is power, you guys. And that's exactly what this is.