www.sugarstats.com
I had never considered myself a numbers girl. I had always thought that I was, in fact, the furthest thing from a numbers girl. In high school, I sat - bored and unengaged - through Algebra 2, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus. In college, Statistics was the one course that found me with a grade below a B. Numbers had never been my friend.
That was before I decided to get serious about my diabetes management. After college, when I started to think more about my bloodsugars, my A1Cs, my insulin doses, and my food intake, I realized that there is a tiny part of me that is very much a numbers girl. Long hidden beneath the layers of writer's brain and artist's soul, this part of me finds satisfaction in looking at graphs, and finding patterns, and solving problems. And upon starting insulin pump therapy, that numbers-focused side started to really shine through.
Recently, I had a job interview and was told that the job involved a data-driven component. I was asked if I thought that my being a largely creative person might get in the way of my ability to manage and analyze that data. My answer included both a mention of the data analysis involved with my past jobs and a mention of my need to analyze data effectively as a person living with type 1 diabetes. I explained that I understood the importance of numbers and patterns as it pertained to this job, and that I was confident about my ability to make calculations, identify trends, and make recommendations based on those trends because these were all things I did each day in order to stay healthy and well. The interviewer smiled and handed me three sets of data and asked for my impressions. I spent some time sorting, letting my numbers side come out and then gave my answer. I presume I did just fine, as I've got another round of interviews this week.
As I thumbed through the pages of data the interviewer had handed me, it occurred to me that working to maintain tight control of my diabetes has given me a number of gifts. First and foremost, there's my health. Feeling well, having healthy eyes and kidneys, all of that. But, my efforts at control have also gifted me with the ability to recognize and strengthen pieces of myself I had never thought would flourish - pieces of myself that without my having diabetes - may never have surfaced or been nurtured.
Of course, the thing about diabetes data is that it often makes no sense - even to the numbers side. What works one time, might not work another. The math isn't all that consistent and finding patterns can be near impossible. And I'll admit that I still haven't figured out the superbolus and I much prefer writing and reading to pouring over my stats and graphs trying to figure things out. But the fact is, I CAN pour over things and many times, I can figure things out - this is progress for a girl who spent most of her time in high school math class doodling and writing notes and who got a *gasp* C+ in College-Level Statistics.
What's next? A Mathalon?
