The Quarterback Who Knows Nothing About Football

Living in a home with 4 “boys” you would think that I may have gleamed a few ideas about the inner working of sports.  To a certain degree, this is true.  When it comes to football, I admit as much as the guys have tried to explain the game, I am “like a deer in the headlights” in terms of making sense of it.  I suppose I do “get” that the quarterback is the guy in charge on the fields.  Forgive me if I am oversimplifying the game & the analogy.

In considering my current diabetes teammates, I feel profoundly thankful.  My team of coaches include:  my endocrinologist, nurse, dietician, pharmacist, family doctor, type 1 friends, and my small library of reference books.  What would you call someone who is the technical advisor?  Since I am not sure, I will call him the general manager, one of several in my case is my mathlete husband.  Who are the players?  For me, the answer to that question is a resounding, “my battle buddies.”  The “players” are on the team because they are people who are encouraging, inspiring, humourous, caring, kind, genuine, truthful, principled, realistic and accepting.  The “players” are dear heart friends & family & community members within the diabetes community as well as other awesome communities.  Add to that list, my “personal trainer”, our furry goldie who rain or shine is “pro” walk!

Could I manage diabetes on my own?  Hmm, that’s a good question.  Better question for me though is…”why would I want to when I know that I am going to have more success with a team?”  I choose to be on a team & I choose to be the quarterback!

How many “games” do you think a team would win say if even one of the team mates would neither talk to nor listen to the quarterback?  What if  the "head coach" “fumbled” & did not consider vital information that would help to “make the play?”  What if the quarterback has questions & that a coach ignores the questions because they believe the quarterback is not smart enough to be able to follow “the play?”

Why am I asking all these questions?  These are all things that happened to me when I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2007.  One “coach” would not speak directly to me but rather spoke to my husband instead which hit me as bizarre indeed.  The coach also did not consider that I was nursing a baby when advising one significant part of my care program.  Another coach thankfully “pinch hit” & saved “the game”.  (I know, baseball analogy, not football).  The “fumbling” coach did not choose to answer questions that were distressing to me that would have provided peace of mind.  It felt like I was a body without anything else in this regard.  It was disheartening & scary.  I was a gal raised in a small town originally of 1500 people suddenly thrust into a huge Toronto hospital with a deli-like system of care.  I was a square peg being compressed into a round hole.  First of all, I was an adult being diagnosed with type 1 which is unusual.  Second, I was being asked things like did I notice a significant weight loss & tiredness. My answer was yes I noticed those 2 things yet not for the reasons that the box on the form in front of me was being checked off.  I wondered at the time if I could add words to the form.  The reason that I had lost weight was that I had just had a baby some months before & I was exercising to lose the “baby weight” so I sure did not see that weight loss as a sign of anything other than my efforts.  Tiredness…well, ask any new parent if they are tired!  Again, square peg, round hole plus compression.  Having those encounters during the first 6 months was an exercise in keeping myself calm during already hyperglycemic states.    That collection of experiences that first day & in the following months brought me to the realization that I was in the wrong place with the wrong team. 

Okay, happy ending time…well happy present & happy ending time.  For the first 6  months, I was not the quarterback of my diabetes team & it did not feel “right.”  There was the “just right team” out there though.  It was up to me as the quarterback to put the winning team together.  For just over 5 years now, I have had the “exact right” diabetes team & for this I am extremely grateful.  Diabetes has its fair share of challenges so creating “the exact right” team makes a huge difference I have found.  I remember vividly wondering during those exasperating first 6 months after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes if I was going to continue to feel like I was on the wrong team.  In remembering those brief first 6 months, I am mindful of how things have changed.  More than this, I am continuously grateful to a team of people that are truly amazing including an extraordinary endocrinologist, nurse, pharmacist & other Dear Hearts.

Call it quarterback, manager or any other name, being in charge of our diabetes can be an empowering feeling. How do professional sports teams go about comprising their teams?  I don’t know but I would think through careful researching, “scouting”, considering the team dynamics as a whole & other important factors.  Like so many profoundly important things in life, “the exact right” team does not happen on its own.  Once all the team members are “drafted”, there you have it…a home run!  I know, I know, again, this is not a football analogy.  Did I mention that I am after all the “quarterback” who knows nothing about football?

My heart’s hope for you is that you are the quarterback of your “365” team & have the peace of mind that everyone is working together to give you peace of mind.

Smiles, Saundie :)

Have a hit it out of the park week & next Monday's sharing is, "Perspective on Perception"  :)