I lived in Florida between 2001 and 2005, later moving to the Netherlands. It was quite the shock after living in south eastern Washington state, which is desert.
The desert is dry and when you stand in the shade, it’s cooler. In Florida, the humidity can be oppressing and really the only way to escape the heat (outside of it being the one week in December it’s actually cold) is go somewhere with air conditioning.
So now I’m going back to Florida for the first time as an insulin dependent diabetic and it’s probably going to be my biggest test of my blood glucose management skills yet.
- Florida, even in November, can still easily get up to 25, 26 easily (that’s the low 80s in freedom units) and my blood glucose drops like a rock in water in the warmth
- Since we’ll be doing 4 Disney parks, 2 Universal parks and Kennedy Space Center we’re going to be doing A LOT of walking which also drops blood sugar
- I have to research the different attractions policies on bringing bags, food and whatnot
- I have to find out if the hotel provides sharps containers
- I’ll have to take enough pump supplies with me since the Kaleido isn’t released in the USA yet
- I’ll have to take enough Novorapid with me since I don’t want to go bankrupt buying it in the USA (my dad takes Lantus so if something happens I can probably bum a pen off him for basal if I have to MDI)
- Need to figure out where to order groceries from (tap water in Florida is freaking gross, plus I want different candy for lows than I exist on in the Netherlands)
I already have quite a bit of research done already, so I’ll start adding it to My Crazy Diabetic Life as it filters in.
The most challenging part of the week is going to be Thanksgiving. I’m not sure what my strategy is going to be other than I’m not denying myself anything that I love. I’ll have enough insulin with me to cover it so it’ll be good. So I have that to think on as well.
Overall, I’m excited to spend time with my family, be back in Florida and go to all the parks and attractions. Especially since there are new rides that I haven’t been on at Disneyworld nor Universal!
