2023-06-24 14:09:45
Chronically ill
“Despite the fact that I work in healthcare myself, I had the prejudice that with diabetes you have a shortage of insulin, that you have to inject it and then you can just get on with your life. But it does not work like that. I always have to control my sugars and watch what I eat. Everything you eat affects your sugar levels. I inject insulin to keep my sugar from getting too high.”
“I always have to think about what I’m going to do next. If I consume too much sugar because I’m active, it can drop very quickly. And too low a sugar content really doesn’t make you feel good. So it is constantly adjusting, eating or spraying. All day long, every day. I can never park it.”
“I really feel like an old woman when I say this. But I’m tired, tired, tired. I was always active, but now I have to learn how to dose things.”
Suddenly patient
Else is unable to work due to her diabetes and is put on hold. “It was crazy that I suddenly became the patient,” she recalls. “I went from nurse to patient. I was not familiar with that role. I now fall under the chronically ill. That is so unreal.”
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She is now trying to build up the work a bit, but whether Else will ever be able to work on the ambulance is questionable. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that again. If we get a call it could just be that my sugar rises because of the adrenaline. And if my sugar suddenly drops when I’m with a patient, I can’t say, ‘Wait a minute. I have to eat something first.’ You want to provide optimal care, but I don’t know if I can still do that. “Perhaps I can continue to work as a nurse, but not in urgent care.”
“The funny thing about diabetes is that it has many consequences. In addition to being sick, it also affects your job and that in turn has financial consequences. But the Occupational Health and Safety Service says: ‘First build up slowly and then we’ll see further’.”
Grateful
Despite her diabetes, Else does not give up. Last month she participated in the six-day WeHike Challenge of the Bas van de Goor Foundation. She raised money for the foundation, which organizes activities for children with diabetes. “And I also wanted to find out for myself what effect such a challenge would have on my sugars.”
Photo of Else during the WeHike Challenge in Spain. Text continues below the photo.
On the first day, Else already gets several hypos (then her blood sugar is too low). “Long live the dextros,” she jokes – raising her blood sugar again. “And I’m not the only one who has hypos,” Else writes on Instagram. “There are constant beeps, chimes and other alarms. It is almost funny to see how people collectively reach for their own pump or telephone after an alarm. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one struggling with this. ”
“I never knew that this disease would be so drastic,” says Else. “Even as a nurse you come home from a rude awakening. But I’m also very down to earth. I am 56 years old and have always been very healthy. I am grateful for that.”
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