there. Seems like it would be easy, right? We searched “Foxwoods Casino” on the GPS and followed the directions. How hard can it be to spot a huge lighted casino after the sun has gone down? Apparently pretty hard, because the GPS triumphantly announced “YOU HAVE ARRIVED!!!!” while we were in the middle of a dark desolate street. No buildings topped with neon. No happy jingle of slot machines. No icky haze of cigarette smoke. Just darkness and trees. We were lost. We tried going farther down the road. We tried turning around and backtracking. All in all, we had no idea where we were going.It made me think about the comparison of our meters to a diabetes GPS. I depend on my meter to guide me down the Blood Sugar Highway that is my life. It lets me know if I’m headed in the right direction or if I need to make a u-turn. It helps guide me down out of the mountains of a 300. It helps me navigate out of the valley of a 40. And when the information it gives me is wrong, I am lost.
For example, when I tested before dinner on Valentine’s Day I was surprised that my blood sugar GPS clocked me at 192. I was sure I hadn’t over-treated the low I had before we left for dinner, and even if I had it was odd to have shot up so quickly. But I trusted the directions and corrected so I could hopefully get back on course.
Later that evening, I was stranded in The Lows. It took me several low treats to get me cruising back on “Route 100” and the only thing I could figure was that the pre-dinner 192 was incorrect. Just like the directions to the casino were incorrect. We needed to cover 8 more miles to reach our destination, and I needed to ingest 15 more carbs to reach my blood sugar destination.
Both stories have happy endings. The Valentine’s Low was a nasty one, but we didn’t let it ruin our evening. And on Friday we finally found the casino and had a fantastic night of good food, great entertainment and wonderful friends. But I still shutter at the memory of driving around in the dark when either GPS mistakenly announces “You Have Arrived!!!!!!”.
GREAT analogy. I'm going to remember this and recount it for anyone looking for an explanation of why we test so much. With proper credit given for the source, of course:) Thanks
ReplyDeleteI love the analogy, and I'm also glad you climbed out of the trees and found Chris and I at the show. :)
ReplyDeleteI like that analogy! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRecalculating...
ReplyDelete:-)
#likeyoudo
ReplyDeleteI had to use my GPS the first few days of my new job. My favorite part was when it would announce that I had arrived at my destination on the right... when I was pulling into the destination on the left.
Great post and analogy. Scott K made me giggle and now each time i hear my GPS say "recalculating" I will think of you both.
ReplyDeleteEddie Izzard is a favorite of mine. His best show that I have seen (all be it on HBO) was Dress to Kill. "We can't all do big arms." And the squirrels - oh the damn squirrels - the man in a genius and wears his make up so much better than me.
Glad you made it to the show and had a great weekend.
What a great analogy. Those GPS sometimes lie so bad and do the opposite to what they are intended for.
ReplyDelete"recalculating" cracks me up.
and Izzard is quite possibly my favourite comedian!
Love it. I heard Kelly K say once that our BG is like our roadmap... and I have always used/loved that analogy. When I wake up in the mornings and don't check my fasting BG for whatever reason, I feel like I'm "lost"..don't know if I'm headed north, south, or right on track. I know most of the time we can trust our instincts and "know" if we're high/low but we all know that sometimes (oftentimes) we're wrong. (And I'm ducking as I say this .. but I've never heard of Eddie Izzard until I saw you and Kerri posting about being there... guess I need to catch up with the times! lol)
ReplyDelete