Being the Diabetic Coworker

About month after starting with the company that I currently work for, I called off sick one Tuesday morning.

Then I called off sick the next morning.

And the next morning, I call my boss and told her I was making an appointment with the doctor and I hoped to be back to work on Friday. Later in the day she received a voice mail from me that I was being admitted to the hospital. I can’t say that I remember what I said, I can barely remember calling my husband from the doctor’s office to tell him that his mom was going to drive me to the hospital because I had diabetic ketoacidosis. You probably already know the story.

I decided to participate in the March DSMA Blog Carnival because I’ve recently been remembering/rediscovering what life was like last August and this is the prompt:

Does your employer/school/friends know you have diabetes? Why or why not?

After leaving a message saying that I was going to the hospital, I figured that my boss deserved an explanation. And when the new girl is missing for almost a week, people tend to get concerned. When I returned to work, I was welcomed back with sympathy for other concurrent life events and concern for my well being.

I answered a lot of questions when I got back to work. The one that stands out: So if something goes wrong for you, what do we need to do to help?

I feel better knowing that the people I spend five days a week with know and, to some extent, understand my condition. My PDM or juice box accompanying me to meetings isn’t surprising or unusual. I don’t feel uncomfortable testing at my desk or bolusing for events that include food. Disclosure didn’t even seem like a choice to me (not that I felt forced into it). Disclosing was simply part of the natural progression of my situation.

This post is my March entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival.  If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2012/march-dsma-blog-carnival-2/