Well here we are, the wedding is so close now the excitement around us is palpable. I’m not sure I’ve allowed the excitement to set in yet. There’s still so much left to do that I almost forget how much I’ve prepared.
There have been so many things to consider over the last 2 years of planning that actually factoring in things to make my diabetes management easier on the day has fallen into general wedding category rather than being something set apart. I like thinking of it like that I suppose. My T1D is part of me after all so treating it the same way I have my dress or my hair makes sense.
Where to put my pump
The first thing I arranged was how to literally manage my T1D on the day. From a technology point of view, my Kaleido pump has been my saviour. I can’t imagine an easier way for me to ensure insulin delivery. It also allows me to manage varying basal needs in a wedding dress. In the run-up to the big day though, I found myself being very aware of which sites I use. Sometimes I bruise or the residue from the hook and loop patches takes a while to wash away. So, any visible sites have been off-limits. I’ve also wanted to avoid my legs, which are my planned wedding day sites. This way I avoid causing lypos or anything else that could impact insulin absorption. I’ve also timed my set changes to make sure I’m wearing my turquoise pump on the day…something blue is tradition, right?
What to eat
When it came to planning the menu for the day, I thought about ways we could make sure I was able to guesstimate as closely as possible for all the delicious food we were selecting. I think at one point I googled pocket scales. I figured that would be the way forward, then I realised we could work more closely with the chef. We had a few meetings and conversations with the event team and then I asked if the chef could come along to our final details meeting. Th same chef had sent each of my courses up during the tasting with a message telling me how much the carbohydrate count of each course weighed, enabling me to work out my insulin requirements.
It felt emotional to meet him in person. I think anyone with T1D gets quite used to the terrifying need to guesstimate for meals we haven’t prepared ourselves. So it’ll come as no surprise that I literally cried when he said it wouldn’t be a problem to work out the carb content for each dish. I’ve reviewed the carbs and they all look in order and I’m so pleased I asked the question.
And then hypo’s
We’ve also thought about hypo management. Not just for me, we have some incredible friends from the Diabetes community joining us. So behind the bar will be 150ml cans of coke for those moments the dancing gets the better of our BGs.
My final prep has been to have a good chat with my diabetes team about ways to manage m BGs on our wedding day. I usually set myself quite a tight target range. So, their first piece of advice was to relax this a bit, so I’ve changed this across all of my devices. The next piece of advice was to have someone keep an eye out for any signs I might be high or low. Someone who knows me and the signs and can help me with this task without feeling like I’m being babied. Lastly, as my team sent me off with best wishes for a forever of happiness. And they reminded me to just enjoy the day… and send pictures!
About Niki
Niki is mumma to Moomin and fiancé to Matt and has been the director of her type 1 diabetes since 2001. When she’s not hanging out with her family, working or planning the wedding of the year, she can be found writing about her life with T1D at whatnikididnext.wordpress.com Niki is also passionate about research and living well with diabetes.