I took a Naked Shower today.
“Oh, here we go again,” You’re probably thinking. “Crazy Lady and her TMI. EVERYBODY takes a shower naked!”
But that’s where you’d be horribly and irrefutably wrong. NOT everybody gets to be naked in the shower. My readers with type 1 diabetes on insulin pumps and /or CGMSs know this all too well.
So getting back to my point, I took a Naked Shower today and it was AMAZING.
A Naked Shower, by my definition, is a shower in which you are completely naked and unattached to any medical device AND with no medical device accessory stuck to your body. I have had type 1 diabetes for 35 years and for the last 15 years have worn an insulin pump. For the last ten years I’ve worn an insulin pump AND a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS). These items are stuck to or attached to my body nearly every moment of every single day.
Once in a great while, there exists a day when my CGMS sensor dies at the same time my insulin pump runs out of insulin AND I need to get in the shower. It is a magical serendipitous event that occurs rarely (maybe two to three times a year) and means that I get to remove the sticking-out sticky accoutrements of both devices and be utterly and completely naked in the shower. It is a wondrous thing that I can’t explain. To be able to scrub clean every service without worrying about dislodging something from its designated location – well, it’s a freedom those without T1D probably can’t understand.
Today, as I scrubbed, I thought about the illusive Naked Shower and how while these devices can be a burden, they also make life with T1D so much more livable – both literally and figuratively. I suppose it’s a love/hate relationship, but one I feel privileged to be alive to be part of. Yesterday, coincidentally, was a banner day in the diabetes world. The FDA approved the first automated insulin delivery device. This is what we refer to as the artificial pancreas. All of these devices exist due to donations to organizations like JDRF.
Donations that come from supporters like you.
This year I will take part in my 35th Walk to raise money to cure diabetes. The JDRF South Central Texas Chapter’s One Walk is an amazing event for thousands of people with type 1 diabetes and their supporters. Make a donation to my team today and help every body (See? Did you see what I did there?!?) look forward to a lifetime of Naked Showers, a lifetime free of medical devices, shots, carbohydrate counting, complications and crippling medical expenses.
Visit http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/Kelsey to find out more and make your donation today.
Let’s work together toward a future filled with Naked Showers for everyone.
Thank you.