The Daily Habits of a Diabetics’ Wife

Ah, diabetes; with my husband of seven years suffering from it during the length of our relationship, I almost consider it an old friend now! While it is a serious disease, I’ve come to learn that taking the proper steps not only minimizes its effects, but almost eliminates them, and my story is absolute proof that nothing more than love and mindfulness is needed to overcome any threat of its negative effects on everyday life.

It certainly can be tough, and anyone who helps to take daily care of someone with diabetes can attest to that, but my husband and I have learned to deal with the adventure of life as it comes, putting his disease on the backburner in order to ensure that we make the most of out every day!

Seize the Day – and the Diabetes

My mornings begin with making a healthy breakfast that I know will aid in keeping his blood sugar levels even and putting together a homemade lunch for him to take to work, with both meals being constructed from my now-intuitive knowledge of the foods he needs more of and those he must avoid at all costs. Food is key in the life of a diabetic diet, and I never forget it.

While he usually doesn’t know it, I often take an extra to peek inside his bagged lunch in order to ensure that no sugary snacks have found themselves along for the ride; while he is just as concerned for his health as I am, it seems like his out-of-whack blood sugar levels are enough to cause a substantial enough craving that he’ll break dietary rules on occasion!

After work, he comes home to another healthy meal, carefully prepared, and a dessert that doesn’t wreak havoc with his blood glucose levels. When supper is done, we’re out for a 30-minute walk in the name of the exercise, a habit that has proven particularly important for him, but no less so for my own health and physique! My husband also follows supper up with recreational rugby twice each week, only requiring me to discreetly check for scrapes or cuts that he may have missed while I rub his sore muscles following a match.

Once we return home from our day’s activities, we spend the evening relaxing, often daydreaming about the excitement and promise that the days ahead hold, choosing names for our future children, or simply planning for the coming weekend.

Onto the Future

While there was a time that I worried what effect diabetes would have on my life and that of my husband, we’ve come to find that being responsible allows us to live almost every day as if his disease didn’t exist; attention to detail and a generally healthy lifestyle are all that we’ve needed to put it in our rearview mirror, leaving us to live every day of our lives to the absolute fullest.

Knowing that the health of the children that we’re planning to have soon is quite secure – the chance that they’ll inherit his diabetes is less than 5 percent – I’ve learned to almost forget that diabetes exists, and so has my husband.