I Can't Remember

There are some diabetes facts (and  'facts') which are always readily available to me for instant recall.

I'm always able to remember that ritz crackers have 2 carbs each, that walking around a museum results in a steady decline in blood sugar, and that the total amount of insulin needed to fill the canula for a site change is 0.7 units. These and many other oft-used bits of information will forever be embedded in my mind.  I'll likely still remember them well beyond their usefulness to me.

Yet there are other bits and pieces which I am simply unable to retain.

We've had 12 Thanksgivings with diabetes, but every year I have to look up carb counts for squash and pie.  Similarly, corn on the cob doesn't stick with me from summer to summer.  Worse yet, I find myself looking up Italian ice if it's been more than 3 days since the last cup.

Doctors' visits regularly stump me with questions like, 'When was her last blood work/dental appointment/eye exam?'  Or 'What is your copay?'  If I could even remember ahead of time that I'd be asked, I could at least look them up and make myself notes. Instead I have to slowly work my way through the recesses of my memory to come up with an answer, or an approximation there-of.

When was the last site change?  Half the time we have to look in the pump's history to find out.  Did I call  to change the amounts on the order for pump supplies after the last box was delivered or do I still need to do that?  Did this bill for the lab work cross in the mail with my check or did I never get around to paying it?  When is nurse's day again? 

Fortunately, none of these are unanswerable questions.  I can turn to calorie king, the memories of our diabetes devices, my thoroughly annotated planner, the checkbook, and the internet. 

Which is good, because on the whole it is impossible to remember every detail about diabetes.  At least if I also want to remember anything else.