Today is a life changing day.

No, seriously.

Today, I woke up early, drove 45 minutes to my second training for my new Medtronic 670 G insulin pump, and they turned on the auto basal feature on my pump. What does that mean? It means that this first pump of its kind now has the ability to see what my blood sugar is and every 5 minutes, all on its own, give micro amounts of insulin to make sure my blood sugar stays as close to 120 as possible. It means that if my blood sugar is going up, it will give more insulin, and if its dropping low, it will give less. ALL ON ITS OWN!!! Yes, I still give insulin when I eat or give corrections when necessary, but it is working to manage my blood sugar in the time in between so that I hopefully don’t need to be giving corrections at all.

I’ve been open about my struggles to keep my blood sugars in range, I experience a lot of roller coaster ups and downs, and while my A1c has fluctuated over the years, I’ve never been able to get it to 6.0, a goal that I work every day to achieve. I’ve experienced frustrations, burnout, sadness as well as pride and celebrations over the years, but this new pump feature has the potential to be life changing for someone like me and many others with T1D.

It has literally only been about 2 hours since I turned this feature on and I’m sitting looking at one of the straightest, steadiest, in-range blood sugar graphs and I can’t help but get emotional. I have tears falling down my cheek as I type this. I don’t know that I can communicate everything that I’m feeling right now. For some of you, maybe you can relate, and for others, I hope I can come close.

Diabetes is all consuming. You have to be thinking about it all day, every day. You can’t take a break, you can’t say, “I don’t want to deal with you right now” without facing consequences to your health. Diabetes takes so much time and energy, and some days can be so physically and mentally exhausting. It’s exhausting when your blood sugar is running high and you’re not exactly sure why, it’s exhausting when you’re exercising or out with friends and it drops low and you have to stop what you’re doing and treat it and wait to feel better. It’s exhausting just not feeling your best or being able to give your best because you feel low, or high, or just off. It’s exhausting feeling like you do so much, but don’t have the numbers to show for it.

Just the idea that this pump is literally asking me to give up a lot of control, trust the sensor, and let the pump do some of the work is simultaneously terrifying and liberating. It takes away just a little of the burden of living with diabetes, but even that little bit counts for so much! And I am so grateful and excited that a pump with a feature like this finally, finally exists. The fact that I potentially won’t have as many roller coaster highs and lows is such an incredible thought that is almost too good to be true.

I’ll let you know if I feel the same way 2 weeks into wearing this pump as I do 2 hours in, but for now, I am just so thankful to finally have a piece of technology that can truly help me in a way that I haven’t experienced before. And while it’s not a cure, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.