A Dave Stieb Kinda Day

Editor’s Note #1: To get the full artistic effect of this post, I recommend reading it while listening to the following mid-nineties punk rock nostalgia.

Dave Stieb pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1979 to 1992 (and, again, in 1998).  He holds career records for Jays pitchers in wins, games started, shutouts and strikeouts.  Not bad.

Anyone who knows anything about baseball will know that perfection is not the goal of the game.  A batter is considered to have done exceptionally well if his season’s batting average is .300 (3 hits for every 10 at bats).  Despite this, it is possible for a pitcher to achieve a perfect game (18 have been recorded in major league history) or at least throw a no-hitter.

On three occasions between 1988 and 1989, Dave Stieb almost had a no-hitter.  Almost.  However, each one of these potential no-hitters was broken up with two outs in the ninth inning.  Heartbreaking.  So close, and yet, so far. (Side note: Dave Stieb did pitch the first no-hitter in Blue Jays franchise history in 1990 against the Cleveland Indians).

At this point you may be wondering, what does this have to do with diabetes? My answer?  It all comes down to numbers…

Yesterday, I was having a right-stellar day in the blood glucose department.  I woke up at 5.4mmol/L and had a post-breakfast reading of 6.0 (a wee bit low but I had my eye on things).  In the early afternoon, my sugar dropped (I think my basal rates need some tweaking) so I had some juice.  And, before lunch, I was back in optimal, pre-meal range.  Easy peasy.  I was cruising along.  I was feeling pretty good about myself.  I may have even thought that me and diabetes had finally come to an understanding, an agreement, some sort of unspoken pact.  But this (of course) was not the case.

A couple of hours after lunch, I started to feel that telltale, foggy lethargy and, after a quick poke to my finger and a five-second countdown, I was not surprised to see that my blood sugar had climbed to around 15mmol/L for no apparent reason.  I scowled.  I growled.  And then I made a noise that sounded something like, “Hhrumph.”

I am so easily affected by the barrage of numbers that fill my day-to-day life.  Instead of simply taking a correction dose and being content that my sugar will be back in range in a couple hours, I take a correction dose and feel downright grumpy that my “perfect game” has been thwarted.  To help me get a grip, and to avoid getting wrapped up in feelings of frustration, I need to constantly remind myself that, even though these numbers have the potential to evoke frustration, discouragement, anger, happiness and exhaustion, when it comes down to it, they are just numbers!  And there is absolutely no reason why one out-of-range result should drag me down, alter my outlook and change the course of my day.  No sirree.  I’ve put my foot down and I just won’t have it.

So, to avoid getting trapped by a single number on an otherwise good blood sugar day, I have come up with a plan.  When a day of good blood sugar control is interrupted by an out-of-range number, I will tell myself that I’m simply having a Dave Stieb kinda day.  If Dave Stieb can deal with losing out on three potential no-hitters with two outs in the ninth, I can deal with a brief sojourn into out-of-range territory on an otherwise perfect blood sugar day.

It’s just a Dave Stieb kinda day.  Everybody has Dave Stieb kinda days…and I’m pretty sure they’re unavoidable with diabetes.

Editor’s Note #2: Even if you’re not a Jays fan — I, for example, am an Old-English D gal myself — you may still experience Dave Stieb kinda days.  Diabetes is just like that.