Six grams

I just changed my infusion site and noticed that for awhile now I've done something peculiar every time I change my site. Most of my site-changing ritual is standard; I remove the old site, take my shirt off, and start feeling around for where I want to insert the new one. Once I find a good spot, I insert the cannula, make sure the sticker sticks, connect the tube, fill the cannula, and reset the 3 day timer. Then I give myself a meal bolus for 6 grams of carbs.

Rituals like this are as helpful as they are arbitrary. Why do I take old site out before taking my shirt off? Why do I take my shirt off at all? Why do I take that single unit of insulin, even going so far as to grab a snack to compensate? There aren't good answers to either of these questions, but it's part of my ritual.  There is a reason that religions and fraternities (and even people just getting ready for work) form rituals. Rituals help us remember the proper thing to do in the proper order, and makes our actions more consistent. In the case of diabetes care, it helps us automate the process and in doing so, allows us to take our mind off of what we are doing. Regularity is obviously a good thing, and taking our mind off of the fact we're hurting ourselves with a syringe or cannula inserter helps as well.

So that, I've figured, is why I take the old site out before taking off my shirt. Taking off my shirt probably helped me insert a site once, and so that became habit. There was probably an instance where taking insulin for six grams of carbs helped relax the nerves around a new site and eased the pain, and that became part of the ritual. These little things don't give me better control, don't lower my A1C's, and don't reduce the number of times I have to change my site. But these little things group together to form a ritual that makes living with diabetes easier, and that reason alone is good enough for me.