Let the countdown begin

6 days from today I check into the hotel in Charlottesville and begin my outpatient trials of the Artificial Pancreas. It's pretty much all I've been thinking about for the past few days, and it's kind of hard to believe that I'm actually going to be in this trial. I get a break from my diabetes. A REAL break. Doing the inpatient trials (see earlier posts below) was really incredible and even though I was tethered to a computer by several cords, it still felt like freedom. Honestly, I don't even really remember what life was like before I was diagnosed. For 17 years this has been a part of my life and that's just how it's been. But to now know that there exists a piece of technology that can change all of that is just so awesome. And this time it's being used outside of the hospital! I don't know if there are people out there who enjoy or even just don't mind being in a hospital, but I am most certainly not one of those people. So when I found out that the outpatient trial would be held at a hotel I'm sure you can guess how excited I was.

I check in late in the afternoon on Wednesday, May 30th and check out around lunchtime on Friday, June 1st. Again I'm packing way more stuff than I need to be bringing, but it's different this time because I have free reign inside the hotel. I won't need to push a button and call for a tech when I want to get up and brush my teeth, I won't need to spend the day in bed watching tv (not that I necessarily minded that part...), and I won't be surrounded by hospital equipment. I'm not allowed to leave the hotel for the duration of the trial, but I'm more than OK with that. Even inside the walls of a hotel this will still be the Artificial Pancreas doing its thing in REAL LIFE. In 6 days.