Let's do this

One more day! Tomorrow Zach and I head back to Charlottesville. I have the incredible opportunity to be a part of history. I still can't really believe how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to participate in the very first set of Artificial Pancreas Project outpatient clinical trials in the United States. It's almost like a dream that I'm afraid to wake up from and find out that the  Artificial Pancreas hasn't been developed, that we aren't this close to taking some of the daily weight off of managing diabetes, and that there are no trials for me to participate in. But every morning for the past few weeks, I've woken up to find that the dream is a reality.  I sincerely hope that everyone who has worked so hard to make the AP what it is and to get it to where it is today knows how grateful myself and the millions of other people who's lives are touched by Type 1 Diabetes everyday truly are. 

The day before I went for my inpatient trials, I was feeling very much the same, but at the same time quite differently than I am now. I was and still am incredibly grateful for the opportunity, ridiculously excited, and practically counting the hours until the trials start. But this time is different because all of the fears I had of the hospital and the IVs in my arms and not knowing what the to expect from the Artificial Pancreas itself are all gone. This time it is pure and simple excitement. I've seen that this technology is more than capable of doing what it is meant to do, I don't need to be in a hospital bed, and there are no IV blood draws (I still don't think anyone could actually enjoy an IV). I've said it before and I will say it again: This is REAL LIFE. Now before I get ahead of myself I want to offer the reminder that this is just the very first set of outpatient trials here in the US, so I can't leave the hotel but everything moves in stages and with this being just the beginning, it can only get better from here.  

Right now I have the 2 CGM sensors that were put in yesterday and my normal omnipod. Tomorrow at this time I'll be getting ready for bed with my AP cell phone, and knowing that pretty much means I'm too excited to sleep tonight. Sort of in the same way that it's hard to sleep when you're a kid the night before leaving for a really awesome yearly family vacation to an amusement park (Mom, Dad...Hershey Park?).  I would have posted earlier today but honestly, every time I tried writing I just started crying again (that's pretty much what I do these days) but its always happy tears because I know I won't have to keep doing what I do forever. Just a little longer.  I'll do my best to sleep tonight, but knowing what's just around the corner tomorrow makes that pretty much impossible.