Today was a busy day. And when 4 p.m. rolled around, I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since noon. Not only was I hungry but my blood sugar was dropping (even though I decrease my basal insulin rate in preparation for my commute). I usually snack on something like an apple, banana or almonds before I leave work to ensure my blood sugar stays stable during my commute home.

But since the metro currently sucks, and I know it will take me more than an hour to get home via bus if I don’t leave by 4:15 p.m., I left work without that snack. I had glucose tablets with me just in case. I turned off my insulin for the next hour. But by the time I made it through stop and start traffic (because in addition to my metro line being down, they decided to do work on one of the busiest center streets in the city causing all kinds of traffic jams), I was feeling light-headed and hangry.

I reminded myself that no matter how busy I am or how distracted I get by life, I gotta remember to eat. But it could be worse – at one of my first jobs I used to take insulin 10 minutes before I ate and then get distracted by work and forget that I had already taken insulin (I could have had a seizure or died, depending on how much insulin I took). Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Eat, Tracy, eat.

This post is part of my 30 Days With Diabetes series.