My age isn’t my biggest challenge as a UPS driver. This is.

When I was a little boy I was mesmerized by a toy I call the Floating Ball. You can still find it for sale online. It’s such an elementary concept: as you blow gently into the tube you keep the ball aloft, levitating as if by magic.

Obviously you cannot exhale indefinitely, but if you control your breath you can extend the time before the ball returns to its perch. Breathe too hard and the ball is blown out of the narrow stream of your breath entirely. It’s an ongoing exercise in constancy and moderation.

I can’t help but see the Floating Ball toy as an apt metaphor for my life and work every day as a UPS driver who also happens to be an insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetic.

I’ve already written about the physical (and mental) rigors of my job. Being diabetic adds an extra layer of complexity that most UPS drivers don’t have to contend with or even be cognizant of. If I’m not vigilantly aware of my own body at all times, I could put my life in danger – not to mention the lives of everyone around me while I’m behind the wheel.

The ‘floating ball’ of diabetes is my blood sugar level. I use an ongoing combination of three ways of ‘breathing’ to keep the ball aloft: food, insulin, and physical activity.

As most people know, if a diabetic’s blood sugar drops too low, or for too long a time, they can pass out, slip into a coma, or in the rarest and most extreme cases, die. And most people also know that treating low blood sugar involves eating or drinking something.

A sugary drink or snack is best because its simple carbohydrates are broken down and absorbed quickly into the bloodstream. Still, it’s an uncomfortable few minutes between finishing the pick-me-up and feeling like it’s having any effect. The survival instinct kicks in, and the impulse to overcompensate by eating or drinking more than what’s required is hard to resist. Such an overreaction may cause one’s blood sugar levels to spike way up.

While a hypoglycemic episode is much more life-threatening than a hyperglycemic episode, treating low blood sugar with food is much easier and more convenient than treating high blood sugar with insulin. That is, unless you’re on insulin pump therapy. Insulin pumps deliver regular microdoses of insulin under the skin every few minutes, and can respond quickly with additional doses (‘boluses’) to cover food intake.

I’ve been using an insulin pump since 2000. They’re much more convenient than multiple daily injections. And now I have a continuous glucose monitoring system – a ‘sensor’ – that tells my pump exactly what my blood sugar is and whether it’s rising, falling, or staying level. My pump can use the sensor data to bolus for me. It’s a ‘closed-loop’ system; I don’t have to actively monitor my blood sugar or calculate a ‘correction bolus.’

Which is a good thing, because I’m usually scheduled to make a delivery or pickup every few minutes. My work doesn’t give me a lot of time to pull over and park, test my blood sugar, and if necessary give myself an extra shot or bolus of insulin every time I feel my number spiking.

Now, if all I did was drive, my blood sugar levels might stay fairly moderate and constant. Kind of like a floating ball. I could eat a reasonable amount of food, cover my carbs with the appropriate amount of insulin, and count on my insulin pump to smooth out any peaks or valleys.

But that’s not all I do. I climb in and out of my package car; I lift, lower, and carry packages of all shapes, sizes, and weights; I go up and down flights of steps in apartment and office buildings and to the front doors of private homes. I’m in constant motion. All day. Every day. And no two days – no two stops – are ever the same.

Ordinarily, regular physical activity is great for diabetics. But if my ‘closed-loop’ system is already monitoring and managing my insulin, strenuous exercise can be like a big gust of wind throwing the floating ball out of that narrow stream of air.

For this reason, I pack a lot of food and drink for my shift at work. And they’re almost exclusively bite-sized, things I can just pop in my mouth and keep moving. Like orange slices that I peel and throw in a ziploc ahead of time. I pack emergency snacks for when I eat all my regular snacks. And I pack backup snacks for when I eat all my emergency snacks. Thankfully I’ve never had to resort to my backup snacks, but I have occasionally eaten all my emergency snacks.

I’d been afraid that my diabetes would disqualify me from ever becoming a UPS driver. But I learned that while diabetics are not ineligible, they do have to complete a compulsory DOT physical every year, instead of every two years as required for non-diabetics.

And while non-diabetics can walk in off the street and get DOT clearance in a single visit without an appointment, diabetics like me have to be pre-cleared by an eye doctor and endocrinologist, requiring actual appointments scheduled several weeks or months out. That’s three separate visits (two scheduled and one unscheduled) every year, versus one unscheduled visit every other year. As a diabetic I’m subjected to six times the scrutiny as a non-diabetic.

I understand and appreciate this extra scrutiny. I know that my diabetes is a serious medical condition, and I owe it to myself, my employer, my customers, and everyone else on the road to make sure that I’m in good physical health.

Although I hardly feel ‘disabled,’ type 1 diabetes is a federally protected disability according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Which is why I feel so grateful that after a half-century of life, and almost thirty years as a type 1 diabetic, I still have the physical ability to be a UPS driver.

Among other things, my diabetes requires focus, discipline, and vigilance. But it doesn’t define me – and it certainly doesn’t limit me.