Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloweenie

BG: 64

I feel like such a WEENIE!!!!

I mean really. One day with an obnoxious amount of candy around, and already I'm seeing a couple of spikes... and feeling unnecessarily junk food hung over. You know what I mean... you don't even have to be diabetic to know what a junk food hang over feels like. Heck, you don't even have to be hyperglycemic.

It's that feeling of needing to brush your teeth...
of wanting to put your head down on the desk and take a nap...
of having a strange desire/desperation to eat meat or a salad.

Well, maybe that's just me. But I don't eat crap well.
I'm not saying I don't like it...
If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have a junk food hangover!!!

I've got to figure something out.
The dietary journal is a decent start. Going to the doctor for an appointment on Tuesday is good motivation to NOT have Reeses, Hersheys, Twizzlers, and KitKats written down between every meal. Still, I need something more.

Oh! Maybe if I got on the scale at every meal, that would also be a good reminder to avoid the kid's candy. *sigh* I'll get there. I am determined. Wonder if I could start exercising up at the mall this week.

Time to call in my girlfriends.
Happy All Saint's Eve, friends!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Hypos

BG: 59
I think I was LOW almost all night long.
Waking at 3ish, didn't help. My screeching alarm woke me, but I turned it off and went back to sleep. :P Grrr.
When my youngest woke up and needed a diaper, I got out of bed and went to change his diaper--or something. In any case, I remember being very confused about the entire situation.

When my husband was helping me get the kids ready for school about an hour and a half later [I'd already juiced up], Seanny had no diaper on. He was wandering around with just his pants on. Yup. Not a good idea. I'm surprised Sean didn't say anything to me. He would. He's the kind of kid who tells me to put his seatbelt on when I'm getting him in the car. [as if I wouldn't!!!]

Anyway, hypoglycemia can suck!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

I threw it AWAY!

BG: 69

First, I have to show you what's in my yard right now. We have these crazy landpeople who have filled our yard with a number of trees--cigar trees, elms, sycamores, maples, curly-leaved willows... They are on the verge of choking each other out [the trees, I mean], BUT right now, it's too pretty to complain. :)






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple of days ago, I woke up in the night after [another] nightmare. I swear, these crazy dreams keep coming to me. Anyway, I was headachy, crampy... it was awful. I had my CGMS in, the one with the Tylenol warning. So, I just got fed up and pulled the thing, took two Tylenol and went back to bed. This morning--don't ask me how--I woke from a sound sleep on a gasp. Matt rolled over and asked me what was wrong. "Oh no! I threw my transmitter away!" With a pounding heart, I sat for a minute to catch my breath and think. Think, think! Where was I when I took that thing out?
Thank God, after digging through the bathroom garbage, I found it. Seriously, I don't know how I thought of it... it really was Inspired. I'm about to send it back to Dexcom and without the transmitter, I'm sure I would NOT be getting any money back. :P Phew!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Diet LOGGING

So, I've gotten back into the swing of things, and now I need to start keeping a log of my food intake.

This is going to be TEDIOUS. I've never done this well. Ever. But, I can't go on guessing at this anymore. :) So, I'll start today. But first, I'll buy a really cool notebook and an even cooler, super-duper pen. :D Cuz who doesn't like to buy stationary and stuff to write with??!?!?!

I have a really cool like here, if anyone is interested in being eligible for a FREE CGMS from Minimed. They are giving 25 away to instant winners the first week in November. Then, at the new year, they are picking 25 more to random winners from a drawing of all who sign up. HERE.

It's something to think and read about, in case you are interested. A CGMS is important for T1s and T2s. I actually had a nurse from my doctor's office question me when I told her I checked my sugar a least 8 times a day. She said, "Ooh, honey. I dont' have any patients who check more than four times a day." Um, I don't care. Maybe if they did, they would be less likely to get complications? I even told her I was Type I, thinking she must be thinking I'm II even with my chart sitting right in front of her. The irritating part was, that they sent my last Rx in to the pharmacy wrong. 4x when I stood at their desk and said, 6-8 times a day!!!! Then, the first gal I talked to called the Rx in and she didn't tell them 30 days, she didn't give any number for refills.... so that's when I called and talked to the second lady. I really like my doctor, but I wonder if I would do better with an endocrinologist who deals specifically with Type I diabetes. :P *sigh*

Here's an even crazier story. When my hubby lost his job, we touched on the idea of Medicaid for the kids and possibly me. Cobra is expensive and we knew it was going to be tight. So, we had our Cobra and applied for Medicaid--resentfully, on my part. I was on Medicaid when I was pregnant with a couple of the kids, and I promised myself we would not do that again. I didn't want to... I didn't like it. Well, a couple of weeks ago, we came to the end of our rope and felt we had to cross over and take advantage of it. But then, walah, Matt did a couple of side jobs and we were able to pay for our BCBS coverage again. It hadn't ended yet, either, THANK GOD! So, when a week and a half ago, I called everyone to tell them we were on a new insurance, This week, I'm calling them all back to tell them we aren't. I think I'm going to pull my hair out. Haha. Still, we're the lucky ones that we can squeak by on our BCBS, but also that we have something to fall back on... Most people don't. Most diabetics who aren't covered can't even get on Medicaid or Medicare. It's disheartening. :( It makes me very sad.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

End of Day Report

BG: 130
BG [CGM]: 129, it's really accurate. If you are a sucker for accuracy, the Dexcom is a GREAT CHOICE. [i found both the MM and Dex equally accurate (and inaccurate, for that matter) over my trial periods, so I'm not rooting for one over the other--they both have + and -]

Long day today. Sort of an emotionally charged [possibly PMS related, but I'm not saying so] day. :P Had a nice long, much needed discussion [okay, it was a fight] with the husband. It really does clear the air, you know? I always hate it at the time, but without it, we'd be boring... and stagnant... never changing... ew.

Sugars were good, but I think I'll be regulating my basals here soon. Lots of lows after dinner and through the night. Will be good to change that basal...and my dinner bolus, too--possibly.

One good thing today, Matt [and I] scrounged a few more [hundred] dollars up to pay for a couple more months of the health insurance. woohoo... [tiny little sarcasm] It is a good thing. Will be even better when Matt has a full time job. :D Yay God! Get Matt a job that he can enjoy and love. [i don't care if it's a lot to ask...]

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Exercise

BG [CGM]: 94

the bike



My new bike. Got it for my birthday and have ridden it a few times. Can't help but like it. It's a cruiser--and maybe that's not cool, but I don't care! It has a basket, great for carrying my snacks, water bottles, Dexcom reciever, keys, glucose monitor... you get the idea. I have a lot of baggage.

Today, my first BIG ride. I thought I was going to die! I might live in the middle of a corn field, but we do have a few significant hills through our parks. I had to walk my bike up the last one. But it felt good. I'll feel it more tomorrow, I'm sure. My ride started out a little on the high side, 168. I'd forgotten my glucometer, grrrr. Thank goodness for the CGMS. Without it, I would have gone home.

I had my reciever hooked to my basket....dexcom biked....over my first big bump, I watched a few hundred dollars fly up off the basket. My heart stopped. I could just see the thing bouncing from the basket or my bike handle and catapulting into the woods. THANKFULLY, it jumped from my handle bars BACK into the basket. Sheesh. I left it there. It's neat clipped on the rim, but apparently NOT practical! Phew.

I snacked on a breakfast bar [19g carbs] on the way home (I'd forgotten a water bottle, too). When I got home, I was at 89... as you can see in the picture. :D
dexcom clipped

If you are looking really closely, you'll see the high in the graph from before I went on the bike ride, then it sloped down. Very cool technology. I wish I was comfortable with it, completely! Still on the fence, though I did go back to keeping it since my last post. *eyeroll*

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Unexpected

Part of being a diabetic is expecting the unexpected. Even upon finding the perfect basal rate with the optimal bolus amount, things can still go awry. Highs, lows... they happen even when I think it shouldn't! I guess that's why I carry sugar and my meter and a card with my name and diagnosis on it. Not to mention the sweetners and gum. Man! Those highs can really make you want something to chew on. :D

Speaking of unexpected, Matt decided he wanted to join the military a couple of months ago. His options are limited in that he has overcome the age limit for both the Marines and Air Force. But, he comes from a Navy family, and wouldn't mind doing the Army either. All that aside, he hasn't closed any doors. He has resumes out with public accounting firms, corporations.... and this week, he applied for a finance position with our local Harley Davidson dealer.

Sooo, when I was online at Medtronic today, I thought, 'what the hell. Let's see what's going on over at the career page.' They are also looking for a tax accountant. So, now he's got an opportunity there, as well....

...and I'm thinking of all the stuff I could get in on from the get-go!!! LOL *sigh* It's a long shot [meaning, that he would take another corporate job], but hey, you never know. An unexpected opening to something new.

Friday, October 16, 2009

What do you eat in Autumn?

BG: 69

Every season brings its own trials and delights for a diabetic.

Food. How do we deal with it. How do we manage it? How do we celebrate it?
I love fall for its food... Chili, stewes, apples, hot cocoa, cider, breads. The list goes on. Is it a matter of self control? Will power?

Well, yeah. Our tug of war with the disease is just that, isn't it? But I don't think food should limit our joy.

Perhaps you're thinking, that's easy for you to say. You can just pump some insulin and eat whatever you want. Well, maybe that's true to a certain extent. I am blessed to be T1. I have the flexibility of counting carbs. I don't have insulin resistance and I don't need pills.

But, my weakness still lies in food. Weight gain and simple sugars can not be succumbed by insulin alone. So... how can we enjoy the celebration of the season without ruining our therapeutic efforts?

The good: eat the foods you can harvest. Fruits, vegetables... high fiber foods that are delicious. Foods that take some time to prepare, squashes, carrots, potatoes, etc but are mostly overlooked.

The bad: allow yourself an indulgence every once in a while. Take a little extra insulin or a longer walk. Don't cut out all your favorites or you will burnout from this disease.

The obvious: sugar substitutes. They aren't a replacement for carbs, but I do find that they curb the spike when I want something like pie or cake. I realize that lots of people nay the substitutes...it's a chemical. I get that, but the trade off seems much worse: coffee, plain!

Three ways to help you make it, one day at a time, right? That's all we have to do...

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

End of Day Report

BG: 168
BG[CGM]: 198

So it has come down to this...
2 weeks with the Dexcom, and I'm about to send it back.

Why, you ask?

Well, I'll tell you. It has to do with efficiency. It's not that I've been dissatisfied with the product. No. The product has done everything it claimed to do. There are features it doesn't have that I wish it did, but even those small things are not why I'm returning it.

It's data management. When I thought it wouldn't matter to have two sets of data, to have two sets of CDEs and RDs working on my behalf, I was wrong. I have some serious maintenance to do on my PUMP settings...basal rates, bolus options, etc. I really want someone who KNOWS my pump to be my primary consultant along with my doctor. And for me, that means giving up the Dexcom and [eventually] going with the Minimed.

This has definitely been a learning experience for me. I'm one of the lucky ones who has been privileged to trial both CGMSs--Dexcom and Minimed. I found they both had pluses and minuses. Where one had a nicer transmitter, the other had better software. For me, accuracy wasn't an issue with either of the devices. Unlike some users, they were equal in that. Off more with the highs than the lows, and when I didn't calibrate.

I found that I tend to feel guilty when I have to make a choice... but that first and foremost, both companies are on my side. They want me to have their product, yes but they are people wanting to make life better for diabetics first. I think, in the long run, how can a company [or its representatives] fault me for my choice? This is a business with a mission to the diabetes community... and if I get to live 10 or 20 years longer because I had a CGMS, who the heck cares who made it?

:D Okay, yes, that definitely sounds like the bipartisan consumer. Haha.
I just want peace for all. ;-)
have a great week.
Bethanne

Saturday, October 10, 2009

End of Day Report

BG: 113

I hate days where I'm eating small bits all day long. I had a day like that today. I know it's supposed to boost the metabolism, but I don't think that counts when at 4:30pm you eat a peice of Papa Murphy's pizza 34 carbs and dual, and at 5:30pm you TEST the potato soup for 33 carbs, and 6ish, you decide you want a small bowl for 27 carbs, and you top it all off with a glass of wine for 18 carbs... seriously. That's NOT what they mean!! LOL Still, we didn't do a sit down dinner, so I just kept popping things into my mouth.

I'm done now, though.

....4 1/2 hours later....
had some wine and sat outside around the fire. Prominent lows through the evening. CGMS was beeping at me off and on. Tried to hide it, but finally got caught when my neighbor said, "Are you beeping?" Haha.
Up now to 86 and still rising.
Feel fine. :)
Happy Sunday!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Dexcom CGMS

I went a week--as you well know--and I'm uncertain about the CGMS. Partly. I know I have to get used to it. [I'm reiterating, aren't I? Sorry.] Anyway, I'm going to do another week with the Dexcom, then decide if I want to keep it. If I use it the way is recommended...not as a replacement to fingersticking...then it seems pointless to have the second device. See, I ended up turning most of the alerts off of the Dexcom. I was able to relax when I wasn't watching the numbers, which is the key, I think. So, if I'm just trending, then I don't see the point of having two sources of data. *sigh* I really thought the separate data wasn't going to matter. I'm just not sure any more. Another week to get in a groove, then I'll see. :)

Fall is here! I'm so loving the weather. It's cool. A little wet. Colorful. It's beautiful. Despite the diabetes see-sawing, I'm very happy!
Thanks for stopping in.
I hope you enjoy the fall as much as I do.
With Love,
Bethanne

Diabetes Forums

I got a funny feeling last night.
After days of not visiting a diabetes forum, I tried to get in and couldn't. The message notified me that I did not have access to this page, which I thought was strange. I'm not an obssessive frequenter there, but I like to go in occasionally, see how people are doing, hear what's new, ask a question.

I'll go back at least a few days....
I was there and popped into a discussion where someone was bashing Minimed for their lousy product. Apparently, he had trouble with the canula on his infusion set. This is bad. This is very bad for a diabetic. He fell asleep and went into ketoacidosis, and of course, he mentioned the thousands of dollars he had to pay for a hospital bill, etc. It's a sad, almost tragic story. And sure, MM is to blame for that malfunction. But he called it "bad form"... and I'm sorry, I just don't see that. It's tiring, hearing sob stories... do something about it, do something about the issue then [reasonably] understand that bashing a company probably is BAD FORM. This guy is more than welcome to NOT use Minimed. I can understand how he would be uncomfortable using the product. It takes trust...

But I want to hear the rest of the story. Did he contact the company? He should have gotten his money back. Did they call him an idiot and say screw you? [I doubt it.] Right now, he's just a ranting, disgruntled guy on a smear campaign.

I mean, if you go to bed and your sugar's really high already, why not bolus a correction and wait an hour? Check again... if your sugar hasn't lowered in an hour or two, you might want to change your site, change your stuff. This exact thing happened to me once and I spent an entire day fighting to get low, not knowing that a large part of the insulin being delivered was not making it under my skin. When I found the tubing was broken off at the reservior top, I remember thinking back to an instance when the pump had gotten caught on something. I mean, it's just tubing. It doesn't have superpowers. It's not titanium... YOU are still responsible for your management.

I offended someone on the boards... I think. That was not my intention.

Some forums are full of angry, know-it-all type of people... some forums, it's hard to get a word in edge wise. Sometimes, it just feels like high school all over again. I do have a problem with having an account/profile in there. I would like to be able to close it....

What can I do now, though? Nothing. And that's okay, too. My conscience is clear... if that matters. I guess it doesn't, especially not to whomever it was I upset. For that, I am sorry. I feel it's better to know and be confronted. UGH. It feels crappy to be in this position.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Doing what you don't want to

Do you ever feel like you just want to throw your hands up and say, NO!

Although this sounds like an opening to a discussion about Diabetes, it's not. Haha. I'm supposed to make all these phone calls to people in my parish, inviting them to come to the Parish Mission next week. But I don't wanna!



This morning, I got up and really wanted to ride my bike. Rock Springs has this great trail running through it, with that in mind, I packed a bag and tossed my bike into the back of Matt's truck. [I think I bent the kickstand doing that] My sugars had been decent all morning, so I felt good to go. Then the truck didn't start, and remembering that my hubby needed to mess with the battery and possibly the starter, I [sighed first] then opted for just riding around the neighborhood. I pulled my bike from the truck bed and went back inside to let Matt know. Feeling kind of odd, I tested my sugar and it was 49. UGH! How frustrating! I was so mad, I just wanted to cry. But I ate something instead and waited about 15 minutes. I wasn't quite 100, but decide to head out anyway. I get about 3 pedal turns from the driveway and have to stop because the pedal is hitting the kickstand. I go back inside and Matt fixes it. Finally, I'm out on my bike...

And it was a good workout. Not too long, but long enough for these unworked muscles.

...now I just have to decide what to do about these phone calls. Maybe I should pay my kids to do it for me. Why? Why did I agree to this? I don't talk well to the people I do know! I am not the extrovert. *sigh*

Just so you know, I'm having some serious trouble with my CGMS. Not in the physical sense, but the mental. I wish I could report differently. Maybe it's because I've only just recently getting serious about my management. Maybe I need a buffer. I don't know...

Maybe it's just too much change for me at one time: diabetes therapy, cgms, a new job, military life... I'm a little overwhelmed right now. I don't know what to do with this continuous glucose data. I think my next step will be to silent all the alerts on this thing except for the low and high. That's not a bad idea. My biggest beef right now is wishing the cgms was linked to my pump... *sigh* I can be a fickle gal, can't I? :P

Friday, October 2, 2009

Mindset

BG[CGM]: 250 and trending down, FINALLY! Sheesh. What a day. :P
BG: 215

I'm trying to switch over to the CGMS mindset. It's not easy to rely on that technology 100%, even for the trends. Second guessing and impatience have been the overall feeling so far... BUT, I'm keeping at it. Eventually, I'll come around.

~~~~~~~

And some days we just need to hear something funny...

A Catholic guy goes into the confessional box. He notices a fully
equipped bar with Guinness on tap, plus a dazzling array of the finest Cuban cigars.

Then the priest comes in.

"Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to
confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more
inviting these days."

The priest replies, "Get out. You're on my side."