Blood Sugar: 76
Continuing in my "I'm still behind on this" style...
The next blogging assignment is to talk about our biggest supporter. My biggest supporter, without question, is my husband, David. David and I have been together since 2002 and married in 2005. He has always been just what I needed whenever I needed it. When I finally decided to take control of diabetes instead of it controlling me, he was on-board for the endeavor. I struggled through new diabetes regimens and doctors...he was right there with me. I tried being reasonable with these doctors and I tried to accommodate the expectations that they set, but it became a bigger and bigger problem. Finally I decided to try to get on an insulin pump, I was connected with a doctor that wanted me on a pump too...I learned about carbs and counting them, I learned about managing blood sugars and taking better care of myself. I figured out how many blood tests I needed to take a day to achieve the proper numbers when I went to the doctor and David was right there with me for every terrifying step of the way. I love him for it. His support and involvement has really opened my eyes to how wonderful life can be and how lucky I am. It has also given me the confidence to be supportive of other insulin-dependent diabetics, including our 2 year old niece, who was recently diagnosed. I can be a comfort to her and have a wealth of information to share with her parents! It's amazing how things work out and the paths that open up for us when we choose to see the shiny side of the coin!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Making The Low Go
Blood Sugar: 103
Next up on the daily diabetes blog post...which is significantly behind like 4 days!!! The criteria calls for "your favorite way to treat a low." My favorite way to treat a low is to over-treat it apparently, because that is what I ALWAYS do. When I was young, I remember going low and stumbling to the kitchen and not being able to figure out how to make a sandwich or a bowl of cereal....Pesky lows that leave me confused and scared are my least favorite. I have a pretty decent low-tolerance and can fully function at 60, although I don't like letting it go there, but after 60 you just never know what's going to happen...You could find me lying in the kitchen floor wondering why I am there, or maybe looking at the bread and the bologna and trying to make that "thing with the bread and the bologna"...Yes, I've had that conversation with my husband.
Recently, my favorite fix is an overloaded bowl of Fruity Pebbles. I love Fruity Pebbles and I don't care who knows it, but I rarely eat them because I found that the serving size of the cereal rarely matches the serving size of the milk and the whole bowl just becomes a bitter disappointment...but when I'm low, I just pour cereal and milk until it almost doesn't fit in the bowl anymore! I also keep a stash of glucose tabs that I'm not afraid to use. A lot of people complain about the chalky taste, but I just call them candy and I'm fine. I especially like the fruit punch flavored ones from Wal-Mart and have heard that the sour apple kind found at Sam's Club is also tasty, so I'll have to check that out.
So with this kind of regimen going on, I can safely say that I have never treated a low blood sugar without a significant spike later...which is much easier to deal with now that I am on the OmniPod, but still a real pain in the butt.
Next up on the daily diabetes blog post...which is significantly behind like 4 days!!! The criteria calls for "your favorite way to treat a low." My favorite way to treat a low is to over-treat it apparently, because that is what I ALWAYS do. When I was young, I remember going low and stumbling to the kitchen and not being able to figure out how to make a sandwich or a bowl of cereal....Pesky lows that leave me confused and scared are my least favorite. I have a pretty decent low-tolerance and can fully function at 60, although I don't like letting it go there, but after 60 you just never know what's going to happen...You could find me lying in the kitchen floor wondering why I am there, or maybe looking at the bread and the bologna and trying to make that "thing with the bread and the bologna"...Yes, I've had that conversation with my husband.
Recently, my favorite fix is an overloaded bowl of Fruity Pebbles. I love Fruity Pebbles and I don't care who knows it, but I rarely eat them because I found that the serving size of the cereal rarely matches the serving size of the milk and the whole bowl just becomes a bitter disappointment...but when I'm low, I just pour cereal and milk until it almost doesn't fit in the bowl anymore! I also keep a stash of glucose tabs that I'm not afraid to use. A lot of people complain about the chalky taste, but I just call them candy and I'm fine. I especially like the fruit punch flavored ones from Wal-Mart and have heard that the sour apple kind found at Sam's Club is also tasty, so I'll have to check that out.
So with this kind of regimen going on, I can safely say that I have never treated a low blood sugar without a significant spike later...which is much easier to deal with now that I am on the OmniPod, but still a real pain in the butt.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
A Day In The Life...with Diabetes
Blood sugar: 104
The criteria was simple. Write a blog every day for seven days about the different aspects of diabetes and how it affects your life. Sounds simple enough. I saw this on another diabetes blog, so I'm a few days behind, but better late than never...so here it goes.
The first assignment was to take the reader through a "quick rundown of an average day and all the ways in which diabetes touches it." Sounds simple until you really think about it and realize that diabetes has it's nasty little finger on every moment of your day. For instance, let's talk purses. I'm a self-proclaimed over packer and over pack everything, every day. I carry a larger purse just so I can drop my little 'bag of supplies' into it. Would I carry a larger purse if I didn't have to accommodate my diabetes supplies? I can't answer that because I don't really remember a time before having to carry the extra supplies. Sure I would leave the house without checking and making sure that everything I needed was in there, but the fact remains that I still had a bag.
There's no time for random eating...birthday cakes, while not forbidden, are a real pain in the finger. I check my blood sugar, guess at the carb amount and eat the cake...but did I guess close enough to not have to pay for the cake later? It's a crap shoot...so while I cannot run down a list of times and activities, I can safely say that there is nothing typical about any day with diabetes. Each day has it's own learning curve and you just have to cope the best way that you know how to. And each day, you just get through it. Sometimes you are fighting lows and sometimes you are fighting highs, but in the end, it doesn't really matter as long as you keep fighting.
The criteria was simple. Write a blog every day for seven days about the different aspects of diabetes and how it affects your life. Sounds simple enough. I saw this on another diabetes blog, so I'm a few days behind, but better late than never...so here it goes.
The first assignment was to take the reader through a "quick rundown of an average day and all the ways in which diabetes touches it." Sounds simple until you really think about it and realize that diabetes has it's nasty little finger on every moment of your day. For instance, let's talk purses. I'm a self-proclaimed over packer and over pack everything, every day. I carry a larger purse just so I can drop my little 'bag of supplies' into it. Would I carry a larger purse if I didn't have to accommodate my diabetes supplies? I can't answer that because I don't really remember a time before having to carry the extra supplies. Sure I would leave the house without checking and making sure that everything I needed was in there, but the fact remains that I still had a bag.
There's no time for random eating...birthday cakes, while not forbidden, are a real pain in the finger. I check my blood sugar, guess at the carb amount and eat the cake...but did I guess close enough to not have to pay for the cake later? It's a crap shoot...so while I cannot run down a list of times and activities, I can safely say that there is nothing typical about any day with diabetes. Each day has it's own learning curve and you just have to cope the best way that you know how to. And each day, you just get through it. Sometimes you are fighting lows and sometimes you are fighting highs, but in the end, it doesn't really matter as long as you keep fighting.
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