Another day, another anniversary

Blood sugar: 129

So today's the big day...the big 2-5...It's hard to believe. It's another one of those situations where I have to ask is it a happy anniversary? What's the proper thing to say on a day like today? "Hey, Karin, glad you made it!" I know that many, many people live to have their 25th or even 50th anniversaries with diabetes, but yet again, it's bittersweet. I'm glad to be alive still. I'm glad that the treatments for diabetes have improved. I'm glad I'm here to blog about it. But would I be happier to not have to deal with the daily struggles, you bet. To not have to count the carbs that I eat, absolutely. To not be forced to stick myself with some sort of needle every day for the rest of my life, without question. But I'm not alone in this. It's something that millions of others face every day right along with me. So what if I'm a little rougher for the ride? I made it this far, right? And who's to say that I won't make it to my 50th? Well, that's entirely up to me and God, right? So here's to 25 years with diabetes! I've dealt with the big D this long...I can handle it as it comes.

Happy One Year Anniversary?

Blood Sugar: 170

Today marks the anniversary of me switching from traditional injections to the OmniPod. Do you say happy anniversary for something like this? I mean, it's a bit bittersweet when you look at it from my angle. I love being on the OmniPod. I love the vast changes it has made in my life--TO my life. My quality of life is better, I feel better, I am able to do more things than when I was on injections. But I am still and always will be a chronically ill person with the job of managing a disease that is not manageable. Being on the OmniPod has really let me live a more normal life than I ever thought possible. Of course, there is no denying that diabetes is still a lot of work and it does take constant effort to control blood sugars that change without rhyme or reason, but it's a little different now. There's no more leering people at restaurants as I inject myself, there's no more questions about it hurting, there's less limitations that I face, but it remains my ever-constant...companion. It's funny when you stop and really look at things--it seemed so easy on the surface to just say, "Yeah, no more shots for me," but then reality sets in and you know that you can be happy about this little thing, and many people won't understand why and you lack the words to explain it...Wouldn't life be easier if we could just accept the happy without looking at the sad? Well--happy anniversary to me, because I just want to be a little happy.

Disolve it all

Blood Sugar: 151

I have very sensitive skin. Not a big deal usually. I use lotion and try to keep up with how dry my skin can get from the weather or from the diabetes. So my pods have an adhesive circular pad on them that keep them where I put them. I rotate the sites that I use in an effort to assist in insulin absorption over time. So two spots that I rotate to are on either side of my stomach. Well, the first time I tried to remove a pod from there it left these horrendouse welts on my poor sensitive tummy. They were sore and they itched and it was miserable. The next time I decided to be more careful and I peeled it back and it was pulling my skin off. I was miserable. As usual, when I have a question I hit the net and started asking different discussion groups and other pumpers if they had this same problem and if so, what could I do? I was introduced to this laundry aid. It's not perfect, but it is SO much better than yanking the pod off my tummy. It has a nice citrus scent that isn't overly citrusy...it's not a chemical smell. It doesn't dry my skin out. I do still get a bit of a welt, but that's just my sensitivity to the adhesive---the welt is no longer as big as the pod! But the downside...the goo!!! That adhesive turns into the stickiest goo. My granddaughter saw me trying to clean it off my belly one night and said, "Mamaw, you got boogers?" It was extremely funny...but unfortunately very accurate. So that's my story. Sorry it took so long to get back in the blog groove. I have a couple blogs geared up, but I'm not quite finished writing. I hope you stay tuned...

Time Just Slips Away...

Blood Sugar: 111

So I didn't realize it had been so long since I updated! The holidays have really taken over at my house and we've been busy, busy, busy. Presents to buy and wrap, people to visit. Today we are heading to my mom's and tomorrow to dad's. Christmas with David's family is on Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning we'll be here with the kids. If only all the pieces were perfectly in their place...but alas, they are not. I hope that Christmas finds you in a merry place and that you are able to truly enjoy the time that you are spending with your loved ones. I hope that Santa is good to you and you at least have fun opening a few presents. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and Happy Hannukah....or just be happy because why not?!

I'll be back with more posting after Christmas!

I Survived

Blood Sugar: 84

So I have successfully completed a second surgery and as you can see, I am able to type and whatnot. This surgery was VASTLY different than the last one. For starters, I woke up in the OR. Wide awake and chatting to the nurses. It was really strange. I couldn't feel anything that they were doing and they had put a sheet up so I couldn't watch--which was fine--but there I was awake. Looking back I should have told her to give me a little more juice to knock me out, but it is what it is and I learned what not to do! LOL I took a couple of pictures of my stitches, but they aren't very good. This one was the best. So I have to keep using my hand and stretching my finger out and hopefully I won't have to go back in a month, but we'll see. I think if I have to do this again, I'm going to ask to be put back out in the OR and not chat and I also think I'm going to ask for stronger pain killers. I don't like taking pills, but when you hurt that bad, well, why not? I'd rather be drugged than in pain. How about you?

Occlusion Alarms

Blood Sugar: 88

So I just use the word occlusion in my everyday speech and had NO idea that no one else knew what it meant. So for the non-pumpers that are reading, an occlusion occurs when there is an issue in the canula, which is the tiny tube that is inserted under your skin with your insulin pump. I just recently had an occlusion and when I looked the canula was filled with blood which means that the pod I was wearing was not delivering insulin properly. So it's something that happens to us pumpers and it's annoying, but it doesn't make me want to go back on injections for any extended period. I haven't given myself a shot since January...I don't even feel like I could now, if I had to. But anyway, the whole point of this post is that I do not feel that my particular pump, the OmniPod, is very sensitive to an occulsion. Don't get me wrong, I love the OmniPod, I am not bothered by the pods I wear at all, but I would have liked an earlier alarm...you know prior to my blood sugar being 413. It made for a long day though. Checking my blood sugar and bolusing and checking and bolusing...it was finally better late that afternoon, but it's a hassle. What if the alarm had gone off in the middle of the night instead of when I got to work? I would have been up and changing it and fixing the issue with a 2 hundred-something blood sugar and that would have been WAY better. Still...the control that I have now via the OmniPod is something that I never dreamed of on injections. I used to wake up every morning with my blood sugar in AT LEAST the 300's...I definitely prefer the occasional high to the daily high!

I've Sorta Been Tagged

Blood Sugar: 172

The rules!

Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. So since this has been on the blog of three of my friends (Ginger, Barb and Laura), I'm going to do it with a Diabetes twist.

So let's get started, right?

1) I have been diabetic for almost 25 years and didn't really start taking care of myself (really) until last year.

2) With diabetes, I am at more risk for things like heart disease and dying of a heart attack, I also do not heal from injury as quickly and therefore I am more likely to get infections.

3) When I was growing up the big thing to talk about was all the diabetes complications that I could potentially face like blindness and kidney failure. So, I made my mom promise that if I went blind, I could get a dog. My priorities were SO out of line! LOL

4) I don't think a person really knows the truest sense of trust until you allow them to give you a shot.

5) Giving a shot is a lot like throwing a dart: you aim, you use a smooth straight motion...but the difference is that there is no follow-through and you shouldn't let go.

6) Diabetes care has drastically changed over the years, so you should not tell diabetics stories about how your grandma couldn't eat a piece of cake on her birthday or about how she had to have her leg amputated. Remember things are different now and the person you are speaking to is well aware of diabetes complications AND they are not your grandma.

7) I hate needles. I always have and because of this, I have always had some kind of device to insert any needle into me...a lancing device, an injector for syringes and the OmniPod ...this fear is the only reason I hate going to the doctor now.

So that's it...hopefully you enjoyed my list...it was fun to write it.