Diabetes Shots

NO CUPCAKE NEEDED
Icing can be great for treating a low if juice isn’t an option. I keep a couple tubes stashed here and there, just in case. These two cuties are on my desk at work, just at the base of my computer and within hand’s reach. The red one is slightly deflated, as I sucked a few ounces out during a nasty low one day. My tongue was scarlet for the whole afternoon.

Diabetes Shots

DRINK UP
I’m not a fan of Crystal Light or some of the other traditional sugar-free, non-carbonated beverages. However, Ocean Spray has come up with a line of cranberry juice mixed with other fruit flavors and put them in these convenient little packets that mix right into your water bottle. I have all four flavors in my drawer at work, and drink about one a day. They offer the thought of sweet, without having any sugar impact—they have zero carbs.

Aaaargghhhhhh

Having mind-numbing, time-sucking, stress-filled, fully annoying issues, situations and dilemman IRL. Back soon with actual, real-live posts and ability to read everyone else's.

Until then, good diabetes for those who have, great life for absolutely everybody.

As always, more to come...

Diabetes Shots

RIF
There was a campaign when I was little to get kids to read more. It was called Reading Is Fundamental, or RIF. I believe, if I’m not mixing up my Conjunction Functions, RIF was also a big red dog. This doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, since I’ve always been a big reader, even before the dog. I have a Chicago Public Library card, and I check out multiple books every couple of weeks. Reading doesn’t raise your blood sugar, which I like.

Diabetes Shots

A GIRL LIKES TO HAVE OPTIONS
I use a Novolog pen and need pen needles. It took some trial and error, but I finally figured out I need two sizes of needles to cover all my shooting real estate. I use the purple-tab ones (31G x 3/16”) for my thighs; it’s a shorter needle and my thighs don’t have much fat on them. I remember purple, because purple is the color of bruises, and I often wind up with bruises on my thighs. I use the blue-tab ones (31G x 5/16”) for my stomach and saddle-bag areas, which have plenty of extra fat on them. I also have some pink-tab ones (29G x 1/2”), but they’re way too long and I only use them as back-up when I’ve forgotten to order. Which means they should be in play in about three days…

Test Results

Finally! Had the endo appointment last Wednesday and my test results finally came in today.

I really like my new endocrinologist. She didn’t think any of my questions were stupid and didn’t even pause or look at me funny when I asked them. She just gave me the answers.

And every time I see her, I learn something new. For instance, she was able to look at my records, figure out an average number of units a day, then twist them into a specific calculation to come up with the formula that one unit of Novolog will most likely drop me 50 numbers on the meter. It’s not a “works-every-time” type of thing, I’m sure, but at least there’s something concrete there to work with. (And for those of you who might be saying, ‘duh,’ I have never, in three endocrinologists, heard any of this information before.)

She also tested my Vitamin D level. I told her I fractured my toe this summer and she questioned me a little more on that. I also told her my mom was being treated for osteoporosis. She said diabetics are more prone to fracture, and with the osteo thing, she wanted to make sure my Vitamin D levels were where they should be. Turns out they’re not, and I need to take a supplement. (Side note: This makes me feel a little old. I’m sure if I were 23 or even 30, this subject might not have come up. But I’m turning 41 this month, and I’m finding that some of my medical situations have to do just as much with age as with diabetes. Ack.)

TSH levels (thyroid-related) are too high, which means I’m taking too much medication, so she’s dropping my prescription down a notch. I’m a little worried about this, as this could mean a drop in energy level and an increase in weight. (Double Ack.) But I’ll go with it for about a month and if I don’t like it, I’ll let her know and maybe we can hit a compromise. As long as my heart doesn’t feel like it’s going to burst (most important and biggest side effect from too much meds—potential heart attack), I think there’s room to maneuver a happy outcome for everyone.

My A1C is up, but only a tiny bit, for which I am very grateful. I’m at 5.5%, which is definitely reason to celebrate. It means I’m getting the hang of the Novolog, despite the times I thought/think I’m really f’ing things up.

Oh, and for everyone who wants to shout “honeymoon” period at me, you may now feel free to do so without my wrath emerging. The endo told me that when you’re diagnosed with diabetes as a child, your honeymoon period usually lasts a year, maybe two. When you’re diagnosed as an adult, as I was, it’s possible to have a honeymoon period that lasts up to ten years, although not typically. So, six years and some odd months in, it is technically and medically possible for me to still be honeymooning a bit. Yes, I do try really hard to do all the right things with diabetes, and I bust my butt with calculations and carb counting and dreaded aerobic activity, and I think that my good A1C is the result of that. But if some part is due to a little side trip to honeymoonland, I’ll certainly take it—for as long as my body gives it to me.

As always, more to come…

A Couple Minutes Behind

I sat here this morning, thinking I needed a vacation. I left my kit in my work bag and didn't do anything about it. I ate a molasses cookie and didn't do anything about it.

Then I jumped on Twitter and realized I wasn't the only one who needed a vacation.

For work today, I'm writing about Hilary Duff. I wrote my to-do list in a red notebook with purple pages. I wrote my husband an e-mail. I wrote down what kind of hula hoop I wanted to buy (purple and green, with a surprise glitter color thrown in).

And now, I'm going to write about the fake lake I walk next to each day. It's a large pond, but in an architectural manner, because it surrounds the base of a downtown building. It's a very calm pool of water, with a basin in the center for bushes. It's not very deep, but it's long enough to do a lap in. And each time I walk by it, twice a day, five days a week, I think this might be the day I'm going to step over the ledge and walk through it. Sit in the middle of the bushes. Splash around for a while. Because I could. I'm pretty sure it would take the security guards at least five minutes to figure out I'm in there. I could cause a ruckus, get carted away by the po-lice. Watch for me on the local news.

I said I needed a vacation. I believe this post proves it.

As always, more to come...

Diabetes Shots

IT KEEPS ON GIVING
Long after the meal has been digested, long after the sharp has been disposed of, long after the insulin has been used up, diabetes is very generous and keeps on giving. This lovely bruise is just beginning its yellow phase, shifting from purple. So it goes. And it makes people wonder what you’ve been doing that you have a quarter-sized bruise in the middle of your thigh. I say keep them guessing whenever you can…