Monthly Archives: April 2012

This is the one about lows.

April 16, 2012 – 5:41 pm

Went to work on the fence after breakfast yesterday.  Joining me after a while was a 16 year old neighbor (kids will do almost anything when there’s money to be made… and that’s the way it should be).  Nearby were The Great Spousal Unit and The Live-In Niece, who were doing yard work.  Just before noon, Maureen went to run a few errands.

Now, I made sure to under-, not over-bolus at breakfast, knowing that I would be working hard on an 80 degree day.  But the life of someone with type 1 is full of times when the best laid plans are messed up by an uncooperative pancreas, metabolism, pump, (choose your word here).  At about 12:00, I started to get that feeling.  Nothing felt right.  I had to reposition myself multiple times to try to complete even the simplest of tasks.  And before I knew it, 5 minutes to wire a section of fence to a post became 15 minutes.  By now, the 16 year old is looking at me like I’m a 95 year old who can’t get it together, and I’m thinking, “If I can just finish this task, we can break for lunch”.

That’s when Rachel happened by and asked, “It’s a little past noon, are you guys gonna get some lunch?”.  And I gave her that look.  The one that says I’m too proud to ask, but can you please help me?  The one that completely freaks her out.
 
“Uncle Stephen, do you need me to get you some juice?”  I said no, we’ll be finished here soon, and we can have some lunch, but she didn’t hear me.  Because she was getting juice.  And before I knew it, she was back and I was drinking it.  Crisis averted.

What I hate isn’t going low.  It’s the fact that your mind checks out at the very time the rest of your body is screaming for help.  Then there’s the whole macho guy thing, where I know I’m getting worse, but I can suck it up and get through this, then medicate. And I don’t like relying on anyone else to come to my rescue.

This is how most of my lows are, when the bg is lower than 65 or so.  Not horrible, but not without some danger.  I’ve been working on it.  I know that I can’t always see the lows coming… no one can do that.  But I have a set of procedures so to speak, something that will (hopefully) be instinctive in these situations, even if my brain is already taking a break.  It works, most of the time.  But yesterday, because of the heat, because I was already sweating, because I didn’t stop working immediately, because I couldn’t remember all of the steps I had worked out in my head, because, because, because, I will still keep working on it.

Perfection isn’t possible… but improvement is always worth the effort.

 

By StephenS | Posted in Lows | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Ahhh… The Gym.

April 13, 2012 – 2:33 pm

Okay, so after a week of traveling, baseball games, overeating (over-carbing), drinking, and general celebration around my birthday and my great niece’s birth day, I finally made it back to the gym today.

And here’s the thing:  I liked it.  I mean, I don’t enjoy getting up before 5:00 a.m., getting dressed, feeding the dog & cat, taking my meds, and testing.  But once I got there, slipped into the pool and took off, it felt great.  Every long stroke, every flip turn, all of it.  And I saw almost all of my 5:30 friends from the gym too.  Those hearty souls who get out of bed and do the same thing I do 3 or 4 times each week.  It was nice to hear them say “welcome back”. 

Maybe I get more of an endorphin rush than others.  But even after feeling like I gained 25 pounds in the last week, it still felt great to get Friday off to such a positive start.

By StephenS | Posted in Exercise | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Flying Blind

April 12, 2012 – 12:34 pm

So the department I work in had a little get-together after work yesterday. Have a drink, socialize, etc. No big deal. I decided to go over, but purposely left my Contour meter (and the book I’m reading) behind at my desk. I was only going across the street… I could go back and get them after I was finished.

Well, you guessed it… I forgot and left it behind. By the time I realized I’d forgotten it, I was on the subway headed home. What’s worse is that it’s my only meter. No backup. After thinking for a minute about going back to get it, I decided to leave it behind. I would be flying blind all night and into the morning.

I thought, “Hey, no big deal– I did this all the time for the first 17-18 years of my diabetes. I mean, I went years without testing. I can handle this”. And I did.

But here’s the thing: I’ve gotten sooo used to testing 4-6 times every day that without the meter, I worried constantly. I don’t know if it was because I needed to know I was okay, or if it means that my meter has become my crutch.

At any rate, we were reunited this morning, and all is right again in the meter-reading world. Fasting BG: 106.
Note to self: Get a backup meter. now.

By StephenS | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Hello from Baltimore

April 9, 2012 – 2:25 pm

Welcome to another blog from a type 1 diabetic.  I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing in starting this blog, but after posting comments on several sites in the last few months, I started feeling strange about remaining an anonymous face in the crowd.  So here I am!

My goals are modest.  My rules are few:

1. Don’t expect to be read.  Don’t expect to get comments.  I’m doing this to keep a written record of my life, not to be a web star.  Stay humble.  Rinse.  Repeat.

2. Where I can, be an advocate for others.  Not a necessity as a blogger, but I need to remember that it’s not always about me.  And there are always people who need help more than I do.

3. Enjoy

I’m starting this on my 50th birthday!  Not only that, but my closest living relative, my nephew, became a father today!  Let’s celebrate all of our milestones.  It’s great that we’ve all gotten this far.  And we’ve all got a lot more to give.  Let’s try to keep the proper balance between the highs and lows in our lives.  Let’s keep searching for, and when we find it, keep living in, the happy medium.

Stephen Shaul
April 9, 2012

By StephenS | Posted in Beginnings | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

April 8, 2012 – 1:35 am

A Disclaimer
I have no medical training. If you consider anything written here as medical, legal, financial, or any other kind of advice, you’re out of your mind. Please speak to a learned professional before making any changes that might affect your health. Any of the original content found on this site is my property and should not be reproduced, copied, or otherwise used without the author’s expressed written consent.

By StephenS | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)