Tag Archives: diabetes

Beautiful Weekend.

June 4, 2012 – 7:43 am

After a lot of rain Friday night, the weekend turned out to be fantastic weather-wise. All of us in the household (three of us) were very busy this weekend. Lots to do. The Great Spousal Unit had a few dog walks this weekend (that’s what she does at this point in her career), and The Live-In Niece was busy doing what 26-year olds do these days. I just know that I didn’t see her a lot until her and her boyfriend cooked for us on Sunday night (great, by the way).

For me, it was getting my pond in the back yard cleaned up again, which took a lot of time on Saturday afternoon. And preparing for the ride next weekend, including a last-minute replacement of my seat collar– the clamp that holds my seat stem in place. I was replacing the seat Saturday night, and I overtightened the clamp to the point that I broke the bolt. So I had to find a new one (that was actually the same size), and get it on and test it out on a ride. Which was way shorter than I wanted. But at this point, either I’m ready for the ride or I’m not. More on that later in the week.

Despite all of the madness, Maureen and I found a couple of hours on Sunday morning to go out to Fort McHenry for a breakfast picnic. Fort McHenry has to be one of the best picnic places on the east coast. It’s at least one of the best urban picnic spots on the east coast. Basically, if you want to visit the fort itself, you have to pay an entrance fee. But if you want to hang out anywhere on the property outside of the fort, it’s free of charge, every day. Lots of green space, right on the harbor as it opens up to the bigger part of the Chesapeake Bay. Anyway, it was a lovely time, with coffee, delicious fruit salad, and a small amount of yummy pastry. Best of all, my BGs stayed in line all day.

And we got to bring the dog along too! Like any dog, he loves going anywhere with new sights, smells, and dogs. Don’t believe me? Take a look:

All in all, a great way to recharge for the week ahead. Oh, and by the way, I did get a new seat collar, and it works fine holding my seat stem in place. I hope your weekend was great! Best of luck to you on the week ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Additional Inspiration | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Visit with My Endo.

June 1, 2012 – 7:27 am

Wednesday’s DSMA Chat was very timely this week. We all spoke of our feelings about, and tips and tricks surrounding, doctor visits. I had my quarterly visit with my endocrinologist yesterday. I always cringe when I read about someone’s bad medical care experiences: either a doctor who has no time for them, or someone who makes them feel like crap for yesterday’s issues, instead of helping them look toward solving the future. My endo is great. I had to go through three doctors to get to this point, but I’ve finally got a keeper. I mean someone who talks to you, who asks the right questions, who lets you ask questions, and then gets you to adjust what you’re doing rather than telling you to scrap your entire plan of attack for something that’s comfortable for them, or for something that big pharma is paying them for.

So on to the appointment, or as much as I can divulge of my appointment over the internet (tongue firmly in cheek).

First, the big number. I expected my A1c to go up this time. My last one was 6.3. It’s been going down steadily for over two years, so I figured the streak had to end sometime. And I haven’t exactly been on a starvation diet over the last three months. So imagine my shock when I found out that my latest A1c is: 5.9

WTF?

There has to be more to this story. I mean, I’m trying my best to take care of myself, but this is too good to be true. “Have you been having a lot of lows?” asks the doctor. Why, not more than usual, I say (what is usual anyway?). So we look at the Medtronic readout. The chart for the last two weeks tells me everything I need to know about where I need to focus, and why my A1c is good, but not a definitive snapshot of my glucose levels over the past three months:

I know it’s hard to read, so I embellished it with a couple of lines of my own, only to help point out where my trouble is. Right in the middle of the day! My okay to slightly high morning and evening readings over the last two weeks (with a couple of exceptions) were counter-balanced by almost universal lows around lunchtime. It made my average BG over the last two weeks: 106.

The page also suggests three things that I already knew about. One, I eat too many carbs at breakfast. Two, I eat too many carbs at lunch. Three, I eat too many carbs at dinner. Which suggests, without a look in the mirror, that I’m managing my glucose better than my waistline right now. Even though I’ve actually lost a few pounds. Good thing the lettuce will be ready in the garden soon. I have a feeling there will be a lot of salads in my future.

So what do we/I need to do going forward? As you can guess, I’ve already ratcheted down my morning basal a bit. And we talked about how to manage my 150 mile ride in a week and a half. I’ll have the pump on the whole time for this, which makes it different from any other event I’ve entered. I’ll use a temp basal of 50% of my normal rate during the ride, then 60% to 70% of normal for about four hours after. And the carb thing is my problem. Only one way to fix it, and we all know what that means.

Here’s hoping your next visit with a medical professional goes well. Feel free to tell me about it, good or bad, by leaving a comment below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Endo | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Like these links.

May 31, 2012 – 6:34 am

I usually do this on Wednesday, but since Monday was a holiday, Thursday is good enough. Here are a couple of interesting posts I’ve found in the last couple of days:

Brian at (Buzz, Buzz) Not My Cell has a review of the book This Side of Normal, which chronicles the life of a newly diagnosed 12 year old:
http://notmycell.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-something-i-dont-normally-do.html

Wil over at Diabetes Mine has another review of the FastClix lancing device from Roche Diabetes:
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2012/05/new-fastclix-now-easier-on-your-brain-while-still-sparing-your-fingers.html

Finally… Stacey of Girl with the Portable Pancreas has a recap of her time at Diabetes Sisters Weekend for Women (like they’re going to do a weekend for men?). Not for me, but not everyone who reads this blog is male, right? This post is actually over at DLife:
http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/lifestyle/diabetes-women/diabetessisters

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Like these links | Also tagged | Comments (0)

DSMA Chat. A follow up.

May 29, 2012 – 8:42 pm

So May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Last week’s DSMA chat picked up on that with a discussion about diabetes and depression. If you missed it, you should definitely go back and check it out. I’ve been ruminating on it for a while (okay, a week), and…

I can tell you that some of the things described in the chat were things that I’ve experienced. Especially in the past year.

And it scared the shit out of me.

I don’t know what really constitutes the official meaning of depression. I can only describe what I was feeling, and how I dealt with it.

At some point last year, I started to feel like I had gotten as far as I could in life… that there were no more mountains to climb, personal, career-wise, anything… even though I was still ready to climb them.

That’s a dangerous thing. Because as soon as you start thinking that you’ve accomplished everything you can accomplish, that you’re as far as you’re going to go… when someone questions anything you do, it feels like they’re trying to take away whatever you have left. And if whatever you think you have left isn’t that great (in your eyes), it really feels unfair.

That’s ridiculous, of course. But I didn’t understand that then, and it made me angry. Not commit a felony angry, just not a nice guy to be around. And after I’d act like that for a while, I’d snap back the other way and feel like the most horrible person ever because I felt like that in the first place. I mean, I felt just awful about it.

That scenario played out in my life every few days for about 4 months.

So what did I do?

First, I sat down with The Great Spousal Unit, and she was great. It’s amazing… when you get unconditional support, you don’t feel so lost anymore. Then she told me something very profound. She knew that in many ways, I had grown up a lot like my father. Similar careers, similar approaches to priorities, money, living, etc. And she had heard me speak before about how, when I was in my teens and early twenties, he would have occasional flashes of rage. This would have been when he was around my age now, maybe a little older. So at some point in the conversation, she paused and looked at me and said:

“You know… you don’t have to be just like your father”.

And I thought about it… he must have experienced many of the same feelings I had. Frustrations at work, bringing home the bacon, paying the bills, trying to find a way to reach some goals that you had set years earlier, and watching them slip away. Maybe forever. At some point, the pressure must have been tremendous. Add in a few rebellious kids (the three oldest of us became teenagers within four years of each other), and you can see it a little clearer. I’m not condoning the rage. But I’m starting to see where it came from.

Well, that was a real breakthrough for me. Then I had to move on to step two: Do something, anything different. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that when I feel bogged down, I need to change my routine, change my focus. So I enrolled in an Improv class at a local theater here. I have no Improv or acting aspirations, I just think it sounds like fun. Fun is what I need. My class starts in a month. And on my birthday in April, I started this blog. I never thought of it as cathartic. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t.

Third, I went back to exercise more often. I like working out, but I also like it when I have a goal to meet. This year, it’s my 150 mile weekend bike ride (in two weeks!). I’m not sure how that will turn out, but again, it’s something for me to focus on succeeding at. And it won’t be my last physical fitness goal this year.

Finally, at some point, I’ll need to go back and discuss everything with Maureen again. It’ll be an exercise where we’ll measure how far we’ve (read: I’ve) become, and we’ll see what else I need to be aware of or working on.

Hey, I don’t have all of the answers. But I know I’m in a better place today. And I also know that just like diabetes, I need to keep working at it, keep adjusting, and keep remembering that what’s in the past is a learning experience; but it’s not necessarily a road map for the future.

And the future is what counts most.

Here’s hoping your future is as bright as a sunny summer day. If it doesn’t feel that way, don’t be afraid to reach out, ask for help and possibly seek advice from a professional. If you’ve been feeling depressed or angry, don’t forget that you don’t have to be just like your past. Your future is yet to be written. And that’s a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Diabetes | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Family visits. But no drama.

May 29, 2012 – 6:26 am

I haven’t posted for a few days… I’ve been preoccupied.

Family came to visit this weekend. A lot of family. From Maureen’s side. But still, a lot more than we are used to. And since they were all from out of town, it meant a lot of going to places and eating at crazy times, and eating a lot of junk.

Luckily, I was able to keep the BGs in check this weekend. All at 130 or lower. All weekend. Don’t know how I did it; maybe it was a lot of dumb luck. But I did have a lot of vigilance. I tested whenever I could. Even though I had some junk (polish sausage at the Orioles game), I didn’t overdo it.

I guess it comes down to moderation. Just gotta keep from too much or too little of anything. Finding the Happy Medium.

I hope your weekend was great! I always enjoy seeing family. We don’t get visitors too often. But I’m glad it’s over. Family in moderation is okay too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Additional Inspiration | Also tagged , | Comments (0)