A New Friend

Current blood sugar: 236- guess I underestimated that banana I had for breakfast!

This past weekend, I went home to work on a case study and visit one of my best friends at school. She had a bunch of people over her apartment that night to celebrate a roommate's birthday. One person in particular really stuck out to me....mostly because I noticed he had something clipped to his hip and there seemed to be some tubing flapping around. I GOT WAY TOO EXCITED ABOUT THIS.
I ran up to him and said, "You have diabetes. Don't you?!"
He confirmed and unclipped the pump from his pocket. I did the same. INSTANT BONDING.
I honestly have not met many other diabetics my age...just a few other counselors I met while working at a diabetes camp. It was so great to be able to talk to someone who knew exactly what I was going through.
We talked for hours about experiences with evil doorknobs (if you wear a pump, you know exactly what I'm talking about), what glucometers we use, favorite low snacks, recent A1cs, our diagnosis stories, among otheer things. I hope that we can keep in contact!
That night made me realize how valuable diabetes camp is for children. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 13 and never went to camp until I was a counselor years later. Going to camp allows children with diabetes to connect with other diabetics who are dealing with the same struggles they are. It's awesome if they keep in contact with these people throughout their lives. If you or your child have not experienced camp...I strongly suggest it. It is so awesome for these kids to be able to connect with other diabetics!
I am so, so excited to return to camp this summer!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I got my blood work done after my last appointment and it wasn't so bad after all....6.1! yayyy!
I've also stopped dropping so low at night. I've been mainly waking up in the 80s! I love starting my day in the 80s!

Well, that's my good news.






You know how they say bad things come in threes? IT'S TRUE.

My friends and I usually joke that I have something called "The Karen Curse." I seem to run into a lot of bad luck. I'm honestly starting to think that I just let life's little events ruin my day. I don't think I'm going to joke about this anymore. It's just not a good way to live life. I'm not cursed...I just need to stop dwelling on the little things.

These past couple of weeks I really have let the little things get the best of me.


I got back to school all ready to start my last semester of college. I went back a bit early to work at an after school program. Within the first week of being back, my throat started to feel kind of funky. The next day...it felt like little hamsters were jabbing their tiny teeth into my throat! After a few days of denial, I decided it was time to go to the doctors There, it was confirmed that I indeed had strep throat! YUCK.

That following Sunday, my computer got a virus. I took it to staples and paid $100 to have it removed. They told me it would be done by Thursday....Wednesday night they called me and said that my hard drive had anywhere from 6 days-6 months to live. =[ Either I needed to buy a new computer or have the hard drive replaced. This isn't really the best time for this to happen....I'm a broke college student. My parents and I decided to just have the hard drive replaced. It's been working OK thus far ***knock on wood***

That same week, some immature idiot decided to hack my facebook and post obscene messages all over my friends' walls. NICE.

That was my bad luck in threes. From now on, I'm not going to let bad luck run my life. Instead, I'm going to take a deep breath and move on. ,Today, I woke up high and realized it was because I ripped my tubing out in my sleep. I would usually let this ruin my day...but I'm determined not to. Today is going to be a good day!

3 Month Endo Appt

Today I had my 3 month endo appointment. My doctor was not too happy with me.
First strike: Didn't have time to get my blood work done before my appointment. I guess I should have done it while I was at school. I was just so busy that I completely forgot. Hence, we had no A1c to go off of.

Second strike: My morning numbers. After downloading my glucometer's history...she discovered that I have been waking up in the 60s almost every morning. For the next week, I'm going to have to wake up at 1 or 2am and try to figure out if it's my basal rate or my correction that needs to be changed.

Third strike: I lost my medical alert bracelet....again.

On top of everything, I've gained 8 pounds since July. This is mainly because I have not been able to go to the gym as much as I normally do.

I think this appointment has shown me that my health always comes first. I still test 8-10 times a day, but I just haven't been eating as well, exercising as much, or documenting my numbers. I can't perform at my best unless I take care of myself first. Next semester, my goal is to make my health the number one priority. I will only live one life...might as well try and make it as healthy a life as possible!

1940s Housewife....or No?

Lately I've been thinking about how interesting it would be to live in the 1930s or 40s as a housewife. I just want to see what it's like to live in a simpler time.







Then, I thought about my diabetes.....how the heck would i manage it back then??? My father grew up in the 1950s and has told me many stories about his aunt. She had type 1 diabetes and the way she managed it sounds absolutely horrific...even in the 1950s and 60s! This made me want to do a little research on managing diabetes in the 1930s and 40s.

According to my research, my doctors would not know that I am a type 1 diabetic because the two types were not distinguished until 1936. Although, I would have insulin! Yay!....BUT I would probably be reusing and boiling needles...OUCH. I would also be able to manage my diabetes, to some extent, through dietary interventions....the dietary exchange system!I was surprised to learn that this has been around for so long.

Today, I test my blood glucose at least ten times a day....in the 1930s and 40s I would not have this privilege. The first glucometer was not introduced for use in a doctor's office until 1970. Accu-Check developed the first self-blood glucose monitor in 1983. This means I would most likely be using "dip and read" tests, monitoring my blood glucose levels through my urine. I currently only do this when my blood glucose has been over 250mg/dL for an extended period of time to test for ketones. I would hate to rely on it for daily monitoring!

One of the reasons I enjoy seeing my endocrinologist every three months is because I get to have my HbA1c tested. This gives me a nice "big picture" of my overall blood glucose for the past three months. If I was a 1930s or 40s housewife...I would not have this opportunity. The HbA1c test was not introduced until 1976.

Overall, I can say.....diabetes was not fun in the 1930s and 40s and I would definitely not enjoy managing it during that period! Thank goodness for science is all I have to say. I am so thankful for my tiny glucometers, my lovely insulin pump, my new continuous glucose monitor, single-use (tiny gauge) syringes.....pretty much every aspect of my current regimen......I AM SO THANKFUL. Of course there's always room for improvement...I would love for a nice artificial pancreas or cure sometime in the future...but until then...thank you to all the researchers who have contributed to the field of diabetes research!!



After insulin was introduced for commercial use in the 1920s...this is one of the injection kits that was available.






This was the first glucometer developed by Ames....HUGE.





References:
http://www.defeatdiabetes.org/about_diabetes/text.asp?id=Diabetes_Timeline
http://www.diabetesindia.com/diabetes/history_diabetes5.htm

Junk Food Frustrations

This post is going to be me venting.

This past week, I have had an awful time with controlling my blood sugars....and I'm pretty sure it's all diet related. Actually, I know it is and it's the most frustrating thing ever.

All year, my friends and I have had "Teen Mom Night." I know. It sounds weird. For those of you that don't know, Teen Mom is a show on MTV. They document the struggles of four different Teen Moms. Well, every Tuesday at 10pm, we all get together to watch it. Someone always makes a fantastic snack. Most of these snacks are high fat, high carb....not too good for you. We've had: monkey bread, ice cream sundaes, popcorn loaded with butter and M&Ms, cheesy bread, chocolate chip cookies stuffed with double stuffed oreos.....
This used to be a once-a-week type of thing, which I was completely fine with. I was fine with extreme carb guessing, getting up at 3am to test my blood sugar and correcting. It's not just once a week anymore though. It's now more like 5 out of 7 nights of the week. I've been going to bed high, miss my 3am alarm every night, wake up high....then I'm usually fine for the rest of the day. It's not like my friends are forcing this food down my throat...but how the heck can someone resist eating it?!? It's so good! I think I'm going to have to figure out a way to resist the temptation and go back to indulging once a week. I don't want to lose that great A1c I had back in March! Ughhh! Sometimes I wish I could just eat like everyone else without the pain of carb counting, bolusing, and worrying about whether I covered it all or not.
It's exhausting. I'm overtired. I'm stressed from end-of-the-semester projects.
I just want summer to come......

This is a picture of the best cookie I have ever put into my mouth: an oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie.

Goodbye Summer!

Hello!

I just wanted to update everyone on how I'm doing!
I had my endo appointment at the beginning of July and am doing GREAT! My doctor didn't have to make many changes except for a better way to manage my pump while at work. I've finally worked up the courage to keep the basal rate at around 80% and the lowest I've gone with that was about 80. yay! My A1c has finally started going down too! I'm down to about 7.8! woooo! That's way better than the 9.something or other I had only about a year ago!

On Thursday, I'll be attending the Circle of Life Camp For Children with Diabetes as a counselor! I'll be working with 8-12 year olds! I'm sooooo excited! I've never been to a diabetes camp before and can't wait to see what the experience is like! I get a little nervous once I start reading the things to pack though...
It says you don't have to bring a meter, no syringes, no insulin, and absolutely no food. Not even low food! They're providing everything for us. It's scary because I ALWAYS carry my meter and low food! ahhh! I've never been to a place where the majority of people are diabetic just like me. It's definatley going to be a new and exciting experience!

I can't believe this summer is almost over! In 13 days I'll be heading back to Keene! Once I'm back, I'm planning on doing a lot more blogging! I feel like I've completely neglected it this summer. =[

I can't wait to let everyone know how camp goes!

I'm Back!

I haven't posted anything for over a month! ahhh! But don't worry, I've been keeping myself busy!

Working at the retirment home has gotten a lot better....they've finally stopped pestering me about my medical ID bracelet. My boss found out I was a nutrition major and actually approached me about helping out at the resident's farmer's market wanting me to provide education materials about nutrition and diseases....especially about diabetes! I was really excited, but the farmer's market got cancelled as they couldn't get enough farmers to participate. Oh well.

I also have a newly diagnosed diabetic living with me.....my mom. She's a nurse at a long-term care facility. One day, she decided to test her BG with one of their glucometers just for fun...her fasting glucose was 285. ahhh! After that she started testing with one of my old meters and she continually hovered in the 200s. Well, I guess she hasn't been formally diagnosed yet, but we're pretty positive that she's a type 2 diabetic. She's meeting with her doctor tomorrow so I'll keep eveyrone posted!


On June 13th, my sister and I participated in the Tour de Cure! We ended up doing the 50K...which was a bit ambitious for two girls who did literally NO training all summer. Well, we took our bikes out once in May.....but not for 30 miles. I ended up finishing the ride with no lows! Yay!
My sister had quite a different experience. She has a bad knee....she messed it up swimming breastroke. I lost her within the first 3 minutes. When I got to the first rest stop, I waiting 15 minutes for her...she never came. I tried calling her...my mom had her phone! ahhhhh! So I just continued the ride.
I guess my mom got a call from a random number......my sister was at a nail salon! What?! I guess she accidently started following the 100 mile route. We she realized this she basically said screw it, saw a nail salon, and sat in there for two hours until someone came to pick her up. LOL. That's Christi for ya!
Well, we ended up raising more money than we thought we would! I can't wait to do it again next year!



There's Christi and I before the ride! Being diabetic, I got a snazzy shirt, bandana, and bracelet. =]

I have my 3 month endo checkup tomorrow and am anxious to see how it goes. I've been having much tighter control with my numbers, so hopefully my A1c has gone down some!

Oh, and here's a fun pic. I went to a dairy farm with my mom and sister a few weeks ago and saw a bunch of cows with what looked like Dexcom sensors, so I took a pic for all to see. They're for the farmers to tell if any of the cows have been trying to mate. I guess the sensor breaks off or cracks or something....but I'm just going to pretend that the cow is a diabetic just like me. =]


Happy hump day everyone!