Work.

My teeth are FINALLY feeling better. A little sore...but nothing too terrible.
Now, I'm back to work. ahhhh. Work always does me in blood sugar-wise. I'm a waitress/dietary aide at a retirement home. I've been working there for 3 years and have tried everything to get my blood sugars within range without going low and too high. I run around like a crazy person in this place! It's so hard to figure out how to handle my pump while I'm working. Yesterday was my first day back with the dexcom and it worked WONDERS! I caught every low and came home around 125. It was so happy.

One problem I have run into at work is with my supervisors. They always seem to forget that I have diabetes and use a pump to manage it...aka they think it's a cell phone, which are forbidden during work. Last summer was the first time they noticed it. Usually I have the tubing tucked into my pants, but it snuck out with all my running around. My boss saw it and told me I needed to start taping it to my skin. Uhhhh. NO.
Then on Tuesday, one of my supervisors told me I needed to take off my medical ID bracelet! I WAS HEATED! That's the second time this summer they've called me out on the medical ID bracelet. It's so embarrassing too. They argue with me (in front of everyone) that if the health inspectors came in and saw me wearing it, they would get a fine. UGHHHHHHH!!!!!! Well, anyways, I'm not taking it off and they can continue to bother me about it. =]

Wisdom Teeth

I have had the WORST two weeks of my life!
I got my wisdom teeth out on the 14th. My oral surgeon warned me that I probably wouldn't be in much on Saturday or Sunday, but Monday and Tuesday might be pretty painful. Well, he was right...but the pain continued to Wednesday....Thursday I was in complete agony. I left work early and went to see him. No dry socket, no infection, allllll muscular. I was in so so so much pain and he gave me a prescription for MOTRIN! MOTRIN! I'd been taking motrin...wayy too much motrin, for a week! I couldn't believe it!
Well, Friday I went to my cottage and rested all day. I barely talked to anyone in order to rest my jaw. I was feeling pretty good later that night so I decided to join some friends at the Cheesecake Factory in hopes that the pain really did subside. By the end of my meal, the pain was back! UGH!
I went home, flushed my sockets, took some motrin and benedril and passed out. When I woke up on Saturday morning....the pain was probably the worst pain I've ever experienced. I just fell on the floor and cried. My mom made me some scrambled eggs and I had a piece of bread...it was all I could chew. After breakfast, I felt like I was going to PUKE. My mom tested my blood sugar and it was a whopping 400! Great. I called out of work and attempted to sleep off the pain. My mom managed to talk the oral surgeon into prescribing me some vicodin and soma, so once I got those into my system I passed out and felt a little better. I've been taking those ever since with little relief. I just sleep all day. It's awful.
The worst part is my oral surgeon is in Europe for the week with no one to cover him! I talked to him on the phone yesterday and he told me that he doesn't think it has anything to do with the wisdom teeth and that I'm probably grinding my teeth at night. Maybe I am, but I've never had this problem until I got my wisdom teeth out. Ughhhh. Whatever the problem is, I hope it gets better within the next couple of days!

Diabetes Snapshots

My lifelines!



This has lots of great recipes and tips for people living with diabetes.




My friend's leg and mine! That was back in the day when I sported an Animas.

Exercise

Exercise has always been a pretty big part of my life. I've dabbled in various sports...basketball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, track and field. The two sports I loved the most were swimming and tennis. I was on a swim team for years and I played tennis for my high school. So, yeah, I never really had a problem getting exercise...until I got to college. I didn't have any commitments to teams, so it was a little hard to get into the habit of visiting the gym on a regular basis.
Then I realized how AWFUL I felt without physical activity and got moving. I now go to the gym everyday! I feel soooo much better too. The one problem I have is figuring out a good blood sugar to work out with. Lately I'm finding that if it's not in the mid 200s, I get low really fast. I just don't know if this is a safe number. Does anyone have any suggestions of what to do about this??? My Dr. tells me to just bolus for half of my dinner, but even this causes me to go low!

To carb or not to carb....

FOOD=LIFE
I love it....so much. I love nutrition and dietetics. I love tasting new and different foods. I love it all. =]

I personally do not have a low carb diet. In fact, when I was first diagnosed, the doctors had me eating 90-100 carbs at noon everyday! That was so difficult at times! I don't eat that many carbs anymore, but I still have quite a bit. Though, there are rules I've set for myself. For the most part, I really only eat whole grains. I limit refined and processed ones as much as I possibly can. These spike my blood sugar very, very quickly. I also try to make everything pretty high fiber...I'm kind of obsessed with fiber. Maybe it was all the GI problems I had at the end of high school......yeah. I'll stop there before I gross anyone out.
But honestly, the meds the doctors gave me didn't really help that much. It's all about the diet!
I try to incorporate proteins and fats into every meal as well. These help to keep my blood sugar steady without so many spikes.

My favorite snacks include:
-Apples with peanut butter
-Triscuts and cheese
-Greek yogurt with honey
-Tortilla chips with guacamole (mmmmm yum)
-carrots, carrots, carrots.

Oh, and I love seeing how many ways I can incorporate vegetables into different meals. I get all my recipes from "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." This is the coolest cookbook ever! Today I made pancakes with beets and ricotta cheese in them or "pink pancakes." They were soooooo good!

My Biggest Supporter!

Since I was diagnosed in June, 2004, there's been one person by my side through it all....

MY MOMMY!

Without her support and guidance, I don't know where I would be.
She was there to comfort me when we received the diagnosis, got up at all hours of the night to test my blood sugar, gave me my injections, orders my supplies (yeah, I'm almost 20, I should probably start doing that on my own)....and puts up with with high/low crankiness. I know I don't always show my appreciation, but I hope she knows how much I love and cherish the support she's given me through the years. I LOVE YOU MOM!

Me, Mom, and my little sister Christi....she's pretty great too.

I should probably thank her for being there for me too! She's
taken the time to learn about diabetes and what caring for it
entails...and I LOVE that. Thanks Christi!

MAKING THE LOW GO!

I HATE being low. I went through almost a year where I didn't bolus for food, only corrected the high afterward because of my fear. Yeah, this brought my A1c wayyyyyy up.
When I do get low, it's so hard to "wait it out." I Just want to keep eating and eating so I can feel better, but then I get really high.....and really tired.


When I'm on-the-go, my favorite way to treat lows is glucose tabs. My favorite flavors are fruit punch and watermelon. They're kind of like giant smarties...only chalkier. I also like starbursts for my on-the-go-lows! They bring me back to my childhood when I used to eat packs andpacks! yummmmmmm!

Now that I'm home, my new favorite is orange blossom honey. I just take a spoonful or two and I'm good.

When I'm not too too low, but I know I'm going to be low later, I like to have something with carbohydrates and protein. Good snacks for this scenario include a glass of milk or a banana and peanut butter. These get my blood sugar up and keep it steady until my next meal.