This morning I am a little happy with MTV.  The reason being, they talked about diabetes on a program last night.  They have a show called 16 and Pregnant, which I do not watch because it disgusts me, I think it is showing teenagers that it’s “cool” to be pregnant and in high school, but that’s a whole other story.  My girlfriend watches the show and it was a extra clips type of show and one of the pregnant girls had gestational diabetes.  She was throwing up a lot and her blood sugars were high and she had a meter and by all of this she was able to spread awareness to the youngsters of today.

“Mom, what’s gestational diabetes?  What can I do to not get it?”  I am hoping that these phrases and similar ones are being asked all across the country this morning.  What steps can you take to prevent yourself from getting type 2, what can you to do help prevent complications from type 1.  Diabetes needs to be stressed on a more regular basis on national television.  5 minutes of one MTV show is not enough.  How about putting a diabetic on Big Brother, or Real World or how about ANYTHING.  And not just mention it once, mention it every episode, show them testing their sugar, bolusing, carb counting, is this too much to ask to help save people’s lives?

I guess it is.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

I have a few quick announcements to make about some new changes.  First, my new e-mail address to contact me is thelifeofadiabetic@gmail.com  Secondly, the url to my blog will be changing, as will the design, format, pretty much everything about it.  You will still be able to ready about my boring ole life, but there will be some additional things other then just my life.  I figured I’d start sharing some opinions that nobody is going to care about anyway because we all have our own opinions.  I’ll release the new url shortly.

Now onto the fun stuff.  I went to a luncheon yesterday that is sort of a diabetes support group.  Total of about 30 people which included CDE’s, pharmacists, pharma reps, diabetics (type 1 and type 2), some MD’s and some other advocates for diabetes.  One of the main things discussed and brought up was education centers closing.  Just answer this one question for me. Where would you be today without a diabetes educator?  Want to hear my answer?  My answer is, probably not alive!  How would you know how to read a food label, count carbs, figure out what your bolus should be, how much exercise, how to heal a wound, how to prevent wounds from happening, I can go on all day.

It seems the new way of diabetes treatment is to have an all in one doctors visit with everybody under one roof.  So, go spend 5 minutes with the nutritnionist, psychologist, endo, nurse, podiatrist, and oh yeah, this is in all 1 big circle and setting.  Hmmm, to me that just sounds like a recipe for complications.  So they say there aren’t enough Endo’s for all the people with diabetes.  Really?  So how about we educate people a little more about diabetes, and maybe there won’t be as many, because they can make lifestyle changes.  But, no we can’t do that because how will the hospitals be able to bill for these people going to these classes who don’t even have diabetes, the insurance companies won’t have any of that.

So instead, we opt to have less education and more complications.  Does not sound like a recipe for success in my eyes.

Well, I hope you all have a good day.

Well, my blood sugars are a little better today than they were yesterday.  I think it was my infusion site that had messed everything up.  When I took it our and switched to a different spot, the area was tough and hard, so that could explain why the insulin wasn’t working too well.  I only had it in that spot for about 2 days though and didn’t really use too much insulin.  Well, onto other things.

I am awaiting to hear back from my doctor on my Vitamin D lab work.  It wasn’t ready by the time I had my visit on Friday.  I will have to call back after lunch because they are all enjoying their lunches at this time, which I am about to also.  Coaching starts on Monday night, and I am not prepared at all.  I also just found out that my assistant coach is going to be on vacation next week, so I will be by myself, but he comes back the week that I am gone, so that is good.

I can’t believe that it is almost August already, crazy.   My girlfriend said, I can’t believe summer is almost over, because she starts her student teaching in August so she can graduate in December, and I said, “Babe, I haven’t had a summer vacation in about 4 years, so get over it!”  Those times were the best.  I didn’t mind the end of summer because that meant football practice was starting and I would start to see kids I haven’t seen since school ended in the spring.  Ahh those were days….not just younger, but also not diabetic.  I wonder how my life would have been different if I did have diabetes?  Would I still have contiued to play football?  Would I have gone to college to play quarterback?  Could I have been the first Jay Cutler (well not ability wise).

And oh yea, this means one more thing….. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES FOOTBALL!!!!

What a crappy day.  My blood sugar hit the 500+ mark last night in the middle of the night.  Didn’t know this until I woke up to go to the bathroom about 3 times within 2 hours, a little strange so I tested and it gave me the “HI” reading.  Awesome, exactly what I need on a Sunday night.  So, when I wake up at 7:15, I test and it is now 375, ok, better than before.  Side note, my roommate has been sick over the past few days.

Now I’m at work, and I can’t get my levels below 250 for the last 3 hours now.  My stomach hurts, I feel like crap, and I think I am getting what my roommate had.  What a great start to the week.  Bad case of the Mondays I guess.  This weekend wasn’t much better either.  I think half of the weight that I lost over the past week was all put back on this weekend.  A few different get togethers so my food consumption consisted of Firehouse Subs, Chili’s Olive Garden, and Wendy’s.  Need I say more?  I didn’t sleep much Saturday night, and my back was killing me Sunday morning.

Awesome, I hope you all have as wonderful of a day that I am.

Just got back from the Endo and the visit today was a new experience.  I decided to do one of these new multiple patient visits.  It is more like a support group type visit.  First, let me start off with this.  If you are type 1, don’t ever do these sort of visits.  You need more in depth analysis of your CGM or pump readings, etc.  It took 2 hours almost.  The endo goes over each persons labs and changes and lifestyle in front of the whole group in order for you to learn from other people experiences.  It wasn’t a bad thing, it just took too long and when she got to me, she said, I’ll have to see you 1 on 1 for more in depth, so it was a little time wasted, but it was good to be there and supportive for other people and giving feedback.

Overal, I was happy with my weight and unhappy with my A1C, but all my other numbers were perfect.  My weight there was 251, but that is with jeans, wallet, phone, 3 meters, keys, insulin pump, and a logbook.  That weight is very skewed.  This morning on my scale at home I weight 233, so I’m not too upset with that weight, because I had at least 10-12 pounds of extra stuff on that scale.

Now to the embarassing number, 7.4.  I knew it was going to be high because of my lousy eating habits, lack of exercise and stress over the last 90 days.  The last 2 weeks have been great, but that doesn’t make too much of a difference on the A1C.  I am positive that my next blood test is going to be better.  I also made a promise to wear the sensor everyday for the next 5 weeks until my next appointment.  Made some changes to my basal rates, still taking too much insulin, but that is starting to come down.  My basal rights are high, but the amount of insulin I use on bolusing has come down tremendously because of dieting.  I used to average anywhere from 20-25 units of insulin for a bolus / correction at mealtime and now I am down to about 10-15 units.

Well I hope you all had a great day.

This morning was the first time I think ever that I had a little bit of hypoglycemia unawareness.  I tested my blood sugar because I felt thirsty and it ready 65.  So I tested again because that couldn’t be right, 57.  Ok, third time is a charm I think to myself, 68.  Well I don’t feel shaky or sweating or weird at all, so I ate a few glucose tabs and that was the end of the that.  My sugar hasn’t gone above 130 all day long.  Which is good, but I don’t like the fact that I couldn’t detect that low I was  having.  Guess I really need to put that CGM back on!

So tomorrow is the doctor’s appointment.  As of today I am 14 pounds lighter then I was about 45 days ago on my last visit.  Hopefully that stays true to the next time I have an appointment and I will be down to the 220 range.  I’m still not going to stop there, not until I reach 200-205, then I will stop trying to lose weight and maintain that weight, maybe put a little more back on, but hopefully in the muscle format and not fat format.

In the middle of all this dieting, it is apparent that I must test my sugars a lot more often because my eating habits are not as much, so I am using less insulin.  Also, the more active I am becoming the more sensitive to insulin I become which will hopefully bring down my basal rates.  Then that means I can at least try out these other pumps that don’t hold 300 units of insulin, or else I’d be changing sets every day and a half, not something I want to do.

Well I hope you all have a great day.

Blood, Blood, Blood.  Had my bloodwork done this morning, and what an event that was.  I scheduled an appointment for 8:30.  So I overslept a little, big deal.  I get to the office at 8:35 and sign it at 8:35.  Next thing you know it is about 9 and I haven’t been called up yet, and this is just to give them the doctor’s orders, not even to draw the blood.  So I walk up to the counter and ask the miserably lady working at the desk, “Excuse me, I had an appointment at 8:30 and was wondering when…”  And I am cut off with a “Yea, well you were late so now your appointment is cancelled and you will fit in when I’m done with the appointments.”  I look at the sheet and say I was 5 minutes late and somehow, my 3 was scribbled out and turned into a 4, and she said, no you came at 8:45 so your 15 minutes late, so now you have to wait.

Wow, did that just piss me off or what.  So I calmly sit down, but I start thinking about it, and now I’m like, great my sugar is going to go up now right before the test.  So finally after an hour wait I get called back to have the blood drawn and the lady says, “You had an 8:30, why didn’t you come back earlier”, so I just politely said, “Ask your co-worker”

Now, after 5 years with diabetes, wow, it’s been  that long, I’ve had my fair share of blood being drawn, but this morning was the most ever. I usually get 1 tube, maybe 2 at most drawn, today it was 5!  I have never donated blood before, so this was the most ever and it drove me crazy.  I actually watched this time because I never did before, and I was like oh what the heck why not, it will be quick.  Then all of a sudden i see 1 tube, 2 tubes, 3 tubes, 4 tubes, 5 tubes, by this time I’m feeling a little weird.  Luckily I was fine, but now I’m nervous to hear my results.  My appointment is Friday morning, so we shall see.

Any aggrevating / funny A1C stories you have?

I had a very interesting experience yesterday while playing tennis and it involves diabetes, blood sugars, and a raccoon.  We were having a great workout and a great match.  My girlfriend, roommate, their mother and I.  It was my girlfriend and I against them.  We won the first set 6-5 and then were beating us pretty bad in the second set.  When all of a sudden we see a raccoon come walking along the outside of the fence of the courts.  No big deal, at least we thought at first.

It then started to scratch and claw and try to get itself through the fence and into the courts, where we were.  So we tried to scare it off, but still nothing.  Then it became aggressive and looking at us in a weird way that started to freak me out.  So now we are playing tennis with one eye on this raccoon.  Finally it went away…..for a little.

We were playing aggressive again and then all of a sudden this thing comes back out and starts joining us again and trying to get onto the court.  By this time I am ready to just quit and leave because I felt for sure this thing had rabies and was just looking for a nice little meal from my leg.  Now, here comes the fun part.  Not only am I playing tennis, trying to prevent an attack from a rabid raccoon, but now my blood sugar is going low, very low.  So I run over to test, I’m at 59, so I chug some Gatorade and wait a little and go back out to finish the game, which ultimately we won.

Burned a lot of calories in that match last night.  Well I hope you all have a great day!

Monday Monday Monday.  This hasn’t been a bad start on a Monday however like some others are.  So the weekend was a little fun filled, but nothing special.  Golf was good yesterday.  We played best ball and we blew it on the last hole, but I couldn’t blame it on my sugar because it was a perfect 115.

I have to get my blood work done on Wednesday for my doctors appointment on Friday.  I have to get a lot of blood taken because there is a lot of tests that I have to have because it’s been a while since my last time.  This one may not be my best A1C, but I think the next one will be because I am losing weight, eating healthier, exercising and all the good things.

I will be going to the gym again tonight to do 45 minutes on the bike and then some quick upper body lifting, nothing heavy, just straight lightweight just to get some work done.  I figure that I don’t like doing push-ups, so I’ll just do a quick little bench press or so.  I love testing my sugar while I am on the bike at the gym and people look at my weird like what the heck is this kid doing!

Well, it’s lunch time folks, so I hope you all have a great day.

Wow, it’s Friday already!  This week has gone by very fast.  But there is still so much to do.   Today is going to be a hectic day.  It is condo hunting day again today.  I have to leave work early to go out shopping for a condo because there is not that many more days left on the lease where I am at now, and buying a condo usually isn’t a fast process.  Also, the World Series Champion Phillies are in town so, I am heading down there tonight to see the game.  A nice 4-0 victory last night.  I predicted a 4 game sweep to my officemate, who is the baseball master, yesterday, so let’s see how well it plays out.

Tomorrow night there is some dinner and a show that I am going to at the Seminole Cocount Creek Casino.  I don’t even know what it is, I was just told that I am going.

So, on to the diet part now.  Yesterday I did go out and buy lunch, but I got a veggie patty sub and only ate half of it for lunch.  From what the scale said this morning I am down about 10 pounds since my last doctor visit.  Which morning weight is not always the most accurate.

Well, I hope you all have a great day, have a lot to do in a half of day.