Dirty Dancing

Well, I turned 29 this past weekend and had an amazing weekend with the girls in Palm Sprizzle. It was a blast! We gossiped, laughed til our cheeks hurt, people watched at the pool, and met Patrick Swayze's body double from Dirty Dancing (or so he claimed right before offering to "dance" for us for $5). It was also filled with lots and lots of blood testing.

When you're on vaca with your girls, the last thing you need is diabetes eff-ing it up. Mixing alcohol and diabetes can be dangerous, but I've worked very closely with my doctor and nutritionist to pinpoint exactly how it affects my body.

I know what beer, wine and hard alcohol do to my blood sugar. But the thing is, you can't know what it's doing without testing. So I took every opportunity to do it...before leaving the hotel, under the restaurant table before ordering dinner, between each drink, in the nightclub bathroom, back at the hotel before 3am snacks, before passing out, and again when I woke up at 6am for water.

Still, with all this blood flowin' I still managed to go low on the dance floor. No matter how fun it is, dancing = exercise. Just as Flo Rida was singing about apple bottom jeans and boots with fur, this shorty got low, low, low. I made a bee line to the bar for some sugary coke to bring it back up, and was feeling better in minutes.

If you drink, talk to your doctors about it. Be upfront and be healthy about it. And when you're partying, stay aware of what you're doing and how you're feeling. You can't not test. It's just not worth it.

Birthday In Palm Springs

At the risk of dating myself...ah, whatever, I'm turning 29 today. Happy Birthday to me!

I'm headed to Palm Springs with a group of fabulous ladies for a weekend of fun, sun, booze, dancing, late nights, pool time, gossiping and anything else that gets in our way. I'm sure it'll be trouble, as it usually is.

Since I'm the only diabetic in the group (which you'd assume after reading my previous post) I need to remember to watch out for myself and not get distracted from my diabetes while having all this fun.

I've noticed that on trips like these, the girls can forget to eat. It's always me who comes up with the idea to eat, and usually everyone follows suit. Adding in the drinking factor, my blood sugar has a tendency to stay on the low side, so I really need to stay on top of it, especially while dancing.

I also have a secret buddy system. While all these girls are very aware that I'm diabetic, there are a few who were with me when I was diagnosed, lived with me in college, and just know exactly what to do if something happens to me. I find myself tending to stick close to those girls, like the buddy system. But I know that if anything were to happen, I could count on any one of them, because I'm so open about diabetes that everyone is aware for me.

This morning I'm prepping for the 4 hour drive, which I'm doing solo. Lots of water and snacks for just in case. Plus I double checked that my emergency $5 is in my car (for food when you find yourself stuck without).

All in all it should be a great weekend and great birthday! And if I can just remember to keep my diabetes top of mind, then I'll return home just as healthy as I left.

Party time! Excellent! (For you fellow Wayne's World fans.)

Party Foul

I went to a beer drinking, Bocce Ball-playing birthday party this past weekend. It was super fun, and super low-key.

I usually steer clear of beer (sorry about the rhyming here), because of it's high carb content. If I do drink it, I'll stick to Michelob Ultra (only 1.5 carbs. YES!). At a mellow party or get together, dry wine is my drink of choice (about 2-5 carbs), and when it's time to hit the dance floor with my girls, it's rum and diet cokes for me (zero carbs!).

Lately, though, it's beer that has been calling my name, and a lot of times my good friend Michelob Ultra isn't on the menu. As was the case at this beer drinking party. And if it's got carbs in it, insulin is necessary.

My problem with beer is that it takes me so long to drink it that I forget to take insulin for it. Especially once I've gotten my buzz on. An hour later, I'm feeling parched, despite the fact that I've been drinking an icy cold beverage the whole time. I check my blood sugar and hot damn, it's high.

I tend to get pretty down on myself for letting this happen. It's not like it's that difficult to remember something so simple. I mean, I have to remember to take insulin so many times throughout the day that it's hard for me to believe I forgot.

I got caught up with friends and fun. Even though high blood sugar is bad for my body, it was really nice to feel normal for an hour and feel unburdened by my constant worries about diabetes. But not thinking about it is a luxury that I can't afford.