Endo Visits

This week I went to my Endocrinology appointment for my 3-month diabetes check up. I actually see a physicians assistant, Rosanna, and she is the best.

As I filled out the blood sugar chart in the waiting room I realized how proud I was of my recent blood sugar numbers. I know, it's weird how much blood sugar can affect your mood or how you feel about yourself, but it does!

Sitting in that waiting room I recognized all of the nurses and medical assistants behind the check-in counter from my numerous past visits. There's one woman in particular who stands out. She's never very friendly and is significantly overweight. I don't know how to say this without sounding judgmental, but I'm always curious about overweight people who work in the health care industry. How can you take a medical professional seriously when they tell you to watch your calories when they're overweight? This has definitely happened to me before.

Another interesting experience that sometimes occurs in the Endocrinology office is when an inexperienced nurse checks your blood sugar. I've had someone once who didn't even know how to use the glucometer. I was like, you've GOT to be kidding me.

And another time, a nurse spoke to me in a very condescending way in response to a high blood sugar test in the doctor's office. First, I wanted to slap her, then I wanted to tell her that you shouldn't make a diabetic feel bad about their blood sugar control. If you're not diabetic, it might be tough to understand that no matter how hard you try, sometimes you'll get a bad number. But you'd think that someone who works in an Endocrinology office would know better.

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.)

Donating Body Parts

Diabetes affects every single cell in your body. And whether or not we're otherwise 100% healthy, diabetes is slowly damaging our bodies cell by cell. Depressing, I know, but lets not think about that for now.

What I want to focus on is that fact that this damage to our cells puts us in a group of people who can't donate our organs or any other body part, including giving blood or marrow. When I found this out, I was really upset because I'd always wanted to gives blood regularly. I patiently waited for my 18th birthday when I could legally donate, but then I went and got diabetes. Grr.

Another reason this makes me upset is the fact that if my husband needed something, a kidney for example, I wouldn't be able to give him one of mine even if we're a match. I've got a great friend with cancer, and if she ever needs a bone marrow transplant (knock on wood she NEVER needs one), I can't help her.

A few months ago I realized that there is one thing, one part of my body that isn't affected by diabetes, at least not in a way that would make it dangerous to other people...my hair. My hair was getting pretty long and I was ready for a substantial cut, so I started doing some research.

There are a number of organizations out there that take donated hair and change peoples' lives.

• Locks of Love
• Pantene Beautiful Lengths
• Looks Like Me
• Wigs For Kids
• Angel Hair For Kids
• Childhood Leukemia Foundation

I've officially committed to donating my hair. Tomorrow, I'm chopping off 12 full inches of my strawberry blonde hair and pretty soon someone else will be wearing it. I haven't selected the organization just yet though.

Just because we're diabetic doesn't mean we still can't give of ourselves. Besides, wouldn't it be good karma to donate all we can in case the day ever comes when we need an organ transplant? (I'm knocking on wood again.)

Blood Sugar Testing On A Schedule

Testing your blood sugar is just a few quick and easy steps to do. Yes, it can be a touch painful, but honestly, I've stubbed by toe way harder than testing my blood sugar or taking an injection ever hurt me.

Despite the fact that it only takes a minute or so to do, blood sugar testing can be painful in the sense that it's a royal pain in the neck to remember to do throughout the day. I used to have days where I'd sometimes test once a day and sometimes 8, even though 8 was my goal. Now it's 10 and that was a lot for me to remember at the start.

I've now put myself on a schedule, because it's the only thing that works. I find that if I don't incorporate testing into my life 100% and try to make it a habit, then it just doesn't happen, even when I have the best of intentions.

Test #1	As soon as my alarm goes off, I grab my testie from my nightstand and test while still half under the covers.
Test #2	I test as soon as I get to work while my computer boots up and then I eat breakfast while checking my email.
Test #3	A 2 hour alarm is set on my pump to alert me 2 hours after breakfast.
Test #4	As soon as I decide what to do for lunch, eat at my desk or order out, I test.
Test #5	Again, a 2 hour alarm is set on my pump to alert me 2 hours after lunch.
Test #6	4:00pm snacking cravings hit me, I test, if low I get to snack, if not I chug a glass of water and get over the craving.
Test #7	While cooking dinner, when I get to the "dinner in 5 minutes!"-mark, it's time to test.
Test #8	Once again, a 2 hour alarm is set on my pump to alert me 2 hours after dinner.
Test #9	Once in PJs, I test before brushing my teeth, just in case I need to munch something.
Test #10	I never test in the middle of the night unless I wake up on my own. Sometimes when I wake up it takes a few minutes before I start feeling shaky when I'm low, so I always test if I wake up at night.

Of course, I have days where I forget to do one of the tests mentioned above, but all in all, a schedule seriously helps me pull in all together. And with the busy lives most people have these days, making blood sugar testing as simple as possible is a necessity.

Healthy Spring Cleaning For Diabetics

This past weekend was a flurry of spring cleaning at my house. I cleaned all but one room from top to bottom.

I also did my own version of that old TLC show Clean Sweep, where they go through someone's stuff and separate it all out into four piles: keep, donate, sell, and toss. Although, my house did NOT look like one of those pack rat homes in the beginning. But everyone can use a little spring cleaning, right?

When starting a cleaning frenzy like this, diabetics have to be very aware of what all this activity will do to their blood sugar. While not typically thought of as exercise, house cleaning is just that. And it will absolutely affect your blood sugar. Constant activity while cleaning house usually keeps me on the verge of going low all day long, and I just might get there a few times.

In my experience, the best way to stay healthy while house cleaning is to test my blood sugar throughout the day and to set a periodic alarm for myself. I do this because when I'm knee deep in old photo boxes, magazines I never read, and costumes from my old sorority days, you tend to lose track of time.

I'm sure that you diabetics out there have experienced this once or twice too. Next time your at it, set little reminders like me on your phone to check your blood sugar every 2 hours or so. Not only will you welcome the break, but it'll help keep you from having hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) throughout the day.

Big News For My Blood Sugar Numbers!

I heard word today from Medtronic Minimed that United Healthcare has officially approved me for a continuous glucose monitor! I'm so excited I could scream! Don't worry, I won't.

This means that I'll know how my blood sugar is fluctuating around the clock, instead of just 8 times a day.

For those of you still waiting to be approved, have patience. My fingers are crossed for you for the insurance companies to get with it and cover it across the board.

I had to switch from HealthNet to United Healthcare when I switched jobs a few months back. I was already happy with my decision to change my job, but this makes me 110% happy about it. You never know what a job change can bring, and if it happens to you anytime soon, I hope the same kind of positive changes come to you too.

Testing & Driving

We all do it...texting while driving. Word on the street is it'll be illegal in California (where I live) beginning this July 1. I'm sure this will lead to less accidents on the road.

I've got something to confess. I not only text while driving; I test while driving. I pull out my tester, set it on my lap, and steer with my knees for a moment while I poke my hand. If the results are high, I go one step further, pull out my insulin pump, and juice it up.

I know it's bad. I'm sure just as bad as texting or eating while driving. But I do it anyway because it always feels important to do it the very moment when I need to. And I'm sure that if I do it, there are other diabetics out there too who are testing while driving.

While I'm trying to prevent future complications, I'm ignoring the more immediate possible complications, like dying in a car accident or worse, killing someone else.

I hereby promise to stop testing while driving. I will do my best to remember to test before starting the car, or else I will pull the car over to do it. What about you?

A Love/Hate Relationship With My Tester

As a Diabetic, one of the things that I always have with me is my Blood Glucometer, a FreeStyle Flash.

Of course, I don't go around calling it my "Blood Glucometer," as I'm sure you don't either. It's had many names over the years and keeps on evolving - from Glucometer to Blood Tester to Tester to Testie to Testicle. The last one is a joke I have with my husband because it lives in a little pouch that goes everywhere with me. But mostly, it's my Testie.

I've had a few glucometers over the years, but this FreeStyle Flash has been my favorite by far. It's small, the poker is small, it has a light on the end so I can test at night, and, I'll admit, my husband bought it for me because there was a butterfly on the box. If you knew me, you'd understand.

While it's certainly the best one I've ever had, I do have a love/hate relationship with it. I mean, it's this thing that has to go everywhere with me and I have to make myself bleed with it multiple times a day. Who wouldn't hate that?

My solution to this "hate" problem was to try to turn it into something fun. Hence the nicknaming. Something else that helped was to accessorize it. Yes, I said accessorize it! I'm a girl who loves fashion. So, why am I carrying this thing around in a not-cute, nylon, black case that's unnecessarily big?

Enter Chinatown, San Francisco. While shopping through silk-embroidered handbags in a little shop there two years ago, I came across a pretty little red zippered pouch. Fashion crisis averted! For $1, this pouch was the solution. Albeit, my equipment barely fit inside, but I made it work. And getting a red one was great for two reasons, blood won't show up if you get some on it, and it's easy to spot from across the room when you're in a rush.

I went back to Chinatown after a year and upgraded to a slightly larger beautiful red pouch for $5 that's actually made my negative feelings toward my glucometer go away! Who would have thought that's all it would take!

If my Testie and I have to go everywhere together, at least we'll look cute doing it!

Beach Day, Beer, Bikes & Blood Sugar

Yesterday was a lovely day. 90 degrees. Gorgeous. A definite beach day.

I took a bike ride downtown with a friend for lunch, rode to the beach, we had two beers and chilled out while watching the waves and other beach-goers. Then I rode my bike home. It was a really great day.

A bike ride like this takes planning for diabetics, and somehow it still didn't work out quite right. Before leaving the house, I tested (135), had a bowl of cereal, and drank a glass of water. When we got to the restaurant it was 317. Huh?!

When we were by the beach, I tested...114. Fab. But on the ride home, I started feeling weak and shaky. By the time I got home it was 54.

At this point I was tired from riding, overheated from the sun, had a beer buzz goin' on, and low blood sugar. I did not feel well. After eating something, I felt exhausted. By 8:00pm I felt pretty sick and went to bed feeling like I had the flu. I slept 10 hours and woke up feeling great.

I know there were a lot of factors that led to my feeling ill, but I know from experience that it was the fluctuations of my blood sugar that left me feeling like crap and ready to vomit. I've learned to get through these low points by having patience, and not allowing it to ruin the fantastic day that led up to it.

As diabetics, we can never relax, never stop testing, never stop being vigilant about trying to stay healthy. Some might think this sounds depressing, but you have to move past that. There are just too many lovely days ahead for us to enjoy.