Daylight Savings Time

Sunday, October 29.
2 am-
Phone rings. Another one rings. Soon, a hundred, a thousand, phone calls flood the lines at all three pump companies. It's going to be a long night for the staffers.

"May I help you?"

"How do I change the time on my pump?" Panicky voice of new pumper.

"I can help you with that- go to x, x, press x, x, etc..."

"Is this gonna screw up my blood sugars???!"

"It may. You should be in contact with your health care team to determine how much more/less insulin you'll need, if your basal rates differ overnight."

Yep, your health care team will be so thrilled to answer that question(that you should have asked them about at said appointment last week).

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Sunday, October 29.
8 AM: I’ve got a odd quirk- every time the time changes, I wake up low. Or lower. I have done this 16 consecutive times-it's like a tradition. I do not know why this is, since I practically always sleep in on weekends + it doesn’t seem to impact the need to alter the basal rate down. Woke up 187 today, down from last night, if I’d have been normal last night I’d be low today.(and the last 3 nights blood sugar have gone up overnight)
Being a veteran pumper, I do not worry about it. Changing basal rates and everything at 2 AM is more trouble then it's worth.(and its so NEWBIE..)I just adjust later, and move on.
Diabetes is just so weird sometimes.

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I’ve discovered Grey’s Anatomy- and I’m so addicted.I live a very sheltered life(obviously), I rarely watch television. Television does not enrich one’s mind(except, in all the things you probably shouldn’t be doing anyway) or bank account, not to mention addicting you to so many shows you hardly get anything done (around the house). For those reasons, I don’t get it, but I occasionally watch back episodes of various shows. ER season 7 will have to wait, I’m still on Grey’s Anatomy second season.

I really need to speed up the getting-of-the-degree; work is getting on my nerves. Or rather, one of the individuals at work, who, as Designated Health Care Person milks this position to an extreme. She has a major Doctor Complex, calls herself a nurse, and is a CNA. Everything is about the company-and not the patient, no one “hurts themself at work, you did it at home”, quite a lot of that has been going on recently. If you aren’t bleeding-it ain’t a problem. (Yes, I once whacked my head and was told that) Some of my coworkers have been having some real problems w/her of late.

I know more then she does, and I’m pretty dumb- but I am an EMT + working on a nursing degree, which she isn’t. The company should hire someone who can actually do something(besides dispense aspirin + unsolicited advice), but this is about $35/hr cheaper, I guess. I would not want her to ever attempt CPR (or anything else) on me- if there were a way of having that tattooed on my chest, I would. Don’t let her near me.
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I got “Cheating Destiny” Tuesday(and had it read in three days). The one thing that really stands out to me is its just so much harder to see your kid diagnosed with diabetes then it is to have it yourself.
Man, what a powerful book. Especially the end- where they’re all at the 2005 Friends for Life conference.(I think I identified with that the most- seeing as I was there myself!) The author, who has had diabetes 30 years(and much of that time, had a1cs in the 6's) sees diabetes in a whole new light after his son is diagnosed.
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Check out your status here:


“ Much more nice than naughty. Can be very thoughtful. Has improved cleanliness, which I like. Could take better care of toys. Says "thank you" often, but still not as much as I would like. Good mood often spreads to others. Hopefully, will keep up the good work!”
Hmm, dunno about all that. What I need- is a Good/Bad PWD meter, which would swing up and down based on current blood glucose readings + the phase of the moon.
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My brother says I’ll feel better if I got into an exercise routine, while that might be true, its not like I get no exercise.(some of my family thinks exercise is the cure to everything, including diabetes) Getting payed to sweat is much better then paying to sweat. I sweat daily at my job, it’s a workout.(yes, I’m sure you all wanted to know that lovely piece of information) There’s a gym right across the road from work, and he’s offered to pay the membership fees if I try it/like it/stick with it. And exercise, to some extent, can make you feel better overall even if you’re going through a rough medical times. So I may try it. That being said,
I see the trainer tomarrow.

I’ve not thrown up for 4 days, pretty good in my book. Monday-Wednesday was absolutely horrible, Tuesday evening my blood sugars shot to the moon + it became even more of a problem keeping ketones at bay. Spike (blood sugars), vomit, drop (blood sugars), eat, vomit, spike, vomit, etc. It wasn’t real sure what was the result of not eating and what was the result of the 400's but since all ketones aren’t good, it didn’t really matter. I called the gastro doc(they didn’t return my call till a day later) + tried to up my intake of caloried fluids, etc. It stopped, (that evening) much to my relief. It is like flying blind- dealing with ketones (you aren’t sure if being positive is a result of not eating, or a result of being high).
If whacked up bgs are the result of some gastro illness, who does one contact anyway- endo or the gastro?
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On Thursday, it was Chili Day at work- it was good, hot, and stuffed with beans. I ate about half, and stuck it back in the refrigerator for the next day’s lunch. On Friday, I went to get my lunch + it was gone. I was peeved (especially when I saw my ex supivisor eating chili, maybe she got mine by mistake?) But figured it happens, its not the first time someone’s taken my lunch. Not exactly 100% honesty, where I work. That’s why there are vending machines- as backup for such misfortunes.

My body. A collection of various organs, all designed to function in perfect harmony. Only it never works out that way, my body organs get to pick the days they want to go on strike. Monday-Wednesday, its the stomach, followed by the lungs on Thursday, the brain(hypos) on Friday, and the brain and gut on Saturday. On Sunday, I crash(getting ready for another week!) I feel like a collection of medical disasters.I believe in predestination- some people will be healthy + die in their sleep at 98, some people won’t. My 40'ish coworker(currently in the process to donate a kidney) has never been in the hospital- including at birth.
Some people get all the breaks.
How many carbohydrates in this?
It looks good- worth every single unit of that 20-30 unit bolus.
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The Top Eight Things to dress up as(on Halloween)
1. Sugar Free Plum Fairy
2. A Syringe- Orange pointy cap, white dress, black unit markings, and a plunger(out the back end).
3. Vegetables. Because they’re low carb, of course, and you’ll know how much to bolus for them. (Most of them)
4. A Food Nazi- Very, very scary, if you ask me. “Trick or Treat- Should you be eating that???”
5. An Endocrinologist. White lab coat, Elmo scrub cap, orange + blue striped socks. Stethoscope slung carelessly, authoritatively, around neck. Reading glasses perched on end of nose. (And yes, I’ve been watching too much Grey’s Anatomy)
6. A pancreas- Red, puffy, and with little black dots for your islets.
7. Hypoboy or Hypogirl-
(More powerful then 10 strapping firefighters..
Faster then a speeding ambulance..
I’m low, and I need sugar NOW.)
8.A meter- with a perfect 100 mg/dl written in black permanent marker ‘cross your chest. Seeing is believing.