Harsh Pink: Color Me Stupid

You live with the consequences of your actions. Always. (Especially on holiday weekends)

















Checked my blood glucose probably 6 times in 3 days(really, really, not like me) ate
whenever/wherever everyone else was, took off my pump last night and woke up with a blood glucose of 501(purple ketones for that one) and I would say, wasn't very responsible. (at all) Many of the blood sugars were ok, but when I'd get high, I'd just bolus rather then take the time to check. Five positive ketostix in 3 days.
I was trying not to inconvenience anyone..(by stopping and fooling with D stuff) but as usual, it would convenience them even more when you get in trouble with highs. I've got to stop worrying about everyone else's feelings + pay enough attention to the D.
Ketones make me want to scream!
(its being high,cranky,and thirsty and those buggers don't clear out very easily either) I hate ketones.

We're Diabetic

For a little bit of good old fashioned D-pride, click here.

Rah, Rah.
(time to wear my "I run on Insulin" tshirt..:-)

The Jamestown Story (Part 2)

Part 2-because Sat. was a story unto itself. This is what happened on Sunday.

7:30 AM- After a "Let's-get-DKA-high" breakfast of waffles/syrup, yogurt, 3 glasses of oj(what can I say, I was thirsty) and the subsequent bolusing of 15 U Novolog(not enough), my fiance and I take off for the "Yellow" lot, where we'll catch a bus to Jamestown.

8:45 AM After driving aimlessly around a seemingly deserted Eastern State(mental facility, twin cousin to Western State(joint on my side of the state) we arrive at the Yellow Lot(an empty field). Still early, we're only the 4th line of cars. Directly ahead lies a fleet of school buses, from every district in the Richmond-VA beach area. It begins to drizzle, and its a relief to board the Newport News bus.

Our driver greets us with a cheery "Good morning!" as we file in and fill the seats.
3 minutes later, as we're going down the road, the driver makes an unexpected lurch into the left turn lane.(did I mention there were no seat belts on the buses?)

The guy of front of us frowns. "Hey, you need to go straight here."
"I do?"
"YES."
"I don't know, I'm not from the area and I'm just doin' what they tell me too."

The hair on the back of my neck prickles at the news. Not good, a driver who has no clue where we're going...

The guy in front, though, has the situation well under control. "I know where to go-just keep going straight."

Audible sigh of relief heard. (by 60+ inhabitants of bus)

10 minutes later, we arrive at the Jamestown Anniversary site and unboard, as Marines direct traffic and assist little old ladies off buses.
It's still sprinking, and a bone-piercing chilly wind is blowing, adding to the uncomfortableness of the situation. The security lines are very long,as every handbag/backpack/etc. is throughly searched.
Metal detecter. Gulp. Lambo JR. frequently sets them off, and that's really not something I need today...
But when it's my turn, I pass through(uneventfully).

It's 10:30 by then, so we head for the information booth to buy "Script", the official currency of the festival.














Buy lunch, and head over to the main stage, where various dignitaries are warmin' it up with the expected long wided speeches. State delegates. The Secretary of the Interior. Sandra Day O'Connor. (who has been famous since before I was born..talk about history!)

Suddenly, a pair of fighter jets scream overhead. (giving us all mild heart attacks)
















Finish lunch. The sun comes out, it quits raining. "Hail to the Chief" starts up, and we all stand up. (the sea of blue is the 10,000 member choir)














The governor is being quite cordial (remarkable, considering they're on opposite sides of the political spectrum)
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States!"

In the interest of PC, I won't delve into what he said, as you can (or did) read about it in the newspapers. Gave speech, directed the band for about 3 minutes which got a big laugh from the audience. Then the director of the festival, him/First Lady, 3 local kids stood around this Time Box and put some stuff into it(No telling what they put in-that's for tonight, boys and girls)and as the band still played, they left the stage. (followed by the dignitaries)

People begin pouring out of Festival Park, toward the Ship Area. One or two SS agents remained around the Secured Area, as the various helicopters took off. You could tell they were Secret Service from the microphone thingies in their ears(they didn't look like Men in Black). Having never seen a Secret Service agent in person, it gave me a weird weak feeling in the knees.

I'm feeling high(and thirsty). Meter reads a cranky 350, so I shoot 6 units(rather then worry about changing my infusion set(I'm way too busy for that). Combining that with walking around all afternoon should both take it down and take care of the basal
rate(I won't need much).. Get a diet pepsi. Head for the Ship Area.














Went on board the 2 larger ships. (the one was so tiny it barely could be called a ship...)














The Anchor(on the biggest ship):

















We then head over to the reconstructed Fort area.(not the actual site-that's being dug up)
Stop #1:














This was a canoe making demonstation- after the Indians had cut down a tree, they'd set a series of small fires of top of it(burning the inside out). Then, they'd use clam shells to scrape out the ash and shape the canoe. When the settlers showed up(with metal tools) the Indians just about went nuts with happyness(they're clam-scrapeing days were officially over). Pretty interesting.

Stop #2. (The Fort)

Splitting boards:
















How they amputated someone's limb:
(they were very good at this,the person lost less then 1/2 a pint of blood) The person had to stay in bed for awhile afterwords though.















Curing tobacco:
(Marlboro Light,anyone?)















A house:

















Various other things, we didn't have time to see it all. Went back to the Visitor Center where we caught a bus for the original site.At the original site, we viewed a short documentary on the graves they'd found, saw the reconstructed church, saw the
dig site,and stood in line for 1.5 hours for the artifact museum. By then, it was hot
and people were not in the best of moods. The Archiological president + someone else came around to cheer us up, pass out water + sunblock,tell us that it was well worth the wait, and apologize for it being so long. And to tell us stories of how the Queen of England(the week previously) could go all over the area in high heels(at 82, that's pretty good) but then again, the Queen of England didn't have to wait 90 minutes on a moderatly hot summer day. Blood sugar was dropping, so I set a temp basal of 0.0 for an hour and hoped it would stay stable.
We finally got to the museum, and I was low, there was still a line(it would have taken another hour to see the graves) so we did a quick walk around and got out of there so I could drink juice.(nothing was allowed in the museum,and I wasn't about to get kicked out after waiting all that time) Saw a few things of interest.(the graves were just the big attraction)

Got back on the bus, for Anniversary Park. It was after 6 pm by then, so we got some supper, hung around the main stage area.
At 7:30 pm, there was a play about the founding of Jamestown. Very well done.


8 PM- My cellphone and digital camera both die.

At 8:30 pm, Govornor Kaine reappeared for the grand finale- to tell everyone what the president had put in the Time Box(some cds,a cd player, and a power cord + some stuff from Queen Elizabeth) In 50 years- cd players might be obsolete...
Then the govornor,his wife and 3 kids put some more stuff in the Time Box.They told him just 1 thing, but being the govornor, he chose to ignore that advice.
#1 A Virginia Tech hat
#2 I forget..
#3 Happy Birthday helium balloon, which didn't quite fit and they had to really push + scrunch it in there.

The grand finale was the fireworks, which were beyond description (REALLY awesome). The Virginia Symphony Orchestra played the theme music(Star Wars, Stars and Stripes Forever, some other stuff) for 30 minutes and I wish I could have taken some pictures of them. They (the fireworks) were the best I've seen in 22 years. After that, we reboard the bus back to the Yellow Lot, the end to a perfect day. And the driver, knew where she was going.Getting out of there wasn't so bad, they really planned it out well.(with people being designated to park in a certain lot, it wasn't a traffic disaster for any certain area)

5 Months and Counting

I dreamed last night that my a1c was around 7 (only in my dreams, apparently). Fact is, I've had the paperwork labsheet sitting in my Too Urgently Do desk drawer for a full week now. After re-finding it, buried under a car mat post-doctor appointment. (it'd been there for over a week)

It also has a fasting cholesterol test, so I couldn't just quickly take care of it after work. Nope,its gotta be an early morning, fasting since midnight affair. As said lab is 30 minutes away and not open at 5:30 in the morning, the only day I can possibly do it is Saturday..They're open nice and early on Saturdays,7:30 AM.

My diet..quite frankly, hasn't been the best. People in love have much more important things to think about, then getting the RDA of the major food groups. But people in love, can't function(very long) off cheeseburgers and Diet Mountain Dew, so I'm going to try to start cooking veggies, eating fruits because that's what I'm supposed to be doing. My ring is being resized, it was about 1.5 sizes too large (my finger isn't "average") I only had it 2 days before I had to take it back in. It won't be back for two weeks. I miss it.
Cranky, cranky me... I'm dying to show everyone, but not just a pic. I've held off telling people at work, because I'm waiting for that ring.

At work the other day, our supivisor was asking us about special dietary needs for
the upcoming Ice Cream Social(June 1). Two of my coworkers, asked for no sugar ice cream and the supivisor looked around, asked "Anyone else?"
I look at the floor.
Everyone in the department looks at me, waiting for me to announce my request for no sugar ice cream.
I wasn't going to declare any such thing, this was my decision and none of their business. Aside from the fact, that I'm a type 1 and I take insulin for everything anyway.
"Heidi?" pipes up coworker #1.
I resume looking at the floor.
"Do you want it?" asks my supivisor.
"No."
"She'll eat it and end up on the floor," says coworker #2.
I shoot a glare in her direction.
"I work it off, thank you very much."
"No, you'll just shoot insulin for it."

At this point, I get really, really mad and decide to defend myself.

"Ah yes- you're the expert. I've had it 10 years and I more then know what I'm doing by now."

"Well, my mom had it. And h----, I don't care if you end up on the floor."

"If you don't care, why are you even talking about it?"

Coworker #2 is also very angry(at this point). Tells me something that I won't repeat. And I decide, that the ignorance/callous unfeeling of some people is just not worth it.I don't have to defend myself to this jerk, whose sole claim to Experthood lies in the fact that her mom had diabetes + probably died just to get away from her daughter.
They get diabetes, and sugar is forever Evil and shots are an excuse to be a bad diabetic, etc. So they don't take shots(though they need them), they don't eat sugar(instead, they eat all this high carb sugar free stuff) and they don't check their blood sugars and they think they're being good diabetics when in reality, that's the worst thing they can do for themselves. And they get complications, and wonder why.
I don't blame her, though I did spend several hours wishing she'd get type 1 diabetes and have a low, a bad one.(just so she'd learn that it's not eating enough, rather then overeating, that causes one to "end up on the floor." My job is very physical, and I do have to reduce boluses majorly sometimes. It did hurt though, being the topic of discussion in front of the entire dept. No one says anything,but its obvious that I'm the devil-may-care irresponsible bad diabetic.

Reason #145 why I'm glad to be leaving my job. I have good friends there, but when you've had a few lows on the job it forever fuels the rumor mill.
(5 Months and Counting...before I bid it adeau)

Ballad of a Beta Queen

Dream on, Dream on, Beta Queen
Weirdist girl we've ever seen

There's a story in our town
Of the weirdest girl around
Brunette hair, and a meter true
Which she'd use, to pitch at you.

People 'round her, liked her more
When she stayed out of the candy store
She'd get high, and cranky too
Getting high will make you blue.

She had glucose tabs to share
Pump so blue, an endo too
Not a care, this Beta Queen
(Not a care, this Beta Queen)

Dream on,Dream on, Beta Queen
Weirdest girl you've ever seen.

Though some guys would take her out
It was clear, they had their doubts
Diabetes was too real
They'd be getting too raw a deal.

Dream on, Dream on, Beta Queen
Better make some more ka-ching.

Then one day, she wrote a book
Publisher came, to take a look
Got the money, got the fame
Yet her life was still the same.

Dream on, Dream on, Beta Queen
Nothing's ever as it seems.

But the years, when passing by
Left this Beta Queen less shy
Diabetes lessons learned
Fewer times she would get burned.

Dream on, Dream on, Beta Queen
Maybe yet you'll get a ring.

Do I have to tell you more
She said yes to the boy from the shore..
And it's plain, they both adore.

















I've joined the ranks of engaged OC'rs... Yes, the weekend was all so
amazing + I'll be blogging about that but I had to tell you guys the most important news first!!!!!!!! It happened in a resteraunt in Williamsburg,(Sat.night) and I've still not come back to earth.

Stories

I just can't stop watching this... love the song, love Greys Anatomy, and it basically just "fits" right now..

If you spot an odd looking individual on your tv this weekend- it would be me, I'll be the Au Naturale Wrinkled One. No ironing.(unless I can convince my mom to do some of it)

Next up: Jamestown '07.
(400th Anniversary Weekend)

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Wednesday night, 8 pm. Party at my house.

All the cool kids were there.

My parents.

My oldest brother.

The rescue squad.

The fire department.

And various neighbors, trying unsuccessfully NOT to gawk out their windows.

And so, apperently, was I (though the entire thing is somewhat of a blur).

No- I wasn't low. Far from it. I'd been a rocksolid 130-170 for a full 5 hours. My D, was behaving amicably. No suppertime bolus hanging 'round, my basal ran 0.3 units/hour.(hardly major insulin reaction material)

One minute, I was ironing, the next, I was doing a carpet burn 5 feet away. Electricity coursed through my body, and I briefly passed out. When I came too,my heart was beating funkily + I was shaking like I was having El Majoro insulin reaction. I knew I'd better get to the phone before I passed out for real so I went to the living room, grabbed my cellphone, called my mom, checked my blood sugar(170- no surprise there) and she called 911 as I wasn't thinking too clearly by then.

My dad and brother arrived first, minutes later the rescue squad/fire department/my mom/ landlady's daughter.
Blood pressure was high- pulse very high and the squad wanted me to go in but I decided to wait it out, see if it got any worse. The primary reason for this didn't involve any great bravery on my part, its more like when your family is standing around with disapproval written all over their faces (like, its just a shock, get over it already) -short of unconsciousness, there's no way you can agree to go in. You'd much rather be dead, then hear the resulting dialogue from making a decision like that.
Seriously. Not that they don't care, they just think its overkill. And while the squad is doing their utmost to convince you that you should go in, you know that you shouldn't/can't + the reason for this, you can't really
communicate that to the medic,you can'b be honest. Sometimes family,isn't
a great asset in such a situation.

My dad took the iron(to have it checked out), it was a new one(not like I was standing in a puddle of water to invoke all that). And my mom stayed a few hours, till I felt somewhat human again, less shaky/dizzy enough to crawl back to bed.

Something that could have happened to anyone, but it'll be chalked up in the "Diabetic Girl going into Coma" book by certain neighbors.

I was going to call my doctor about it Thursday, to get checked out but my cellphone has died(completely), for good. Had a battery replaced 2 days ago and they said it'd gotten wet and if the replacement didn't work it wouldn't work. So I'll have to get a new phone. And if my mom/anyone else calls to check up on me, well, I won't be able to answer them. I will have to borrow someone's phone, in the meantime.

Thursday's dinner was awesome- as we dined on prime rib, baked potatos, brocculi goulash, steamed shrimp, salad, rolls, and strawberry shortcake. It was the One Million Safe Hours (worked, w/o any lost time) dinner, which they'd promised to us a month ago. To top it off, the coffee machines were on free vending and we got these interesting weird little cooler/chairs marking this momentous event. Sort of useless (when you sit on them, they collapse)- but something else to add to the yard sale pile. The rest of the prime rib/shrimp were given to the supivisors to take home, which didn't cause a great deal of wonderful feelings for those of us on the floor. Supivisors get all the good breaks.

Now I have a cold. 2nd one in a month- didn't have a single one all winter, and now that its spring they just keep crankin' on out! Between that and the residual effects of being shocked,I feel a little loopy this weekend. Not so sure it didn't rewire something in there.I will be calling the doctor on Monday.

Be sure to check out Diabetestalkfests poem contest-and to vote for the best...(next month).