Are We There Yet?

I'm rather exhausted, the D-care well reflects that. Cannot wait till Wed..the grand final exam in psych and being free, free, free for the next 6 weeks. In the meantime, I have a quiz tonight(quizzes twice a week do not make for happy students) and a paper to improve upon. I think I'm just stuffing info into my brain just to have it come right back out the other side, I hardly remember the stuff we studied at the beginning of class. I do not have high hopes for this final,but I hope at least for a B.

Lately, the evening entertainment has been a grand post-supper drop-a-thon, usually with still 1-2 units onboard. So I treat with junkfood and 30 minutes later I'm 40-60 and diving into the tabs/juice. A couple hours after that, it spikes, drops, spikes, drops all on its own. Overnight basal rates would take hourly checks to figure out, and I'm too tired for that. Whoever thinks that an overnight blood sugar(with the proper basal rates) is largely a creature of containment is sadly mistaken. Went to bed 120, woke up 144 but during that time I spiked to mid 200's twice, spent an hour near 70, another hour near 80-90, finally evening out to 140's.(which I woke up to) That's gonna take some time to figure out.
I gotta get back in the game, stop eating junkfood/exercise more. Maybe when this class ends.

Weeding out the Wardrobe

It's a sad fact that approximately 3/4 of my casual shirts collection is diabetes themed.

-4 FFL tshirts, emblazoned with the names of every major D sponsor out there.
-2 JDRF walk tshirts, again, emblazoned with the names of D sponsors.
-A blue "MiniMed" shirt, lettering in white. Not overtly screaming the "hey, I'm
diabetic!" label (most people don't know what Minimed was) but still diabetes
themed.
-A weird pump pack shirt, from back in the Minimed days.
- A "I run on Insulin" tshirt.
- A "Test, Don't Guess" D-Life promo tshirt.
It's safe to say, that I'll be acquiring several more next more(at the upcoming FFL conference). I never set out to be the diabetic billboard child but I guess at least some of the time, I am. (I do wear some of them out in public) I can't just throw them out, they're perfectly good shirts.(not until they wear out) Sometimes I wish they would though, so I could have a more "normal" wardrobe.
I do like this one though..

(from CafePress)

Can't get away from the D..it will haunt you just opening up your dresser drawer!

My "Twin" Blog

For some reason, when I typed in my blog url this morning it kept bringing me here... Eventually, I had to backtrack through someone else's blog roll.(to get here)

Extremely weird, I was under the impression Blogger doesn't recycle url's. But its almost the exact same one(minus the www).
10:17 am, and I feel the need for a strong drink coming on. Too, too weird.

The Case of the Serial Coke Spiller

Dear Abby,

I have a re-occurant problem, I spill my diet coke everywhere. It's not limited to just 12 oz cans either- today, I dumped an entire liter all over the floor in CVS, inconveniencing the shoppers/staff as the river was being dealt with. In the past, I've also dumped my can all over the doctor's office exam room carpet(instantly invoking the executive decision by the doctor to never again let patients and their drinks, into the exam room). I just can't stop drinking my diet coke, please help!!!!

Hopelessly Addicted & Clumsy


Dear Addicted,

You're not alone, others are just as, or more, uncoordinated then you are. I'd suggest duct-taping a sippy cup when you're out in public, and NEVER unscrewing it.(until you've finished) In the meantime, you may want to consider getting help for your diet coke addiction-it's very unhealthy + with the amount of caffeine you're scruffing on a regular basis, it's not wonder you've got the dexterity of a two year old.

Abby

Meme Mosaic

My creation, originally uploaded by type1emt.

Didn't realize I was posting a very offensive picture, it was the first picture of Heidi Klum that I came across. My apologies, to anyone that I have offended, I didn't mean to.

More Notes from Psych Class

Overheard:

Professor: And in anorexia nervosa, the individual slowly wastes away until they-??

Student: Disappear?

I think the entire class cut loose on that one. Though in a sense that's correct, there's not much left of the individual even if they don't die. Diabetes and several other chronic diseases that make losing weight dangerously easy are powerful weapons, one that most physicians will never know about because even if you don't have diabulemia + to the best of your ability try to do it right, highs and elevated a1cs plague most of us.(so health care professionals can only guess) Unless the individual is made (self) aware of/gets help for their disorder things won't go very well for them.(even worse then normal eating disorders)

On Board Air Force One

For real. Maslow would call it a peak experience, and I heartily agree(it's not every day a Joe Blow gets to get so up close and personal with a piece of American history). This is the old Air Force One-the current one is twice as large + boasts a movie theater, gym, etc,etc..Obama or McCain have alot to look forward to. The old Air Force One was flown from 1974(Nixon) to Sep.8, 2001. (Bush) It was pretty cool, inside AF1 there was a communications center, presidents quarters, staff quarters, kitchen, press gallery, situation room, kitchen, and bathrooms at the back. Really, really long.(not very wide) Wanted to get inside pictures, but there were five security people on hand to make sure that wasn't happening. Oh well...got plenty of pics of the outside of the plane.
I highly recommend it, if you're ever at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Across the Great Divide: The U.S. Open

How weird is it, when the hospital is located right next to the Torrey Pines golf course? Close enough to walk outside, across a parking lot, climb a fence, drop, and you're on the course?

Well, it happened. First day of the U.S.Open, zillions of cars trying to park on the hospital lot and hospital security going nuts/spitting bullets trying to keep people out. Identification was needed(appointment card)to park on the hospital lot. Bloodwork, transfusion, took about 7 hours. The oncologist comes in for about five minutes, answers a couple of questions and dissipeirs again. He is a jerk if I ever saw one.(got a real VIP complex going on there) The nurses/staff were great, fortunately. They were complete opposites
from the doc. Next week they will be doing more chemo and inserting a port-o-cath to make injections/draws/transfusions easier. Things seem to be staying the same right now in terms of blast count, it will take more chemo to see if it will work.

Right before leaving, we went out and watched some of the Open. Over 42,000 people a day attended, so it was a real beehive of activity. We didn't see Tiger but could hear the periodic OOOOOOOH's from the admiring, star-struck crowd when one of the favorite's in the threesome hit a good shot. And predictably, my cellphone had died so I couldn't even get any good pics.

Darn fence, wish I had been on the other side.

This One's for You, Dad

artist extroidenaire...and I hope you get some traffic off of this.(I really like how there's one page blank, waiting for the November winner)

Notes from a Spinning Planet: California Bound

Tomorrow, we fly to California, it's not a vacation..my husband's dad is really sick, he has acute lymphocytic leukemia complicated by the fact that a bone marrow transplant is out(age over 65)and his back(disks) is in rough shape + they can't do surgery for that because his platelet count is so low. Right now they are doing chemotherapy(Dacogen) injections and blood transfusions.(and strong painkillers)
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Speechless

My order of Cleo's arrived today. No more using Sils! and amazingly, Medco did not screw it up. I was getting ready to just buy them OOP and try to get reimbursed later on, low and behold my insurance then decides to cover them. No problems. I will never understand insurance companies.


And the other big news of the day..I've just had my fifth low of the day.(at 3 pm) 2 last night. I think the heat must be impacting my bgs big time.(it happens, sometimes, irregardless of the temperature outside but the heat is the only thing I can think of that may be triggering it) I think I need to start pumping glucagon, instead of insulin. Latest low occurred just 30 minutes after lunch.(with 3/4 of that insulin still on board) Hence the need to eat even more food. I'm waiting for that day when it absolutely refuses to come up and I have to go to the hospital, where they'll know absolutely nothing about D and of course, my endo will not be there to bail me out.(it'll be a weekend) My brain cells will be mush anyway, and I'll be lucky to get out of there alive.Handing over my control to clueless medical professionals is not always the best option.(off to eat B&J's, I'm not making sense, even to myself)

Weekend Renovations

How do I trim the size of my header? (specifically, the big ugly blank space to the right)

thanks, guys..

Notes from a Spinning Planet: Delaware (& Beyond)

A couple of weekends ago, I took a trip. It was really fun.. though quite torturous at times, as it was prime time yard sale weekend + I couldn't stop. (I stopped anyway, at about 4 out of 100+ that I drove by) I should have started earlier, so I could stop at more of them. Anyway, I did acquire a very nice croquet set for just $2... so it was worth stopping.



(you've read Allison's account of it..so I won't bore you with the details, but boy, it was fun!!) I really need to get a pair of sunglasses, but I don't spend much time outside. Hence the squinting.

A couple of days before the trip, I took my car in to get the air conditioning checked, they filled it up & checked for leaks. No way would have I survived the trip WITHOUT it, my car is like an oven. Well, a week later it had ceased to work (again). Took it in again..and evaporator or something is cracked. They'll have to take out the dashboard(an all day job) to replace it, at a total cost of $772.08. (plus tax)

Agggggggh my first car cost less then that! I've never, ever, EVER had a car bill like this, even with things overheating + smoking up a storm. Just WOW. I'm still in shock.. of course, its not imparitive that I replace it but the likelihood of surviving a summer without doing it isn't very high. No more road trips, till I can get this fixed.

Notes from a Spinning Planet: Psych 101

"I want to make one thing perfectly clear," the instructor continues, his eyes seemingly boring into every single one of ours, simultaneously. "If I see you texting during my class, you'll be asked to leave."

My insulin pump begins vibrating, reminding me of a post-meal bg check. I put my hand in my pocket and will it to shut up, be quiet, malfunction, something... You'd think a psychologist would be more understanding, not so rigid with the rules.

Next to go, is my Dexcom, it gives the high beep. Still postmeal, so I'm hoping the insulin just hasn't kicked in.

Half-time: 370. Either I underestimated the carbs, or my set is bad. I give a correction bolus.

An hour later, I check the Dex again. It's been HIGH for about 40 minutes, the bolus didn't do any good. BG check: 570. I'm so tired I just want to fall asleep at my desk but there's another hour of class to get through. Freud is twice as boring as usual, I wonder what his assessment of the situation would be. The repression of bodily functions leads to a state of post-traumatic stress in the individual with chronic illness..which triggers depression and the desire to guzzle gallons of diet coke and stay in bed for the next 24 hours. Perfectly normal, right?

And my brand new textbook has a backward cover, in another odd twist to the day. Going to be a very busy month, its an accelerated course(8 hours a week) and our first test is Wednesday. I just hope that the instructor doesn't tell me to leave when he sees me fooling with my pump, etc.(Yes, I can explain about the D, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary).