Physical

As a person living with type 1 diabetes I have many doctors’ appointments. It seems I am always getting ready to get my blood work done or I just have had it done.

February is my month for the most appointments. I have an annual eye exam with dilation to make sure the diabetes has not effected anything in my peepers. My podiatrist sees me every 3 months because of the neuropathy but I saw him this month. I just had appointment with my cardiologist for a follow up to my surgery in November.

My friend was telling me that she schedules a physical with her doctor every year around her birthday. I have not had a physical in a long time and I guess I just figure with all the times I am in the doctors, and with all the blood work all the doctors do, is there really a reason for a physical?

No sooner was this thought clanging around in my head than my doctor sent me an email asking me to set an appointment with him for a follow up.

Replying to his email I asked, “Do you think I should schedule a physical? I have not had one in a long time but I wasn’t sure if it made sense since I am in there often.”

His reply was, “Good thinking Georgie. Schedule one in the next two weeks and we’ll see you then.”

The point of this post is that just because you go to the doctors a lot, it does not mean your doctors are checking everything that should be checked out. Know your body and get regular checkups to know what is going on under the hood.

Early detection of anything is better than later detection.

So later today I will be heading out to the doc’s for my annual physical. I am going to be sure I do this every year from now on.

Knowledge is power!

Default

My bg has been out of control lately and I know why. It’s 100% diabetes fault.

Take this weekend for instance.

I went to a birthday party for a good friend and the food they had was a carbtastical array of pasta goodness. Not to mention bread and later on yummy dessert. SCORE

Far be it from me to not join in the fun right? Wine? Sure, it’s a party! I don’t want to be a party pooper and it’s rude to not join in.

Now I know my Dexcom is screaming at me but I am not going to be rude and stop dancing to deal with it. Especially with a Soul Train dance line going on. That would be a total jerk move on my part.

Here’s the thing, I know I should take all the blame on this and frankly I do. I really do feel like a complete loser when I look back at my print out of bg numbers. But at the time I just want to enjoy life. I want to have these great moments without thinking about diabetes. To not have it in the center of EVERY FREAKING THING I DO!!!

But I know this attitude is only helpful when I am really beating myself up. Sometimes it good to remember that this stuff is my responsibility but not all my fault. That is the difference. It’s not my fault that I have diabetes. It’s not my fault my body doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.

But to not take care of my responsibilities and to allow bad things to happen to my body because of negligence is my fault.

The line is thin but there is a difference between the two.

Don’t blame yourself for a high blood sugar or for having a disease. Love yourself and your wonky pancreas.

But love yourself enough to take care of those highs, to eat in ways that may not cause them to happen as often, to enjoy life regardless of your many responsibilities, and to blame diabetes for the times things don’t go as planned.

Diabetes is not your fault. 

Do You Remember?

It’s been a long time since I have seen a “HI” on my glucometer. Yesterday killed the streak, twice.

After church I just felt like going for a drive. None of the family had anything going on so I figured this was a good opportunity to have lunch somewhere different.

75 degree weather with blue skies worked as a tractor beam pulling us towards the beach. We ended up at a little Irish Pub and had some of the best fish and chips I have ever had. I even, for the very first time in my life, tried the whole vinegar thing and WOW I was missing out! So yummy!

After lunch we walked around the pier and checked out some of the shops. It was a lot of fun. Of course walking around seeing people snacking on Ice cream and churros made me want a treat too. We headed over to a little shop making funnel cakes and I ordered one. I know I shouldn’t have indulged but it was a special outing and I thought what the heck.

A few minutes after deciding I was done with the funnel cake I realized I felt really awful. Like sugar drunk awful. I pulled my insulin pump out of my pocket and realized I never bolused for lunch. Or the funnel cake!

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH ME?!

I checked my bg and it said HI on the meter which as you probably know means my bg is over 600!

I bolused enough insulin to fill a shot glass and drank a gallon of water. After a short while I started to feel better.

Fast forward to that evening.

We were finished with dinner and getting ready to watch the season finale of Downton Abbey.

My daughter made Scones and served Tea to enjoy during the show. We are huge fans.

After enjoying my share of scones and a cup of Earl Grey I started to feel funky again. Pulled out the pump and sure enough, I forgot to bolus for dinner and the scones! AGAIN!

DANG IT!

"HI," said the meter to the ninja.

Ugh, I am not sure what is going on with this whole, forgetting to bolus thing but I need to figure out a way to remember. I know my pump has a reminder alarm but I get so immune to that stuff that I forget and just shut the darn thing off.

Does this ever happen to you? I know we have a lot to remember but bolusing is not something I ever used to forget.

Any ideas?

Growing Older

Happy Valentine's Day Jasmine.

I love you with all my heart.

And now that it works right I know we will grow old together.

Nothing is more exciting to me.

Next Year

Last year I rode in my first Tour de Cure ride. Our team of 4 rode 32 miles around Long Beach last spring. It was the hardest thing I had ever done physically but I did it! As soon as I finished I knew I wanted to do it again.

Having two stents put into my heart last November and the fact that my incision from the second surgery I had to have is still healing brought me to the decision to skip this year’s event.

More than anything I want to ride those 32 miles with confidence and strength which were not present last time. It was almost to the point of me crawling across the finish line. But in sticking to my Life Diet for 2013 I know I need to not push myself and especially rush myself into anything.

Now I am working on eating better, exercising, and not stressing myself out. It’s not easy but I am already seeing a change and the benefits!

Last Saturday I had zero plans. None. And I decided that morning to see if my buddy was up to maybe getting together for dinner. That would never EVER happen before. I would undoubtedly already have my entire day scheduled and if I even thought about having dinner with a friend I would email them and plan it for a month later.

I’m serious. This was like make believe or something.

Anyhow, we did the same thing Sunday. After church I called a friend and we met up at the movies.

It’s weird that this is such a big deal but honestly, it is like a whole new world (cue the Aladdin song).

So for now, and all this year, I am going to slow down and not stress. Get really into this Life Diet thing and make it happen.

Tour de Cure, see you next year.