Kept Safe

I don’t know about you but I always seem to forget stuff I want to talk to my doctor about when I am driving home from an appointment with him. Days before I see him I think about all I want to talk about and when I get there I undoubtedly forget something.

This time I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything so I started a note on my iPhone and kept adding things I wanted to make sure we discussed.

Sidebar: I use notes also to keep a list of all my prescriptions. I keep dates when I started taking them and even prescription numbers for refills. It’s easy to hand over your phone when a nurse asks what prescriptions you take. “Here, I take all of this.” Okay, back to the blog.

While I was sitting in the exam room waiting for him to come in I sent a text to my wife asking if by chance she thought of anything I should ask him about. She replied back with all the stuff I already had on my list so we were solid.

“Hey George, how are you doing? Where’s Jasmine?” I LOVE the fact that my doctor ALWAYS asks about my wife. He knows her name. Heck I used to see doctors who would introduce themselves to me every time I came in.

“She’s at work but I was just texting her.”

“Let me write something to her!” I handed him my phone and he thought for a second and said, “Let’s take a picture and send it to her.” 

Seriously? I thought it was great and so did Jasmine.

I spent lots of years hating going to the doctors. Every visit meant I would be told what an awful patient I was. I never checked my bg, got lab work done, or even thought about my health.

After years of searching I found someone who doesn’t ridicule me. Who tells me like it is without leaving me to blame. He warns me of the dangers of poor management but explains how difficult management is and that together, with him, we will work on things.

My doctor is my coach, in my corner, and he takes the blame for a lot of the bad plays I make.  We talk about what I can do to help and what he has to do to orchestrate it all. From making sure the specialists I am seeing like cardiologists, podiatrists, and others are getting him information about what they find so he can keep track of it all and keep me safe.

He told me once, “My job is to keep you safe,” and he has. And it’s done with respect, kindness, and general honest concern for my well-being.

Never do I feel bad or guilty when I leave his office. It’s why I drive out of my way to see him.

Empathy, support, and encouragement are what motivate me to take care of myself and with my doctor I get all three in abundance.

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.