My job can be pretty exciting...

when we're up to stuff like this. Scroll down the page to the video player and then choose "Fitness Challenge" from the list of videos.

The kickoff was today and we saw over 150 people join the challenge! That's 150+ people either controlling or preventing Type 2 diabetes (There may be a few T1s in the mix as well). That's 150+ people trying to improve their health and a city joining together to get healthy! The community that I work in has the third highest incidence of Type 2 diabetes in the Commonwealth, which is staggering. Our programs aim to lower this rate, by teaching people to be healthy and work to prevent T2 diabetes. (We offer programs for T1s as well).

There should be a rule against food commercials after 8pm! It certainly would help!! I'm trying not to be really really hungry, but I think I should probably crawl into bed if I expect to make it the rest of the night!
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Bernard commented on my last post and reminded me of our meet up with Allison in Boston. I never blogged about it and wanted to share this photo of Bernard and Allison at Harvard!

Better late than never...

This blog's changing :)

To track the changes I'm making this year, I've added three columns to my blog. The left-hand column will contain the usual blog stuff, such as links and previous posts, etc. The right hand column is for my One Day at a Time progress.

I thought about this and wondered, "Why do I feel the need to share this info?" And I don't really, but I think it's a good way to keep myself somewhat accountable--because this community is really great about commenting and encouraging each other. I also think it's a great way to look back and see what I've been able to do. So, I won't replace the information to the right each time, but instead I'm going to add to it each time and keep a running list of what's been changed.

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If it hasn't already become clear, I'm also attempting to be a little more present here too. This means more commenting and more posts. To those of you who are still reading despite my long absence and irregular posts, thanks for sticking with me! Leave a comment and let me know you're still here!

The how...

But first, on a diabetes related note:

Has anyone heard of Monogenic Diabetes? A client's father just recently came to the office with an article from a People magazine about this. I'm unbelievably skeptical. I think it comes with the territory-- you know loads of pills to reverse diabetes, that don't reverse diabetes. But, they seemingly have a legitimate website and JDRF's support? So, check it out, let me know if it's bogus, etc.

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One day at a time. What does that look like? For me, right now, it's making one change at a time. I started yesterday and for the next week and a half or so (depending on how well I do, I guess) I'll be cutting out all eating after 8pm. I don't think I really ever thought about what time it was when I wanted a snack. I am hoping that this will teach me to be more aware of that and to really cut back on some of those calories and carbs that slip in after dinner. Exceptions will have to be made. For instance, yesterday I didn't really manage to get dinner or lunch, but instead three small snacks leaving me somewhat unsatisfied when I got home around 10, so I had a small piece of chocolate before watching an hour of tv. This wasn't a failure to me. So, I'll be taking things into consideration and of course, being reasonable where diabetes is concerned (Last night, I did end up low in the middle of the night).

This is my strategy. Small changes; one at a time. Other changes will include portion sizing and types of food that I'm eating as well as packing lunches and eating more veggies, BUT now is not the time to think about those things.

One thing that I am trying to curb right from the beginning is to eat when I'm hungry and not just because it's lunch time or dinner time. I think having this attitude towards food throughout, will really help me in the long run.

A little Help, please

A client called the office today and she was looking to purchase a pin for a mother whose son was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and couldn't find any high quality pins. She is specifically looking for the gray/silver ribbon with the drop of blood. Does anyone know where one could be found? She and I have both searched the internet. I thought someone might have purchased one in the past. Thanks in advance!

One day at a time

I tried to lose weight in 2007 and failed, so why not give it another go?

My attitude this year has to be, "One day at a time." I don't see how else it's going to work for me. I'm overwhelmed with loads of changes I'd love to make, but I know that I'm not going to be able to do everything. I just need to take it slow and not give up.

Happy New Year!

I've been silent again and am just popping in to say, Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoys celebrating safely!

I'll be back in 2008.

post number eighty

I changed my site today; 5pm to be exact.

Site just ripped out; 6 hours later.

Hurt a lot. Bled some.

I'm not cool with putting another site in.

I miss NPH and syringes.

I'm temped to call my doctor and switch. She'd probably kill me and not know what to do. I've never been on anything but the pump with her and as far as I know I have an allergy to Lantus.

Maybe I should try Levemir.

I really don't care to be thinking about these things. I want to go to bed without another poke in the @$$. I'm afraid of it hurting; of it bleeding; of it coming out again. Two years and two months is a long time to stick with something.

Twenty years is a long time to wait for a cure.

I hate you, diabetes; more. than. anything. even onions

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a wonderful day with family and friends and the best of luck guessing the carbs! :)

The pastor showed this cartoon last night at church--I thought it was pretty funny.

D-Blog Day

I've been absent from blogging for the most part and almost completely absent from commenting. Even so, I've been reading consistently and am still inspired, challenged, encouraged, saddened, angered... every day by the posts of the DOC. Regardless of how faithfully I post and comment, I am thankful to be a part of this community.

Thank you.

juice!

I'm not sure if it's the low blood sugar or the fact that this is my first post since Sept. 12th, but I had trouble logging in. :) Honestly, it's been a while and I wasn't going to post tonight, but I am sharing my low blood sugar story.

First, I wish I had some one who understood handy for lows. I felt particularly blindsided and crappy all at once from this low. As I pull a strip from the vial, I ask my dad, "Dad, do we have juice in the fridge?" (I'm used to treating with glucose tabs, although I dislike them). He responded that we did in fact have juice, but didn't get up to get me any or even ask. Sometimes it'd just be nice to have some one ask. That's all.

I went to the fridge on my own to get the juice and pull out the bottle in the front. Oh, look at that, the purchase of this juice helps find a cure for diabetes through JDRF. Wonderful. I'll just poor me a glass. But wait, 75% less sugar. Uh oh. The irony isn't lost on me though. That bottle of juice can help cure diabetes, but didn't do a whole lot for treating my low :) Thankfully, hiding behind it was a perfectly sugary bottle of apple juice.

My banner was broken, so I changed my template and things were looking a little boring around here at Orsa Aetas. I fixed that by adding a new banner. Get your own and spread the word about World Diabetes Day!

The Blogging Scholarship

I'm not sure what my readership is for the college age group, but if you are in college and you have a blog, you might want to take a look at this scholarship and apply. Applications are due Oct. 6.

Twenty years ago...

The date 20 years ago was August 22, 1987.

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In the weeks prior to August 22, 1987, I was spending time in Florida with my Mom, Dad, and older brother. We were staying at my aunt’s house with my two older cousins in West Palm Beach. I was five. I think we went to Disney that year. I somewhat remember a family photograph that shows my brother and I eating blue cotton candy at SeaWorld and I have to assume that it was this taken during this particular trip.

What I know for sure is that I was sick. I remember wetting the bed EVERY night and how upset everyone was that they had to change the sheets each night. I remember the trip to the doctor’s office and the diagnosis-I had the flu. And as for the bed-wetting: his advice was to give me nothing to drink after dinner.

I remember looking up at the cabinets that held the glasses that were out of my reach and wondering how I could get one. And if I couldn’t get a glass, then how could I get water from the automatic dispenser on the refrigerator? I was desperately dehydrated. I remember that I would sneak into the bathroom, run the cold water over a facecloth and suck the water out. They couldn’t figure out how I was still wetting the bed and I wasn’t about to tell them my secret!

On August 22, 1987, we were home from Florida and my mother brought me to see my pediatrician. I was still sick. I remember sitting in the chair to have my blood sugar tested. The doctor, however, was already sure of my diagnosis, having been able to smell ketones. The blood test confirmed his suspicions and changed my life forever.

The next week was spent in the pediatric ward of the hospital. I remember the Styrofoam cup that the nurse placed over my IV. I know now it was to keep me from pulling it out, but at the time I was told it was the house that my IV lived in (or something equally as juvenile). I remember hiding under the hospital bed in an effort to dodge my evening shot. I remember playing Tic-Tac-Toe in the playroom, the stuffed animals I received as gifts and visitors who came, the jello and the night that my Mother and Grandmother dutifully and lovingly separated the meat and potatoes from the corn and peas, so that I would eat dinner.

What I don’t remember is life before diabetes. It's been 20 years of ups and downs, of normal everyday living coupled with the demands of a broken pancreas. Here's to 20 more years--Bring it on!

Rollercoasters

Some rollercoasters are a ton of fun like this one, Superman--the ride of steel--at Six Flags New England. That's where I was on Saturday; although not on Superman, since it is/was closed for whatever reason (major bummer!). However, there's also the blood sugar rollercoaster that I was riding and NOT at all enjoying!!

The day started out fine. I entered the park at a cool in range number that is so typical that I didn't commit it to memory. Fast forward four hours or so. A little bit after lunch; blood sugar: 173. I corrected and added an additional 1 and a half units to cover 2 hrs of bolus. This was an unscientific whim that I took to prevent a high while spending 2 hours at the waterpark. Did it work?

Negative. Blood sugar post waterpark: 275. 1 hour after correction: 274

The rest of the evening includes dinner, more rides, plenty of walking and more unmemorable blood sugars. An on the road check at midnight clocks me in at 113. A 1am check before bed: 67. Treat the low with glucose tabs and off to bed. 3:50 am: 45 (a frequent number for my bad lows, I guess.) 15 minutes later: 51 Another 15 minutes: 68

On the list of things I ate/drank to treat the low so I could just get back to sleep!:
3 packages of fruit snacks, 3/4 a can of regular sprite, 2 glucose tabs, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. That's what I remember anyway. Since the first 15 min check did not give me much hope, I ate more than I "needed" and then didn't bolus for any of it and went back to sleep after the 68 reading (close enough to 70 I think; Plus my stomach hurt from the snacks!)

6am blood sugar: 157 (what!? I was honestly expecting a much higher number and thought to myself, "perhaps I was going to go SO LOW that all those snacks were needed.")

This was not so. 9am blood sugar: 369 (Yeah, I felt it. It sucked.)

Not all rollercoasters are fun. I'd like to stick to the amusement park thrill rides, but sometimes I just don't know that I have any control over the situation.

I also learn from this. I seem to only overtreat at night. I think I'm so anxious to just get back to sleep that I rush the process and then feel like I'm not getting better and continue to treat. During the day I'm a lot more rational and only want the one juice or 4 tabs (I don't enjoy them enough to eat more than that!)

Overall rating on the day-

Great day for the park
Bad day for Diabetes

Forty-five

I'm back from England! Truthfully, I've been back since July 14th. Long enough to catch a PawSox game with a couple of fellow bloggers, celebrate my one year blogaversary (this is post #70), start swimming at the local boys and girls' club as a form of exercise, celebrate several high school graduations and birthdays, baptisms, general cookouts and all the normal summer activities! I sure have kept very busy!

England was amazing! I haven't felt quite that refreshed in a long time. It was great to just get away and relax. I was able to read a couple of books; including The Kite Runner, which I couldn't put down. This cost me a little bit of sleep at the beginning of the trip.

Another highlight of the trip was the last day we spent in London. We had hit all of our "must see" spots and even a couple of other sights. All but one; I wanted to get to St. Paul's Cathedral and in particular climb to the top of the dome.

Before climbing to the top(not the first observation deck above the statues, but the second one, below the gold topper thing), we toured some of the cathedral and stopped to sit outside of the cafe in the crypt. Feeling a little shaky, I checked my blood sugar and came in low. Found some orange juice and set a temp basal rate as we were then off to tackle the dome. As it was the end of the day, we were some of the last people allowed up, which didn't allow for much stopping time to let the OJ hit and temp basal catch up. I was hopeful that I had given it enough time and we started up. The stairs were tough! I am in no way, shape or form, cut out for climbing 484 stairs all in one trip, so I stopped a couple of times at first, but then it got to the point where you couldn't stop or turn around or really move without bumping into either the person in front of you or the person behind you.

We must have been about 10 steps from the very top, with about a dozen or so people behind us and we stopped to photograph through a hole in the ground that showed the view of the cathedral floor below us. It was at this point that I realized something didn't feel right. Someone had the forethought many many years before this incident to provide me with a bench in that small hallway atop St. Paul's and I sat to test. 45. I was 45!! FORTY-FIVE!!

I had 5 glucose tabs to eat and 2 to spare and very little time to get up the last 10 steps, enjoy the view and then make my way down--or so I thought! Thankfully, I could sit for about 5 minutes before I really needed to move out of the hallway so the woman at the top could lock up. (I did completely suspend my pump at this point too) Once at the top, however, I had to wait for everyone else in front of me to take in the scene and get moving. They moved slow and I had plenty of time to look around, take some photos and most importantly, feel my blood sugar come up.

At the time, I was frustrated, but not angry and the enormity of the situation didn't really hit me. 45 at the top of St. Pauls with 434 winding, steep and narrow steps separating me from the ground floor, and a travel companion who only understood the glucagon I showed her in theory. In retrospect, I wish I had a lot more glucose tabs on me, but a low earlier that morning had half wiped me out. I'm thankful that I was near the cafe when I treated the original low only 45 mins earlier and did not use the last of my glucose tabs.

That was by far my worst low of the whole trip. Overall I was very happy with my blood sugars--walking all day, every day does wonderful things! :) The view is of the Thames to the West of the Cathedral (I believe) with the London Eye on the left.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Well, I'm off to England in just a few hours! I have more than enough insulin, syringes, pump supplies, batteries, strips; i have ketone strips, glucagon, glucose tablets.

I'm sick of packing!! And I'm so afraid of forgetting something!

I'm very much looking forward to a vacation and some time away. Wish me luck!!

International Travel & Diabetes

In just over a week, I'll be travelling to London for 10 days!! Crazy! I am nowhere near ready.

I do have a question for you guys though--what do you do with your basal rates for your pump when you travel multiple time zones? Do you immediately reset your pump clock and therefore basals switch around? I hadn't thought of this until this weekend... HELP! :)

MY Turn! :)

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Auntie M (my favorite!!)
2. Sauron
3. Mel

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My hair
2. My fingernails (Like a couple of others, I have the whole french manicure thing going on all the time)
3. The little freckle by my eye.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My stomach
2. My skin (I don't tan; I burn or I'm white--like a ghost)
3. My teeth

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. 50%French Canadian
2. 50% English
3. 100% American

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. The dark
2. Bad drivers
3. Going Blind

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. A shower
2. My pump (still nameless--taking suggestions for a smoke colored Minimed)
3. Breakfast of some sort--I get cranky and really super hungry!

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. Jeans
2. An orange shirt
3. underwear :)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE MUSICALS:
1. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
2. Annie
3. Pete's Dragon (that counts right :))

FAVORITE SONGS:
1. Dancing Queen :)
2. Amazing Grace
3. Strongtower by Kutless

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Honesty
2. Respect
3. Love

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS THAT YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE:
1. Waterfalls, the ocean, rivers, lakes, etc.
2. Fenway Park!!
3. a classic blue fitted Red Sox hat :)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Volleyball/Wallyball
2. Reading
3. The Red Sox!!!! (and watching the Patriots too)

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Sleep comfortably through the night in my bed! (there's a story behind this)
2. Win the lottery :)
3. Did I say sleep?!

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. Stay at home mom (NOT in my near future!! Don't panic)
2. Proofreader :)
3. Lazy bum!

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Italy
2. Egypt
3. Alaska

THREE KIDS NAMES YOU LIKE:
1. Hannah
2. Nathanael
3. Louise

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. See a Sox-Yankee game at Fenway
2. Be on a game show (Wheel of Fortune! :))
3. Get married, have children.

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A CHICK:
1. I cry fairly easily at the typical sappy stuff
2. I own a lot of shoes
3. I like buying new bags and purses!

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
1. I hide my emotions well (i.e. when I want to cry)
2. I love my Red Sox!
3. I gravitate towards the action and sports instead of hanging back and chatting it up at parties and picnics

THREE CELEB CRUSHES:
1. Matt Damon
2. Mike Vrabel
3. Yooooooouk

Anything else you'd like to know?

a confession and a question

Confession: I rarely log my blood sugars anymore... oops.

Question: Does anyone else find that when they don't log a blood sugar and it's in range, they almost immediately forget the number?! If I've forgotten what I am, I just assume I was fine, and THEN I remember the number.

This happens a lot to me. sheesh girl, get it together!!

Maybe this is another thing that I shouldn't admit--like the security code issue.

Remember to vote for the MLB All-Star game. It might be cheap for me to ask, but just vote, and vote for anyone but the Yankess. Personally, I voted all Red Sox, except the outfield--I voted for Crisp, but not for Drew or Manny--heck, Manny's not gonna show up anyways, so why bother! And other than tonight Drew's been kind of lame (I no sooner hit "vote" than he hit a homerun--ooops :)) Oh and I wrote in Youk for third. :) I LOVE my red sox!!!!