But Why??

Happy Spring! The weather is glorious in Georgia minus the greenish/yellow pollen that finds its way on any surface. But hey, I'll take it!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to get my fasting blood sugars down to the 110-120's. For whatever reason, I would always wake up in the 150-180's. Which any one of my nursing buddies knows, in the hospital, this wins you some sliding scale insulin!

I have been very conscious of my CGM trends and adjusted my basal rates accordingly. If you haven't read the book "Pumping Insulin" by John Walsh and Ruth Roberts, you should check it out. Dr. Anthony, my endocrinologist, suggested I read it and I'm so glad we did. I say we, because Osman, my husband, read it, too. I was scrolling through pictures on my phone and came across several screen shots of my Dexcom graph when I first started wearing the pump. I guess your mind does a really good job at blocking out HIGH numbers. Thankfully for Osman, when I was so beyond pissed at Diabetes he would bring me back to Earth with some knowledge from "Pumping Insulin". 

So that brings me to my fasting sugars. I have been in the 80's-120's the past week. I have been conscious about not eating at least 2 hours before bed, I changed my night time correction factor, per the advice of my endo, down to 90.  These little tweaks have helped tremendously. I also have been meditiating 5-10 minutes every day. I am a HUGE Oprah fan, watch the OWN network, read her magazine etc. In one of her magazines, I saw she used the app, Yoga Studio. It is $3.99 but you get hours of different intensity levels of yoga and there are different guided meditations. This has been a life saver for me! I digress but, here I am crossing off one of my New Years Resolutions and I'm so scared I'm going to jinx myself or better yet, what is lurking in the shadows? Life can't simply be this easy. As a kid, I was the one always asking "why". I wanted to know exactly "why" something was. I can't say I ever really outgrew that.  It isn't a terrible trait to have as a nurse, it helps, but in life, I'm not so sure. 

So maybe my bestie aka diabetes is trying to teach me something new. Sure it is important to reflect on things, but maybe I should let it stop there. I don't have to have the answers to everything I should enjoy these blood sugar numbers because goodness knows the next drop of blood might not look so pretty. 

So today, taking it 1 Drop at a Time has a whole new meaning.  But why?? Haha, just kidding....


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Silence of Chronic Illness

Image
Today was rough. I know social media allows you to show you at your best, today I was not at that baseline. So here is the back story...My Tandem tSlim pump provided this amazing update for a program called Control IQ. Overall, the update has been great, but ...why the hell does there always have to be a but ? So bear with me, this update comes with different activity settings like Sleep or Exercise . Today, I ate my protein bar like usual and went for my walk. When I say walk , I walk about 15 minute miles. Go ahead and imagine an older woman power walking--it is shamelessly me. Basically, after eating the protein bar, my blood sugar levels increased so the algorithm with the Control IQ update said "woah...we need to give you insulin to keep you in range." 1 whole damn unit was given, and I didn't realize it. Well, I'm rounding the corner and almost to my house when my Dexcom (the device that tells me what my blood sugar levels are) alerted me that my blood sugar le
Read more

Diagnosis Day: 8/14/15

 *Some slight profanity below, sorry mom*   "Oh sh*t" doesn't quite capture my emotions but it comes close. I have always wondered how I might die and it sort of feels like I have been handed a quasi death sentence. I am faced with this totally manageable but tough, chronic illness and I have to make a choice, will I   be a victim or a survivor? Of course I say "SURVIVOR," with the enthusiasm of a teenage girl at a pep rally, but this is before the doctor starts talking about the number of finger sticks I   will require, managing deathly lows and highs. I'm like dang, I'm a nurse. I'm supposed to take care of people with this, not be this. But am I this? Does this illness define me? A long pause ensues in my brain, my fingers stop typing-well kind of, I'm still typing but you catch my drift. I don't know the answer to this. I don't think there is a right answer and I don't know if I will ever be able to answer that question.
Read more

Pump Life

Image
I have a pump! I know in time it will be great, but right now, it makes me feel a little uneasy and unsure. It is hard to let go and trust a little box, but technology is a wonderful thing that I am thankful for. Currently, I am working through finding the "perfect" basal rates and insulin-to-carb ratio. I'm quickly learning this isn't something that happens overnight. That being said, the t:Slim G4 is quite the device. I talked a little bit about it in my last blog, but here is some updated info. The touch screen makes it user friendly, especially in this smart phone world we live in. The pump walks you through most steps, and security measures are in place so you don't "butt bolus" on accident. T:Slim and Dexcom (continuous glucose monitoring) came together to provide an integrated system that empowers you to make better choices, thanks to the ability to see your glucose levels in real time. I didn't say blood glucose levels because the Dexcom port
Read more