Go me!

So I was at my new PCP's office (my old one is retiring after 51 years in practice, and about 25 years as my doctor 🙁), and the resident [the doctor, who I've seen as my weight management doctor for three years but is also an internist was running late because another patient came in late (I saw her come in, and that's fine, she was in a wheelchair and looked like she needed a lot of help, and the resident was really thorough)] upon doing my history, went over my recent labs that were done at my pre-op appointment. I asked about my hA1c because, you know, that's always a concern for diabetics and it had been much lower than in the past before the last surgery, 6.4%, which was amazing, and this time it was 5.96%!!!!!!! And if you look below it is in the 'high, but in the 'increased risk for diabetes' range if I didn't already have diabetes. Go me! And go Mounjaro. It's been doing so well with my blood glucose that I've been taking insulin of either type about two or three times a week at most, if that--basically if my blood sugar goes over 200, and my endocrinologist is fine with that. She said I could probably go off the insulin if this keeps up.

Unfortunately, I did go off the Mounjaro a little early for the next surgery since I'd last taken it a week before I found out about the next one, so I didn't take it at the two-week mark, and if you go three weeks, they start you back at all over to prevent side effects. I didn't know that. I think I only missed two weeks last time. Anyway, she's put in a lower Rx, but that won't control as well, so I may need to go back to using more insulin for a while. And it's possible I can get the same control on a lower dose of the Mounjaro, too, so I'm not taking the highest dose like I was. I'm down to 217 lbs. I'm not sure how much weight I need to go down to. 200? 180? Certainly not to 145, my supposed 'target' weight. I don't know. That's something I need to start thinking about. With all the adjustments, I may not lose any more for a while anyway. I'm eating very healthfully and not very much right now, and not losing, mainly, I suspect, due to all the swelling I've been having due to my surgery. It's finally coming down to pre-surgery levels. Anyway, I'm thrilled about the hA1c. At my highest, in October 2018, I was at 9.1%, which was awful, out-of-control, and damaging.

Good news

I got an e-mail from Byram and my continuous blood glucose (CGM) supplies are on their way. It took two phone calls and two attempts to give them the correct fax # for my endocrinologist so that they could get the prescription, but there you have it. I might even get it right around the time I have my MRI, so I could put the sensor back on.

I've pricked my fingers several times today, with the highest reading being 135 and the lowest at 79.  Normally I could just look at my watch, as some lovely person created a watch face that interfaces with my Dexcom G6 and put it on the Galaxy Store for free (thank you!) If you're interested, it's called the G-Watch app.  Anyway, as I got a little low, I had to pay a lot of attention to how I was feeling, whether it was like a low. Normally I rely on having the reading at any given moment, and alarms for if I go low.

Well, I guess I need to go back to pricking my fingers for awhile

I have a Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor, which is an absolute godsend, as I can check my receiver, phone, or watch at any given time to see what my blood sugar is, and make good decisions in terms of my insulin and carbs based on that, as well as receiving alerts when my glucose goes down or is very high. An alarm will wake me up if my blood sugar tanks in the night. I love this.

Sensors last for 10 days; transmitters last for 90. My last sensor expired today, and I don't have replacements because my durable medical equipment provider (Byram Healthcare) [which usually does well, but I've had a couple of times now that it's gotten hung up, probably during authorisation] didn't communicate properly with my endocrinologist's office, apparently sending their request for clinical notes to the wrong fax number, and per my doctor's nurse, they never received the request or the form that is required. The fax number has made it's way to Byram thanks to another phone call from me, so the ball is in their court. But it's frustrating. I get that they need the prescription, but I got a notice back in the middle of December that it was time to order, and did, and they didn't act on it in a timely manner as far as I can see, and they cancelled the order when they did not hear from my doctor, so I had to reorder to get the ball rolling again.

As it turns out, even if this hadn't happened, I couldn't put my sensor on at the moment, because I have an abdominal MRI elastography in six days, and the sensor can't be on my body, as it would be fried by the magnets. That's all fine, but I hoped to have more sensors for immediately after the MRI. Once they are finally shipped, it will take 5-7 business days to get to me. The last time this happened it took a month to sort out and I didn't have my monitoring sensors for two weeks.

It's frustrating. Now I'm going to have to go back to pricking my fingers a few times a day or if I feel funny, and there's always that chance my blood sugar will dip at night, so I'm going to check before bed. I'm also not supposed to drive if it's under 100 per my doctor, so I may check then, too. The other day I went to leave work and my glucose was 71, and my supervisor had to give me chocolate because I only had two glucose tablets with me. I've fixed that, but still. It's a lot more work to manage things.

Diabetes is no fun

I hate when my blood sugar goes south. If you've never had it happen, it's hard to explain. I get dizzy and unsteady, and I perspire but my hands and feet get cold and numb, and I just feel like my brain is mush and can barely function. Just now I had an episode where I was falling fast and got the special alarm that tells me on my monitor. It went down to 47, and after a banana, a pear, a frozen fruit pop, and glucose tablets, it's 78 and finally rising. Even once it levels off, I'll feel really hungover and unwell. It's so frustrating. I didn't take extra insulin, and I ate both breakfast and some lunch [and even skipped the short-acting insulin for lunch]. It happened yesterday at work, too, while I was at the sign-in desk, and I ate nearly an entire sleeve of glucose tablets to bring it up after 45 minutes. It should pop up in about 15 minutes. I'm going to dial back on my long-acting insulin some more. I think that will help.

Whoever invented the ceiling fan is my hero

Sitting under three fans (two ceiling, one pedestal) as my blood sugar went low at Kroger and I get very hot and drenched with sweat when that happens, on top of feeling shaky. I carry glucose tablets with me normally, so I ate some and waited till I felt better to drive. But now that I'm home and I've gotten the groceries inside during the rain and my roommate has put then away, I've checked my blood sugar (it's normal now) and stripped down to shorts and a tank top to sleep in. I still need to do some things before bed but I'm going to stretch out and set an alarm and enjoy the moving air.

Had an early morning appointment

with my ophthalmologist, Dr Kielar, today.  I started seeing him twice a year several years ago because I had a little ocular hypertension--not glaucoma, or even high enough for drops, but the pressure in my eyes was just a bit too high.  He also follows me to see if there are changes in my retinas or eyes due to my diabetes.  This was just a brief exam--no field of vision test or picture of the optic nerve this time.  They basically numbed my eyes with these yellow drops and did the pressure check, after just running me through a quick exam to make sure I was seeing well.

He said the pressure was a little higher, but not enough for drops as if it gets too high and I'm put on the drops I'll be on them the rest of my life.  But apparently, it reads a little higher anyway because I have thicker corneas, which is genetic.  He said that's better than if they were thinner as they'd have higher pressure than the readings.  He also gave me some tips on my contact wearing (which I knew, and which I follow, thankfully, except sometimes I'm a little over my monthly wear, and so I've started changing them at the beginning of the month to be sure I don't go too long).  But I don't sleep in them or swim or shower in them at all; I even take them out for naps.  I usually do take my contacts out when I get home, which he encouraged, as 12 hours is about the limit of what they should be worn.  We also discussed amoebic and bacterial infections and what happens when they infest the eye (apparently it's extremely painful and takes 6 months just to kill amoebae, and then there may be scarring and a need for a corneal transplant.  I first was made aware of them by my optometrist, Dr Zent, who stressed drying hands thoroughly after rinsing or washing them with tap water, as any wetness could allow the parasitic infection.  Dr Kielar said you should not rinse your case with tap water, but use solution, and if you can, have two, so you have one drying at all times.  I don't use tap water on mine.  I actually just ordered a multi-pack of the solution I use, Bio-True, from Costco yesterday (that was what I needed but wasn't going to go in-store for because of my ankle).  It has two full-sized containers, one travel one, and a couple of cases.

Speaking of my ankle, I'm feeling pretty decent.  I did wear my boot today while I was out, and I remembered the secret to getting the thing on without stress. 1) Put your foot into the inner lining. 2) Put that with your foot into the plastic/rubber case. 3) Line up the bladder with the hole on the cover.  4) Lace the straps through their loop and fasten.  It makes it so much easier than trying to just put your foot in the whole thing at once.  Also, I wore short capris today, which was a mistake, and I must remember to wear long pants rather than a skirt or shorts or capris.  I have a pretty large calf and the velcro only closes in a sort of 'v' shape, leaving part of it unattached.  It doesn't hurt as far as the fit and the use, but it does rub against bare skin unless I have some cloth there.  That is not good for someone who is diabetic at all.  So again, lesson learned.  I'm glad I have till Monday to work out the kinks before returning to my job.

Okay, it's late morning and I haven't eaten anything. I'm going to go have some cereal. :)

Yay!

Went to my first appointment of the day, my endocrinologist (I'm off from work since I had two to go to), and my hA1C has dropped a whole percentage from 8.1 to 7.1. I've lost 30 lbs from my highest weight and have gone down on my long-acting insulin by 40 units daily. Go me! (And my friend's wonderful cooking!) I did have to laugh, because my doctor always takes my shoes and socks off to check the sensitivity in my feet, and puts them back on, and she put both socks back on wrong-side-out. It was a subtle difference in greys, and at least they matched, but I'm now ensconced in my house shoes with the socks off till the next appointment because it was bothering me to have them reversed, just a bit. Not that I'm particularly weird in any way, right? :)

The cold continues...

It's supposed to be six degrees tonight (Fahrenheit) with a wind chill down to minus 15.  I went to the store on my way home tonight and it was so cold going out, as the wind had picked up.  We're not really getting the snow you see further South, just a few flakes here and there, and I'm thankful, as it's too cold for salt to do much good.  A lady on the UK shuttle was talking about a friend in Myrtle Beach freaking because they'd had a lot of bad weather.  When I lived there in 1972, we had an ice storm followed by seven inches of snow.  We wound up piling into a neighbour's recreational vehicle and driving to Garden City so that we could plug up at a K-Mart parking lot--all nine of us.  It was miserable.  So yes, it does happen, but rarely.

Today started a bit shaky.  I didn't get paid till about 9 am (it's usually there at midnight) due to the New Year's holiday, so I didn't get breakfast at the University of Kentucky Dining but rather ate some homemade bread that I'd brought for lunch.  But it all worked out.  It was a slower day, especially about mid-day, and we got a lot done on queues.  I showed one of our co-workers who helps out in her department how to do check out.  All in all, it was a pretty decent day.  I didn't get a shower this morning, mainly because I couldn't contemplate it as cold as it was, I wanted to save time, and also because my friend went to the bathroom and I didn't realise he was finished for ten minutes.  He said he told me, but I didn't hear.  Anyway, by that time I was past the window for the shower, but really, the idea of getting wet and then going out in this didn't appeal to me.  So my hair wasn't as nice, but really, I have thin, baby fine hair, so it pretty much never really does much of anything.  This afternoon they sent an e-mail out saying that we were going to rebuild the employee directory on the intranet, where employee photos are listed by department and name, so you get to know your co-workers.  We had it at the old place, and apparently, they took it down when they moved.  I was trying to show one of the new co-workers in our department who the care managers were, for example, and the doctors, and it wasn't up anymore.  Anyway, they sent out the e-mail stating that they were bringing it back and instead of having pictures from our badges (which are usually bad), they invited people to send in a favourite self-portrait, take one in our work area (for which they are giving a prize for best 'selfie'), or the public relations department will take one if we'd like.  So I looked through some pictures and didn't really like any of them, and decided to take a picture in my work area, even though I didn't feel like my best.  It came out pretty well, actually.  Here it is:

YKWIA says I always do this thing in portraits where I put my head out like a turtle.  He's right.  But this isn't too bad.  I could use some makeup, and the hair isn't as bouncy as usual, but they always say hair is easier to style when dirty.  Of course, I just combed it.  But anyway, that's what I sent in for my 'selfie'.

I did better with my blood sugar.  They've been running normal, but I haven't eaten much lately and yesterday it was hard to gauge how much insulin to take. I wound up testing my blood sugar AFTER lunch, and it was 56 or 58.  I downed quite a few glucose tablets, as that was all I had with me, and brought it back up.  But I was pretty shaky.  Today I dialled the insulin down, taking 55 units of Lantus this morning, I think, rather than the normal 70-80.  That definitely helped.  If I can come down on the two insulins, I think that would be a wonderful thing.

We ate some wonderful soup with egg and homemade bread along with a lentil salad for dinner, then shared an apple that Brenda left on Sunday for us to try--it's the Opal variety.  It was very good.  I found some 'lunchbox'-sized McIntoshes at Kroger and got some.  That is my favourite variety, and I hadn't seen any at Kroger in probably a good three or four years.

The cat and the dogs have been fed; I didn't leave the dogs out but a few minutes.  The night is not fit for man nor beast.  The cat's in his post-prandial cuddling phase.  He likes to curl up with us afterwards.  YKWIA is reading, and of course, he wants in his lap.  I think I'll go listen to some music in bed, and so he'll probably come in and climb up on me.

Tomorrow I have two doctors' appointments, with my psychiatrist at 8 am, which is pretty early, about the time I usually get to the University, but it's further away.  I have to take a shower before I go, either tonight or tomorrow morning. I think I'll try to do the latter and wake up earlier. My ophthalmologist and field of vision test are at 2 pm.  On the bright side, because I'm coming and going for appointments, my boss put in for me to have one of the five spaces in the back parking lot.  Yay.  They're doing a lottery for any spaces that aren't used on a daily basis, which is fun, too.  But tomorrow, I get one for its intended purpose.

So, I think I'm going to sign off here.  Have a good night.

I have found a small colony of ants

making their way back and forth from the front wall to a rarely used fountain that still has some water in it. It's in the sunny living room window surrounded by plants. Occasionally I have seen an ant on my computer desk, so I decided to investigate. This is not good. I'm used to having trouble in the spring at work, but I've never had them in my home here, and it's usually fruit flies that are the issue in the summer. So, I guess it's time to find some decent ant bait.

I also just made arrangements to get my Internet/Wi-Fi back. Time Warner Cable processed my payment and will send me a modem within two days. I just have to tell the folks in our materials management that I have one coming via FedEx (I can never seem to get anything directly sent to my apartment).

I had a great appointment with my endocrinologist today. I went from a Hemoglobin A1c of 9.6 (pretty high, although the highest I've been is 10.1) down to 7.1 (which is in the range they like to see diabetics) in just three months, and it would probably have been better but the last two or three weeks I've struggled with my medication routine. Still, I'm back on track, so it should continue to stay decent.

I came home and did a little straightening up in the kitchen and living room before even taking off my shoes. Now I'm going to get something to eat and try to tackle the dining room, which had a lot of laundry on the table but now just has lots of random stuff. I brought home a couple of copy paper boxes, and I'm going to sweep everything into them and then go by things one by one. Hope you're having a good week so far!

I had two projects to complete tonight by midnight in preparation for tomorrow’s Call of Cthulhu game

The game notes, which I finished about 2:30 pm (starting about 10 am with about a half-hour break at some point), and then a passage from a few years ago that was important that somehow never got transcribed because it was a very complex 15-minute snippet of a recording with very dense information, also related to the game. That got finished about 8:30 (that one small snippet took about an hour-and-a-half to transcribe). In the interim I went and visited with friends for about an hour-and-a-half, as A and I were supposed to do the Saturday grocery run, but he’s got some sort of crud and so we postponed it until tomorrow when he’s hopefully feeling better (or if not, it’s not a huge list, I can go do it before the game for them).

It was nice to finish, though, because that’s two items off my to-do list, plus another (I finally found my stamps, much later than needed!) I’m now about 30 experience points away from 50th level on Habitica as a result. :) After that was finished, I laid down for a half-hour ‘nap’, setting my alarm carefully and despite my tendency to go to sleep rather than nap, was hopeful of waking up and doing some things around here. But I just woke up and it was 12:30 am. I guess I was more tired than I had thought. My phone helpfully told me that Donald Trump won our state’s Republican caucus (not surprising, really, as I’m not sure they have a viable candidate to really put the brakes on his momentum, and that’s sad). Bernie Sanders won two states as well. (Our Democratic primary isn’t until May). I could have gone back to bed, but I thought I’d get up and write for a bit.

I have to admit, I haven’t felt up to major physical activity today. I’m not sick. But I’ve had a headache and muscle aches most of the day (the weather has been rainy and not particularly warm, and in fact kind of icky). I ate too much early in the day and didn’t take any of my medicine until I went over to my friends’ house (I just took all the bottles over there and filled up my pill reminder tray) and took my insulin then, too. My blood sugar, as a result, has been running higher than usual today, and I’ve felt out of sorts and tired. It’s not too bad right now, all things considered, about 170, but that’s the highest I’ve run in a while, at any time today. It was actually over 200 earlier, which is almost unheard for me of late--even my fasting sugars in the morning have been pretty much normal. I’m back on track, though, and once I take my bedtime insulin, should be doing better tomorrow, hopefully, as it is game day now that we’re back from hiatus and one of the NPCs (non-player characters) is trying to kill one of Brenda’s characters who had her committed, so best to be operating on all thrusters. Diabetes is somewhat hard to manage; there are so many things that affect blood sugar, from food, to medicine, to stress, to illness, and no matter how consistent you are, sometimes it doesn’t work well. And if you do get off on taking care of yourself, you can see changes for the worse pretty quickly. It’s not an easy illness to live with, and while I should be a pro at this by now, I’m not. I’m not sure anyone really is, to be honest, no matter how diligent--all of us have times when we feel bad. But it’s worse if you’re not diligent, of course, and that was my problem this morning, as I was focused on what I had to get finished and not taking care of myself. With diabetes, self-care really has to come first.

I am getting a little sleepy again now. I’m sitting here staring ahead at my diplomas. Really, some day, I should get them put into my name now. I changed my name in 1993--almost 23 years ago--and they’re still in my birth name, so whenever I need to copy them and send them somewhere I include a copy of my court papers. It costs about $50 for both diplomas to be put in my legal name. If it were just a matter of having a different last name, it would be one thing, as that’s common enough with women, but my entire name was changed (it was Lisa Kay Broadbent). I’ve almost made it as long with my new name as with the old, and that name seems foreign to me now. But if you’re looking for an old classmate or something, yeah, that’s probably me. Anyway, that’s low on my to-do list. Really, after I pay my car insurance and cell phone bill, I’m already tapped out again in terms of funds, and while I did pay my rent on time, get some groceries and gas, and the like, I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to get my hair cut (it was just going to be a basic hair cut at Supercuts, not a salon sort of thing) this weekend. Even though I’m operating within my budget, and got a raise (that’s offset by a biweekly payment on a debt), I’m still struggling. I still have too much debt (yes, my fault, of course). Next year may be far worse, given that my job is ending, and unemployment lasts about 6 months these days, and any severance will be eaten up with taxes and be fairly fleeting. I’ve stepped up the job search, but it’s hard to find a library job in this area, and I can’t move. At six month’s out, I may have to start looking beyond the library field entirely, which saddens me. I love being a librarian, and I’m good at it, and I’d like to continue with my career in that field. I’m not married to the idea of always being a medical librarian, but I would like to be working as a librarian somewhere in the area. If you hear of anything, let me know. My resume and curriculum vitae, along with my e-mail, are on the links on the sidebar. Meanwhile, I’ve got Indeed alerts and check the Kentucky state library job list every couple of days, as well as other job sites. I had such hopes for the University of Louisville/St. Joseph job, but it wasn’t apparently meant to be. I need to e-mail the supervisor of that position and see if she has any input for how I could have made my application stronger.

I’ll be very busy on Monday, between doctors’ appointments and working in scheduling. After that, it gets better. I may or may not be in scheduling other days of the week (we have I high clinic census and the person who is out may or may not be back Tuesday). But there aren’t any evening appointments or ones’ during the day, for that matter, to go to.

I am beginning to feel like my life, and this blog, is getting somewhat more boring than normal. Am I in a rut? Maybe it’s just that I’m not online that much with no home Internet. I’ll try to blog more new stories and not ramble about the minutiae of my day as much, and I also need to add more commentary when I do include links out to other stories. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll write more about libraries and librarianship. If I’m facing having to leave the profession, at least for a while, at the very least I can blog about it to keep it in my system. But on the other hand, I’m still blogging at least every couple of days, and considering I’ve been writing this blog for almost fifteen years, regularly, I think that’s pretty amazing, given how people drop them over time when they get busy or lose interest, or how more people share things on other social media sites like Facebook these days. So I’m still committed to blogging.

Anyway, I guess I’ll sign off for tonight. Hope you’re having a good weekend.

I feel bad

I was listening to music after having a snack of orange juice,  toast and fruit. Didn't think to give myself insulin because I didn't consider it a meal.  So wrong.   I was feeling torpid,  not sleepy.  I took my blood sugar and it was 431! Considering I have been in the normal range rather than running high,  this was terrible. I took my insulin and am waiting for it to come back down.  I think I'll skip the library for now,  even though they just opened.

Back to working on the house,  I guess.  The activity will help.

I'm trying to get back on track

One of the things with the trip and the preparations is that I was very much out of my normal routine, and I did a terrible job of taking my meds. I think I totally forgot to take any oral meds on Tuesday, then again on Thursday, and I didn't take Byetta or either of the insulins while on the trip, even though I had them with me. I also didn't check my blood sugar, so I have no idea how bad it got. I just checked and it was 205, which isn't too bad for me in the morning, to be honest. I have taken everything I am supposed to, plus a little ibuprofen. So hopefully I can get back on track. I didn't eat much substantial food while I was gone either. Thursday I grabbed a danish at the gas station before the flight, then there were the in-flight cookies, some pretzels at the airport, and then finally lunch at the meeting, which was mozzarella, roasted pepper, and arugula sandwiches, some fruit, and salad. Francesca's was substantial--I had a lentil salad and a personal-sized Napoleatano pizza. Friday was oatmeal with fruit and brown sugar from the hotel restaurant, some peanut M&Ms at the airport, and the in-flight cookies on one flight (the one from Chicago to Detroit was only 34 minutes, so they didn't serve drinks or snacks. Fortunately, that was the one I brought a soda onto). When A and I went to the store I got some food. I had some orange juice, banana, and a couple of Morningstar Farms' breakfast sandwiches with soy sausage, egg, and cheese on a flat roll. Later, when I went home, I had some orange juice and raisin bran with milk. So all in all, my eating sucked, too, being mostly carbs, for those two days, but they were spread out so that I think I did pretty well in terms of the fact that I didn't actually eat much. Today's breakfast consists of the other two breakfast sandwiches, some orange juice, and a banana. I'll take bread, peanut butter, and spreadable fruit over with me to my friends' today.

Tired

Apex Janice Mary Jane shoe

I went into work by 7 this morning, even though my normal Thursday time is 8:30 am. I was trying to make up some time, as I had an appointment about mid-morning at the podiatrist to pick up my diabetic shoes. They're very nice--Mary Janes that are actually wide enough for my feet (7 extra wide; my foot is about as wide as it is long). The doctor was a little concerned about the straps, which are a kind of Y-shape with Velcro fastening, in a sort of hook and loop. But the nice thing is that I can wear them with pants or skirts, socks or hose, and they're pretty comfortable, although I'm breaking them in. I also got some inserts that can be moulded to the foot by using a hair dryer to warm them, sticking them into the shoe, and then inserting the foot and standing on them a couple of minutes. I'm allowed one pair of shoes a year--my insurance pays for them--and over the last three years I've gotten some New Balance walking shoes, a pair of A2 boots for winter wear, and now these for dress wear, so I'm pretty set on shoes at the moment. The other great thing about the Mary Janes is that they are closed toe but don't have a heel (I can't walk in heels), and if I were to get a job at the Lexington Public Library, one of their rules is closed-toe shoes only, so the Vionic sandals I wear in the summer would be right out, and these make a great alternative, as they're not heavy like my others. The podiatrist did want to see me back in 9 weeks to do another x-ray; last time he discovered a piece of bone had broken off and might be causing some of the mild pain I've had in my ankle. He suggested getting a sleeve for my ankle (which I did) and also checking with the representative who delivered my bone stimulator three years ago to see if it can be reset and used. My understanding is that it's a single use, single person device that shuts itself off after about 270 days. If that's the case, I have a $5,000 paperweight in my closet, which did help a lot in terms of building up my ankle after I broke it, but may not be used now, and might as well be recycled. But I'll see. I doubt my insurance would pay for another one due to a fragment of bone that's come loose. But he thought the sleeve would at least provide a little support, and if I could get the bone stimulator reset, it might help the situation.

Today I also got my flu shot and TB skin test. After work, I went and got some medicine for my friends and I. I accidentally got home with someone's dementia medicine (Aricept/donepezil), so I need to take that back. After that I took care of one of my friends who wasn't feeling all that great. We watched 'Heroes Reborn'. I recognised Harris as the same actor who played the first Ash in 'Lost Girl' (he has an extremely deep and hypnotic voice, and comes off a bit creepy because of it), so I felt a little proud of myself. But despite having great blood sugar all day (it was 126 this morning before breakfast) and taking my medicine, I was a little off when dealing with YKWIA--I just didn't seem to get the banana at times. That might just be me being tired for having been up since 5:30 or 6 am, and waking up practically every hour on the hour throughout the night.

Speaking of which, I think I'm going to go on to bed. I think I'll totally unmake the bed this time, because I want to rub some lemon lotion on my feet and give them a good rub, and I think the lotion would discolour the comforter, but not the blanket. Good night.

I had an x-ray at the podiatry appointment

and apparently there is a reason for the occasional pain I'm having in the ankle that was operated on three years ago. A small piece of bone has come off near the screws, and the screws themselves may be irritating the area. So, we wait and see if the pain gets more than occasional or worse, because if it does, then they can go in and remove the screws and possibly do a bone graft to help the situation. But right now it's really minor and happens only sometimes, so I'll wait.

I also ordered some shoes. About the only perk of being diabetic is that my insurance will pay for a pair of shoes once per year. This year I'm trying to get some dressier shoes that I can wear with a skirt (still closed toe, for the winter), and I just hope they're wide enough. That's always an issue with my feet, and the swelling doesn't help. I did get the extra wide, but depending on in the shoes run narrow, that may still not be enough. We'll see.

I need to work on the bedroom and vacuum the carpets, along with taking out the trash. But first I'm going to take a short break (maybe 20 minutes), as my stomach's a bit woozy. I haven't eaten yet today, but I took my medicine, so that's probably why. But after it settles down I'll make some pasta (which is basically the only thing in the house, except for some crackers and I think a can of soup) to settle my stomach. Hope your day is going well.

It's supposed to be a glorious day, weather-wise

Sunny, 62 degrees at present but supposed to climb to 80. This morning, in the hour I've been up, I have:

1. Filled up my medicine reminder box
2. Tweaked the application on my phone that reminds me to take my medicine to update new medication and which doctors prescribe them
3. Taken all my meds
4. Tested my blood sugar
5. Weighed myself--eek!
6. Put various things into S Health, the application that keeps track of my steps, food, exercise, etc.
7. Eaten some yoghurt and blackberries for breakfast
8. Drunk a full glass of water
9. Perused the news

I am now ready to go take a shower, get dressed, feed the fish, and go out into the bright sunshiny day. I'm going to take the laptop over to my friends' house in case there's any time to work on game notes. The grocery run is the only thing I think that's on the agenda right now otherwise, and maybe catching up on the 'Salem' episode from last week if they haven't watched it already. I may go on a walk with A, as he's offered to go with me. We'll see. I'll wear my sandals but bring my walking shoes, too. I'll wait till tomorrow to do laundry over there.

Okay, time to get ready!

I had a good day overall

but forgot to take my insulin at lunchtime, which made my blood sugar go way up and I felt v-e-r-y tired. Once I realised what I'd done, I checked my blood glucose, which was pretty high, took some insulin, got up and walked around, came back, turned my fan on, and put some peppy music on, and shortly thereafter I was able to concentrate enough to do my data entry. So every now and again I still do an oops on that, even with my phone telling me when to take my medicine. Now it's much better and I'm just having a light dinner of a peanut butter sandwich with spreadable fruit and some chips (and yes, I'm taking my insulin right now).

I feel a little more energised than normal after a day at work, so I think it may be a good day to work on the house for a bit. It's 70 degrees and trying to decide on sun or clouds, but at least for the first time in days it isn't actually raining. I think I'll put the windows up and air things out a bit.

Things I need to do:
1. Fill the large fish tank
2. Do dishes
3. Straigten up the living room
4. Clean the bathroom

That's pretty much it for now. I think that's doable. But first, since I'm still eating, I'm going to check for anything to blog about. :)

Drat

I opened up some salad I'd gotten a couple of days ago, and the lettuce is icky and soggy. I managed to save the cranberries, walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette, and feta cheese that was in a separate compartment, Oh well, tortillas and cheese for dinner it is.

This morning I went to work, then over to my podiatrist to pick up my new shoes and inserts. I had quite some trouble getting them on, and at first we thought they were too narrow, but they do actually fit. I just have trouble bending my right knee fully in a chair (I put my shoes on by putting my feet up on the bed). I took them back off at the doctor's office, and then put them back on after I got back to work, as it's carpeted, and I can't return them if I wear them outside at all. They're kind of boots, or hightop athletic shoes, with an athletic-style shoe in black that comes up on the ankles for full support. I thought they'd be better then my lower New Balances this winter for walking on uneven snow. They're are the brand Answer2, which I hadn't heard of before, style 442-1. They're made by Apis. They also gave me several Sure-Fit inserts, which I'm supposed to change ever four months or so, and there were a couple of thin ones that go under the regular inserts to help raise the foot if needed to keep it from slipping up and down. I have a slight discrepancy between my left and right leg in terms of length, so I have that secondary insert under the right one but not one on the left, and they were doing pretty well this afternoon. The inserts are a little different than the diabetic orthotics I have in my regular shoes, though. They were much easier to get on the second and third times I tried. I'll have to keep a weather eye on my feet, though, and look for any rubbing, etc. But I think they'll be a decent fit after all. I do need longer laces for them. Even my New Balances that I got last year have boot laces in them. I have such a wide foot (I wear a 7 2E in the New Balances, XW in these shoes), that I need longer laces than they ever include. I really do appreciate that my health insurance will pay for these as part of my diabetes care. I had the same type of New Balances several years ago that were $115 when I paid for them myself. These go for about $135 online. They look like this:



The nice thing is that they work under my pants for work pretty well, and I noticed they seem to be This afternoon, after work, I:

1. Went to the bank to dispute a couple of ATM charges. Yesterday I tried to get money from the ATM at work twice, but got a 'database error' and no money. Turns out the money came out of my account, along with the fee they charge for giving me my own money and the one the bank charges for not using their machine. All told, it came out to $49. I got one returned, the fees from the bank taken off, and the second one should be taken care of soon (it needed 'more investigation', beyond what they could do right there).
2. Got some gas for the car and washed the windows. I really need to take the car to be washed.
3. Checked out a book I had on hold from the library, called House of Stone, by the late journalist Anthony Shadid, as well as the DVD for the movie Oculus.

Now I'm home, listening to 'Somebody That I Used to Know' by Gotye (featuring Kimbra) on the radio, have the windows open and the fan in the living room blowing on me, and I'm finishing up dinner. The plan for tonight is:

1. Work on the game notes.
2. Work on the house.
3. Do some reading.
4. Water the plants inside and out (although I'm down to only two window boxes--one fell and pretty much what was in it disintegrated).

I'm hoping by having the fan out here in the living area rather than the bedroom, I won't just go in there and lie down.

Three hours after I came home last night

Two women were robbed while walking about two blocks from here. I have generally felt safe in my neighbourhood, but crime can happen anywhere, of course. I don't know if the thing last night was in any way related to that or not. Probably not. But it's highly unusual to have the police out here.

I came home this afternoon and rested (yes, that means napped), and I've spoken to YKWIA a couple of times on the phone. The last hour or so I've been trying to find an important piece of paper to make a payment on something that cannot be paid online, I don't otherwise have the information to pay it like address, account number, and amount, and I'm highly annoyed because I'm sure I put it in a 'safe place', so safe I can't find it. The payments are made quarterly, so it's not with much frequency. Tomorrow I'll have to call the company and get them to send me the information. I can go online and initiate a loan, but I can't find any information about the very small loan I'm trying to pay on. Grrr....

This morning I went to my endocrinologist, which I dreaded because I don't feel like I've really kept my diabetes under the control they needed to be. But my weight and hA1c are both down, so it was a good report. They took some blood and an urine specimen, and I went on into work. It was nice to be able to give them a report of my glucose readings from the new meter without having to type in the readings manually. Today I had two goals:

1. Drink only one diet soda. I drink far too many in a day, up to two two-litres sometimes on the weekend, but even on an average day, about 4-6 20 oz. bottles. I managed to reach that goal, and while I was a bit sleepy in the afternoon from lack of caffeine, I did okay. I drank one sparkling flavored water and the balance has been regular water. Go me!
2. Enter everything I ate into my phone application. Everything. Which I did. And I made pretty decent choices today. For example, at lunch they were doing warm chocolate-chip pecan pie with ice cream, which I totally skipped in favour of spicy vegetarian black bean soup, broccoli, summer squash, a couple of slices of tomato, and a small seeded roll. Breakfast was the worst, as with my appointment I missed breakfast at work, so I went to McDonald's and got two egg and cheese biscuits, which are a combined total of 780 calories! Dinner was more soup, corn on the cob, a small roll, and about five tater tots, so still a bit heavy on the starches, but not horrible. Later I had a couple of pieces of string cheese, a banana, some sugar-free pudding, and a little bit of hazelnut spread on bread. So I've eaten about 2000 calories today and according to the application, which records my steps, I've burned over 300 calories. Even at that, according to my doctor, at my current weight I'd lose on that, but I'd like to take it down to 1800 calories slowly. If I hadn't snacked in the evening, I'd have kept it under that.

In general I'm going to try to eat less bread, more fish, eggs, beans, fruits, and vegetables, and generally make better choices, and see what happens. Although I am pescetarian (fish but no meat), I rely far too much on bread and cheese and not enough on protein and vegetables. Now that my knee is doing better, I also want to start walking, although today was far too hot and humid to start. Perhaps in the mornings or evenings.

Okay, I think I'll go in the other room for awhile. Tomorrow I have a bunch of things planned for the afternoon and evening, including appointments and 'The Awesomes', so I'm not sure if I'll get in early enough to really blog. Have a good night.

At least

I finally slept well last night. I was asleep by about 12:30 I think, but then I didn't wake up till 5:30, did my monthly libation, and then went back to sleep till 8:30. The first thing I did was clean the tub/shower, as I'm going to take a bath in a little while. Then I gave myself my Byetta, which you have to delay eating a bit after, picked up around the house, and put my meds into my pillbox for the trip. Now I'm going to get some water, check my blood sugar, and eat something. The last few days I've done very poorly with my diabetes, haven't had any sleep hardly, ate emotionally, and was somewhat haphazard with my meds, and with the stress and everything my blood sugar reading in the morning yesterday was the highest I've ever had. So yesterday was all about getting back on track, taking my insulin correctly, and eating well. It's still a little high this morning but nothing near yesterday, so I think I'm doing better. As one of my co-workers said, the last thing anyone needs is for me to get sick on top of everything else.

So this morning I have to:

1. Take a bath
2. Try out the dress I bought last year in case of funerals to make sure it still fits fine
3. Dress in a black skirt and top for the visitation
4. Pack
5. Run the dishwasher
6. Take out the trash
7. Get gas

Okay, I've eaten, taken my meds, etc. Time to go take a bath and try to relax a bit.

Well, I must say

since going to the endocrinologist I have faithfully taken all of my diabetes medicine on time, as scheduled, and have been watching what I eat better. In those few days--

1. I have not had much of an appetite (one of the drugs shrinks the stomach so you don't eat as much)
2. I haave not had any of the side effects from the one drug that they put me back on at a lower dose (and hopefully won't)
3. My morning blood sugar values have dropped about 80-100 points
4. I've lost about 8 lbs (in three days, probably some of that is water weight, as I go up and down within 10 lbs pretty easily. But this happened last last time I was on that oral medication it stayed off for quite some time). I need to lose 30 to increase my insulin sensitivity and maybe decrease the insulin I'm taking.

So I'm hopeful. So hopeful I'm going to put some clothes on and go for a walk. :) At work they're doing a thing this month where we track our steps on a calendar and work our way up to 10,000. Since I'm tracking my steps anyway, and my Sunday steps usually are not many, I thought I'd take a short walk today and then try to build up throughout the month.