Saturdays are no Diabetes Days

Today's Topic:

The Annoying Thing about my New Neighbors.

Since we moved into our house in 2001, my next door neighbors were both quiet, older couples who bought their houses when the subdivision was built in 1957. The neighbors to the east took a liking to us and started attending our church. They still give every member of my family a birthday card with five dollars in it every year. He also mows the easternmost portion of our lawn when he is testing out lawn mowers that he fixes. They have the only basement on the block and host block parties during tornado warnings, complete with free diet coke, with a caffeine free option for those 2am tornado warnings. They are pretty great.

The neighbors to the west were quieter. The husband passed away sometime while I was in high school. We took it upon ourselves to check up on his widow. She eventually began doing well. She got a dog, and later met an old widower online who lived in another Missouri town. She packed up all her stuff and moved to this other town to shack up with the old dude. Okay, so they did get married first, but it was all rather sudden and seemed hilarious to us and our neighbors.

The new neighbors are a family about the same age as mine. They have a couple college age kids who are around sometimes. They're a little louder and have more cars, but are generally ok. Except one thing.


Why must you waste electricity, pollute the earth, and increase your carbon footprint by leaving your garage light on ALL NIGHT?

I put up my room darkening shades. I drew the blinds behind them. And yet the glow out your garage side window into my room, annoying me as I try to go to sleep.

I have thought about asking them to turn it off, but I feel it's unnecessary to start neighbor feuds when we don't' even own our house (it's a parsonage).

Anyway.

That was my first no satur-d-ay post. (see what I did there?)

eleven.

Disclaimer: This is long. It's somewhat rambling. I've posted some of the information before. But it's my 11th diabetes anniversary. So I'm posting my story, again. Please take the time to read it in honor of American Diabetes Month.

I'm sitting on my bed, at 11:11 the night before this entry will post, trying to write a paper that was due 11 minutes ago, and I can't focus. My blood sugar is too out of wack (78 and dropping, hoping those glucose tabs kick in). My stomach is to topsy turvy from stress of an upcoming packed weekend including a job interview, the salmon I ate tonight which was apparently unagreeable with my system, and the fact that I haven't written that paper yet. I am mostly thinking about how I need to go to the store and buy two cake mixes. One will be my d-anniversary cake, complete with 11 syringes.

The other cake mix I will use to make my mom some cookies to take to work with her tomorrow. Tomorrow is her *undisclosed number*th birthday. 11 years ago, she spent her birthday evening with her oldest child, her only daughter, her 11 year-old, in the hospital.

She had spent half the day waiting for her daughter to come home. She was only 11. How could this be happening to her? She was a happy, involved girl. She loved singing in church, she loved playing soccer and coach-pitch softball. She had just started her second season of basketball. She was an active, vibrant little girl. How could this disease have attacked her, when she had been so healthy before?

Then, finally, her daughter came home promptly at 3pm. She always walked home. It was only a few blocks in a small western Missouri town. She worried a little more today than she did most days, but her daughter showed up at the right time.

Her daughter had some knowledge of what was going on. The afternoon before, they had visited the doctor. An assistant had stuck a needle in her arm. She vaguely knew what diabetes was. She was a avid reader and had encountered it in her books. She didn't know the advances in medicine that would allow her better control and more freedom, because as she walked home, she thought the Halloween lollipop she was eating might be the last candy she ever had.

Her mother told her when she walked in the door. "The Doctor called. He said your blood sugar levels were highly elevated. He said we should go to the hospital."

Her dad was already home from the small town church that stood next door to their house. He insisted on a second opinion. They went to a friends house and had her blood sugar tested there. The friend assured her parents that it was too high and that they should follow the doctor's instructions to check into the hospital.

That night, her mother spent her birthday evening in Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She didn't know what to expect. They had received little training. She knew that her daughter was learning how to give herself shots of insulin, but as far as the Diabetes monster went, she was still in the dark. All she knew was that this was the worst birthday present ever.

"Mamma, I'm sorry that I had to get diabetes on your birthday."

"It's okay, Sarah, I'm thankful that you'll start to get better on my birthday."

Eleven years later, I am here. I have been on a whirlwind roller coaster with my diabetes care, but I am alive and well and doing everything I can to take life with diabetes one day at a time. To do only as much as I can and not to be frustrated with myself for not being able to do more than I can. My mother is well. She will have a happy birthday today with no children being shipped to the hospital (hopefully). But each year, we both remember what happened on this day 11 years ago, and we are thankful. Thankful that it didn't happen on a day after her birthday, on a day when I might have gone into a coma and been lost forever.

I'm forever grateful to my mother. She saw the signs. It was her vigilance, her words that convinced our primary care physician to run the test that put me on the track to living a long, healthy life.

Thank you, Mom. Happy Birthday.

D confusion...

Figuring out the morning basal is proving to be interesting.

My nurse said wait a couple days, but I still would like to know where to start. Like, you should take some insulin in the morning and see how much your blood glucose goes down, right? What about when it starts at 203, and you eat nothing, and an hour and a half later after six units (when you should only have taken four because in the evening six would have put you at 50) you're 240? Woah, is insulin having the OPPOSITE effect on me?

I had to explain this dawn phenomenon to my father. He is so so supportive, but he still automatically thinks i did something wrong. He is being really encouraging though. He is logically telling me to eat less carbs and exercise more so I can take less insulin. Bingo dad, you are correct on this one!

So now I'm left to tinker with boluses after I get started on insulin next week. The math makes no logical sense. But as I have said many times, such is life with the big D.

Psst: Pump Woes

Psst. Psst. Psst.

If you use an insulin pump, you know that sound.

Psst. Psst. Psst.

It's the sound of my pump dosing my basal rate every few minutes.

Psst. Psst. Psst.

It's just pumping saline right now. Eventually, I think it will be a comforting sound, letting me know that the pump is working.

Right now I'm just annoyed.

I. Feel. Like. I. Am. At. The. Hospital.

The smell of alcohol wipes takes me straight back there. I have this thing, essentially an IV, stuck in me all of the time. I can take it off now, but in a week I won't be able to.

psst. psst. psst.

Just like being hooked up to a machine at the hospital.

I only can hope that I will feel better when it's actually insulin and I can actually see the results. I already love being able to use the pump to calculate how much insulin I should take, and being able to see exactly how much insulin I've taken that day. That is awesome. But the cyborg part and the hospital-esque part are freaking me out a bit.

Psst. Psst. Psst.

The new sound of the rest of my life.

OK, as a disclaimer, I'm OK with pumping, just unexpected frustrations are coming about and I'm not even on insulin yet! Like anything else in life, this will take some getting used to. Unfortunately I am revisiting old feelings of being frustrated with what those of us with D have to go through just to keep alive. So not cool.

But as Dory would say, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

Woeful Wednesday: Pump Edition is brought to you by a generous donation by Miss Pingy and Silverton the talking BG meter.

Wednesdays are the days I choose to complain on my blog. I try not to let negativity creep in any other day, but Wednesdays are my venting day.

T-3 Tuesday

If you're not hip on the d-lingo, you may be wondering, "What the heck is a T3?" T3 is shorthand for Type 3. If you're medically inclined, you know that there is no "type 3 diabetes." A person with Type 3 diabetes is someone who closely supports anyone with either of the two types of diabetes, the primary care givers when we were little or when we get too old to take care of ourselves.

Today is T-3 Tuesday. For the month of November, on Tuesdays I will be posting something written by the T-3's in my life. Today's post comes from my beautiful, amazing mother. She isn't a writer and is pretty shy, so this little paragraph speaks volumes from her. I loved it anyway. Thanks, Mom!

A paragraph by my mom about this week 11 years ago, when I was diagnosed on her birthday:

"When we found out Sarah had diabetes it was really hard. I didn’t know how we would get her to take good care of herself. She was only 11. But she took total control of it from the beginning. She began giving herself shots in the hospital and she was so good about checking her sugar. I was so impressed with the way she took care of herself."


Pump Update: I made it through my first pump training session yesterday. It was not as much information overload as I expected - I have learned a lot from listening to/reading D-friends talk about their pumps on twitter and their blogs. I was frustrated that I have to pump saline for a while before I start on insulin - I realize this is standard at a lot of hospitals, but the paperwork they sent me made it seem like I wouldn't have to go through this step. I am OK with it now, it was just frustrating to get something unexpected (but that's life with D, amirite?).

MeMe Monday

I stole this from Chris, who stole it from others, check out his blog to see from who.

1. Do you like bleu cheese? I prefer it to ranch when I eat chicken wings.

2. Have you ever smoked? I used to smoke socially, but I kinda grew up and realized that was a bad idea. Plus I quit drinking, which was the only time I smoked.

3. Do you own a gun? Not personally. My dad has one though.

4. Favorite type of Food? Meat and potatoes like a good Ozarkian girl.

5. Favorite type of music? I like lots of types, 90's alternative takes the cake, but I also like pop-punk, indie, country, classical, and crappy pop? Sad but true... I like to dance.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? I only eat hot dogs at the baseball park. I'm more of a burger girl.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf. Duh. I'll start watching it in about a week, probably.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I drink a glass of water followed by diet coke until I am awake.

9. Can you do push ups? I can do about five :(

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? I like to always wear a different necklace. But I enjoy my promise ring too, of course.

11. Favorite hobby? Hobby? Internet count? No, really. I enjoy sewing and knitting, wish I did them more.

12. Do you have A. D. D.? Wanna go ride bikes? (that means yes...very yes).

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Glasses only at the moment, hoping soon I have the finances to go back to contacts.

14. Middle name? Jane, obvs.

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: Pump training, Pump training, My cat's whiskers are tickling my feet.

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Water, Diet Coke, milk.

17. Current worry? what the crap am I going to do in December

18. Current hate right now? HCR..... Or the health care system in general.

19. Favorite place to be? right now i'll have to say asleep in my bed.

20. How did you bring in the new year? I freaking honestly do not remember.

21. Someplace you’d like to go? Ohh, costa rica. (See picture)

22. Name three people who will complete this. Don't like this question.

23. Do you own slippers? I do. My mom gets them for me every year at christmas.

24. What color shirt are you wearing? its white, brown, pink, many different colors.

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? They're actually kind of cold. I prefer jersey.

26. Can you whistle? sort of.

27. Where are you now? In the living room. (Well, when this posts I will be on my way to Pump Training!)

28. Would you be a pirate? I don't think I would be cut out for pirates life. I'm more the princess type. Ha!

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I only sing in the shower if I'm REALLY tired or really happy. And I have no idea what songs.

30. Favorite Girl’s Name? ooo playing name our future baby... Hallie Elizabeth

31. Favorite boy’s name? I liked Jonathan David, my two brothers, but the boyfriend is also David and his brother is John so I just think that would be too many Johns and Jons and Davids. So, no idea.

32. What is in your pocket right now? oh uh starburst wrapper from earlier low

33. Last thing that made you laugh? well, I guess that would be homestarrunner.com.

34. What vehicle do you drive? 2002 chevy caviler. I love it, have had no problems, it serves its purpose. I wish it had cruise control though.

35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? just several sprained ankles and a messed up shoulder back in the day when I played sports.

36. Do you love where you live? I really love Southwest Missouri (it's beautiful, see picture), but not so much living in my parents house.

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? oh man, six I believe. One in each bedroom, plus two others.

38. How many computers do you have in your house? Four laptops and one PC. (family of five)

39. If you changed your job, what would it be? Something that helps PWD's, duh!

40. If you were granted three wishes, what would they be? 1. Cure Diabetes, every type (again, duh), 2. have a family 3. Always have enough money to provide for my family. (aww, how heartwarming).

World Diabetes Day and NaBloPoMo

Last night, at about 2:30 AM CST, I tweeted that I was furiously blogging for Monday and Tuesday this week. D-blogging friend Chris, author of A Consequence of Hypoglycemia, proceeded to ask me if I was participating in NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. I had no idea what that was! After glancing around the site for a bit, I decided whether I was official or not, I would post every day for the Month of November, mostly Diabetes posts.

I am really excited about this month. It's special for a few reasons for me. It's the month I was diagnosed. It's also going to be my first month pumping. I go in for training tomorrow! Finally, World Diabetes Day is on the 14th. I am still hoping to go up to KC and meet up with some fellow d-bloggers on the 14th. I am just hoping I have the cash to fulfill this hope!

I don't like posting every day. It makes me feel a little self-righteous. I would much rather have a few quality posts than many posts that are less than quality. I decided that this month I wold abandon that feeling and post every day, as I mentioned above. I hope to include a couple guest posts by my parents for my diagnosis week. I also decided to post on Saturdays some non-diabetes related posts in order to kind of break up the d-talk obsession, a la the "No D Day" we celebrated in October (although I opted out of blogging that day, I did participate via twitter).

Welcome to Diabetes Month, Diabetty Style.