Weddings, Birthdays, and General Stressors

One of my very best friends in the world is getting married on Saturday. This is, in part, why I haven't been posting as regularly. I have been busy with many wedding things. Also, I have helped my baby sister celebrate her 12th birthday. When I really feel like she was just born yesterday. She's now taller than I am. Another of my friends also celebrated a birthday since the last time I posted.

I have been shoe shopping, run all over town trying to find someone to finish making my bridesmaids dress, gone to get a pedicure, made a birthday cake for my sister, and finished school for the semester (with a 101 average! Woo-hoo!).

Tomorrow I go to get a manicure and a spray tan (no time for a tanning bed!). Friday morning I get my hair colored, and Friday afternoon is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

I have been, as I mentioned in a previous post, been dealing with a much larger insulin intake than I am used to. The past couple of days have been decent, blood sugar wise. I haven't had a number over 200 and have averaged, both days, below 140. I can't complain. This has been a little bit of stress relief, since I have been so worried about my blood sugars running high and my insulin intake.

So, here I go, into the month of May. Wish me luck.

Tomorrow is my 2nd anniversary on the pump, by the way.

A new meme that made me smile and a change in insulin intake.

The rules: Make a list of your loves. The only catch? You can’t include a single person you know on your list. No “I love the way my husband laughs” or “I love hearing my little girl call for me.” It’ll be tough, I know. But this particular little exercise is about stripping away everyone who defines you and figuring out what you (not his partner; not their mother/daughter/sister/friend) love.

1) I love music of all kinds. How it makes me feel and makes me express my emotions.
2) I love the smell of fresh cut grass.
3) I love sitting on the bank of the lake watching the water and letting time pass with no concerns.
4) I love the feeling I get when I am watching a play. There's nothing in the world like live theater.
5) I love the feeling of taking a nap on Sunday afternoon after church.
6) I love to see things I've never seen before and go places I've never been before. Travel is something I wish I could afford to do much more of.
7) I love to spend hours in a book store just wandering around looking at random books and reading the book jackets.
8) I love live music. I love to see concerts of almost any kind. This relates back to #1.


I just thought this was a fun little meme. I could go on and on about things I love. But I won't. Currently, I am dealing with major stress that I am almost positive is effecting my insulin intake. For the past 2 years that I have been pumping, I have averaged between 40 and 48 units of insulin intake per day. Some days, of course, there might be a little more or a little less, depending on what's going on around me. But in the past 30 days, I have had around 20 days of over 50 units per day. Some days there have even been over 60 units. The reason I think it is stress related is because (obviously) I am very stressed, but also because my basal rates seem to need changes except at night. This would be when I was the least stressed, since I would be asleep.
CGMS has helped me see these patterns, but I am at a loss as to what to do about it. I had an appointment yesterday with my CDE. She wanted to make some changes, but I convinced her to let me wait until June to do any of these changes since my life is going to calm down (hopefully) at the end of May. I have another appointment in mid-June with my CDE. And an appointment in May with my endo.
I have usually seen an increase in weight when my insulin intake goes up. This has not been the case this time. I have actually lost weight. Not much, but enough that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Maybe things will change after May. Maybe things will settle back down in my world and my insulin intake will go back to what it was before.
Let's hope.

Raise Your Voice!

This day, Kerri has dubbed Type 1 Awareness Day. Raise your voice, type 1's!
This is my perspective on Type 1 diabetes. I will have been a Type 1 diabetic for 23 years in just a few months. In many ways, it's all I've ever known. My memories, pre-diabetes, are few and far between.
I have shared stories on this blog in the past about my diagnosis. I have shared tales of good days with diabetes, and bad days with diabetes.
I have shared the frustrations of many other Type 1's, as we are too often grouped in with Type 2 diabetics, and told to "exercise" or "quit eating junk foods".
In this online world, I have found others who share my triumphs, my trials, and my daily life that is constantly wrapped up in diabetes.
My greatest desire is to have a more common understanding of diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2, in the media and the general public. I want people to understand that I don't have "sugar", as many people like to call it here in the south. I have an auto-immune disease known as Type 1 diabetes that will stay with me for the rest of my life, unless there is a cure.
But there are a host of other wishes I have for my diabetes, and diabetes in general:
- I wish to be able to take a job without the need to interview my employer about insurance benefits.
- I wish to be able to tell someone I have diabetes and have the look at me like I am going to die.
- I wish to be able to keep the around $120 per month that I spend on out of pocket costs for my medicine. (This does not include my insurance premiums.)
-I wish to be able to go on a trip without taking an entire carry-on bag of nothing but meds.
-I wish to be able to know that if I chose to have children, they will not have to live with this disease like I have.
- I wish for my mother and father and countless other friends and family to not have to worry about me because I live alone.

-I wish to be able to tell people that I USED to have diabetes.

So, fellow Type 1's: RAISE YOUR VOICE!

One Year Later...

I write this post one day early because my tomorrow is going to be filled with friends and cakes and bridal showers for my best friend's upcoming wedding.
One year ago tomorrow I posted my first blog post. Inspired by Kerri over at Six Until Me, whom I stumbled across by surfing around on dLife, I ran across this world of people just like me. I knew there were other diabetics in the world. I had, after all, attended diabetes camp for 2 years when I was a child. I even knew a few Type 1's and a couple of Type 2's in my every day life.
But Kerri introduced me to this world of the Diabetes On-line Community. Her Blogroll is what led me to enter this world. I began reading about other diabetics and their lives. I ran across the blogs of parents who's children had diabetes which gave me a whole new perspective on what my parents lived through (and still do) when I was diagnosed with diabetes.
I met new people, though not in real life, like Amylia and Donna and Jillian. I discovered what a sussy was, learned about new pump sites, found the wonderful IIMC's (also known as pump packs), and discovered the generosity of virtual strangers like Bernard.
This community has meant so much to me in so many ways. I feel like I know most of you, even though we have never met. The common thread of diabetes connects us.
I know I don't blog as often as some others do, but I read faithfully. Even when I am not blogging, I am always getting support from your posts.
So thanks to all those in the d-blog world. You have become an important part of my life in the past 365 days, and I hope to continue to see you all here on-line as our lives and trials with diabetes continue.

A Long Week....Already

It is only Wednesday, but it has been a loonnnggg week already. Every day has seemed to drag by. Is it just me, or are others experiencing this also?

Yesterday, however, was a great fun day. The Women's NCAA basketball championship was last night in Tampa. My lovely Lady Vols played Stanford, and won their 8th National Championship. :) I can't complain. I had a great time watching the game and yelling at the tv.

Sadly, 5 of the players (all starters) were seniors and were all drafted into the WNBA today. So, essentially we will be starting all over again next year. But Pat Summit has a way of getting the best out of the best, so I have no doubt we will be on top again within a few years. Maybe even next year.

So congrats to Pat Summit and the Lady Vols on your 8th National Championship.

Change of subject: Today I was a very bad diabetic. I don't drink orange juice. For two reasons. It gives me severe heart burn (the kind that lasts for days) and it makes my blood sugar crazy. This morning I drank orange juice. It was delicious. Luckily, I had a friend who gave me some heart burn medicine that staved off the heart burn. But the crazy blood sugars... no go. I gave the proper amount of insulin. But 2 hours later: 324. But by lunch I was down to 94. Although I know that high blood sugar was NOT good for me, I was very happy to get to drink some o.j. It may be another 2 years before I have any more (it's been at least that long since the last time I had any). So I figure I don't have to worry too much about the crazy blood sugars.

Also, this afternoon I got a crick in my neck. I am currently sitting here with a heat wrap on my neck and have done a whole lot of nothing this evening, trying to get the pain to go away. This happens to be occasionally. Usually it's in times of great stress and it's usually when I don't realize how much stress I am under! Hopefully I will go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow feeling much better. Otherwise it will mean a trip to the doctor to get a muscle relaxer and a trip to the chiropractor for a neck and back adjustment.

Let's all hope it goes away tonight since I have my best friend's bridal shower cakes to make on Friday...

I hope everyone in the Diabetes OC is doing well. I promise, I am getting back to this whole blogging thing.

Blessings in Times of Stress

I have a million things going on in my life right now. This is (mostly) why I haven't been posting. I have had things to post, yes. But getting the time or energy to do it has been hard. When I have free time I have been vegging out or talking with friends. I have been out of town 3 times in the past month. I am preparing for my best friend's bridal shower and wedding (now only 1 month away) and have basically been going a little bit crazy.
During this time, CGMS has been a really good thing for me. I took it off for about a week at one point and just couldn't handle life without it. I admit it, I've become spoiled. I can do without it, I just don't want to. It's not perfect, but has really helped me out.
One night (when I did not have the CGMS on) I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. After thinking I should test, I found my blood sugar was 48. With CGMS, it wouldn't have gone below 65. And I wouldn't have felt like crap the next morning.
Emotionally, I have been going through quite a bit as of late. This is another reason I haven't really been blogging. I hate to get on here and complain all the time. Due to the things I have been stressing over, my blood sugar has been very crazy at time. This also makes me very glad I got the CGMS.
And even though I haven't been posting regularly, I have been reading pretty regularly. All of your blogs out there in the diabetes OC have really helped to keep me grounded and knowing that I have a place I can come to and find friends who deal with life every day, just like I do.
I am truly blessed, and I have been trying to remind myself of that daily. For all of you out there who have wanted to know when I would post again, here it is. And be prepared for more postings in this month of April. I am going to get back on the wagon and rejoin this world. ;)