Busy Weekends = Bad Dreams

Sometimes my favorite weekends are quiet, lazy and restful.  This weekend was none of that, but it was still a lot of fun.  We did some “kitchen shopping” because we’re in the beginning planning stages of gutting and re-doing our hideously ugly kitchen.  Then I scrubbed that ugly kitchen, and the rest of the house, and cooked for a small dinner party we had.  There was plenty of food, and there was also a fair amount of alcohol to partake in as well.  Toss in a long Father’s Day hike with the in-laws yesterday, and by last night I was beyond tired.  No surprise, I was also battling some pretty sticky lows.  The alcohol and exercise combo gets me every time.  As much as I wanted to just fall into bed early and drift off to sleep, I had to stay up a bit longer to overtreat that low.

I was in a safe range when I finally went to sleep, but my brain must have had a low-hangover.  (What is the fun term for that?  Hang-lowver?  I always forget . . . . )  The weird dreams I had were the kind that usually happen because of a low.  The good thing?  The dreams revolved around members of the DOC.  The bad thing?  I was fighting with almost everyone in my dream.

As the dream started, Cherise had a new job as a manicurist.  (I’m convinced that dream storyline had to do with the pictures of Cherise’s painted OmniPods that I had been admiring on Facebook.)  Stacey had an appointment but very rudely said she was not paying Cherise.  I yelled at Stacey, and she yelled back at me.  I turned around to see the small rocking chair that I’ve had since I was little (that’s it, and me, on the right).  Sarah came along and stood on it, and it cracked.  I told her the chair was not for adults, and she said she didn’t care and sat on it until it broke.  As I yelled at her, Sara came along and told me to stop being so mean.  Then she said that when Pete talks he sounds really stupid.  (Poor Pete!!)

What the heck is it with low dreams - especially this one that happened when I wasn’t even low anymore?  Why did it have me fighting with my friends?   I swear, next time I’m low at night I’m skipping the pineapple juice and going for GlucoLift instead!  Maybe I’ll dream that I’m having a lovely vacation on a rocket ship!!  Either that or I need to go back to quiet, lazy, restful weekends!

Please tell me this isn’t just me, and that you have some weird low dreams to share too . . . .

Travel Ready . . . . . .

Over the weekend Pete and I took a quick overnight trip to New York City.  I love travel adventures, but packing really stresses me out.  I know I’m a chronic over-packer.  And even still, I’m always terrified that I’m forgetting to pack something very important.  Of course, in reality there is very little I could forget that I couldn’t live without for my time away.  But diabetes supplies . . . . well yes.  Some of those things I quite literally could not live without.

A while back I got the idea to keep a small travel pack ready with about everything I need, diabetes-wise, for a quick trip away.  I pulled out a small clear bag I picked up one year at Friends for Life and tucked in a bunch of supplies.


Here’s a closer look at what I keep inside.


It’s filled with spare Tegaderm, IV prep wipes and alcohol swabs, a new vial of test strips, two AAA batteries and the wall charger for my meter, an infusion set and reservoir and two full travel packs of GlucoLift.  All I need to do is throw in a bottle of insulin and I’m good to go overnight or for a long weekend, because I know I also always have more test strips, batteries, low treatments and supplies for a full pump site change in my purse.

When I return home from a trip, I restock the bag before stowing it in the drawer where I keep my diabetes supplies.  Knowing it’s organized and waiting makes packing a bit less stressful.  I also like knowing it’s ready and easily accessible if I ever need to quickly leave the house in an emergency situation.

Our weekend trip was a quick one, but Pete and I had a fantastic time walking around the city, eating a wonderful dinner, finally seeing Wicked on Broadway (something I’ve been dying to do for a very long time and it was more than worth the wait) and just sharing an adventure together.  Travel should be all about the fun and not about the stress, and my pre-packed travel bag helps fend off some of that travel stress.

(Late) Wordless Wednesday - Sick

The horrible sore throat is bad enough.  But seeing that big spike after I eat, no matter what I eat or how early I pre-bolus?  Sometimes that seems even worse.  (And it makes me as cranky as Jack Skellington.) Being “real-people-sick” with diabetes is a drag.  (It also throws off my week so Wordless Wednesday ends up on Thursday.)

30 Years of Meters . . . .

Today I’m over at The Loop blog talking about the latest blood glucose meter I've been using.  It was fun to think back to my very first meter in the early ‘80s.  I think it looked similar to the meter in the upper left corner of this picture.

Picture courtesy of Christopher Tidy via Wikipedia.org

Every so often I get frustrated because I feel like diabetes technology is crawling at a snails pace compared to entertainment technology (like cell phones, e-readers, etc.) .  But when I think back to the tools I used 30 years ago, I start to appreciate how far my diabetes devices have come.

Do you remember the first meter you used?  Was is very different from today’s meters?

** My Medtronic disclosure can be found here. **

Strengths and Weaknesses . . . .

This month the DSMA blog carnival wants us to share “What do you consider to be your Diabetes Strengths? What do you think are your Diabetes Weaknesses?".



What am I weak at?  Oh I can come up with a huge list of things!!  What am I good at?  Well, that’s a tough one.  It’s so easy for me to see my flaws and so hard to give myself credit.  Is that human nature, or is it just me?  Anyway, mini-therapy session aside, I've narrowed my list down to one strength and one weakness. 

I guess my Diabetes Strength is that I’m really good at pre-bolusing before eating.  It helps me fend off those pesky post-meal spikes that fall right back into range after an hour or so. But it isn’t always easy.  When I’m cooking my focus is on the timing of the food and it’s so easy to forget about that pre-bolus.  When I’m starving it’s pretty hard to wait before I have a snack.  At a restaurant it’s extra tricky to time insulin to when the waiter will serve my meal.  But I really try and usually I do pretty well.  My CGM high alarm is set at 170, and if I carefully pre-bolus I can often get through all my meals and snacks without it blaring that I’m high.

I narrowed down my long list of diabetes weaknesses to the one that I want to conquer the most.  It’s the fact that I’m terrible at taking the emotion out of the blood glucose numbers.  When that CGM does blare I curse myself for screwing up.  A sticky high or low makes me feel like I’m being punished for doing something wrong.  I would tell anyone with diabetes to look at out of range numbers as information they can act on, not as personal failures.  But when those undesirable numbers flash on my own meter I forget my own advice.  I’m weakest at blaming diabetes instead of blaming myself.

This post is my May entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival.  If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2013/may-dsma-blog-carnival-3/.

No Days Off . . . . .

I think for me, the hardest thing about diabetes is that there are no days off.  Even if you’re trying to celebrate, say, a birthday weekend.  A weekend that, for several reasons, ends up being particularly crappy can be made even more crappy by diabetes.

I woke up on Sunday another year older and with a high blood sugar that just wouldn’t quit.  If ever there would be a day I’d wish for diabetes to give me a break, it would be on my birthday.  Instead I played “why the eff can’t I get back into range” and wasn’t able to eat a thing until well after 4:00 pm.

In the end, diabetes just likes to remind me that it doesn’t care what is going on or that I'm trying to have a special day.  In the end, it sometimes just wants to remind me that I have to work a little harder.  In the end, it just wants to make it clear that it isn’t giving me a day off.  Happy Birthday?  Well, maybe next year . . . .

Wrapping Up the 4th #DBlogWeek

Every year I’m a bit surprise at how quickly Diabetes Blog Week speeds by, and this year is no exception.  The week has ended and it was a wonderful busy blur of feeling ultra-connected to the DBlog Community and the DOC as a whole.  We had over 200 bloggers signed up again this year, and right now there are 814 DBlogWeek posts linked on the Link Lists.  Wow!

I’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone who participated, because without you Diabetes Blog Week would just be me posting a bunch of topics that nobody saw.  Thank you to everyone who posted on all or even some of the prompts.  Thank you to everyone who commented on the posts others put out there and let them know someone was reading and was touched by what was said.  Thank you to everyone who read a post, even if you didn’t comment, because you’ve let us share a little of our lives and a few of our thoughts with you.

As always, there is a little housekeeping to take care of:

• Every day I blogged and Facebooked the Link List to that day’s topic.  But don’t forget there were two WildCard options and many did use those prompts.  I’d hate for those posts to be overlooked, so I want to make sure you don’t forget the Dream Diabetes Device List and the Diabetes Wild Kingdom List.
• Speaking of the Link Lists, if you forgot to add your posts you can still do so.  I will keep the lists open for another week or so, at which point they will be locked (closed to any additions) in order to guard against spammers.  If you need to add something after I’ve locked them, please email me and I can easily take care of it for you.
• If you haven’t yet, please check your listing on the Participants List to be sure I didn’t mess it up.  If I did, please shoot a quick email to my DBlogWeek email and I will fix it.  Also, if you participated but didn’t officially sign up and would like to be added to the Participants List, you can email your name and you blog address and I can add you.
• The week always seems to fly by and sometimes we get behind on our posts.  No biggie - I had a busy weekend and almost didn’t get my posts up too!  If you missed some days and would like to finish your posts this week (or beyond), that’s great!!  Or if you don’t want to, that’s fine too.  I’m grateful to everyone who participated and for each post that was done.  I haven’t gotten very far on reading and commenting yet, but I will try my best to read each and every post and to leave as many comments as I can.

Looking ahead, will there be a fifth Diabetes Blog Week?  Probably.  I did have a few rough patches with the week this year, but I suppose that is to be expected.  The excitement from all of you far outweighs any tough spots, so if the DOC is up for another go next year, I think I am too.  Thank you all for making Diabetes Blog Week such a success.

Spread the Love - #DBlogWeek Day 7

You can find more Spread the Love post on the Sunday 5/19 Link List.

 As another Diabetes Blog Week draws to a close, let’s reflect on some of the great bloggers we’ve found this week. Give some love to three blog posts you’ve read and loved during Diabetes Blog Week, and tell us why they’re worth reading. Or share three blogs you’ve found this week that are new to you. (Thanks to Pearlsa of A Girl's Reflections for inspiring this topic.)

Until I sat down to write this post I didn’t realize how very tough this topic would be for me.  First of all, there are SO MANY fantastic posts that I’ve read this week that it’s really hard to pick just three to share.  And secondly, of course, I’m so far behind on reading DBlogWeek posts that I can’t even imagine the posts I haven’t gotten to yet.  (I will get to them all though, I promise!!  It may take me quite a while, but I do plan to read each and every one!)  So anyway, tough or not, today I’m sharing three of the many many many post that I’ve read and loved so far.

• I thought this Day 2 petition to artificial sweeteners from Unexpected Blues was brilliant.  Be sure to read all the way to the end, because the names of those who signed the petition should not be missed!!
• When I watched this Day 4 video post from Melissa at Sweetly Voiced  I cried and smiled and was amazed at her talent and touched by her lyrics.  And yes, she absolutely is “sweetly voiced”.
• The thing I look forward to the most during DBlog Week is finding new or new to me blogs.  That’s why I really loved finding this accomplishment post for Day 4 from newish blogger Jessica at One Girl’s Diabetic Life.  I admire that she’s challenging herself to share even though it’s out of her comfort zone.

Is that three posts already?  I could easily link a dozen  more!  How about you - what have you read this week that touched your heart?