Monday, May 10, 2010

A Day in the life . . . with diabetes. Diabetes Blog Week Day 1

Welcome to the first day of Diabetes Blog Week! I'm excited to announce that at this time, we have 95 blogs participating!  I couldn't be more thrilled and I want to thank each and every one of the Diabetes Blog Week participants and readers for your enthusiasm and support!  A few people have asked me if I'll be posting a daily link page to each Diabetes Blog Week post.  I love that idea, but with 95 blogs participating I don't think I could manage that.  However, if you look over to the left, at the top of my sidebar I have added a special blog roll that displays the 10 most recent posts from Diabetes Blog Week participants.  You can also click the "Show All" button at the bottom of that list to see the whole list.  I hope that helps to make it easier to find all of the posts!!  And now, on to Diabetes Blog Week!!

Day 1 - A day in the life . . . with diabetes. Take us through a quick rundown of an average day and all the ways in which diabetes touches it. Blood tests, site changes, high and low blood sugars, meal planning, anything that comes along. This can be a log of an actual day, or a fictional compilation of pieces from many days.

Here are some pieces of a typical day - although with diabetes there isn't really a "typical" day . . .

4:00 am – K.C., you are the best cat in the world, but please don’t a) pick this exact moment to show how much you love me by nuzzling my nose or licking my cheek, b) run around like a nut while repeatedly jumping on and off the bed and racing up and down the stairs, c) use my head as a step-stool in an attempt to get close to the window – I assure you no birds will make it through the glass for you to catch, d) all of the above. (It’s usually D)
OR
5:45 am – Please make that alarm clock stop ringing. Really, time to get up? Okay, K.C. here’s your food. shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep a) 193 – what the heck!!! b) 48 – what the heck!!! c) 79 – wahoo!! Time for a 1 unit bolus and my cup vat of coffee.

9:00 am – Blogs blogs email FaceBook blogs . . . huh, 9 already. I should have some breakfast. shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 103. Cool!  *bolus*  Yogurt and fruit.

10:00 am – I should really get on the treadmill. Hahahahahaha . . .

11:30 am - shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 185  185?? After yogurt? I’d expect it after cereal, but yogurt doesn’t usually spike me. Damn, I guess I should have gotten on the treadmill.  *bolus correction*

1:00 pm – I should think about having lunch.

2:00 pm – I should really think about having lunch.

2:30 pm – Okay, I’d better REALLY have lunch!! shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 103 Yay! Now, how many carbs in my lunch? 35? Okay, 3.5 units going in and lunch in 20 minutes.

5:30 pm – Time for my weekly ballroom dance lesson with my husband. Better check my blood sugar before we start working on our cha cha. shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 123 Let’s dance!

5:55 pm – I am the most uncoordinated person in the world. Pete keeps asking if I’m sure I feel okay. CGM says I’m at 73 but on the down swing. I’d better let Pete dance with our instructor for a minutes so I can test my blood – even though I get so aggravated when I have to stop in the middle of a lesson. shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 52. Shoot!! Good thing I have a pack of juice boxes stashed in a storage closet – I’ll drink one while Pete and Juliet go over some more steps.

6:45 pm – Dinner!!! shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 87. Grilled chicken, yellow squash and grilled ciabatta bread. 34 grams of carbs divided by 13 carbs per unit of insulin minus .3 units because I’m only at 87 = 2.3 units to cover dinner. Thank goodness my insulin pump does all of this crazy math for me!

8:00 pm – Ice cream? Sure, sweetie, ice cream sounds good!! Make sure you weigh it on the food scale and let me know how many carbs I need to bolus for. And please help me remember to bolus after we finish the ice cream – the fat in it slows everything down and if I bolus now I’ll go too low and then spike up really high later.

10:45 pm – How did it get so late?? I’m exhausted. Last blood sugar check of the day. shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 96. Good night!!

1:45 am – beep beep beep beep beep What the???? Shoot, CGM high alarm. shunk . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . beep 217 Stupid ice cream . . .

29 comments:

  1. You put the bit about K.C. in there for me, didn't you? ;)

    I enjoyed the part about ballroom dancing and how BG impacts that...

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  2. Busy day!
    I am unsure if I miss Katsi waking me up at odd hours...ha.

    Stupid food, not ice cream, food, all of it.

    Wait. I went back and reread. 95????!!! OMG! Wow! That is AWEsome.

    I'll never keep up. :-)

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  3. Love your "shunk... 3...2...1" descriptions- perfect! :)

    I just learned of your Dibetes Blog Week and LOVE the idea-- I put my first post up just a few minutes ago. Thanks for hosting!

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  4. Thanks for introducing the idea of Diabetes Week... I've loved all the "day in the life" posts I've read so far. It's especially interesting to read what goes on in an adult T1's day... quite different from a 2 year old!

    Every time we let our daughter have ice cream, we swear we're never going to do it again!

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  5. Not sure how I missed this initially, but I'm in! Will put up a note in my Weekly Nuggets and post later this week.

    Thank you!!
    - AmyT

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  6. That SHUNK...was such the perfect word...you hit the nail on the head!

    I'm so glad this is such a huge success. It is going to take forever to read all the posts, but I'm looking forward to each and every one!

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  7. Yay! Getting ready to post our Day in the Life... thank you for putting this together!

    type1today.blogspot.com

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  8. I hate HAVING to eat. I enjoy eating but not all the time. That just stuck out in my head when I read this post.

    Every DBW post makes me think about something different. I love this Karen. You are awesome.

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  9. LOVING the SHUNK!!! Too funny. So interesting to learn about it from the person with it...instead of as a parent.

    Nice idea BTW...glad you got us all going on this AWESOME path!

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  10. As Joanne said, it's so interesting to read the perspective of an adult's day, versus parenting my 10 year old with diabetes.

    Thanks again for this idea. I am digging reading about everyone's different experiences.

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  11. Thanks so much for organizing this!

    You could pop in a "Mr. Linky" each day so that people can link to their blog post on that topic. That way all the posts are in one spot and it's not any extra work for you (other than setting up the Mr. Linky).

    Also, let's encourage everyone to leave comments on blogs (especially ones that are new to you) to let people know you've stopped by.

    I'm exhausted just reading how crazy busy everyone's days are!

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  12. I think you've dubbed a new term "shunk". Is that onomatopoeia? I only know that because I have a 4th grader.

    Yes that darn ice cream. Although I will always be in awe of your mastery of the gnocchi bolus - amazing.

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  13. thanks for this great idea, karen! I'm really enjoying reading about everyone's different days... and exhausted, everyone is so busy!

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  14. ballroom dancing AND knitting??? 2 things i wish i knew how to do!
    great post Karen and great job pulling us all together! (take that, Oprah!)

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  15. I'm always cursing the ice cream. To bad it tastes so good, I can't blame my daughter for loving it. Great post and great idea to do diabetes blog week. It is really interesting to read about this from different perspectives. Thanks- Yvette

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  16. The next time you write about being shy, I'm NOT going to believe you. Look what you've done!!
    Great idea - great posts - nifty!

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  17. GREAT POST!! Lorraine was right, I did Clicks and you did Shunks. It is so crazy how everyone's post seems so familiar even though we are all totally different.

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  18. I can never figure out how to bolus for ice cream. Never. :-)

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  19. Caleb loved your reference to the "food police". He has no clue what that really means, but it completely cracked him up! "Did you hear that food police?"

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  20. Thanks for thinking of, and organizing this event & I will be saying "Shunk" all damn night now!

    Kelly K

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  21. Karen!

    Thank you so much for putting this together! As a new blogger, this is great for me to meet some new people and read some stories that have been so helpful to me! I just wish I had gotten in! Thanks again!

    http://www.thesugarsubstitute.blogspot.com

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  22. It took me until the 9am reading to get what the "shunk...3...2...1"was then I had to start over because it ads so much to the post. Awesome. I have read so many wonderful and creative posts today to such a boring routine...I feel like I cheated my readers!!!

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  23. KC has you busy!!! Lol shunk! I agree with George! I hate eating all the dang time. You rock!

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  24. Thanks for letting me add Karen!

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  25. SHUNK!
    This is so amazing! Thank you for putting this together and thank you for sharing your day. As a mom of a child with diabetes I love reading about adult healthy & happy T1 peeps.

    SHUNK!

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  26. That blog roll dealy over there is pretty fancy Karen! Very cool!

    And I can totally picture KC doing all of those things. Heheheh!

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  27. I've loved all the "day in the life" posts I've read so far. It's especially interesting to read what goes on in an adult T1's day... quite different from a 2 year old!

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