For Chrissie

precision xtra
Originally uploaded by LilituC.

So last night I was stuck in a rage bolus cycle, trying to get my bg to go down. It wasn't super high, but I just couldn't believe it wasn't going down at all despite all the insulin I kept taking. I checked my prime screen and discovered it had been two days since I changed my set (somehow it always sneaks up on me). So it was time to change anyway. It looked totally normal, too.

Then as I was leaving the bathroom I was stunned by a big wave of nausea. Wait, what? I didn't feel sick at all otherwise and I usually feel it right away. Still nauseated, I thought maybe it could be ketones, so I checked. I'm not sure why even small ketones make me so nauseated; I get the impression other people don't feel them until they're higher. I tested my bg and got 109.

I still have no idea what happened. I felt better after an hour or so and my bg is back to normal now. I didn't test for blood ketones again because I just can't afford it. I did wake up with a sore throat this morning, but I did every day this week. I had just figured it was normal. Except my housemate got diagnosed with strep throat this morning, so I foresee a trip to the clinic to get tested in my future.

Surprise Color

surprise color
Originally uploaded by LilituC.

It's subtle; I didn't notice until I put the pump on a white surface.* That skirt I got at the thrift store really *was* new - the color bled!

*White surface not featured here due to lack of light.

okee then

So in my neverending quest (I'm kidding) to have everything ever happen to me in the shortest time possible...tonight I got the dreaded NO DELIVERY alarm.

You see, we went out to the Melting Pot for my birthday and I had to bolus for the tons of food I ate with no nutritional information to guide me, and actually I did pretty well - only had to do one correction. Wait, what's that? Get to the point? Oh, right.

Awhile after we got home, we were going to eat my birthday cake. I had just changed my set, and I bolused for 50 g of carbs, but in the middle of it, NO DELIVERY. I looked at the set, pulled on the tubing a little to loosen it from the tegaderm. Well, okay, so the tegaderm was covering a bit more tubing than usual, but it was like an inch. Surely that couldn't make a difference? Then I tried to bolus the amount remaining. NO DELIVERY. I pulled off the tegaderm, but not the set. I think this was only possible because I had just put it on. Then, I tried again, and it worked. Except then I didn't know how much insulin I'd actually gotten. The pump said I'd gotten all of it, but who knew. So I slapped another tegaderm on there, bolused for 48 g and figured I could have a snack if I started dropping. Well, I never ate the snack. I *know* I got the last 1/3 of the first bolus, and the cake was probably around 38 g (I didn't know my husband put Splenda in it) so I totally should have started dropping, but I never did. I guess, as I read somewhere recently, the diabetes fairy must have visited me today.

ahahahahaha*ow*hahaha

So I was clicking around on Novo Nordisk's Changing Life With Diabetes website. I like to check out new tools and see what I think of them. I got to a screen where it was asking me to input my current status and then my goals. Question one: how many times do you check your blood glucose daily?

The form would only take a single digit.

no news is good news

Besides my endo, I also love my eye doctor. Amazingly, she's not an opthalmologist, but you know what? I insisted on seeing only doctors for years, and not one of them ever did anything for me. I'd tell them about my severe dry eyes, my headaches, my nausea, and they just gave me a bored face and said there was nothing they could do. Here's your prescription, now get out. Whereas my optometrist has been absolutely amazing! She said of course there were several treatments for dry eyes, she figured out why I was having headaches and nausea in less than 10 minutes, and at one point she said, "oh, I wrote my thesis on that!" Yes! Oh, and my endo thought it was perfectly alright for me to see her.

So after many appointments with her for the above, today I had my diabetic eye exam and my last appointment for the next year. I had a dilated eye exam four years ago (before I was diabetic), so I wasn't expecting anything. She didn't find anything diabetes-related, but she did say I have some thinning of the retina, which happens in really near-sighted people but diabetics need to keep more of an eye on it. She was really surprised that the thinning wasn't at least mentioned to me after the last exam. I was and I wasn't, if you know what I mean...

Holy wayback, Batman

Check out this video of an insulin pump from 1980.

Seven things

I've been tagged by Cass!

Seven Things to Do Before I Die
1. Finish learning Mandarin, German, Latin, Japanese
2. Learn how to program (I mean the real way)
3. Get a passport
4. Get out of the US
5. Go outside
6. Visit Israel
7. Pat a bunny

Seven Things I Cannot Do
1. Be spontaneous (which is actually my nature)
2. Be disorganized (also my nature!)
3. Just go somewhere I want to go
4. Run
5. Change environments too quickly
6. Stop worrying
7. Fix things

Seven Things I Find Attractive in Others
1. Kindness
2. Intelligence
3. Wit
4. Politics
5. Weirdness
6. Loyalty
7. Talent

Seven Things I've Been Known to Say
1. What the hell?
2. Are they on crack?
3. What in the crap?
4. Who's my little brattywatty? (to cat)
5. WHAT?! (to meter)
6. Why am I so tired?
7. Oh noes!

Seven Books I Love
1. Harry Potter series
2. Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold
3. Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout
4. His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
5. Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton
6. The Silent Language by Edward T. Hall
7. Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling

Seven Movies I Recommend
1. Addams Family Values
2. Muppet Treasure Island
3. Office Space
4. Army of Darkness
5. Heathers
6. Hobgoblins (MST3K)
7. Harold and Maude

Maybe everyone's been tagged?