A Couple of Things

I've got a lot going on lately, and no set schedule. It's the first time since maybe my freshman year of college that I've had two weeks off work in a row. Even during college I worked through Christmas breaks and summer breaks. I'm not sure how to be certain that I get everything done that I need to do before I get completely overwhelmed with my new teaching job.

Here's what's been on my mind this week (besides my quickly-growing TO DO list):

1. My last day of work was a week ago. I don't officially start with the school until new teacher orientation on August 6. This means that I haven't had a regular schedule in a week, and my bloodsugars are CRAZY! It shouldn't be like this - I use an insulin pump not injections so I should be able to have any kind of schedule I want. But I've been eating at different times (and having birthday cake - my husband's birthday was this week) and exercising at different times. It's not like I've been just laying around the house either. We've been painting rooms and painting furniture. Uuugghhh.
2. I also have next week off between jobs, but I'll be busy with all kinds of appointments - my family Dr (because trying to get my endo to write a prescription for anything not directly related to diabetes is like pulling teeth), my check-up at the dentist, my annual eye exam, donating blood at the Red Cross, and my first appointment for a study I'm participating in. I get to drag my husband along for his own appointments at the dentist and the eye doctor.
3. After I called my insurance company TWICE to ask if they'd cover the CGMS with my new insulin pump, and they told me yes both times (though I did have my doubts each time that they even knew what I was talking about), it was DENIED :-( I received the letter telling me how I can get the decision reviewed, but I'm not sure my endo will help me.
4. I don't like my endo, but there's nothing I can do about it. The office is too busy. They have too many patients to actually worry about me and my concerns. It takes 4 weeks to get the results of my labwork each time I go in. This is the only office full of them (I think there are 4 at this office) for HOURS in almost any direction. So my only other option is to drive 3.5 hours to the closest University Hospital.
5. I'm going to participate in a study for Type 1 diabetics. I'll be required to check my bloodsugar at least 4 times a day (I already test more than that), I'll be using a hand-held computer to record symptoms of low bloodsugar (cool - a new toy!), and they give me a new meter and supply me with test strips for a year. The only catch is that I have to go in for 9 appointments over the next year so they can download all my info from the meter and hand-held computer and draw blood to test my A1c.

Sushi for Breakfast?

Let me start out by saying that I live in a very small town, but I have lived in and often visit nearby cities. I'm finally getting used to small-town life again (I grew up in a small town, but moved to a city after college), but there are still things that I miss from cities: nice movie theaters, variety in the grocery store, shopping centers, festivals, events, culture, and RESTAURANTS!

Most Saturdays, I drive about an hour to run with friends who live in a nearby city. We met several years ago when we all participated in Team in Training, and have been friends ever since. I don't mind driving that far because it's early AM so there's not much traffic, and it gives me an excuse to get things at stores that we don't have in my town.

I ran 10 miles with Anna on Saturday, and as we were finishing up I asked if she'd been to the new Ukrops yet. She said she hadn't but that she was thinking about going after we finished running. Since I'd been wanting to check it out too, we decided to go after we cooled off and stretched.

I don't think I've ever been in a nicer grocery store! They had all kinds of all-natural, organic things (produce, cleaning supplies, soaps, shampoo, lotion, vitamins, etc.). They had so many things that I'll ever be able to get in my small town. And there was enough ready-to-eat food to consider the place a restaurant as well as a grocery store! I saw pizza, sandwiches, typical deli stuff, soups, salad bar, dessert bar, cheeses, sushi, and the list goes on and on.

I suggested to Anna that we get something to eat and take it upstairs on their deck. And since it's been so long since I've had sushi, I couldn't resist even though it was only 9:30 AM. I bought some spring rolls and california rolls, and surprisingly, Anna thought those were great choices and got the same thing! I don't know many (any?) other people who would eat sushi that early on a Saturday morning!

So we took our food up to the patio on the 2nd level and chose a table overlooking the traffic circle coming into the parking lot. Talk about entertaining! I grew up in a town with a traffic circle, so I know how to go through one. And Anna knew all about them too, so we laughed and laughed at the people who had obviously never seen one before. Several people ignored it completely and made the left turn into the parking lot instead of going around the circle. One person drive down the wrong side of the median and then went the wrong way through the circle. And one person actually got it right and merged in behind the car that was going around the circle.

I had such a great time Saturday morning, with an incredible 10 mile run, excellent food, awesome company, and amusing drivers. We might just have to make this a Saturday morning tradition!

Somethings Up...besides my bloodsugars

I've used my stomach for my infusion site for as long as I've had my pump. I remember trying my thigh and my backside a long time ago, but I always ended up pulling those sites out. Since I've read about so many people using sites other than the stomach, I decided to try again. Last Thursday, I stuck it in my left hip and yesterday, I stuck it in my right hip. Since Thursday, I've had high readings after breakfast - over 200! And I've been having some lows in the evenings that seem to require a lot of food to keep up.

For example, at 9:30 PM yesterday, my bloodsugar was 71. That's not really low, but it's low enough that I had to eat something before bed, especially since I'd been swimming in the lake all afternoon. I drank a can of Coke and ate 2 slices of whole wheat toast with peanut butter. I didn't take any insulin with all of this. At 2:30 AM, by bloodsugar was 142 so I still didn't take any insulin. But when I got up this morning at 6:30, it was up to 212 so I took a unit of insulin. Just now, 2 hours after breakfast, it's 205 even though I ate the same type of breakfast and the took same bolus that I usually do. I could understand my bloodsugars being this wacky if I'd eased up on my running in the last week, but even my running has been the same amount as usual.

So I don't know what to think. Maybe having the site in my hip changes my bloodsugar patterns. Maybe I'm coming down with a cold or some kind of infection and just don't know it yet. Maybe I got too much sun yesterday even though I'm not sunburned (although this could explain today, it doesn't help with the end of last week and the weekend). Maybe I'm stressed about my career change - I only have 2 more weeks in this job before I take 2 weeks off and start my teaching career. Maybe it's the stress of knowing that I'm changing jobs and even though my insurance will still be the same, I'll be without it for a month (don't worry - I'm on my husband's policy so I won't be completely without insurance) and I haven't gotten my new insulin pump yet.

Whatever is going on, I hope I figure it out soon so I can stop having high bloodsugars mid- to late-morning and stop having to eat so much to keep them up in the evenings.

11.5 Wonderful Miles... and new shoes too!

I ran 11.5 wonderful miles on Saturday morning. I'd planned to run 10 miles, but the route we took ended up being 11.5. It felt great to get out and run that far! And it felt even better to not have any bloodsugar issues at all! I was completely out of gels and Clif Bloks, so I had to carry glucose tabs instead, in case my bloodsugar got too low. Since I really don't care for the tabs in the first place, and I know the chalkiness is even harder to choke down when I'm running, I decided to take Gatorade in my water bottles in the hopes of avoiding low bloodsugar altogether. Instead of mixing 50% Gatorade and 50% water, I used 2/3 Gatorade and only 1/3 water. I also remembered to set my temp basal rate down to 50%, starting an hour before my run. Apparently this is a great combination for me, because my bloodsugar did not get low at all during my run. I started my day at 65 when I got up at 5 AM. It was a little high, at 212, just before I started the run. After I finished, I was surprised to see a reading of 110 after all that Gatorade. I'll have to remember this and try it again next week!

I went to Fleet Feet's annual tent sale after my long run to see if I could get some new shoes at a great price. I was a little worried that they would be too crowded to discuss my sizing/ sore toenail issues, but that was not the case. There was definitely a crowd, but they had plenty of staff available to answer everyone's questions. I ended up getting 3 pair of running shoes, all up 1/2 size from what I've been wearing: New Balance 1060, Asics Gel Nimbus, and Nike Air Pegasus. I also bought a new Moving Comfort bra and another pair of Balega "hidden comfort" socks. I must have looked like a crazy person with the grin on my face from getting so much running stuff all at once!