Walking Blind into the Forest

Sometimes I wish I could control when I have to recalibrate Constance.  For example, this weekend we were visiting Trey's family in Tennessee (hello, fall leaves!), and we all decided to go for a hike on Sunday afternoon.  It just so happened that I had to start a new session on Constance right before the hike.  Of all the activities we had scheduled that weekend, I needed Constance most on a hike through the woods. 

The hike began fine because we started going downhill, but once we started going uphill I started feeling the rush of an upcoming low.  I honestly didn't think about adjusting basal rates before the hike, so I simply reached under my shirt, disconnected Arnold, and put the cap and tube in my pocket.  We got to our stopping point--a beautiful spring and waterfall setting.  The family sat down on huge rocks, catching our breath as we took in the fall foliage.  Some family members took to jumping from boulder to boulder, but I decided to take it easy and conserve whatever my BG levels were at that point. 

It was the perfect weather for a hike, too, with highs in the upper 70s, a cool breeze, and not a cloud in the sky.  I only wished that I had snapped a picture (even if it was just with my phone), but sometimes it's best to just take it all in with a mental picture.  We saw all sorts of autumn hues including yellows, reds, oranges, pinks, purples, and (ever)greens. 

We started making our way back to the house, and I was still unconnected.  We went downhill, upwill, over tree stumps, and I never felt the shakes or dizzy or any other of the classic low symptoms.  By the time we made it back, Constance was prompting me to enter the two BGs needed for startup.  I used both my meters, the UltraLink and my Mini, and both gave me a nice 110 mg/dL post-hike.  I was even able to enjoy some afternoon dessert of creme puffs and raspberry tarts with a nice streamline around 115 mg/dL for 3 hours afterward (diabetes nirvana!). 

Even though I was nervous about being "blind" for our hike, everything turned out alright.  This was a nice surprise because I was battling some major highs the whole weekend before that, like no matter what I ate I peaked at 300 mg/dL without fail (traveling stress).  But Constance has helped me bring these down quickly, and maybe having Constance as a part of my diabetes management has scared my numbers into submission.  I'm really interested in my endo appointment next week to see what my A1c will be post-Constance.