Twenty-Six Reasons

Today's my birthday, and I've got 26 reasons to be happy (which is perfect because that's how old I am). 

1. I've lived almost 4 years with diabetes and am still as healthy as day #1.  
2. I have a wonderful husband who puts up with my silly, emotional self, especially when I spend most of the day over 200 mg/dL, and he rubs my back as I sit on the edge of the bed and cry myself into his soaked T-shirt.  Just for example.  
3. I have wonderful, supportive parents who make a pot of crawfish boil and strawberry cheesecake for my birthday because they know me.  
4. I have a great extended family who loves me and is flooding my text message inbox with birthday messages.  
5. Someone bought pumpkin spice latte creamer and put it in the coffee room at work!  
6. I'm thankful for my wonderful job that has given me opportunities to use both of Super Nerd degrees.  
7. Today is Monday which means that I have a new lancet to start the week.  
8. I just bolused for a pomegranate Greek yogurt and I'm salivating waiting for my insulin to kick in.  
9. I have wonderful friends who I consider to be more like family.  
10. Even though they drive me crazy, I have 4 furry friends who are always happy to see me when I get home.  
11. I get to decorate our new house with all the Christmas decorations I bought last year.  And I actually have a fireplace to put my stockings on!  
12. Christmas 2011 has unofficially been declared to be held at our house.  I'm totally psyched and freaking out at the same time.  
13. Auburn is #1 in the BCS standings!  
14. I'm finally joining the 21st century and getting an iPod.  It should be here later this week or next week.  
15. I'm glad I live in Alabama because I'm a total wuss when it comes to this cold weather thing.  It was 48 F this morning and I thought I was going to die! 
16. It's been 30 minutes since I typed #8.  Excuse me for a moment . . . 
17. It was delicious!  
18. I'm so thankful to have the DOC!  It's so great to have people who instantly become friends over the phrase, "You?  Yeah, me too."  
19. I got to ride my cousin's four-wheeler this weekend and only screamed a couple thousand times.  This made Trey fold over in laughter.  
20. My dad has been doing some research on our family and apparently people live to be fairly old (respective death ages range from 86 to 104!). 
21. On that historical note, I'm so thankful to live in this age of technology and to have a pump and CGM to help me manage this disease.  
22. Roscoe only puked once in the 5 hour trip to south Alabama.  Poor puppy does not handle car rides very well.  
23. I bought new gray work pants in my Saturday shopping, but I just realized they have faux pockets.  So Arnold and Constance are going clipped today.  
24. I'm celebrating my birthday by doing a little shopping after work.  I'm so excited!  
25. I love my mint flavored chapstick!  It makes me feel like I just got done brushing my teeth but not really. 
26. I got a fancy new KitchenAid mixer as my birthday present!  And yes, I asked for it, so it's OK for me to get a "kitchen gift".  

Oh, and one to grow on . . .

   27.  I'm so happy to share this birthday with all of you.  Love you guys!  =)

What?! Bloggers don't get Holidays?!

Yeah, yeah, I know.  I totally blew it for NaBloPoMo this year by not blogging the past 3 days.  I took my laptop with me to south Alabama with all intents and purposes to blog each day.  But Thanksgiving Day was such a rush after sleeping in too long and trying to make it my aunt's house on time.  And my post on Constance being my guide totally failed because she gave out on me as we were sitting down for dinner.  I knew she was getting close to being done, but I put off changing the sensor until after Thanksgiving dinner.  She gave me the "???" salute before, during, and after dinner, guess she couldn't handle the pressure. 

Then Friday, also known as Black Friday, was the day of the Iron Bowl which is an unofficial holiday for Alabamians.  All the world stopped to watch #2 Auburn (my team) and #11 Alabama challenge each other for the 75th time in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  And between being completely depressed during the first half when Alabama jumped to a 24-7 lead, then screaming my head off in the second half when Auburn came back to win 28-27, I was completely spent for the rest of the day.  Then my parents made me a wonderful birthday dinner that included a crawfish boil and cheesecake.  Perfect! 

My parents got me this awesome hoodie for my birthday!

And Saturday . . . I have no excuse.  My mom and I went shopping, then we helped them retrieve Christmas decorations before going out to dinner.  All the while sat my poor laptop on the floor in my bedroom.  I didn't even open my phone for very long to check text messages.  I must admit, it was nice to take a break from all the social technology.  So I didn't make NaBloPoMo this year, but I'm surprised I even made it this long.  My posts were beginning to sound like, "Oh yeah, need to post something today, blah blah blah."  

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! 

Just Talking with Spartacus

Monday night I had the privilege of recording a podcast with Chris.  We talked about everything from diabetes to home remodeling to storm chasing.  It was a lot of fun and the hour went by really quickly!  So head on over to Chris' site and take a listen.  And thanks Chris, I had a blast! 

I am busy today cleaning, packing, and preparing for a 5 hour drive with 2 big dogs in tow (oh my!).  I know a lot of people are traveling today, so please be safe everyone! 

Oh yeah, and have a great Thanksgiving!  

Know Thine Enemy

Smoke filled the air as the general puffed his cigar, facing his troops in a hunter green tent.  The weather outside was rainy, flashes of lightning were echoed by faint sounds of thunder.  The soldiers gazed at their leader, awaiting their orders. 

"Troops, we have a battle ahead of us.  It's not going to be easy.  I'm fulling expecting a wave of the enemy to come upon us all at once." 

He moves to a white board located in the center of the room and pulls a marker from the tray. 

"The first wave will include a surge of biscuits, smothered in butter.  Butter is their weakness, though, it will slow them down enough to give us time to attack.  Then will come a series of casserole-type vegetables including creamed corn and sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows.  I'm thinking we'll set a temporary basal to defend their attack, then we'll shoot them with a series of square boluses over and over.  They'll never know what hit them!" 

He closes the pen and begins pacing back and forth. 

"I've been told through our secret intelligence that the enemy has a weakness for smoked turkey.  This is our saving grace.  Smoked turkey will slow down their insurgence tremendously, giving us time to focus our attention on the biscuits, corn, and potatoes." 

A young soldier stands up and asks the general, "Sir, but what about the cranberry sauce?" 

"You can't handle the cranberry sauce!" the general screamed as thunder and lightning echoed his voice.  "The sauce nearly did us in last year, so we took that weapon out of their arsenal through special ops several months ago."

Silence filled the room, except for the rain which made soft drumming sounds on the tent roof.

"Now, they may or may not have dressing.  This is a wild card because it's filled with crushed breading and chicken.  I'm thinking a normal bolus will be the best attack, followed by a square bolus to finish them off.  This is also known as a dual wave bolus." 

The tired general sighed, took a puff from his cigar, and took a seat in front of his troops. 

"Now soldiers, I'm an experienced man on the battlefield, but there is one enemy I have yet to defeat.  One tool in their weaponry, I must admit, scares the living daylights out of me.  And that is the monster known as triple chocolate fudge cake." 

A collective gasp from the troops harmonized with the thunder outside.

"Yes, this monster keeps me awake at night, fearing for my life and yours.  I've tried a temporary basal, a normal bolus, even a dual bolus.  But nothing seems to work." 

A young female soldier gracefully stands to her feet, her name was a Constance.  A new recruit with the gifted ability to see the enemy coming before their attacks can penetrate.  "Sir, I could take post in the tower, and radio you when the monster is coming.  You can tailor your plan for the monster according to what I see." 

A grin stretched across the general's face. 

"Troops, let's prepare for battle!" 

Location, Location, Location . . .

 . . . is usually the mantra of successful real estate, but it's also true for pump site absorption.  I wrote how I was frustrated with my numbers the past few days.  It was like my insulin absorption doubled in time, so a high would linger for hours before finally coming down.

I had my site on my lower back, righty above my booty.  I haven't tried this area before because of the logistics of it:  it's on my lower back which made putting it in in the first place a gymnastics feat, it's right where my pants come up on my hips so there was rubbing issues, insulin absorption = FAIL!  But I'm trying to rotate around as much as I can so my stomach doesn't look like an over-used dart board.

The reason I feel like the absorption here was not very good is because this area has harder fat, as opposed to squishy fat like on my love handles and my upper arms.  We (diabetics) have been told that the best place for insulin absorption is somewhere with a nice fatty layer.  So for me, this includes the love handles, bat wings (upper arms), and outer thighs.  I've been rotating around these regions for the past few months to get the best insulin absorption and allow my skin to heal.  But sometimes a site area just doesn't cut it in the absorption arena, so I have to remove it from the rotation.  This is frustrating because I want to be able to rotate as much as possible, especially with my petite frame.

So I'm back to the usual stomach, arm, and thigh rotations while throwing some hip ones in there now and then (these sites are great, given the right type of undergarments /digression and TMI).  And with Thanksgiving coming up this week, I want to make sure I'm well-prepared with the best sites available.  How else am I supposed to enjoy all that carb-loaded food when my insulin absorption is in slow gear? 

Does anyone else have their areas where the location is not as "insulin thirsty"?  Any other petite pumpers out there know what I'm feeling? 

Reflection

What gets me through NaBloPoMo?  A relaxing weekend and a great video about northern lights.  Sundays are a great time to relax, reflect, and perhaps say nothing at all. 



Enjoy! 

Just What I Needed

After a crappy couple of days on the diabetes front, it was great to work out the stress in a 7 mile bike ride this morning.  The weather was perfect, sunny with a high of 70 F degrees with a slight breeze.  I set Arnold on a temporary basal an hour before the ride at 25% and left it there for the entire bike ride, which lasted about an hour, and for an hour afterward.  My beginning BG before the ride was 149 mg/dL and 75 mg/dL when we were done.  So I probably could do a slightly less basal rate next time, like maybe 10-15%. 

I love riding my bike, and haven't done a good ride like that since we bought the house in January.  Trey and I are already talking about going again tomorrow.  We passed other bikers, walkers, babies in strollers, and dogs on leashes while we went through the wooded trail and the wind blew the leaves off the trees.  My legs wanted to give out on the gravel hills, but I pushed through and built up a nice sweat in the process.  And since diabetes always comes for the ride, I figured I could show you guys how nicely all my D-stuff fit in my tiny Camelpak. 

Top pocket has my One Touch Mini meter, cylinder of glucose tabs, phone, and ID.  

Constance fit perfect in the front mesh pocket next to the water pak.  It was easy to get her out and check my levels as we were riding. 

This is probably the last time we'll get to ride before it gets frightfully cold, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting on the trail more.  And I'm off to go see Harry Potter:  The Deathly Hallows 1!  Time to ruin that bike ride with some good movie popcorn.