Quarterly visit

It has been so long since I've written a post that I must admit, I am having a hard time writing.  It's like keeping up with a friend or family member.  If you talk every day, you CAN talk every day.  If you don't, you end up with these long awkward silences on the phone after commenting about how hot/dry/rainy/cold/windy it has been lately.


I've been going through a bout of "I have so much I want to write about but.... maybe it isn't a good idea."  I don't know if it's the introvert in me that is being more dominant and restraining me in a corner, or if I'm just hesitant because of some irrational fear.  Either way... it's time for me to dive back in.

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Wednesday was my quarterly visit with my endo.  I was truly hoping that things had improved from my last visit.  My a1c had been on an incline for the previous six months, and I knew why.  I had been dealing with a lot of pain in my back and as we all know, pain raises blood sugars which in turn raises a1c's.  It's an evil cycle.  My pain has subsided significantly, and I do my best to keep up with my home exercises, so I was keeping my fingers crossed for an improvement but I wasn't holding my breath. 

I had been watching my numbers and kept noticing a trend of running high in the afternoon after lunch.  I didn't used to, but then I was also walking at 2pm every day.  That helped my afternoons at work go by faster... and helped me walk off any post lunch spike I may have.  Now that summer is here, a walk at 2 in the afternoon is just not possible.  One of the joys/curses of living in the desert southwest is the high summer temps.  Let's take today for example.  When I got up and started the coffee at 5:45 this morning, it was already 78F outside.  Yesterday at 2pm it was about 95F with a light wind.  When temperatures are that warm, and humidity is in the single digits, wind doesn't cool you off, it acts more like a convection oven.

I switched my walk to the mornings, around 10-10:30.  It is still warm, but tolerable.  I pop in my ear buds, queue up the chapter I'm on (audio books are my newest craze), and head out.  These morning walks are great, but have a couple downfalls.  First, my afternoon bgs are higher because my walk has already taken place.  And second, my afternoons drag!  I used to only have a couple hours left of my day when I would return from my walk, now I have more than half the day.  The first couple days were the worst for that, but it has been doing better.

To combat the difference in my walk time, my endo suggested creating a summer basal profile.  Since all my other rates were showing to be working properly, and the times of those rates worked perfectly with my cooler temperature walks, she didn't want to mess with that profile.  Even though I keep a log book of all my settings and changes from each visit, there was no need to have to redo it all in the fall.

I am now on day 2 of the new profile, with the afternoon basal time adjusted.  So far so good.  I still ran higher than I was wanting to, but by no means as high as I had been.  I will give it a week and see if I need to do a little more fine tuning.  Who knows, by the end of that week I may have to adjust my walk time even more.  This summer is just beginning to heat up, and I may end up having to walk while still in my jammies just to catch the coolness of the day.

Oh, and yes, my a1c had improved. 

Sweet water

We've all had those moments of blood sugar highs that are completely unexplainable.  We do everything we know we should.  We actually count the carbs in the meal instead of just SWAGing them.  Yet, we still run high.

This has been happening to me at night.  Admittedly, there have been a few nights where it was totally explainable.  Fresh baked soft molasses cookies (Grandma's recipe) sitting on the counter have a way of breaking down my will power to say 'no'.  However, normally I behave myself.

Let's take last night for example.  I had been cruising between 98-135 for three hours after dinner.  THREE HOURS!! We had even had tacos, which can be tricky sometimes.  I was just gathering everything up to head for a shower when I saw the cookies on the counter.  I checked O.D. (my CGM) and was 102 with a straight sideways arrow.  Who could ask for better?  I stayed strong and walked away from the cookies.  I wanted a night of uninterrupted sleep.  No high beeps thank-you-very-much.

I disconnected Freeda (my pump) for my shower and scrubbed the day away.  It was MAYBE 10-15 minutes.  I don't usually do really long showers.  Living in the desert my whole life and always watching my water usage has done that.  I even put my ice cubes from my drinks in my plants.  It's the little things after all.

Anyways.  When I reconnected Freeda and looked at O.D. I became convinced that someone has added sugar to my water supply and that I absorb it in the shower.

I was rather pleased with my 12 hour no hitter.
 

I corrected and went to sleep.  I woke up at 2am to beeps, I tested and corrected, and went to sleep.  My alarm went off at 5:45 so I tested and was content with the reading but frustrated with the whole night.  Not only did my shower seem to sweeten me up, but my bolus insulin seems to be water overnight.  My basals do a decent job of keeping me steady, but no matter how I correct, even over-riding how much my pump says I should correct with, my level's don't budge.

Frustration is an understatement.