A Diabetes Gold Star

Last week, I had my three-month endocrinology appointment, which was technically a five-month appointment thanks to scheduling issues on both ends.

Dr. K was pleased that I had lost some weight and I had great bloodwork returns. Most important, though, we were both excited to see that over the last two appointments, my A1c had dropped by 1.5! Which means I am almost at my goal of under 6.5. All in all, I gave myself a gold star for the appointment. I take my appointments seriously, and I'm a people-pleaser, so I frequently leave Dr. K frustrated and have a pity-party car cry on the way back to work. Walking out with a positive report is always a relief!

As for 5k training, we have been keeping it up this week despite the stormy weather. The muscle strain I mentioned last time is feeling better, and I hope it will be completely healed soon. I've been able to up my distance, anyway. Anthony and I have decided not to do the 5k this weekend because neither of us feels ready yet. It's summer, though, so I'm sure we'll find one in a month or so.

I tried typing this post from my new iPad 2, but couldn't get it to load pics or scroll correctly. The iPad is not Blogger format compatible, I guess. It's a hand-me-down from my mom, who won it in a weight-loss competition at her school (she's an educational aide). She is uncomfortable with the Apple foreignness, so I inherited it. It arrived just in time for my laptop cord to melt through and start throwing sparks. Yeah, fun stuff.

I've been having fun playing with the iPad. It's a pretty cool product. Especially the ridiculous options in the photobooth app...this kaleidoscope photo goes out to all my fellow type 1s, who, I know, love Diet Coke as much as me...

It's Hard Out Here for a Pump

After weeks of rainy, stormy weather, we had a weekend of sun and hot hot heat. And it seems to be here for the season, finally!

Summer entered with a bang just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, during which Anthony and I did lots of yard work, golfed, partied and generally spent a lot of time outside in the 90+ degree sun. In other words, we were sweating our asses off for the better part of three days!

As a type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor (cgm), this presents a whole set of problems the average person doesn't consider. This weekend's sweatfest caused me to lose a four-day old cgm sensor, which just seemed to melt off my leg, and caused a pump infusion site's adhesion to lose its sticky, which meant I was leaking insulin. Luckily, I guess, insulin smells weird, so I noticed pretty quickly.

Another consideration is the effects of the heat on the insulin being stored inside the pump and then transferred to me. If I let the pump get too hot or expose it to too much direct sunlight, the insulin can start to go bad by losing its potency. Think of leaving a beer out in the hot sun then re-refrigerating it...eww, right?

So, how does one get around these issues? Usually, if I know I'll be outside and sweating, I'll just unhook my pump and leave it somewhere cool. On beach vacations, I'll leave it shaded in a purse or insulated bag next to me. If I'm not being physically active enough to keep my blood glucose in the normal range, I'll go reconnect for a few minutes and give myself a bit of insulin to get by. As for the cgm and infusion sites melting off due to heat and sweating, there's not much you can do to prevent it. I tend to lose three or four sites every summer to this issue, and since the hubby and I are being decidedly more outdoorsy this year, it's bound to happen more often.

Anthony and I are still going strong on the Couch-to-5k program, now in week four. Week three seemed like a breeze, but bumping up to five-minute runs plus the new 90-degree weather has made this week's jump a little more difficult. We're planning to do a 5k in Huntington at the end of June, intimidatingly called the WV 5k Championship. It says the race is for runners of any skill level. I hope so, but the name alone is scary!

Blog Week #4: Wild Card Post "Outside the Box"

Today's Blog Week post was supposed to be "Ten Things I Hate About Diabetes." However, since I did my own Top Ten List a couple of weeks ago, I'm picking a wild card today: "Thinking Outside the Box" to produce something creative.

So, while many talented bloggers will probably express their "outside-the-box" posts in inspiring and much more creative ways, I have decided to take this post verbatim and show you something "outside-the-box", literally.

Yay for new shoes! Anthony and our good friend Jacob have decided to take up the Couch to 5k training program and I am tagging along...at a much slower pace, a few laps behind. The program seems do-able, and should be a great way to help shape-up my layer of chub A1c number. (FYI, non-D readers, the A1c test is like a report card for your blood sugar numbers, averaging from the last few months.)

For the record, after our first two sessions, I still hate running. It is definitely an outside-the-box activity for me! Wish me and my shoes luck!