Diabetes and The Other D

A lot has happened in the past two months. I'd like to say that my schedule and stress have evened out, but that is certainly not the case. Moving is hard work! That's all I'll say.

On the upside, Anthony and I have gotten to spend a lot of time with both of our families since moving back, and have been able to reconnect with some old friends we haven't spent much time with for the last several years.

I've also gotten hooked up with a great new Endo, Dr. M, and a CDE. We're working on some basal testing right now in preparation for my next appointment. For those unfamiliar, this involves skipping meals and adding lots of finger pricks to see how my pump's basal insulin settings function without the influence of food and extra insulin.

And today, I had a follow-up discussion with Dr. M about some bloodwork she had drawn a couple of weeks ago. All in all, everything was great. Kidneys, cholesterol, thyroid and all of those other things that can secondarily go bad with Type 1 are doing fine.

Except for one. Now I have a new "D" to worry about - a Vitamin D deficiency. And suddenly, lots of little things make sense. Higher levels of stress and anxiety, feeling more tired than normal, and, I've been sick more times this year than I have probably been for the last several years combined. All of these little things could be affected by low Vitamin D levels.

A web search says that this is very common, and likely very under-diagnosed. To give me a quick boost, I am taking a once-a-week mega-prescription Vitamin D pill for a couple of months, and when that brings me into a normal range, I can rely on over-the-counter supplements. There's not a lot we can do to get more D from diet. Even Vitamin D Milk is not concentrated enough to help much - you'd have to drink several glasses and eat five servings of salmon every day to reach desired quantities of the vitamin. Humans evolved with the ability to synthesize their D from the sun, just like plants. Since we drive cars, sit behind windows (or in windowless offices like me) and wear sunscreen, we just aren't getting what we need from nature. This is not to say that I don't do plenty outdoors. Anthony and I go for evening walks, and we bike and golf on the weekends. However, like my pancreas, my photosynthesis just needs some help.

I took my first dose with dinner this evening, and I hope I will be able to see some benefit from this little miracle vitamin soon.

Newness

Last week, I finally pulled the trigger and went to see a new endocrinologist in Dayton.

It had been about six months since my last appointment with Dr. K in West Virginia, but with all of the changes in insurance, moving and scheduling with a new doctor, this was the soonest I could make it in.

My new endo, Dr. M, is a tiny, soft-spoken, sympathetic woman who knows her stuff. The first thing she did was upload all of my pump data, right there into the exam room, so we could go over my plans. She agreed with most of my assessments, and was very pleased with my numbers considering the general stress involved with moving, selling a home from another state and starting a new job and life in a new city.

We outlined a couple of areas that need improvement, and she had some helpful ideas for handling the challenges provided by my new job. It has me managing nighttime events after a day at the office several times a month, which obviously, confuses my eating/insulin schedules. Dr. M was very understanding that this is a transitional period, and was hesitant to make many changes to the routine that was working for me a few months ago and is still largely okay.

All in all, it went better than I expected. As stressful as these recent changes have been, I was definitely worried about the "getting to know you" appointment.

I go back to see her in a month for a "real" appointment and to see how the numbers are panning out when things have (hopefully) settled down for me personally. She also referred me to a CDE (certified diabetes educator, for those who don't know the lingo) who she likes all of her patients to see. I've never been to a CDE, having just seen an endo or family doctor in the past, so I'm looking forward to having a team look out for me.

And on a positive note since my last post, thanks to my parents' garage serving as our storage unit for now, Anthony's and my apartment no longer looks like this...

When do you tell?

It's time to catch back up to speed here on Sweet Feat. You may remember me writing about moving and job hunting last post, so  you can probably guess what I've been doing...

Our house in West Virginia is empty (still for sale) and our apartment in Ohio is so full that it overflowed to my parents' garage. And, yay, I started my new job this week!

No, it's not a pager.

Which brings up the question all of us Type 1s are familiar with - when do you tell? Being just four days in, the opportunity to disclose hasn't really presented itself yet. And I didn't exactly want to lift up my shirt (see right) during the Monday staff meeting and say, "Hi, I'm Courtney - check this out!"

Being as I have a blog and post to Facebook, this obviously isn't something I'm keeping a secret. Also, with several pending friend requests out to my new coworkers, they'll probably figure it out soon enough.

So, my plan is to just roll with it as it comes up naturally. I had a moment today, when someone asked if there was anything they should know about me, but a client walked in and it was no longer the right time.

Aside from that issue, everything has been going very well with the move and both of our new jobs. We also picked up some new bikes last weekend for the awesome Dayton area bike trails. We went for our first ride on Sunday, and plan to go this weekend too. I have a feeling we'll be doing nothing but biking and golfing all summer!

As Freddie would say, "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike..."

It's good to be a Buckeye again!

I'm a terrible blogger...but in my defense, there has been so much happening since the holidays!

Long story short, Anthony accepted an awesome new job and we are officially moving back to my hometown in Ohio. We thought long and hard about leaving the home we've built in West Virginia, but in the end, it was impossible to say no.

January was filled with getting our house on the market, packing, apartment viewing, moving and stomach flu.

During the week following Christmas, Anthony and I, plus about a dozen other family members from his side, came down with a nasty virus that made us very ill for about a day, and nauseated for several more days.

A couple of weeks later, after listing our house and verifying Anthony's new employment details, we started the search for an apartment to make home while our house sells. We found a winner, and lucky me, I also found another strain of the stomach flu. Apparently I was uniquely qualified to pick up both the Greater Columbus and Greater Dayton variants of the virus. Good times.

Anthony started work at the end of the month, so we moved some of our furniture into the apartment, while I kept (the nicest) majority with me at the house. I am staying behind for now, waiting for our house to sell and trying to find a job in the Dayton area. When one or the other happens, I'll be joining Anthony.

With all the stress of moving and job hunting, my blood sugar has been well-behaved, barring the two times I had the stomach flu.

Now onto the scary diabetes portion of this post:
During my first round of The Virus, in the three hours preceding the onset of sickness, I stayed at a steady 65. I ate an entire pack of Twizzlers, half a bottle of sugar tabs and drank juice to try and bring up my number. Sometime during this episode, I realized my Glucagon injectable (an emergency dose of sugar) was expired. By five years. Oops.

After nothing working, I started throwing up everything I had ingested in the last three hours and told Anthony that we may need to go to the ER. As a desperate last attempt to get some sugar, I dissolved some table sugar in half a cup of hot water and managed to keep it down for almost an hour, which was long enough for the sugar to work. It was the last thing I kept down for the next day, but after The Virus really hit, my sugar skyrocketed anyway. It happens, unavoidably, when you're sick.

Lesson learned? Make sure your Glucagon is current! This could have ended in a trip to the ER or worse, but it was okay.

I wish you...

Happy Holidays, whatever you're celebrating!

Anthony and I will be visiting both sides of the family for Christmas.

A new glucose sensor has been locked and loaded on my leg in preparation. I have a good understanding of what works and doesn't work for me during family functions. I can enjoy a few of my Mom's No Bake Cookies, but I lay off the sandwich bread and eat a lot of veggies. I can enjoy a few glasses of Anthony's aunt's homemade wine, but I have to dial up for it because it's so sweet.

Being with family and friends who we see only a few times a year calls for indulgence, so keep in mind that blood sugar works with the same principle as gravity - what goes up WILL come down.

Also, I will be celebrating my seven-year diaversary on New Year's. Maybe I'll bake a cake!

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

World Diabetes Day

Today is World Diabetes Day, when people across the globe will observe and remember those who are challenged with this disease. There's not much else to say, so I'll leave you with some visuals that show how diabetes impacts my life every day...

Diabetes Awareness Month

Welcome to November! You know - that month that everyone likes to skip over to get straight to Christmas/whatever else you celebrate.

I, for one, am glad that it is November. In addition to Thanksgiving, which is a big deal in my family, November hosts Diabetes Awareness Month. November 14th is World Diabetes Day.

During Diabetes Awareness Month, the JDRF and the International Diabetes Federation are asking people to wear blue on Fridays during the month of November, since our symbol is a blue circle.

I'm wearing blue today, and maybe you'll see some others in blue. It seems like you can't get away from all the breast-cancer pink in October, and they've done a spectacular job to raise awareness. Now it's our turn. Do your small part on Blue Fridays and help spread the word!

Another way to participate in Diabetes Awareness Month is to take just 90 seconds to help us Type 1's by electronically signing this petition to the U.S. FDA: http://takeaction.jdrf.org/site/PageNavigator/APAC.html.  By signing, you are asking the FDA to remove any delays on the Artificial Pancreas Project - a device that would have an enormous impact on the management of Type 1 Diabetes. The FDA is set to make a recommendation on December 1, so time is running out to help them see the immediate importance of a device like this.

Happy Diabetes Awareness Month!