Houston we have a problem

Morning blood sugar: 6.3
Episodes of low blood sugar today: 0 (that's right!)
"C's" mood today: good, woke up singing. All was going well until we needed to leave the library and he didn't want to (did I mention we had been there for an hour and a half?). A small tantrum followed but I was prepared with a snack in the car-thank goodness my kid likes to eat!
Donations this week: woke up yesterday to an e-donation from someone I have never met..a friend of my sister's donated $50.00-her young son has Type 1 as well. She told my sis she thinks I'm "an inspiration for her son" with running half marathons, aww shucks. Made my day!
Clean eating today: lunch was leftover stirfry from last night-loads of veggies with brown rice and (lightly breaded) shrimp-a fine balance.
Workout today: 7km Tempo run-was not my finest 40 minutes but I have me reasons (see below) .

So I had my follow up with my favorite healthcare provider at the Diabetic Education Center yesterday. Things are going well-we are still fine tuning things but she gave me the go ahead to try a workout (woot! woot!). Since I have missed five days of training I was anxious to get back. Also anxious to try out this pump whilst exercising.

7km Tempo run was on my training schedule (ie. 2 km warmup, 3 km at 5:15/km, 2 km cool down). These workouts are notorious for requiring more carbohydrate as the intensity is higher so I put on my 'fuelbelt' (aka. fancy runner's fanny pack), had a snack, checked my blood sugar and off I went.

My first concern came about 200 metres in-it felt like my the belt was rubbing against my pod, not good. You are suppose to avoid waistbands and other articles of clothing hitting up against a pod as this can dislodge the little catheter/cannula that is sticking into my skin and feeding me insulin. If the cannula gets displaced it can stop me from getting insulin-again, not good either.

The pump is great but there are a few things that have caused me some high anxiety in the last 5 days. While I have always watched for low blood sugar, on the pump you also have to watch out for highs. A pump only feeds you fast acting insulin, there is no slow acting insulin in my system now. To all of you lucky ducks that have functioning pancreas' your body automatically generates both a basal (long acting) and bolus (at meals) insulin to keep you nice and steady at all times. Your basal insulin keeps you from going too low for when you are sleeping or skipping a meal and your bolus/fast acting insulin is secreted when you want to have a nice big juicy cheeseburger (you bastards!). Amazing what the body can do without you even knowing or caring!

So if my pump malfunctions and I have no long acting insulin in my system the result can be extremely high blood sugars, extremely fast; this can lead, if untreated, to something called Diabetic Ketoacidosis. Yes, the is as scary as it sounds, and can make someone like me very ill. Symptoms include-nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue, and fruity smelling breath (?). I know, the last one is the most frightening of all (just kidding).

So needless to say I was stressed the whole run, ended up wearing my belt over one shoulder with one edge of it chaffing my neck, and holding my water bottle in one hand, as paranoia and anxiety (aka. P&A) had completed invaded my head. No wonder I came home and tested an 8.2-damn that P&A-it's not good for blood sugar either.

My pod also was starting to lose it's adhesive as a result of perspiration. How dare I perspire during a hard 7km! I'm sure there is something I can do to improve the adhesive with some skin prep stuff but needless to say I was a bit frustrated post-run.

I know I shouldn't hesitate to change a pod when I need to. If it is irritating my skin, or I am worried about it malfunctioning I should change it. My insurance will cover 10 pods a month and they are (under ideal circumstances) suppose to last 3 days each but I have already had to change one because it was uncomfortable and now I am considering changing this one because of this mornings events. That ain't no 10 pods a month! Did I mention they are the equivalent to 50 dollars each? Uggh.

Growing pains I know. And a bit of P&A taking over as well. I know these things will be figured out in time but today I needed a good vent-it keeps P&A at bay and it helps me troubleshoot. Houston's going to be busy for the next little while.

Rainy day-perfect for the library

Pumping and dumping

Morning blood sugar: 5.7
Episodes of low blood sugar today: none, in fact none in the last 4 days, if you can believe it. Thanks Omnipod!
C's mood today: good, no tantrums so far=amazing! He even helped me make healthy banana muffins for lunch- he 'stirred' ( I use this term loosely, he is 2 after all) and filled one muffin tin with batter. Looking forward to more cooking and baking with my little man in the months and years to come.
Clean eating today: breakfast was whole oats with protein powder and a scoop of natural peanut butter- if you have never tried this you are missing out!
Donations: in the last 2 weeks I have collected another $260.00, bringing my total to $4,605.00, pretty great if you ask me.
Workout today: 20 minute stroll on the treadmill with a stretch and some crutches. That's right, a stroll-I have been advised to take at least 5 days off because of my pump start (see below for more details). This is day 5 of 'no exercise' and I have to admit I am going a bit squirrely, giving stank eye to the joggers I see, and dreaming about the 18km I missed this morning-alas, this will all be worth it in the long run (ha! no pun intended).


It has been a crazy few weeks. I have been working, looking after C, attending appointments with lawyers and accountants (as many people do at this time of year),training, and getting ready to start my insulin pump-ie. studying the manual on how to use it and learning what to do in emergencies, etc. All in all I have been exhausted both physically and emotionally and hence why I haven't posted anything for the last 3 weeks.

I started my pump this past Wednesday. I keep telling friends and family, I am not sure if it is simply the placebo effect but I feel like myself again. As in, I feel like I did two years and 10 months ago, pre-pregnancy, pre-newborn, pre-toddler, pre-diabetic.

I'm still learning about all the ins and outs of the Omnipod system (www.myomnipod.ca)- I have been placed on a basal rate basically just to see how I respond. This also involves testing a lot through out the day and even 2 times during the night (good times setting an alarm for 12:30 am and 4:00 am-almost like having a newborn again-not quite; I'm not my husband's favorite person right now but oh well, it's just temporary and it will benefit him tremendously in the long term). 

To anyone who gets the creeps thinking about having some small piece of plastic attached to you at all times-believe me I was in the same frame of mind as you 3 months ago when I started to research an insulin pump. I couldn't imagine having some foreign thing always sticking to me. I would hear comments from pump users like "I would never go back to injections" and "the pump changed my life"and would think, there has gotta be a reason that all the benefits outweigh the cons.

The benefits include but are not limited to:
1) 1 injection every 3 days rather than 5 injections a day (I know, huge!)
2) The ability to exercise on the fly rather than planning hours ahead-with a pump I can set a reduced flow of insulin and exercise when I want; with injections I had to reduce my insulin the night before sometimes with longer workouts, and half my insulin dose at the meal before exercsie
3) Taking a dose of insulin at meals now looks like I am texting-no more having to go the washroom to inject, more having to worry about easier clothing to take injections with.

The one downside is wasting insulin. A pod has to be changed every three days with the Omnipod system and needs 85 units minimum to "prime" (ie. to flow insulin)-because I am extremely insulin sensitive and have low insulin needs I only use 30 units over three days max. This means I am dumping 55 units of insulin down the drain every three days. The pros still outweigh the cons! Pumping and dumping. :)

Banana muffins a la C & Amy

A shot of my insulin pod