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.
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| Rainy day-perfect for the library |
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