August- I'm beginning to think you don't like me.

Morning blood sugar: don't know yet. I am trying to stay in bed as we have a long day of travel ahead of us, but I can't sleep in. It's 6:37 am and I'm writing this while lying down in bed.

Episodes of low blood sugar today: see above.

C's mood today: still asleep thank goodness- a few sleep noises here and there.

Clean eating menu: we will be flying all day so this should be interesting. I've done my best to pack healthy snacks- as best you can without packing fruits and veggies. We are flying through Seattle and you know how the US can be- I remember I went camping one year in Minnesota and they confiscated my veggie burgers ( veggie burgers, really!?There were 2 of them and they were just for me!).

Workout: planning on a light 5 km on the treadmill to stretch my legs before I am stuck in a tube for the rest of the day- did I mention this will be with a 2 year old? Wish me luck.

Oh what a couple of weeks it has been. It is enough to be flying overseas to run a race- let alone to pack a family. Needless to say the last two weeks have been busy with organizing, tying up loose ends at work, and far too many trips to the pharmacy ( I must write another post soon titled " flying as a Diabetic" just to fill you in on all the ins and outs).

Previous to last year, August has aways been a pretty good month. Nice weather, that bit of chill in the air at night makes you sleep better, my sister and dad have birthdays in the month so there is usually a celebration or two. Well, the love affair ended last year when 5 days before the month began I was diagnosed with an incurable disease, on the first day of the month I took my first insulin injection, and the vacation time I had booked for that first week of the month was spent learning to look after my new Diabetic self.

The love (hate) affair continues this year. My mother called me last Thursday as I was getting ready for my run clinic. A conversation that begins with "Amy, your Dad and I are at the hospital" is never a good one. It turns out my Dad won the "get a Staph infection that attacks your knee and requires emergency orthopaedic surgery" lottery last Thursday. Needless to say he will not be able to come to Iceland as planned. :( he is now on IV antibiotics daily which he has to go the health centre to get. Thankfully he is doing much better in the last week and is starting to sound like his old self. He is a strong enough man to have encouraged us to still travel- even his primary care giver ( my mom) is still going. Thank goodness for great family friends who have offered to help him while we Are gone ( thank you Court and Betty and Don and Claudette- you have made a very stressful situation a little easier on all of us!).

Well, better go. A crazy day ahead. I am feeling a mix of excitement, nerves, guilt ( love you Dad!), and pure " let's do this!" Attitude. After all this trip is 10 months in the making. Wish me luck! It's still August after all, I'm going to need it!

Last night's fortification- Brenivin. Only three glasses, sigh.

Think Icelandic Schnapps- also known as 'black death'  :) I'm fortified, are you?

I don't miss five injections a day

Morning blood sugar: 6.7- don't ask why it's up a little, but still reasonable
Episodes of low blood sugar today: none thankfully, yesterday I had 2 :( Busy day, forgot to bring snacks, was super tired and apparently didn't eat a proper lunch. I am fortunate days like this don't happen too often lately, thanks to the pump.
'C's' mood today: pretty good, having some 'moments' but really overall fairly pleasant. It helps that Grandma and Grandpa are out for a visit-when there are visitors C tends to be on his 'better' behavior. Obviously he was excited to spend as much time with them as possible-he went to bed late and was up early. Currently napping from all the excitement, thank goodness. :)
Donations today: no new ones but found out today that back in May I got an anonymous $250.00 donation to help me hit the minimum of $6,100.00-it turns out this was a donation from my in-laws and brother-in-law. Apparently my bro-in-law couldn't figure out how to attach his name to the donation-that sneaky devil didn't let me know it was him! Mystery solved. :)
Clean eating today:  Isagenix chocolate shake immediately post-workout, a black coffee and a slice of fruit-chia seed bread from Cobs bread mid morning. I am obsessed with this bread and apparently Chia seeds are great for blood sugar, which is obviously why I am able to eat this bread with dried fruit in it and maintain good numbers. Thanks Sunghee for the article you sent me about Chia seeds-awesome!
Workout today: 9 km hill workout with Jeff. Since the grandparents are here and my son is extremely comfortable with other people, Jeff and I were able to sneak out for a workout. We ran on the trail not far from our house. It is paved but really hilly-about 4 km out we stopped to do 4 hill repeats and then came home. Feeling less tired today but I can tell my body needs to pull back on the workouts as I enter the last 3 weeks of training. I crashed yesterday and took a rest day-feeling a bit more re-charged today.

Insulin pens and the miracle drug that is insulin

Yesterday, August 1st, marked one year of being on insulin injections. I remember taking my first injection; in the afternoon I had gone to the Diabetic Education Center at the Nanaimo Regional General. Margaret, the nurse and Diabetic Educator bombarded me with a ton of information, including how to set up my insulin pen, put a needle tip on, load the insulin cartridge, and finally how to inject myself. As you can imagine the whole idea of everything was absolutely terrifying. I went home to a house full of people-my sister and her family had just arrived for a week long visit, which had been planned months ago, and in light of everything that had been happening to me I encouraged them to come regardless. I wanted to see them, and if anything maybe their presence would help me through the challenging week ahead.  My Mom made dinner- a crab manicotti (so delicious!). When she told us it was ready, I was the first at the table. I was starving (having lost 10 lbs from being sick, I was always ready to eat), anxious, and ready to get this scary first needle over with.

That first night was even more terrifying-was I going to go low in the night? What was I going to feel like on insulin? The nurse had assured me that the doses they were giving me were very conservative, which helped to reassure me, but let's face it I was still a nervous wreck. Thank goodness for a snugly dog and husband-they helped me fall asleep.

The truth is, insulin made me feel better almost immediately. When you are averaging blood sugars of 14-18 you are thirsty all the time, you are hungry all the time, and you are spending a lot of your time peeing out the glucose you have consumed. Glucose is found in carbohydrate and is the fuel for your cells. Insulin lets you absorb the fuel for your cells- a healthy pancreas produces this, mine wasn't. All I have to say is if it weren't for the brilliance of  Dr. Banting, I would likely be wasting away on a starvation diet right now (this is how they use to treat Diabetics before the discovery of insulin!).

I remember my sister said to me during her visit that she was sorry to be there 'during the worst week of my life'. I am sure I will look back on it someday and remember it as such, but at the time I really looked at it differently. Yes, it was a rough week, but I can also remember thinking 'this is the week we figured out what was wrong, and now I am doing something about it to make me feel better'. And thank goodness there was a way to fix it! I didn't have a tumor, or cancer, etc, etc. That thought was refreshing in itself. At the time, I was placed on 5 injections a day-2 that would give me long acting insulin to maintain a steady state blood sugar, and 3 fast acting injections with meals. Thanks to the pump I now only have to take 1 injection every three days, when I put on a new pod. A small catheter (looks like a string) is sitting in my skin at all times, and now instead of a needle every time I eat I tell my pod to increase the 'drip' as necessary to cover my carbohydrate intake.

A year ago, I was thankful for my background with practicing acupuncture; needles weren't that scary to me-they still hurt sometimes (sometimes you really couldn't feel them) but it was more the insulin I was afraid of. Even with my background though, let's face it stabbing yourself 5 times a day, for days on end, is fun for no one. According to my husband I am much happier on the pump-can you blame me?  I certainly don't miss five injections a day.