Diabetes Update

I meant to blog about my endocrinologist doctor appointment on February 15th, but somehow I was more excited about other posts (Isaiah related) that I over looked it and then I figured since it has been so long that I would just skip the post.  However, several people (through facebook or texts) have recently asked me about how I am doing...requesting updates...so I guess better late than never!

I met Dr. Liz Stephens on February, 15th and she was amazing!  She/ the appointment was night and day different from the first endocrinologist that I saw in December.  Liz was way more personal and asked me what I wanted from her/the appointment.  Instead of leaving in tears- I left feeling good about what I was doing to take care of my body as well as a confidence that I have an amazing doctor on my health care team!  Liz totally gets it because she also has type 1 diabetes.  She was/and will continue to be a great resource.  The other news I found out at this doctors appointment was that my a1c had dropped back to more normal levels...6.7!  She was proud of my hard work getting my blood sugars in control.  I will go see her again in early May.

So for the most part things are going well and I feel pretty good most days.  Before I was knew I had diabetes my blood sugar levels were HIGH...for the most part I don't have the highs anymore.  I do experience LOWS now and I have had a couple fun moments with my lows...

On Monday, March 19th...I woke up low.  Instead of getting ready and then coming downstairs to eat breakfast I decided it would be better for me to go downstairs and eat first.  For breakfast I ate 2 scones and milk, which would normally be enough.  However, I was still feeling SUPER hungry... a side effect of having low blood sugar.  Well, since I was still hungry and breakfast foods just weren't cutting it I decided to eat some cold left over pizza on top of my breakfast I had already eaten.  Yes, that made me feel satisfied and kept my blood sugar where it needed to be until lunch time.

Today, March 29th... I woke up within my target range.  I ate oatmeal for breakfast, which has made me go low one other time so when I was getting ready to leave the house and head to Target I tested.  I was in my target range so I didn't eat a snack or do anything special.  When I got to Target I thought Starbucks coffee sounded good, but I didn't get any.  However, after being at Target for a little while I started to feel HOT ... a side effect of having low blood sugar.  I tested again and I had dropped quite a bit and was now pretty low (lower than on March 19th).  I decided that I could get a coffee...non sugar free and that would do the trick to fix my blood sugar and it still sounded good.  So Isaiah and I left the cart and headed up to the Starbucks counter.  I ordered a peppermint mocha and Isaiah found vanilla milk at his level and said he wanted it so I bought it for him.  Meanwhile, I am trying to eat a few almonds (I know they aren't a sugar source, but they would help be a protein source once my sugar filled coffee was in me) and somehow I managed to cancel my charge instead of press no cash back when I ran it through the machine.  The worker had to reset it.  She made my coffee and Isaiah had his milk and we were on our way back to our cart.  At this point I am super sweating (needing to take off my sweatshirt) and somewhat rushing to get back to the cart so I am start to feel better...I am not sure why I thought getting a hot drink sounded like a good idea at this point.   Well, on the way back to the cart Isaiah fell and lost a shoe that flew across the front of the store.  I helped him up, got his shoe back on- don't worry the milk wasn't open so it didn't spill.  But he had taken the straw off the side of the milk and I heard him say something about throwing it away.  I told him not to throw it away because we would need the straw.  We weren't even by trash cans.  We get to the cart, I get him situated, and am ready to open his milk but I can't find the straw.  I ask him, he doesn't say where the straw is so I retrace our steps...no TINY straw to be found.  I unload Isaiah from the cart and head back to the Starbucks counter to get a new straw.  New straw in hand, no problems walking back to the cart, Isaiah happily drinks his milk, and I happily down my hot coffee!  I think that was the fastest I have ever drank coffee... but WOW was it good and fixed the problem!  Maybe not the quickest way to fix the problem, but worth the special treat of coffee!

Life with diabetes is mostly annoying...taking shots to eat is no fun, but I guess I still enjoy funny moments!