Diabetes Diary

Kelsey's diary about living life with type 1 diabetes.

Friday, June 29, 2007

The Power of Unclogged Tubing

Wednesday night before bed, my blood sugar was elevated due to underbolusing for my dinner of spaghetti with whole wheat noodles. I corrected, and set my alarm for midnight, to make sure I was coming back down.

Midnight: 119 mg/dl. Good, better.

5:30 a.m.: 241 mg/dl. WTF?! "Damn," I thought, "those noodles, sometimes they do cause a delayed spike, I'd forgotten."

Fairly aggressive correction bolus, since I'd be waking up for the day shortly anyway.

6:45 a.m.: 239 mg/dl. Now, really, what's going on?!?!

Detached the pump and checked it out by filling the tubing. Nothing comes out. Message: Blockage Detected.

4 units via syringe, change the tubing and reservoir, low carb breakfast. Good to go.

I called Smiths Medical (Cozmo) to ask why it takes so long to get a blockage detected message when, obviously, I hadn't been receiving adequate insulin for quite some time. Apparently, that message is triggered by the amount of back pressure in the pump, which must exceed 5 units before sounding the alarm. My basal rate doesn't create enough pressure, thus I will only see the blockage message during a large meal bolus, or when I try to fill the tubing.

I suppose going forward, whenever I have an unexplained high reading, I'll try to fill the tubing before delivering my correction bolus. With the pregnancy, I hate to stay high any longer than absolutely necessary.

The night, with my happily, unclogged tubing, my blood sugars were much better:

9:30 p.m.: 122 mg/dl

10:15 p.m.: 111 mg/dl

Midnight: 70 mg/dl (10 grams carb)

4:00 a.m.: 83 mg/dl (5 grams carb)

7:00 a.m.: 85 mg/dl.

Upon reading those numbers off to my husband this morning he responded, "Amazing what some unclogged tubing can do!" :)

*** In other pump news... even though I technically missed the deadline for my Cozmo upgrade, the nice folks at Smiths Medical extended the offer, and I was able to complete the test and submit a new prescription a few weeks ago. I've been waiting for my color pump to become available, so I haven't received it yet. However, we're going out of town for two weeks starting Tuesday, so I called to make sure we weren't going to miss it. It so happens that they were planning to mail it out yesterday. I had them change the address to my mom's. I will receive my shiny new pump with all it's extra bells and whistles next weekend when I arrive in Humboldt! Nothing like a new gadget!***

Monday, June 25, 2007

A High Fasting Blood Glucose

As I'll assume you all know, a type 1 diabetic pregnancy brings with it the quest for extremely tight blood sugar control (without too many lows, of course, since that's so simple!)

I'm working very closely with my OB and a CDE at the University of California, San Diego who I just adore! They're quite knowledgeable and have a great "bedside manner" and are wonderfully supportive and helpful.

Dennis and I met with the doc and our CDE on Friday afternoon. We got to see the baby via ultrasound (again!) This child already has nearly a photo album full of pictures! Now that I'm almost done with my first trimester (tomorrow kicks off #2) we could see everything more clearly, including a little wave :)

Before we got to the fun of seeing the little one again, we went over my blood sugars. The CDE went through the week's numbers and highlighted lows in blue and highs in red. I laughed out loud when I saw one of my fasting numbers highlighted in bright red: 101 mg/dl I told the CDE that she'd upset a lot of diabetics by telling me that was a high reading!

Of course, I understood what she meant... my goal is to wake up at 90 mg/dl, so technically 101 mg/dl is high :)

Being a bit of a perfectionist, I proceeded to have an amazing overnight blood sugar that evening. I attribute this to what we ate: Green Curry soy "chicken" with brown rice and veggies from this amazing vegan fusion restaurant. Soy definitely has a great blood sugar stabilizing effect!

I had some ice cream before bed, when my blood sugar was 79 mg/dl, bolused.

Woke up at midnight to test: 117 mg/dl.

Slept through the night (I think the healthy dinner digested very easily because both my husband and I slept like rocks) to wake up at 8 a.m. at 88 mg/dl!

Ha, take that "Ms. 101 mg/dl is high!" :)

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Dreams... and a Big Announcement

It seems like dreams have been a theme around the O.C. today... Kerri's fiance Chris is dreaming about lows, zombie's and English muffins, while Johnboy had a stressful dream about baseball. I too have been dreaming a lot lately.

In last night's dream, I was breastfeeding my brand new baby. The night before I dreamt that my husband and I were feeding solid food to our newborn, which of course choked the baby and I had to perform CPR on my day old child. Any guess what these dreams mean?!

Yes, I'm pregnant! 10 weeks and 2 days to be exact :)

I've been wanting to tell my OC family, but thought it would be wise to get through the first trimester (well, almost) before sharing the news. I've feeling pretty good about this pregnancy, so I figured I'd go ahead and spill the beans now.

Here's a recap of my pregnancy experience so far:

First of all, the timing couldn't have been better. I officially turned in my MA thesis on May 9th and took the (positive!) pregnancy test that evening! I'm such a planner... it was hysterical that things actually came together all at the same time. My family came down for my graduation a week and a half later, so I got to tell everyone in person, which was really special. Plus, another great timing aspect is that I'll be done with my first trimester at the end of June, just in time to be the Matron of Honor in my sister's HUGE wedding on July 14th. Dennis and I will be in Humboldt County for over a week helping with the final preparations. I'll be 3 1/2 months, so I should be having some energy, but not showing too much yet!

One thing that's great about having a diabetic, "high risk" pregnancy, is all the ultrasounds you get to have done. I already have a dozen pictures of our little one! We've had three separate ultrasounds, with the first one at 6 weeks and 3 days. It's very comforting to get to see the baby, and the heartbeat :) so often.

Morning sickness reared its ugly head early, and I threw up at my desk at work once (in the trash can, luckily!) Since then, I've been sure to eat every three hours or so, which helps a lot with the nausea. Also, taking my prenatal vitamin at bedtime has been a great help!

My most severe symptoms, if you will, have been an incredible sense of smell, and food aversions! Things I used to LOVE, like chicken, for example, now make me totally sick! The most frustrating part is I cannot plan my meals like I used to because I never know what's going to be appetizing from hour to hour. I used to plan meals for the week, cook for my husband and myself, and we were all set. Now Dennis and I are eating different things most nights because some random dish will appeal to me at the last minute. It's very odd.

We're starting to discuss whether or not to find out the gender of our baby. Right now we're leaning towards not finding out and being surprised. Mostly because we don't have a preference either way; we're going to stay in our little one bedroom apartment for at least the baby's first 9 months, so planning a nursery isn't really an issue; and we'd kinda like to have the experience of not finding out once, and we're only planning to have two children. Any thoughts on this issue would be greatly appreciated :)

So, that's the news... We're having a baby!!

Friday, June 08, 2007

Me Meme

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? The flatiron isn't going to fix this bedhead!

2. How much cash do you have on you?
Nada, I just used my debit card for a $1.29 purchase, sad.

3. What's a word that rhymes with DOOR? Store.

4. Favorite planet?
Jupiter, I did a report on it in third grade, and it's been my favorite ever since.

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? My mom.

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? The Notre Dame Fight Song :)

7. What shirt are you wearing? Fuchsia tee and black hoodie sweater.

8. Do you label yourself? Sure, but I fit lots of labels!

9. Name the brand of the shoes you're currently wearing: Privo.

10. Bright or Dark Room? Bright fluorescent office lights.

11. Why is there always a missing question? People loose count...

12. What does your watch look like? It's dark gray and doubles as an insulin pump!

13. What were you doing at midnight last night? sleeping

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say?
My husband's phone number when he paged me.

15. Where is your nearest 7-11? I have no idea!

16. What's a word that you say a lot? Fun!

17. Who told you he/she loved you last? mi esposo, Dennis.

18. Last furry thing you touched?
Probably a dog in the park, my husband pets every dog we pass!

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
Two- Insulin, prenatal vitamins.

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed? Zero.

21. Favorite age you have been so far? 27 has been pretty great so far :)

22. Your worst enemy? simple carbohydrates!

23. What is your current desktop picture? two adorable kittens... we need a pet.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
"This Paris Hilton thing is so ridiculous."

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly, what would it be?
Probably the cash :)

26. Do you like someone? yes, I like a lot of people.

27. The last song you listened to?
I can't remember! Something on the radio on the way to work.

28. What time of day were you born? 6:20 p.m.

29. What's your favorite number? 11

30. Where did you live in 1987? In the house where I grew up in Eureka, CA.

31. Are you jealous of anyone? Not really.

32. Is anyone jealous of you? Not that I know of!

33. Where were you when 9/11 happened? In my dorm at St. Mary's College.

34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Sigh and walk away.

35. Do you consider yourself kind? Yes, almost to a fault.

36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be? Somewhere tastefully hidden.

37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be?
Spanish... I'm working on it!

38. Would you move for the person you loved? Definitely.

39. Are you touchy-feely? Yes!

40. What's your life motto? The first stanza of the Serenity Prayer.

41. Name three things you have on you at all times:
my pump, my meter, my wedding/engagement rings.

42. What's your favorite town/city? San Diego, CA & Washington D.C.

43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? A Chocolate Croissant! :)

44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
A few months ago to my Nana.

45. Can you change the oil on a car? Sadly, no.

46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
He was working in Africa for a Navy Contractor...

47. How far back do you know your ancestry?
My paternal grandpa has traced it back to the 1400s... I'm named after an ancestor from the 16th century named Hannah Kelsey.

48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?
For my MA graduation last month!

49. Does anything hurt on your body right now? Not right now.

50. Have you ever been burned by love? Yes, but in hindsignt it was for the best.

51. Do you have a crush on any bloggers? No, I need to read more blogs...

52. Where would you like to live? If San Diego were more affordable, I'd stay here forever. I'm looking forward to an adventure in another state... maybe Colorado?! We'll see.