Only in my world!!

As I wrote in an earlier post...I recently was seen at the Diabetic Center at UPMC and we made some changes to my basal settings(that is the insulin I get throughout the day) on my insulin pump. The best way to see if these new settings are working correctly is to fast for 6 hours during the day...on 3 different days and different times.

Well yesterday I decided to do the test from 7AM-1pm. The only requirement was that my sugar reading had to be under 170...well that was no problem so I started at 7 my sugar was 154 at 10 it was 147 so far so good..I then went to the YMCA and did 40 minutes of cardio on the treadmill and elliptical..I finished and got home at 12 so I checked my sugar it was 197 and then at 1 it was down to 163....so I call the doctor with the results. The nurse informed me that because I had the 197 reading that the I would have to repeat the test another day.

I am kinda pissed...it I don't eat my sugar is fine with the settings...however it would appear that exercising only makes my sugar go up!!!

I always said that exercise and dieting will kill you. Just look at the word diet it starts with the letters DIE... That is a joke you all keep exercising and dieting (0r as I like to say maintain that healthy lifestyle).

As my favorite hat says...Failure in not an Option.

I will get this sugar stuff taken care of and under control.

Resolution Time Again!!!

I know we all make them and then break them but this year is going to different. WHY? Because I am starting tomorrow...I have been a little off with my Gluten Free Diet (GF) the last couple of days....not a whole lot of GF choices at an Italian Funeral...and I am paying the price.....my sugar has been good but I feel sluggish and am having a lot of pain in my shoulders and muscles again..

So tomorrow I go back to GF...I am also going to maintain a 1600 calorie a day diet....as I get my sugar under control if I ate 2000 to maintain my weight...the doc said I might gain. I will also be writing down EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth....

I am returning to the YMCA....I will be picking up an Elliptical from my cousin by the end of the week....I also opened up a Tai Chi DVD that I have had for awhile now....plus I have the Wii Fit.....so I should have no excuse not to get at least 40 minutes of exercise a day...

I would like to lose 20 lbs before I go to Israel in Feb. I would like to get to 175 lbs....in order to do that I need to lose about 23lbs...I know I can do it.

I also have downloaded an app to my droid that tracks exercise, blood glucose readings, carbs, pulse rates, bp and weight.

So I have no excuses not to do this.....

I will also return to my daily meditation and writing daily in my journal.


SO THAT IS WHAT I AM GOING TO DO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!!!!!

ME UNSWEET!!! HELL YES!!!

If you would have told me last week that the highest sugar level that I would have today would be 145....I would have thought that they were crazy. However, the fact is after my meeting yesterday and the minor adjustments that we made to the Basal settings on my pump have seemed to have made a big difference...I ate the same things that I ate last week only I did not get the HIGH Spikes that I got then.

Am I happy....HELL Yeah I am happy.

A normal A1c which is your 3 month sugar average should be under 7 mine was 10.1 yesterday...the good thing my kidney and liver functions are good....which means that while the sugar level were high there seems to be no residual effects from it. My goal is when I get the A1c in 3 months that I have it down to at least 7. I know that I can do this..I was always doing everything right...so what was the problem??? It would be that while I was actually telling the old doc the settings that they wanted..it was not what I had put in my pump for the basal setting(that is the insulin that the pump gives you consistently throughout the day) I had 2 settings 1 should have been 1.5 but what I had in the pump was 1.05 big difference as it increase at a.05 rate...so I was so not getting enough....I would get the highs and then I would Bolus(that is what you give yourself when you eat something or you can do to correct a high level without eating) which would then cause the extreme lows I was getting.

So where do we go from here....I will be maintaining a 1600-1700 calorie a day diet...why that level? It appears that one can gain weight when sugar is under control and while normal 1800-2000 calorie a day diet will maintain my weight...we agreed on this so that I would either maintain or I would lose...which by the way I would like to drop about 10-15 pounds. I will continue to eat Gluten Free...as I have discussed here before...processed sugars and enriched flours do not mix well in my body.

So what was the big thing that I got out of this meeting yesterday....while all felt hopeless a few weeks ago...is not. Never give up on seeking out the answers if you are not happy with what your doc is telling you or not telling you....you have the right to always seek a 2nd, 3rd or 4th etc etc opinion. You are just not a patient you are a consumer if you are not getting the bang for your buck...you have the right to take your business elsewhere.

Remember you are your biggest advocate.....Speak up already what are you waiting for..it is your life!!!

And it is out of here...so long and don't come back

As I mentioned a few weeks ago....I has an overnight pulse oxygen test completed to see I still needed to use the oxygen while I sleep....I was hoping it would work out well and that I would not need it anymore...one because the machine has been in the house for over 10 years....two the machine throws off so much heat which is good in the winter...or like nights like to night when it is freezing out..but is so unpleasant in the summer time....

Yes the results came back....the machine gets the boot!!!! I still need to use the C-pap machine it is a lot smaller and cooler then the big hunk concentrator. I am now totally off Oxygen....I used it at night and for awhile used it when I was awake....I dd have portable tanks that I had to use for a while....I even used a sports water camel to carry the tanks in when we use to go GEO Caching...

But I am please now to be free of the Oxygen...just another step that my health continues to improve....

so hit the road jack and don't you come back no more..no more..no more....hit the road jack and don't come back no more!!

1 more day

I only have to wait one more day before I have my appointment with the Diabetic Clinic at UPMC...I am usually not excited about early morning appointments...especially when it is cold outside.

However given the fact that I have not been happy with my readings as they have been all over the place....as high as 600 as low as 55...this wrecks havoc on my moods....and while I do my best to warn people I some times explode like Dynamite!!!

So I apologize if I am unbearable to live with...hopefully I will get some answers when I meet with the new team.....Plus I am seriously thinking of looking into the Pancreas transplant...especially if I can get rid of this horrible disease called diabetes.....

Santa Has Left The Building

Each year I get to play Santa at our holiday party for some of our students and their children...today was that day.

All but one child cried....they were little boys and girls...from age 3mos-4 years.

I have a tradition that if both expectant parents are in the program that they take a Picture with Santa... If a Pregnant Mom is there alone...yep she gets her picture with Santa as well.

I bitch and moan about putting on the dang suit...which does not fit as well as it did when I weighed 65lbs more then I do now....Santa does not walk around....if he did, he be walking around with his pants on the ground....not a cool picture...and the kids would run screaming and kicking out of there.

But I love it....over the years I have looked different...the one year the only thing we could find for stuffing was a quilt...but it would not go round it would only fold in a square..that was the Square Belly Santa....and we laugh at the office when we look at those pictures....

It was fun being Santa...or his helper.....you know cause the Real Santa is busy this time of the year....I guess I have 12 months to either find a good tailor to take in the suit....find stuffing to make the suit fit better or find a new Santa...Yeah I will be there next year!!!

From where I sit.....

I sometimes sit here in my recliner at night and just think....I am not tired...I don't feel like going to bed..and I just think.

The last couple of days here in Western PA, as with much of the Eastern half of the country has been experiencing a cold spell....well actually a Deep Freeze would better describe it...the temps here have not gotten above 26 the last couple of days...add in the wind and it is BUTT COLD out there. But, the one thing that I have noticed is that I am not affected by the cold air as I have been in the past.

I get to play Santa tomorrow night at a party...I find it odd that after having the transplant and losing almost 65 pounds that I still play Santa....a skinny Santa.

I have bowled the last 2 days in a row and will roll off with Evan tomorrow (after I play Santa) for our league....I like bowling and look forward to the different people that I bowl with....Tuesday is a group of transplant recipients, Wednesday is a mixed group of folks from 20ish to 70ish and we laugh a lot, and of course Sundays with Evan and his friends....I am really improving as is evident by my 187 game yesterday.

I wonder if G-d is going to fill me in on his plan for me...what else am I supposed to do in this world...how is my life going to impact on my fellow man?

I am excited for our trip to Israel and seeing old friends and meeting folks that I talk to on facebook and twitter...we have scheduled horse back riding and other fun activities...Sharon and I will be married in the Jewish faith while we are there...It will also be used by us to mark our 25th year of marriage, which really is not till June but we will cheat a little. I hope Evan enjoys it.

I guess what I sit and think about the most on nights like tonight when sleep does not want to come...is that I have been blessed in my life..I have good friends, family and co-workers...even though I sometimes Bitch and Complain about them. My health is better then it was and hopefully after meeting with the new Endocrinologist we will be able to get my sugar under control. I have my faith in G-d and while I sometimes feel that he is always testing me...I realize that it has been my faith ( Although it has changed...as I have changed) is a big part of my life.

So my wish for all of you is that you may find joy, happiness, health, love and blessings in your life...regardless of what troubles you are facing...if you have supportive people in your life you will be ok.. I really believe that G-d has a plan for each of us....it may not be what we want to do but it what G-d wants us to do.

I volunteered today...

Ok that is nothing new...I have been volunteering at CORE for over a month now....I go every other Tuesday...I did mailings and Corporate folders the first couple of visits...But, today I made packets...these packets contained information that will be used when securing Organs....also in the packet was another packet that went with the body to the funeral home...1 told of the various organs, tissues and other things that have been donated...a letter from CORE...expressing sympathy and offering to offer any support family would need, also the final thing in that packet was a frame with a beautiful poem in it.

As, I was putting these together I could not help but think that on March 26 2009 a family was getting that packet while I was getting my heart.

What I did today

I spent the day relaxing and reading a book...first at Starbucks then at Max and Erma's.....it was great.

So what did you do?

Walking from sea to sea

That is walking from one ocean to another....not really walking across the country...but the equivalent of that on a treadmill.

My brother Mike and his friends have this group called W.I.M.P(work in major progress) started by my brother and then some friends joined in on getting fit....So they decided to do this and I have decided to join them and you can join also...

Here you go...from 12-1-10 to 2-1-11 you need to walk 5.5 miles a day..... That's it...

But it already 12-1-10 I am a day behind so for the next 2 days I will an extra 2.75 miles....I am going to do this....

Some folks are doing push ups or sit ups....that's cool I think it is 200 a day!!

Let's get out there and move!!!

Getting a little tired of the high numbers....

I can not figure out what in the hell is going on with my blood sugars....numbers that are high like 500+ high...and if you know anything about diabetes you know that this is bad....problem is I don't feel anything when my sugar is high.


Today it was 581 this morning....I finally got it down to 87...I ate and then by the time I ate again it was 105....I had 2 little buffalo chicken wraps with some corn chips...I bolused for 40 grams of carbs which may have been a little to much...I bowled 3 games and came home..that was 3 hours after eating...checked my sugar it was 380....WTF....

Sharon thinks that I may have a serious allergy to Gluten...that maybe true because I ate an apple and cottage cheese for lunch....and the sugar stayed low...I had a snack when I got home of a yogart.....will see what it is before I go to bed.

The sad thing is I really try to watch what I eat and still have these highs...good news is that I am seeing a new Endo doc in the next two weeks....maybe they can help me!!!

Today is Pay It Forward DAY

BEST WAY TO PAY IT FORWARD???......

SIGN YOUR DONOR CARD!!!!!