One thing I’ve noticed is that there are a LOT of commercials on tv about diabetes. So many diseases (sorry to use that word, Scott!) out there but ours seems to be in the spot light a lot lately for some reason – sometimes that’s good, and sometimes not so good.

It’s either Mary Tyler Moore talking about supporting JDRF (which I’m all in favor of, as I’m very active in my local chapter. But I digress… )

Or it’s a Novolog pen commercial. Which always gets me because they say one of the most common side effects of using the pen is low blood sugar. Ya think??

Or it’s the Gold Bond lotion JUST for diabetics. Is our skin really THAT much drier than everyone else’s – that we need our OWN lotion??

Or it’s Lyrica which treats aches & pains associated with diabetes. Do we have more aches and pains than anyone else? I have aches and pains from my age and lugging around twin babies… not at all related to my diabetes.

Or it’s the one I caught yesterday – and I missed the details but caught the jist – it was one of the local ambulance chasing attorneys asking if you’d been diagnosed with cancer after taking some specific diabetes medicine.

Or it’s an episode of The Doctors when Elizabeth Perkins talking about her own Dx in 2005. I will blog about that one separately.

Or it’s the new show “Great American Baking Competition” (I think that’s what it’s called) and one of the contestants said, “I’m a Type 1 diabetic, so I never get to eat the things I bake. I have to have someone else taste it all for me.” Really? You bake all the time and don’t taste your own food? Basically what I “heard” when she said that was diabetics can’t have sugar. And if you’ve read my blog for awhile, you know that’s a sore spot for me. We CAN have sugar – just in moderation.

Or it’s last week’s episode of The Bachelorette – one of the contestants (Michael G) announced to Desiree that he’s a Type 1 Diabetic. He felt it was important to share that with her, and he’d already told the other guys in the house. I think that’s interesting … probably not too long ago, it wouldn’t have been something that was announced..especially on tv. But I applaud him for letting everyone around him know about his diabetes. Reality is that any of us with diabetes could pass out or show other harmful symptoms, so it’s always a good idea to let those people that you spend a significant amount of time with that you’re diabetic. I know there are a lot of people that don’t feel the same way, and YDMV. But for safety reasons, I personally think it’s always a good idea. All of my friends know and so have all of my coworkers I’ve ever had.

Or it’s today’s episode of Katie Couric and she was talking to a mom who has a son addicted to heroine. I’m paraphrasing, but the mom basically said that this isn’t like having a child diagnosed with diabetes, and there’s nothing you can do about it. When your child is an addict, there IS something you can do and you have to get him/her help soon.

Uh, so are you saying if your child is dx’d with diabetes, there’s nothing you can do as a parent? Just sit back and twiddle your thumbs and say, “Oh well. Darn the luck.” I’m SO glad to say that could not be further from the truth.

No, a parent cannot feasibly cure their child’s diabetes (well, unless he/she adds more cinnamon to his/her diet.. ) But the parent can (and absolutely should) educate him/herself in order to either manage the disease for the child, or to help teach the child how to manage it him/herself.

So to the mom that said that … shame on you.

I think it’s awesome that there’s so much talk about diabetes out there… but only when it’s FACTUAL information. And unfortunately there are still so many misconceptions out there about diabetes.

Which is why I LOVE the DOC (Diabetes Online Community) and how we are all helping to raise awareness and help clear up some of the misconceptions. Since starting my blog a year and a half ago, I’ve had so many friends of mine tell me after reading different posts that they didn’t realize this or that … That’s very satisfying and I love that.

Getting off my soap box now …

Category: “Can I live without you?”

Answer:

(MY answer: Yep, been living without mine for over 20 years now, Alex.)

I hate getting lows while I’m at the store for a few different reasons.

The first being the obvious… Feeling disoriented, difficulty concentrating, etc, which leads to usually either not getting everything on my list, or getting things not on my list. This weekend I got a much needed break (I have 4 week old twins at home, and a 5 year old that has been running a fever all weekend) so what do I do with my free time? Head to Wal-Mart. (Hey, I’ll take what I can get!) It was a crazy day (see above: twins/fever) so even though it was 2:00 PM, I had not yet eaten lunch. (Don’t judge) I made a sandwich and ate it in the car. My BG was 126 – perfect. I bolused for my turkey sandwich and chips and scarfed it downing my way. About 15 minutes into my shopping I started seeing spots. I was standing at the meat aisle and could not concentrate on what I was looking for. I had brought a list of things I wanted to cook for the week, but could not make sense of the recipes enough to collaborate a list of groceries. Then I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in a couple of years… Recognized her but couldn’t think of her name, or her daughter’s (which is how we knew each other in the first place) … So I tried to keep the conversation brief. She probably formed some opinions after our chat… I’m sure it was obvious something was “off”. (I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know I’m diabetic.)

Another reason I hate having lows while shopping is that I have this weird thing about not reaching into my purse or pockets in a store. I always feel like someone is going to think I’m stealing something. I know… I’m weird. So when I pull my buggy over into an empty aisle to dig in my purse to pull out my meter and look for the glucose tabs that I’m praying I refilled last time I emptied it (thank goodness this time I had) I always imagine someone watching the security camera, keeping an eye on me. But I did find that empty aisle, checked my BG and it was 60. No clue why it dropped, and especially why so quickly..but it did. And I quickly ate 4 glucose tabs (usually only eat 3 but I needed a quick fix) and waited a couple of minutes for my head to become uncloudy before heading to check out. There were a few things I didn’t get but by that point I just wanted to come home.

Moral of the story: Diabetes can even work itself into affecting a simple trip to the grocery store.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1992, one month before my 18th birthday.  And yes, I am human, so I went through a pity party in the beginning … but for as long as I can remember, I have said (to myself and others) that if I was destined to have an incurable disease, I was thankful/fortunate that it’s “only” diabetes.  It’s not cancer.  It’s not something that has any visible, physical attributes like some diseases have (with the exception of my pager-sized life support system, better known as my insulin pump.)

I feel like anyone that lives with a chronic illness has his/her own set of issues and daily challenges. So I would not want to trade … I would not wish diabetes on anyone, nor would I want to voluntarily take on the challenges anyone else is facing with their own chronic illness.

I strongly believe that I was diagnosed with diabetes for a reason. Whatever that reason may be …  Since finding the DOC over a year ago, I’m wondering if it was to get my voice out and be able to reach someone that was newly diagnosed, had a newly diagnosed child, or is pregnant, or a mom, etc … there is no way to know.  But based on some inspiring comments/emails I’ve received from people who have stumbled across my blog, I have to continue believing that my voice IS being heard.  And for that, it’s worth it.

I’ve also met friends that I would not have known had I not had diabetes.  Through my local JDRF chapter, parents who have children that are recently diagnosed, and especially through the DOC.  I have friends that I can email/text/tweet, etc., for support/encouragement/ask questions … and they are there for me. Without fail. And I hope they feel the same about me – we are all in this together.

And for those reasons.. most days I’m actually grateful for the path that diabetes has taken me on.

Diabetes is something that I have lived with 24/7 for almost 21 years now. I don’t get a break from it.  I don’t get to say “I don’t feel like checking my blood sugar or taking my insulin today .. I will do it tomorrow.”  And I don’t get to just eat anything I want without having to either do some math calculations ahead of time, or suffer the consequences later. And because of my illness, I have to worry about other issues- blood pressure, kidney and/or eye disease, etc.  I have to have conversations with my 5 year old that I would rather not have – “These juice boxes are for Mommy” or “Here is how you dial Daddy’s number on Mommy’s phone, in case you can’t wake Mommy up one day.”  But in spite of all that, to know I have that support system out there that “gets” it, makes a world of difference for me.

I’m not trying to sugar coat it (pardon the pun) -it sucks to have diabetes.  But I try to look on the positive side and know that since I can’t change the fact that I do have it, my goal is to make the best of it that I can, and be a positive influence and spread awareness about it to others.

I’m embarrassingly late getting in on DBLog Week … but better late than never, right? I keep trying to remind myself I have two very valid reasons to be behind the times these days.

I’ve had two humongous accomplishments in the 20 years since my T1 Diagnosis….

The first one happened February of 2008:

The second accomplishment happened April 2013:

Being diabetic, getting pregnant can be a daunting thought/process. Most of us are told we shouldn’t get pregnant. Or worse yet that we can’t (which was told to me while I was in the hospital after my dx at the age of 17.) But it can be done. And I’ve done it twice, and have had two incredibly healthy pregnancies -my first one produced my son, and the second one gave us our TWO sons. Having diabetes adds so many more factors to the process, from getting pregnant to maintaining a healthy pregnancy (for both mom and baby), to delivery, even after delivery (my twin boys are now 4 weeks old and I’m still dealing with postpartum blood sugar issues).

But for me, I’ve known since I was a little girl that I wanted to be a mommy. So I was going to do everything in my power to make it happen.. and I did. And delivered 3 beautifully healthy baby boys. Yay me!

People keep asking me how I’m doing with the lack of sleep from being up with the twins all the time. And what I have realized is that in addition to the expected sleep deprived state I find myself in 24/7 I’ve become extremely robotic. Every 3-4 hours when one of the babies wake up to eat, I get up, make two bottles, pick up said crying baby, change a diaper, feed a baby, clean up spit up, put baby back down then pick up the other baby and do it all over again. Rinse and repeat.

So overall, my schedule has become very robotic.

But you know what robots don’t have to deal with? Diabetes.

Robots don’t have to check blood sugars or eat. Or pause what they’re doing to treat low blood sugars.

But I do.

I have found myself oftentimes getting so wrapped up in the robotic schedule that I’ll look at the clock at noon and realize I haven’t eaten anything yet. (Thank goodness for the flexibility with my insulin pump, or I’d be even more screwed up than I already am! lol)

Or on days when I do eat a quick breakfast (and on such days, I am actually very proud of myself) then I usually look at the clock at 2 or 3:00 pm and realize I haven’t eaten lunch yet. Or I’ll be feeding a baby and think “I’ll go eat my lunch as soon as he’s finished eating.”

Not the most ideal situation …. and something I’m going to have to figure out how to fix or find a work around.

About a week ago, I was eating lunch with E and A and when I was bolusing, I got a “Low Reservoir” alert. I of course silenced it and then immediately forgot about it. Until I went to bolus for dinner (never mind the fact I never apparently looked at my pump between lunch and dinner) and saw this:

Oops. Notice there are several problems with this picture. First, notice the times. Two parts to that – how long I went between the Low Res alert, and how late I was eating dinner. I was actually very “fortunate” that my BG was only 240 at this check. It could have been a lot worse. :/

Bottom line is… if I can’t find time to take care of myself, this robot won’t be much help to these babies.

So I have blogged about my Endo before…  we have an interesting relationship to say the least. Basically I manage my diabetes on my own, and he writes my Rx’s.  I know .. I know.

I saw him about a week and a half before the babies were born.  At that time, I was already on bed rest but still thought I had about 2 weeks to go till my scheduled c-section (ended up being just a few more days, but I digress.)    At my appointment, we went through the usual questions/answers.. and then he ended with “Ok, let’s see you back in a month.”

So I said, “Uh … the babies will be here in 2 weeks or less, do you not want to see me when I’m in the hospital?”

His response was, “You can have your OB call me if she needs me.”

HUH????

My Endo is a really nice guy … and I love his office staff… that’s what’s kept me there for so long.  But I’m past needing nice …. I need someone to help me manage this disease.  Even though I’ve more than proven to myself lately that I’m doing a darn good job of managing it myself these days.

Here’s a sneak peak pic of the boys.  More to come on the actual birth story soon …. Thanks to those of you that are hanging in there with me and being patient with my posts!

Luckily he couldn’t find anything wrong. He even said that I’m “textbook” for a high risk pregnancy .. and yet I’m sailing right through and he said he talks about me to other patients and doctors all the time. I originally had my c-section scheduled for 4/25 (38wks) but his suggestion was to move it up a week, because even though everything looked fine on the sonogram, something is obviously making my sugars drop.

Now don’t get me wrong … I’m loving all these perfect BG’s. But at the end of the day, they are unfortunately not the norm for someone in their 36th week of pregnancy, especially with twins. Your insulin needs increase the further along you get in your pregnancy … so I should be running high, not low.

I saw my OB the next day (Thursday) and she said she’d like me to get to 37 weeks which is considered “full term” and it’s a week earlier than originally planned. So that’s the plan right now .. She’ll take the babies via c-section on 4/18 instead of 4/25. I see her on Monday and Wednesday this coming week, just to double check everything so there’s still a chance they’ll be here before the 18th, but that’s the latest I’ll cook them for sure. And let me be honest .. I’m more than ready.

I’d not gained any weight until late in my 2nd trimester.. and then I plateaud around 11 lbs. But these last few weeks, I’ve doubled that and I’m still all baby (babies). The boys both weigh a little over 6 lbs each so it’s no doubt that I’m incredibly uncomfortable these days as I roll off the couch.. Oh .. I forgot to mention she put me on bed rest last week and took me off work. That was mainly because my BP was creeping up. I’ve been on BP meds since I was 19 years old (so for almost 20 yrs) but when I hit 18 wks in this pregnancy … I almost passed out from my BP dropping too low, so she took me off of it. Then a few weeks ago, it crept back up to where I normally am and then it’s taken a while to level it out. But it seems to be ok right now.

I’ve been so incredibly lucky throughout this entire pregnancy. And I hope that my story is encouraging to other women who are diabetic who have been told they can’t/shouldn’t get pregnant. If you go into the pregnancy with a healthy A1C, and in good health overall, you CAN have a healthy pregnancy. I’ve been diabetic for over 20 years, I’m in my late 30s and am carrying twins … and so far so good.

We’ll get to meet our little bundles of joy in less than a week, so my life is about to get super crazy … but I’ll try to keep everyone posted as best I can!

I titled this particular post “Irony” because I find it incredibly ironic that the thing that is causing my c-section to be moved up a week is the fact that I’m having perfect/low blood sugars. Which is something that every diabetic strives for (well, for the perfect ones, not necessarily the low numbers.)

The graph below shows my numbers for just this week.. not a typical graph for someone carrying multiples in their 36th week of pregnancy. But I’ll take it

Since I’m pregnant, and quickly nearing the day when we’ll get to meet these two special boys I’ve been growing for the last 8ish months (FOUR weeks from today, unless they decide to show up before then on their own!) my insulin needs have risen drastically. My most recent trend has been the BG’s creeping up in the evenings. My endo made some adjustments this week, so hopefully that will help.

But my question/observation is this …

For example, the other night I checked at my 2 hour post meal and I was 227. I entered that into my pump, and it did not give me a correction bolus. (huh?) So I gave it another 30 min or so and checked it again – it was 247. Put that one into my pump, and then it corrected? Again, huh? Why wouldn’t it have corrected the first number? My “range” is set to 120. (Per Dr Scheiner, you should have a number as your target, not a range.)

Has anyone else experienced this? Where when you’re high and you KNOW you should be correcting it.. but your pump disagrees (at least for the time being)? It happens pretty often. At first I thought maybe it was because I was getting that first hypo within the 2 hour post meal window. And the pump wanted to give my body time to adjust and come back down. But it’s also happened outside of that window.

Open to thoughts/suggestions/comments……