June 29th, 2011 by KerriSparling in True Stories
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I do not enjoy basal testing. Even though I sometimes go six hour clips without having a snack (thanks, Birdy and your busy ways), something about knowing I can’t eat or exercise makes me want to do a 5K while simultaneously chomping down on some soft serve.
But when I noticed that I was going to bed at a completely normal blood sugar, but waking up in the 180 – 220 mg/dl range for three days in a row, I knew I needed to do some basal tweaking.
Making adjustments to my overnight basal rates always skeeves me out. I’m a very deep sleeper (as evidenced by the fact that Siah prowling around on the bed all night doesn’t wake me in the slightest, but makes Chris say “We’re sleeping with the door SHUT tonight,” in the morning), and I have a very healthy fear of overnight low blood sugars. My symptoms of a low on the overnights used to be this body-drenching sweat, but since the birth of my daughter, that symptom has all but disappeared. Now, I don’t have any symptoms at all. Blood sugars of 60, 50, and lower don’t even register until I prick my finger and go, “Oh. I guess I’m low?” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
June 3rd, 2011 by KerriSparling in True Stories
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The Dexcom said 177 mg/dl and dropping, but after a full 60 minutes of cardio, I expected the graph to show a lower trend.
“Whatever,” I said, a little confused because my pre-workout blood sugar was 143 mg/dl. Felt foggy, but I was a little dehydrated so I figured I needed to get home and relax. Ignoring the cotton-ball haze I felt encased by, I grabbed my keys and gym backpack from the locker room and walked out into the parking lot. After trying to get into someone else’s black Honda Civic (forgetting, in my fog, that we replaced my old car for the Mom Car), I put the key in my car’s ignition and sat there for a few seconds.
And then a few seconds more.
It wasn’t until I was out there for about two full minutes that I thought “Hey, might want to double-check that Dexcom reading” with my meter. The receiver was now showing some double-down arrows. And my glucose meter confirmed with a bright, shiny 35 mg/dl.
“Oh, you suck,” I said directly to my diabetes. And like a fast, hot breeze, all the symptoms of the low hit in full force, as though seeing the number made it actually real. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
May 15th, 2011 by KerriSparling in True Stories
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September will mark 25 years for me with type 1 diabetes, but I still haven’t learned that an afternoon of lazy 200+ mg/dl’s that won’t budge, even after multiple boluses (and one really solid rage bolus where I actually grunted “You. Frigging. Diabetes.” as my fingers mashed the buttons), after repeated tests that showed climbing numbers … wouldn’t you think I’d inspect that infusion set? Maybe just give it a peek? See how things are doing there, on the back of my hip, where that 6 mm cannula is resting (hopefully) comfortably?
Oh, you mean I shouldn’t have waited until I smelled that distinct scent? The one that smells like a cross between bandaids and the dentist’s office? And then, when I dabbed at the gauze patch around my site and felt the dampness, I still didn’t really hone in on it because I was so high that everything was on like a 20 minute delay? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
July 31st, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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I have no idea how it happened, but yesterday was a crummy day, diabetes-wise. Somehow, early in the evening, I heard the Dexcom singing from the kitchen countertop, and BSparl and I went over to investigate.
“High.” With a long line at the very top of the Dexcom screen.
“Hi to you, jerkface,” I said, pulling out my meter to see just what the greeting was about. And I saw a sticky 451 mg/dl blinking back at me.
“What the fern?” I couldn’t figure out how I ended up so high, especially since after lunch I was 174 mg/dl and flatlined on the Dex.
And I was so angry. How does this happen? Did I eat the wrong thing? Take a shallow bolus? Is the pump ferning with me? Could the insulin have spoiled? Did I just lose track of everything and my numbers went berserk on me? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
May 29th, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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You know you’re a diabetic mommy when…
- The bottle of glucose tabs is just as important as the bottle of breast milk in the diaper bag.
- You have already started wondering how you’re going to explain juice as “medicine” to the kiddo.
- When you wake up for 3am feedings and they double as a 3am blood sugar check.
- You start cooing sweetly at your meter when it gives you a result of 100 mg/dl. (“Oooh, what a good meter you are! Yes you are!”)
- Your baby ends up with a dot of blood on the back of her pajamas from your middle-of-the-night blood sugar check that didn’t stop bleeding right away.
- When you talk about “the pump,” you need to clarify “the insulin one, not the boob one.”
- Sometimes you have to draw numbers to see who gets to feed the baby. And by “draw” we mean blood samples.
- Nothing makes you happier than a full baby with a clean diaper and a full pump with a full battery.
- You need a diaper bag just for diabetes supplies.
- Your bedside table has just as many burp clothes as used test strips gathered at its base.
And when the Dexcom starts to “BEEEEEEEP!” you wonder if it needs a diaper change.
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
