Flying High

I finally came down from the high blood glucose scurry I have been on the past few weeks it mysteriously dropped that very same day I got my period. I wish I could tell when my hormones decide to go crazy as it did the past three weeks.


Last night was an adventure Tuesday evenings are site change evenings at the House O Adjoa, Saturday Mornings is site and cartridge change. After an evening run, I ripped out my old site enjoyed a long hot shower and inserted a new site. I settled down to once again try to get Windows Mobile Device center to communicate with my pocket PC phone, this problem is getting old and on my last nerves. Just when I thought I had figured out the issue my laptop battery dies, I will tackle this issue at another time.


I tested my blood glucose which was in a good range and proceeded to watch Gilmore girls I cried when Rory graduated from Yale. You will think my emotional state will have clued me in, I watched Veronica Mars, teased my sister for surfing the net via her pocket PC phone because her laptop also died and was charging.


I drifted off to sleep, woke up after about two hours to pee, drink water and turn off the TV noting to myself to have a greener day tomorrow before getting back into bed.

I struggled to tell the time I think its 8am but it’s still dark out, it must be 3am. I need to pee and my mouth is sticky and dry I need water I get out of bed. The water is making me nauseous, maybe it’s too warm my blood glucose rings in at 15mmol/l (270) I take a correction insulin dose and go back to sleep. I wake up at 6am with blood glucose of 18mmol/l (324), feeling like I have been run over by a trucker trailer.


My insulin pump site was completed detached from my body! WHAT? I have no idea how or when it happened. I have been pretty lucky and had only had one bad site prior to this I re-inserted a new site and went to work.
I went through the day angry, angry at diabetes.

Investing in me

It had become harder and harder to tame the beast using multiple daily injections, I am also super sensitive to insulin that meant having to wait till I am super high to correct via injections or risk being a yo-yo. I do not like playing with yo-yos let alone subjecting myself to being one, this lead to erring on staying high to avoid being bouncer except weeks turned to months, months turned to a year I was waking up high feeling like I had just finished going a few rounds with Mike Tyson instead of the nine plus hours of rest I just woken from. Taking a correct dose with breakfast brought me down nicely till the evening hours when I got ready for my next boxing match - I mean sleep.

I started looking into an insulin pump; I knew my provincial and supplemental insurance would not cover a pump I had to pay for the pump out of pocket.
As I talked it over with my sister she quickly reminded me of the fact that I had happily paid for braces out of pocket adding, --

“With those high blood glucose you may be paying for some more dental work sooner or later if you want to keep that smile”…………

Hmm as I flossed that night her voice like a broken record played over and over in my head.
I had just worn braces for the second time in my adult life and was extremely happy with the results. I was planning my next steps in cosmetic dentistry and had already met with the doctor, a plan drawn, which involved removing some of my gums to expose a little more teeth although now straight they a little. I would have followed up with a whitening zoom treatment sadly all out of pocket after all that is what people see not high blood glucose!

My plans seemed so vain seeing that I was melting from the inside out - a melt that would eventually melt away, what people see, from high blood glucose. I did some research online got all the information packages and setup meeting with the reps. I told all the reps upfront that I was meeting with the other reps to compare and contrast some were very pusher and told me their pump is the best and to not waste my time meeting with the other companies some were pampers themselves and were nice, pleasant telling me the most important thing will be getting on a pump any smart pump.

I met the Animas rep at a Starbucks a block away from home, on my way for a run. He was one of the reps who were happy to be a pump resource regardless of which company’s product I choose. He also had three of the four pumps with him to show me, he went through all the screens on each and every pump pointing out the different names used for the same things on each pump. We swapped diagnoses stories and waited for my sister and running partner when she arrived, before I even introduced them to each other I asked my sister to pick the pump she preferred.

She picked the Animas pump over the other two, she preferred it looks she later told me. Reservoir size is not an issue I go six days before changing the reservoir, battery life is amazing plus pumpcy has been very good to me.

I may not have the Hollywood smile but an insulin pump has been by far the best better investment.

Extended & Combination bolus – An awesome power in the palm of my hand.

It is no secret how much I am in love with my insulin pump “Pumcy”, it is constantly attached to me infusing live sustaining insulin it makes managing my diabetes a little less annoying. It is often Pumcy, Adjoa and the city.
At this time of the year - there is a chill in the air and restaurants go through a post-Christmas drought not only because we are all trying so hard to hang on to our weight loss new years resolutions but the Christmas season has also left a dent in our wallets. In an effort to cure restaurant hibernation Vancouver tourism board and Visa presents the city with the most affordable way to experience the city on a plate, participating stylist and swanky restaurants offer a supreme three course dinner at inexpensive fixed price of $15, $25 or $35 per person. This event is also a way to feature British Columbia’s wines top restaurants are usually completely booked mere hours after they start accepting reservations.
Last Saturday our dine out Vancouver was experienced at Griffins one of the restaurants located at The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Griffins is the “causal” of the hotel’s restaurants and was offering a three course dinner at $25.00 per person. My carefully selected menu included Griffins’ Green Salad followed by a Squash and Ricotta Canneloni and for dessert a selection from their decadent dessert buffet featuring dozens of freshly baked desserts. My before diner blood glucose reading was 5.6, I used the combination bolus that featured a standard meal bolus with an extended bolus. 40% of my bolus was given upfront with the rest (60%) delivered extendedly for over a two hour period. An hour into dinning and my blood glucose rang in at 5.8, two hours later I a sat at 5.6. Curiously, I tested again at the three-hour mark 5.6 and 5.8 at the four-hour mark.

My pocket pancreas handled the outing with grace covering a meal that consisted of both rapidly and slowly absorbed carbohydrates as well as all the protein and fat. I believe severing size helped too – What you did not think they were going to exceed the real “standard” serving size on three courses for $25.00.

Forgive me father, for I am sick

I am sick and hating every minute of it, I feel like I have been run over by a truck my body aches and I have a fever. This is a vase improvement from the way I felt last week my body ached, touch made it worse and I was constantly having weird dreams.

One particular dream was about my insulin pump. I dreamt I was at a Diabetes Expo and there was a pump spa booth, I stopped at the booth for some TLC for pumcy. I thought it was the least I could do for such a hard working pump, the lady at the booth took pumcy through the pump spa routine and handed it over back to me. Although identical in every way, I could just tell that it was not pumcy, it did not feel like pumcy I started crying begging the lady to give me back my real pump. She tried consoling me while telling me that was my real pump, reasoning with me, “you were standing here the whole time watching me, that is your pump” But I knew it was not my beloved pumcy, basal rates and insulin to carb ratios were all the same but it still was not pumcy and I could not stop crying. I looked around to get someone to help but it did not look like an Expo anymore it was just the lady and I, I woke up anxiously reaching for my pump. Crazy huh!

I got up Saturday morning and went for a run; yes I did, while sick. Why? Because I needed to get out of the apartment and secondly walking would have taken too long and I just wanted to be back in bed as soon as possible. Lastly, I could hear my mom’s voice telling me “you need to get up and get some vigorous physical activity or you will never get better” These are words I heard growing up. Mom believes you are allowed a day or at most two days sick after which you need to get back to your normal level of activity this she use to tell me is the last piece of the healing process, it what your body needs to help the medication and nutrients kill what ills you. I am still not 100% and my body ache is now not intensifying by touch.

Typing this reminded me of the day my Mom explained her healing theory to me. I was in grade one, a month before my older brother and I had survived being caught in a cross fire of a violent coup d’état (mini civil war). Mom used the coup as an education moment each fraction representing either medication, nutrition or exercise together bring an outcome. The violence of a civil war she said is the same as the fight happening in the body the symptoms of illness she said was the excuses given to justify the evil that is the sickness. The strangest thing is it all made sense to me back then.

I did it

Disclaimer - remember that your mileage may very; also I am not a doctor I just practise on myself.

I had previously talked about my frustrations Running with Pump. Conventional wisdom that advices on reducing basal insulin and / or skipping pre- meal bolus insulin prior to excising only works for me if I am going on a long walk which is not practical especially during the winter months.

This past Saturday morning we ran for about 8miles before breakfast and my starting blood glucose was at 5.3mmol/l (95) I bolus 2 units of insulin I am extremely sensitive to insulin a side effect of running as a result, with a correction factor of 1 unit of insulin to 4.0mmol/l (72) I was scared shitless, with images of having a really bad low where I can not help myself and my sister not being able to handle me by herself swimming in my mind. My sister’s fear was apparent when she grabbed her cell phone an item that is normally not part of our running arsenal. For a little peace of mind I washed down a few pieces of milk chocolate with water 10grams of carbs worth. I was also counting on chocolate being a low GI food to help hopefully!

45mins into the run and my blood glucose was 5.4mmol/l (97) normally I would be around 11mmol/l (198) or higher at this point. I was feeling good and was happy with the lack of high blood glucose symptoms I have come to associate running with lately. I crossed my fingers and prayed I do not go hypo, did I mention I am scared of lows. Another 45mins pasted my meter said I was 5.8mmol/l (104) still feeling great I remarked to my sister

“So this is how it feels like to run on normal blood glucose eh!”

I finished the run with a blood glucose reading of 5.4mmol/l (97) not bad at all if I say so myself, I opted to have a late breakfast devoid of bolus insulin to take care of the delayed workout lows. My blood glucose for the rest of the day was stuck in the 5 – 6mmol/l (90-110) range.

Success will be achieved if this formula works for me 80% of the time I hope it does, I really hope I have found what works for me.

The inspiring statue above greets hundreds of runners / joggers and walkers who make their way around Stanley Parks Seawall daily. It is a statue of Harry Jerome, during his career, he set a total of seven world records, including running the 100 metres in 10.2, 10.1 and finally 10.0 seconds successively, despite suffering an injury so severe at the Perth Commonwealth Games 1962 that doctors initially believed he would never walk again.

Taking it to the next level – I have a dream………….

All through 2005, I dreamt of better control over my blood glucose and overall health but did the bear minimum. Most of 2006 saw me doing the same till I started literally dreaming a different kind of dream, complications, I wake up in panic from a nightmare where I loss my vision or where my limbs are being hacked up by a very mean lady who keeps singing.

Weeping will not save you
For you had time to learn
But you chose not to do so
Now you ripe what you sow

A song my dad sang to a seven year old me when I brought home a bad report card in tears, - OK I know I have daddy issues but that is a different post. After the fifth nightmare I resolved to take back the control, which eventually lead me to an Insulin Pump “Pumcy”.

My toolbox contains a number of things some of which I use and use well and others I use but not to it’s full potential. Pumcy and my blood glucose meter are the most used items in my toolbox that also holds the beautiful seawall at Stanley Park I love to run the seawall, I love the ever changing scenery, the calm I feel in the mist of a bustling park that attracts an estimated eight million visitors a year.

Then there are the ones I dream of using even as they collect dust, a set of measuring cups and a nifty nutritional scale both to aid in accurately counting carbohydrate to help tighten my overall control. Last but not least is the all important bathroom scale to help attain and maintain a healthy BMI.

I have a dream that by the end of 2007 I will be using all the tools available to me in my toolbox and will have learnt to use Pumcy and the insulin contain in it to their full potential.

Happy Last 2006 Friday!

The last Friday on 2006 and I wonder what 2007 have in store for me. I am hopeful and encourage by all the advances and lessons learnt this year in regards to managing diabetes.

The best health decision by far in 2006 was getting an Insulin Pump even though it meant paying for it out of pocket I am yet to regret making this decision. I believe broke and healthy is much better than rich and sickly. I am so grateful to have been able to get a pump, this saddens me because I know there are lots of people around the world today to whom the diagnoses of type 1 diabetes still is a death sentence. The thought that some people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes will also get possible preventable complications simple because they cannot afford medications is just not right.

Thank God for organizations like Insulin for life (http://www.insulinforlife.org/)
That strives to make a difference that keeps people alive. We are all hopeful of a cure someday but without the help of organizations like them, some people, and a lot more people than necessary will not live to see a cure. I wonder if we can afford a cure when it comes, will insurance cover it?

What is the price for health? What does healthy mean to me? These were all questions I had to ponder in 2006 and questions I am working through.

Running with Pump

Over the past six years I have been running, I learnt how to run on multiply daily insulin injections and never tested blood sugar during runs even on 10k runs. I only test before plus after, on NPH it was a hit or miss however, Lantus as well as Levimer was God sent. They handled running better I always carried glucose tabs with me - certainly not a meter as I did not want to carry medical supplies with me on my runs, lows were treated by the way I felt - Not a good thing to do, nevertheless I did this for years.

Now on my insulin pump, I am learning how to run again only this time I have been running with a meter and checking my blood glucose during my runs. This has been an eye opener for me as I find that my blood sugar rises within the first 30 - 45min of running and sometimes it rises rapidly as well as higher than I would like to see it go. I can start out at 5.2mmol/l (94mg/l) and clock in at 12mmol/l (216mg/l) 30-45min later this is with my normal basal pumping. I have played with giving myself a small - I am terrified of lows, so very tiny, bolus before the start of my run and that seems to combat the rise some, however I lack the courage to increase the amount of bolus cause I am terrified of a big drop hours after my run.

I am getting a little frustrated; I do not want to burn calories just to ingest it again to treat a low. Walking lowers my blood sugar gradually but I do not have enough hours in a day to walk the distance needed for as good a workout as running. Doing the stairs in my 12-floor building has the same effect on my blood sugar as running, I would like to loose some weight in 2007 with exercise but right now it looks like running high blood sugar for a few months to lose weight might be easier if not even pleasurable -- think all the food I can eat (Ok that was the devil talking) and who want to flirt with complications anyway.
I am thinking about maybe increasing my bolus, then running a temp basal for a few hours after my run I am not sure that will work. I also know that what works for one person may not work for me I however wish for a hint on what has worked for others.
I really want to be the boss of my blood sugar if that is ever possible.

Suggestions…………………………….?