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It's the end of my logging week again, so I'm sitting down to examine the logbook that I hold so dearly close to my diabetes management's heart. The time that I set apart for this goes something like this. First, I update the logbook with my most recent numbers, Lantus doses, and any important comments including new prescriptions, strange food choices, or exercise. Next, I tally daily averages as well as averages for time of day. After that, I analyze those averages compared to the last weeks averages and look for any resounding patterns that might need changing.

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For the past few years, I've gotten into the bad diabetes habit of skipping boluses. Not food boluses. But blood sugar boluses. I have the habit of foregoing boluses when my blood sugar is 160 and under. I'll see a 140 or 155 and skip the bolus instead of bringing it down to 100. But above 160, I'm good about bolusing to bring the number down (something about those 180s and 200s scare me into submission).

I know that this extremely bad habit leaves my averages a little higher than they should be. And I'm not sure exactly why I do this...maybe over the years, a 150 doesn't seem so bad. Maybe I just get tired of so many injections a day so I leave off the "unnecessary" ones. Maybe it's some habit that I started in my childhood.

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Yesterday I bought a tiny notebook and began my new logging routine. So far (even though I'm only two days in), I've done pretty good with keeping track. I've settled on logging the time, blood sugars, both Humalog and Lantus insulin injections, low treatments, and any strange foods (like a chocolate shake).

I haven't noticed any trends, but then again I'm only two days in. The biggest thing I've noticed is that I jump high after most lows (my habit of overtreating). I doubt that I'll stop overtreating so I think the best way to handle that is to judge my insulin after the lows more accurately...which means actually thinking about the carbs and low combo instead of just (under)guessing on the dose.

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Ever since I got my pump, I stopped logging my blood sugars. Typically, I kept a running chart of every blood sugar categorized by time of day and weekly averages. But since the pump stores all of my information and produces such wonderful graphs, I stopped logging.

However, those graphs do not show specific blood sugar trends on a weekly basis and the numbers are never directly in front of me (haunting me at times). So I decided that I would get back on the logbook wagon.

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In my last post, I gave some of my initial observations of the Android operating system, and how it relates to my cellphone smartphone as a personal-safety device. Now it's time to look at the potential of this device in the hands of some talented developers, and what it might be able to do for diabetes management.

I'm first beginning to wade through the Android/diabetes waters as I write this, so there's a good possibility that some of my wishlist items have already been created. (If you find them, please comment back!) To-date, I've found one comment thread in the "dLife Garage" forum and whatever a simple Google search is throwing at me.

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If nothing else, diabetes has provided me with stories to tell.

Like the time before diagnosis when I peed my pants.  Or the time I told a classmate if they weren't careful, I'd put insulin in their milk and make them diabetic.  Or the time I socked a kid who called a diabetic friend of mine "sugar-freak."  Or the times I've made a donkey of myself during a low.  

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My computer crashed back in April during a typical Texas thunderstorm. I intended to have it fixed within a few weeks, but weeks has turned into months. Losing the computer meant losing my files for the time being and losing access to a printer. All that meant that I didn't have my usual logbook printouts so I wasn't keeping up with anything diabetes related.

It was actually a necessary break. With school and the job hunt and Marvin and vacation and just life being life, I didn't seem to have time for intensive diabetes control. It's a full time job in and of itself; how am I to manage so much?

So Friday night, I got my desk set up here at my mom's house. I coordinated my printer with my laptop and redesigned my logbook. It took a few tries before it printed correctly but I was satisfied. I printed a good supply and sat down to fill in the blanks.

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Now that I've been there and done that as far as graduate school is concerned, I'm trying to focus on other aspects of my life. I've been a full time student for the majority of the last 18 years. I believe that it's time for me to look into other avenues. I believe it's time for me to start focusing on strengthening who I am as an individual to prepare for the rest of my life.

In doing that, I'd like to explain where I am in the furthering myself process. I attempted graduate school for a Master's of Social Work. I hated it and found it wasn't worth the time, energy, and money that I was putting into it. It wasn't hard, it was just pointless in my eyes. So I've decided that program isn't for me.

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I updated my logbook and did the usual averages last night. I jumped from the 160/170 range to the 170/180 range over the last week. That's with a one unit increase in Lantus too.

It seems like my morning numbers have jumped back up again. I'm easily waking up in the 180 to 220 range. A few morning highs are from snacks or large meals the night before, but mostly I'm not dropping at all overnight. So I bumped the Lantus again, this time from 16 units to 17 units at bedtime.

My other problem area is post-meal numbers. There are only a handful of decent spikes after my larger meals (breakfast and dinner). Mostly, I'm staying out of range for several hours on end. So I'm going to spend the week testing my insulin to carb ratios and getting a better feel for exactly what is going on with these post-prandials.

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