I made a note on my calendar to call Dr. S today about the bloodwork I had done last week. His nurse told me it may be a week or two before I got results and that I could call any time to see if they were in.

I got impatient (go figure!) and called yesterday. After going through automated phone Hell, I got to the voice mail of the nurse. Her mailbox said feel free to leave a message, but be aware that it may take me 72 hours to get back to you. *sigh*

So I left a message fully expecting NOT to hear from her any time soon. I considered calling again today, but even though I'm impatient I'm not a pest. Well, maybe sometimes.

  (READ MORE)

Diabetes is a unique disease in many ways.

One way that I never really realized until recently is the guilt it places on the patient.

With other diseases, your doctor is in control of everything. Your medicine, how often you take it, and how much. But with Diabetes, the patient is the one who has to manage it. So when there is a problem, the patient gets blamed.

But is that fair? Sure, I know that I decide if I am going to take my insulin on time, or bolus correctly. I am the one who either chooses to exercise or not and eat healthy foods or not. Those are up to me.

But, tell me this, who is to blame when I take my insulin correctly, exercise, do everything right, and for no reason my blood sugar is 270?

  (READ MORE)

Did you ever have one of those days at work when you just couldn't make time for a break?  One of those days when you didn't stop to eat, drink, or go to the restroom?  One of those days when you were fully aware of the need to take a break, but you just couldn't stop for one?

Right about now, that's how life with diabetes is feeling for me. 

I just need a minute to breathe.  A minute to not think about this.  A minute wherein my mind isn't  consumed with my last inexplicable, frustrating number - or with the next test and the mystery and aggravation it could hold.  A minute to not think about the destruction this disease causes - the destruction that it is causing in me. 

And I know that I'm not going to get that minute. 

  (READ MORE)

I hit "ESC" on Toohey to double check when my last bolus was. Yep, right on time. I suspect I'll be slightly high since I changed my site this morning and had a fast-food breakfast. But when I see 304 I'm shocked. I squeezed out another glob of blood and checked again. This time 302. Son of a f*%#ing b*&%h!

I had taken 9.5 units to correct for a hideous fasting (which is why I changed my site a day early; I'd been running high since I put that site in on Sunday morning) and for the excessive amount of carbs I was eating for breakfast. I had even logged on to the restaurant's web site for nutrition information before bolusing.

I'm so livid now that I can't finish doing what I was doing. I can't think. What the hell is wrong? Two things came to mind:  (READ MORE)

Remember that silly/sarcastic quote that people were spouting off some time ago? The one about stress? Stress: The confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it. I like it better when there are some choice words replaced, but this is a family place!

Stress comes in many forms, though, not just from anger and frustration, as the quote above demonstrates. Stress comes from having too much to do and not enough time to do it in; from lack of sleep; from poor blood sugar management; and a myriad other situations. All of which can wreak havoc on every part of your diabetes management. (READ MORE)

The combination of applying a new insulin pod and watching the nineteenth century framed classic, “Sense and Sensibility”, left me in a peculiar state of English tongued thought:

Can the trials bestowed by diabetes ever leave a notion of temporary withdraw from its present course, lest we imagine the worst? At what point would one reprieve to dwindle its preoccupation? And namely- how the heck do you take a break from diabetes!?

Not seeing the doc for most of the year is a start. (READ MORE)