I thought carefully about what I would wear today, and reconsidered several times. I applied my makeup with an eye toward the wow factor. I wasn't trying to show off, I just feel incredibly good today and wanted to reflect that outwardly.

Truthfully, I couldn't wait to get to my appointment with my endo. Truthfully, I've been waiting for this for some time. Truthfully, if I were still on Byetta I think I would have dreaded this day. Truthfully, with a solid month or so of excellent blood sugars thanks to Novolog and a fairly decent walking schedule, I was proud to report to my endo about how well I believe I'm doing. (READ MORE)

First, an apology: I left you hanging a month ago with part two of my diagnosis story and haven't written the rest of it. So, I'm sorry, and here's what I hope to be part three of four.

I went through nearly two trimesters of my third pregnancy managing my blood sugar with Lantus, good food choices and exercise. Sometime in late September 2005, my blood sugars started not responding well enough to what I was doing, so my educator added Novolog to the mix. I loved it.

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Even though I started hating Byetta toward the end, it still offered me at least one redeeming benefit. I held on to Byetta a lot longer than I should have mainly because it zapped my appetite. From roughly a week in I was hardly ever hungry. In fact, I found myself routinely having rabbit food several meals a day and feeling just fine about it.


I feared the hunger almost immediately, and within days of giving up on Byetta for a number of reasons, I started to experience that dreaded hunger once again. I even did some Google research on appetite suppressants hoping that I could try to have the best of Byetta and Novolog with some herbal or OTC remedy. (READ MORE)

I'm officially off Symlin. I was on the fence for a while, but I'm definitely done with it. I have a brand-new Symlin pen with pen needle attached sitting in my purse waiting to be used. It's essentially wasted now. I'm OK with that. I don't like to waste money or stuff (I'm such a pack rat), so this is really a big step for me. You'll remember when I did pretty much the same thing toward the end of my Byetta run.

The two main reasons are this: I'm tired of the tummy trouble and I eat even when I'm not hungry. The last roughly month of not taking Symlin have been mostly tummy-trouble-free. And it's been a nice change of pace, frankly, to not be constantly wiped out from having diarrhea. Going shopping -- going anywhere, really -- was also taking a chance on having to find a bathroom in an emergency. With three kids in tow. And did I mention it's not fun to rush to a PUBLIC bathroom? (READ MORE)

Fasting: 75. Not unheard of for me, but since I was 216 before bed, I really expected to be in the 100s.

Although I really want to give Byetta a good test by having cereal for breakfast this morning, I decide to go with a bagel instead. At least that way I can see how the medicine works when I don't go into a meal so high.

I am itching to test my sugar at one hour post, but convince myself to wait for two hours. At the 1 hour and 15 minute mark, a coworker comes in with donuts. "Did you take insulin?" she wants to know, showing the donuts off. I explain about the new medicine and that I want to see how it was working before I go off the deep end. I am proud of my will power.

Two hours post breakfast: 84. Ok, I officially love Byetta. However, I'm anxious to see what happens with lunch. (READ MORE)

I'm so frustrated right now. Like cry myself to sleep frustrated. I started walking again five days ago. I had to skip this morning because at 5:50 a.m. my blood sugar was 231. I hate myself for that. But here's what happened. Yesterday, we were invited to a barbeque. In addition to the dessert I left on our kitchen counter, I also forgot to bring my medicine with me. I took the meds when I got home and ate something small just in case, but I still woke up to this hideous number. And of course, no matter how diligent I was all day I remained high because I can't take fast-acting insulin with Byetta. (READ MORE)