There are some days when a person ought to just stay in bed. 

Under the covers.

Cuddled with the cat.

Warm and safe and happy and comfortable.

There are some days when staying in bed is the best possible option.  Of course, those days are often realized in hindsight.  When the proverbial ball is already rolling in the absolute wrong direction.

Today has been, without a doubt, one of those days.

I got up this morning feeling alright.  Fairly well-rested, actually, and not fighting - as I'm wont to do - the inevitable reality that another day has dawned and it can't be spent in the paradise of slumber.

  (READ MORE)

My classes are all over the place this semester. Since I'm down to the final semesters, I don't have much left that I can take outside of my university or online. Plus I'm trying to leave the option to study abroad next semester, which means taking quite a few hardcore classes all at the same time.

I haven't done that since my first year here. After that, I managed to take at least one class online so I could better manage my fatigue. This semester, I wasn't so lucky. But you have to do what you have to do, right?

So far, I'm feeling okay. Just a little extra stress (headaches, sore muscles) from all the emotional things I'm going through right now. The fatigue hasn't set in...and I'm hoping that I can somehow ward it off this semester. But I am fighting against the balance of class and diabetes.

  (READ MORE)

Sounds like a bad sitcom destined for cancellation, but seriously … what is up with Charlie?

He has had chronic stomach pains for weeks and we don't know what's causing it. We thought maybe he had a bug after he woke us up at 5 am last Saturday to tell us that he was about to vomit. Which he did. Once.

If it is a virus, it's the longest one ever. His blood work came back negative for Celiac disease, but Susanne's gluten-free gut tells her otherwise. The peds want to take him off dairy for a week or two to see if the issue lies there.

He has just been very un-Charlie like and I'm getting concerned. Where is the Charlie that harasses us until submission? That begs us to stay up late and devours everything on his plate? He's not eating because he feels sick when he does.

  (READ MORE)

I think one of the things I hate most about my diabetes is that I never seem to follow any patterns. It seems like other people have these stable highs and lows, where it's so much easier to adjust basals or carb intake. But me...my body has a freaking mind of its own!

Before bed last night, my blood sugar was at 159. For me, I'm very comfortable with that number right before bed. It says that I won't wake up too high, but I probably won't drop in the middle of the night either. But I'd just jumped from 103 to 159 after a post-low snack (you know, the snack you eat after you've had the juice about an hour before). So I decided to bolus anyway.

About 4:30am, I woke up with a panic in my gut and a clammy feeling washing over my skin. The CGMS beeped at me LOW! I know! I tested. Sure enough, 60. I treated with 15 grams of orange juice and about 15 grams in graham crackers. Then I went back to sleep. (READ MORE)

Ugh.

That is the perfect one word description of my diabetes management these days.  I am off the rails.  I am not on track.  I am completely (or so it seems) - out of control.  I see highs, I see lows, I see some in-range sugars - but mostly - not. 

Today, for example.  68 mg/dl this morning.  No breakfast, because I was too busy, just some Fuse Banana Colada juice.  119 mg/dl at around noon time.  Salad.  No test until 4pm.  4pm.  And I've tested two times today.  Then I'm 200 mg/dl...  So what do I do?  I have a carb heavy dinner and some ice cream.  I am 236 mg/dl at 6:30 pm.  I am 175 mg/dl now.  Terrible.  Terrible.  Terrible.  And not rare these days.

I haven't been to the gym at all this week.  Work activities.  Home searches...  Other stuff that's - distracting. 

  (READ MORE)

Betty Sue

The first time I knew “it” was in ninth grade. My class had to lead a chapel session at my private school. I was in charge of reading a passage of scriptures and leading music with some of the other kids. It was the first chapel my class had done. We’d be in front of a hundred of our peers and a dozen of our teachers.

(READ MORE)