So a really weird thing happened tonight. I knew I wanted to go swimming, so I did my usual swimming strategy for food and insulin. I walked to the pool (as I've been doing for the last few weeks). Got into my bathing suit, did glucose: 6.5 mmol/L.
Huh. What do I do now?
The smart thing would be to call it a day. I tried, but no dice. Pack up, walk back home.
What I actually did was go swimming anyway. I had some regular pop. Did glucose at the side of the pool. It was up to 6.9 mmol/L. Drank a bit more pop, jumped in.
Of course I didn't do anything stupid. I swam slower than I would have normally. I swam a lot less than I would have normally. And I checked my glucose part way through the swim before continuing. I was conscious the entire time that not only did I have to make sure my glucose stayed high enough during the swim, but to walk back home too. So I made sure I did not overdo it at all.
And here I am, safe and sound back home.
And now that I'm back home, my glucose has been slowly climbing. Go figure. So I'll keep an eye on things tonight and see what happens.
I should also add - do not try exercising if you do not think your glucose is high enough! I know my body well enough that I trusted that I would be high enough to do a *little* bit (while monitoring the entire time to make sure I WAS high enough to exercise). When in doubt, talk to your diabetes management team for help!!!
Side note: I made a friend in the change room today. She saw me doing glucose before I took off my pump and was like "You have Type 1 diabetes, don't you?" Turns out she was a nurse just heading home. :)
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Sensor Success!
The second sensor I put in was a complete successful!
After putting it in, it was acting up and I thought it wouldn't last either. But at about 3pm on the second day it magically calibrated properly and started giving me relatively accurate results! (There were some places where it was off a little bit, but nothing like what was happening with the first one!) It ended today, giving me my first successful six days with a sensor!
Hilariously, I thought it was going to end at 8:30pm. I wanted to go swimming, but was debating about waiting until after it ended, or going and trying to catch my swimming on the tail end of the sensor. I opted for the latter option, but the sensor ended at 8am (right in the middle of my swim) so I didn't really get the information I wanted. Oh well!
I just spent about an hour going over the results. I had a couple of major fails with carb counting and my period started unexpectedly early. So I wasn't sure what kind of information I'd be getting off of this sensor. But I did find a couple of places I wanted to tighten up my basal a bit because it looks like my glucose was crashing. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until my period is over to see what effect these changes have!
Oh, as a side note, I swam for about 40 minutes today! Last time I swam for 35 minutes, and the two times before that were only 30 minutes each. I swam about 2100 meters, and tread water for about 7 minutes! And I did it all during the heaviest day of my period! Go me! :)
After putting it in, it was acting up and I thought it wouldn't last either. But at about 3pm on the second day it magically calibrated properly and started giving me relatively accurate results! (There were some places where it was off a little bit, but nothing like what was happening with the first one!) It ended today, giving me my first successful six days with a sensor!
Hilariously, I thought it was going to end at 8:30pm. I wanted to go swimming, but was debating about waiting until after it ended, or going and trying to catch my swimming on the tail end of the sensor. I opted for the latter option, but the sensor ended at 8am (right in the middle of my swim) so I didn't really get the information I wanted. Oh well!
I just spent about an hour going over the results. I had a couple of major fails with carb counting and my period started unexpectedly early. So I wasn't sure what kind of information I'd be getting off of this sensor. But I did find a couple of places I wanted to tighten up my basal a bit because it looks like my glucose was crashing. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until my period is over to see what effect these changes have!
Oh, as a side note, I swam for about 40 minutes today! Last time I swam for 35 minutes, and the two times before that were only 30 minutes each. I swam about 2100 meters, and tread water for about 7 minutes! And I did it all during the heaviest day of my period! Go me! :)
Saturday, 19 November 2016
Weight Update for Nov 19 2016
I was going to weigh myself yesterday, but got up earlier than planned and ate something. So here's my numbers for today instead:
weight: 207.0 lbs
fat percentage: 44.5%
hydration: 38.1%
muscle: 27.3%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2328
Not bad! Lost two pounds in one week (which is a healthy amount), lost one full percentage point of fat, and gained about half a point of muscle!
This is super exciting because I feel like I've been eating too much crap since Halloween. First I was eating too many chips in the aftermath of Halloween (I had a full box leftover - I ended up taking most of it to work so I wouldn't feel obligated to eat it all). Then a friend of mine brought me a huge box of Halloween chocolate. I gave a good chunk of that away, but kept a little more than I thought I had.
We'll see how things go as I get closer to my period though...I seem to eat more around that time (which apparently is an actual scientific thing!) But hopefully the swimming will help negate that a bit!
Quick update on the sensor too. Sensor #2 had a bit of a rocky start (as I mentioned, it hurt when I inserted it and seemed to have a bit of blood around it), but has otherwise been fine! After the first twelve to eighteen hours, it became reasonably accurate with where my blood sugar was. I'm at about 3.5 days with it right now and should make it through to the 6th day without a problem now!
weight: 207.0 lbs
fat percentage: 44.5%
hydration: 38.1%
muscle: 27.3%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2328
Not bad! Lost two pounds in one week (which is a healthy amount), lost one full percentage point of fat, and gained about half a point of muscle!
This is super exciting because I feel like I've been eating too much crap since Halloween. First I was eating too many chips in the aftermath of Halloween (I had a full box leftover - I ended up taking most of it to work so I wouldn't feel obligated to eat it all). Then a friend of mine brought me a huge box of Halloween chocolate. I gave a good chunk of that away, but kept a little more than I thought I had.
We'll see how things go as I get closer to my period though...I seem to eat more around that time (which apparently is an actual scientific thing!) But hopefully the swimming will help negate that a bit!
Quick update on the sensor too. Sensor #2 had a bit of a rocky start (as I mentioned, it hurt when I inserted it and seemed to have a bit of blood around it), but has otherwise been fine! After the first twelve to eighteen hours, it became reasonably accurate with where my blood sugar was. I'm at about 3.5 days with it right now and should make it through to the 6th day without a problem now!
Tuesday, 15 November 2016
Sensor Fail
Well last night was hell.
My sensor kept insisting I was low. To the point of suspending my insulin. Multiple tests showed me that no, I was actually fine (the lowest test I saw was about 5.4 mmol/L). I phoned the Medtronic helpline at about 2am. We troubleshooted some stuff and I thought we had fixed the issue. So I went to sleep.
I woke up around 8am to more alarms. My pump had lost contact with the sensor. I got it all talking again, then went back to sleep.
Around 10am, the sensor suspended my pump's insulin yet again. I guess I was so exhausted that I slept through the alerts for about an hour before finally waking up. I called Medtronic again, but was told they're super busy and will call me back as soon as possible.
Around that time, I thought the sensor started working. But no, it swung to saying I was too high (like in the 17-18 mmol/L range all afternoon). Once again, blood tests revealed that no, I was not that high (more in the 11 mmol/L range).
So about a half hour ago, Medtronic got back to me. They told me to pull the sensor and try a new one. I took a picture of the old one to remember how the tape should look (and added it to a new page I just made called "Hints" so I'll easily be able to find it again).
I once again used the inserter-thingy. I'm a bit worried that the new sensor is going to fail as well - it hurt a bit at insertion and looks a bit bloody. But I guess we'll see what happens in a few hours.
And hopefully I'll actually be able to sleep more tonight!!!!
My sensor kept insisting I was low. To the point of suspending my insulin. Multiple tests showed me that no, I was actually fine (the lowest test I saw was about 5.4 mmol/L). I phoned the Medtronic helpline at about 2am. We troubleshooted some stuff and I thought we had fixed the issue. So I went to sleep.
I woke up around 8am to more alarms. My pump had lost contact with the sensor. I got it all talking again, then went back to sleep.
Around 10am, the sensor suspended my pump's insulin yet again. I guess I was so exhausted that I slept through the alerts for about an hour before finally waking up. I called Medtronic again, but was told they're super busy and will call me back as soon as possible.
Around that time, I thought the sensor started working. But no, it swung to saying I was too high (like in the 17-18 mmol/L range all afternoon). Once again, blood tests revealed that no, I was not that high (more in the 11 mmol/L range).
So about a half hour ago, Medtronic got back to me. They told me to pull the sensor and try a new one. I took a picture of the old one to remember how the tape should look (and added it to a new page I just made called "Hints" so I'll easily be able to find it again).
 |
| The "doughnut" tape placement kind of confused me without this pic. |
And hopefully I'll actually be able to sleep more tonight!!!!
Monday, 14 November 2016
Sensor Refresher
Today I went in to my clinic for a refresher course on sensors. The new sensors are so awesome - they now last six days instead of 3, and you only have to calibrate them every 12 hours instead of 8! Everyone who participated was walked through the steps of setting one up - so I've got one running for the next six days!
I don't really remember using the little transmitter (although I totally did back in 2010) so it feels new and so much better than my original transmitter, which is the one I remember using. I was happy to realize that even though some of the technology has changed a bit, I still pretty much remembered what I was doing. And the new alerts and things are relatively straightforward, so I should be okay moving forward.
Other important note: I used the sensor inserter-thingy (although I had to do it away from the rest of the group because I was still a bit freaked out at the thought of doing it). And using it was totally fine! It'll probably take me a few more tries before I'm totally over the fear though.
The sensor is totally up and running right now. It uses so much less tape and stuff than I had to use years ago, which is amazing in my mind. And even better - I'll be able to go swimming with it on tonight (apparently the little transmitter, when properly connected to a sensor, is water-tight)! The transmitter has a 40 minute memory, so if I decide to leave my pump in my locker the transmitter will be able to hold the data for me. Of course, I'm thinking I'll probably just bring my pump with me to the pool deck and leave it in a ziplock bag instead - I don't want to risk losing any data!
I don't really remember using the little transmitter (although I totally did back in 2010) so it feels new and so much better than my original transmitter, which is the one I remember using. I was happy to realize that even though some of the technology has changed a bit, I still pretty much remembered what I was doing. And the new alerts and things are relatively straightforward, so I should be okay moving forward.
Other important note: I used the sensor inserter-thingy (although I had to do it away from the rest of the group because I was still a bit freaked out at the thought of doing it). And using it was totally fine! It'll probably take me a few more tries before I'm totally over the fear though.
 |
| This doesn't look as scary as the old one I remember! |
The sensor is totally up and running right now. It uses so much less tape and stuff than I had to use years ago, which is amazing in my mind. And even better - I'll be able to go swimming with it on tonight (apparently the little transmitter, when properly connected to a sensor, is water-tight)! The transmitter has a 40 minute memory, so if I decide to leave my pump in my locker the transmitter will be able to hold the data for me. Of course, I'm thinking I'll probably just bring my pump with me to the pool deck and leave it in a ziplock bag instead - I don't want to risk losing any data!
 |
| Here's the old one for comparison. There's something about an open inserter-thing that just fills me with dread! |
Sil-serter
I've had an insulin pump for many, many years now. I've also been using Silhouette infusion sets for the entire time but have been absolutely terrified to use the Sil-serter. Don't ask me why. So yes, I have manually inserted EVERY SINGLE INFUSION SET I've ever done.
When I recently got my new pump, they included a Sil-serter. I originally was going to throw it out like I've done with the other ones. But something stopped me. I remembered when I was first diagnosed with diabetes many, many (24) years ago, I was terrified of the lancing machine too. The nurses always did fingerpokes manually; it was my dad who talked me into giving the device a try (he refused to do the manual pokes for me - I was quite young at the time and my parents were taking care of my diabetes needs back then). So I did try it and it honestly wasn't so scary.
Thinking back to that, I decided yo try cobquering my fear and at least giving the Sil-serter a try. Besides if I hated it, I could always go back to manually inserting the infusion sets. I was going to try it a few days ago when I wanted to try another alternate site (my bum) and realized I couldn't reach everything on my own. But I took one of the papers off too soon before I read the instructions. I probably *could* have used it anyway, but didn't want to be worrying about it sticking when I've never used the thing before.
So today, I did a site change with the Sil-serter. And it was honestly 100% totally fine. Well, other than the moment I realized I couldn't really hang onto the thing with both hands and worried about how I'd detach it from the inserted site. But I got it detached!
And yes, I was left wondering what I had been so afraid of all these years (we are talking like over ten years by the way). The Sil-serter worked totally fine, didn't hurt, and gave me access to a whole new place I didn't realize I could use! That's great. My advice for anyone else who is afraid like I was - honestly, just give it a shot. Even if you hate it, you'll feel so much better having conquered your fear!
Now we'll see how my bum works as an alternate site! :)
 |
| The Sil-serter |
Friday, 11 November 2016
Weight Update for Nov 11 2016
If I'm planning on swimming for a month, I thought it would be a good idea to weigh in at the beginning of everything. So here are today's numbers:
weight: 209.2 lbs
fat percentage: 45.5%
hydration: 37.4%
muscle: 26.8%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2341
It'll be interesting to see what happens. My weight will hopefully go down a bit and I hope to see the muscle going up a bit, too. I guess we'll see!
weight: 209.2 lbs
fat percentage: 45.5%
hydration: 37.4%
muscle: 26.8%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2341
It'll be interesting to see what happens. My weight will hopefully go down a bit and I hope to see the muscle going up a bit, too. I guess we'll see!
Thursday, 10 November 2016
Month of Swimming!
Today was my first day swimming since last spring! Well, other than going during the summer - but that was more splashing around at a lake fun swimming. This was actually working out harder fun swimming. Because swimming in my mind is always fun!
I decided to get myself a month membership at one of the athletic centers that has a big pool. My rationale is that the month will expire and then it's Christmas, so I won't be really going swimming at that point anyway.
This was also the first time I can think of that I went swimming on my own. Over the last few years, every time I've gone has always been with someone. And don't get me wrong, that's fun. But there was something particularly nice about going on my own today. I didn't have to worry about anyone else waiting for me in the change room. And after the stresses of the last few days (in the wake of the American Election, I've been reassuring a few people that the world is not in fact doomed. It's taking a bit of a toll on me emotionally to be honest), it was wonderful to have thirty minutes in the pool not talking to anyone.
Because let's be honest: thirty minutes was more than enough. I haven't been swimming like this since the spring and my arm muscles were already protesting by about the fifteen minute mark. But that's another thing that's nice about the month pass - I can take a bunch of shorter swims without feeling like I'm wasting money!
I totally forgot my goggles in the change room too, which sucked. But I stayed mostly on my back and kept my face out of the water for anything on my front (I didn't want my eyes all red for work this evening). I'm sure I'll remember my goggles next time!
Due to the fact that my arms will most likely be sore for a few days, I'll probably be waiting until early next week to go back to the pool (although I *may* be able to fit something in on Friday night). I'm excited no matter when I fit in another swim - I didn't realize how much I missed being in the pool.
I decided to get myself a month membership at one of the athletic centers that has a big pool. My rationale is that the month will expire and then it's Christmas, so I won't be really going swimming at that point anyway.
This was also the first time I can think of that I went swimming on my own. Over the last few years, every time I've gone has always been with someone. And don't get me wrong, that's fun. But there was something particularly nice about going on my own today. I didn't have to worry about anyone else waiting for me in the change room. And after the stresses of the last few days (in the wake of the American Election, I've been reassuring a few people that the world is not in fact doomed. It's taking a bit of a toll on me emotionally to be honest), it was wonderful to have thirty minutes in the pool not talking to anyone.
Because let's be honest: thirty minutes was more than enough. I haven't been swimming like this since the spring and my arm muscles were already protesting by about the fifteen minute mark. But that's another thing that's nice about the month pass - I can take a bunch of shorter swims without feeling like I'm wasting money!
I totally forgot my goggles in the change room too, which sucked. But I stayed mostly on my back and kept my face out of the water for anything on my front (I didn't want my eyes all red for work this evening). I'm sure I'll remember my goggles next time!
Due to the fact that my arms will most likely be sore for a few days, I'll probably be waiting until early next week to go back to the pool (although I *may* be able to fit something in on Friday night). I'm excited no matter when I fit in another swim - I didn't realize how much I missed being in the pool.
Friday, 4 November 2016
Weight Update November 3rd
With all this talk of pumps lately, I haven't thought to weigh myself. Here are the numbers from earlier today:
weight: 209.8 lbs
fat percentage: 46.0%
hydration: 37.1%
muscle: 26.6%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2344
fat percentage: 46.0%
hydration: 37.1%
muscle: 26.6%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2344
I had a period in there, where I was totally eating way more than I normally do. And Halloween has just passed. I have a lot of chips leftover and have been eating too much of them lately too. So even though I was down to 204.6 lbs in early October, I'm back up to almost 210. :(
With that in mind, I'm seriously considering getting myself a one month membership to go swimming. The one month time frame is really good right now because it'll expire right before Christmas, when I'm not likely to go swimming anyway. I've got a few chunks of time off so I'm hoping I can fit swimming in a few times each week (possibly once after work and once during the afternoon).
I've also replaced my runners (hilariously with the exact same pair I bought last time) in the hopes that I will be motivated to get back out walking. I walked a ton over the summer, and totally wore that last pair out (although I'm going to keep them for work because they'll be fine for that)!
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
Alternate Infusion Set Site - 3 Day Leg Trial
Three days ago, I tried using my leg for my infusion set site. As I mentioned when I first put it in, it felt a bit weird but seemed to be okay. The site lasted the three days; I took it out this morning though because the area on my thigh was getting sore yesterday. There was no bruising or anything that looked wrong with the site. My thought is that my thighs are moving a lot more than my torso in day to day life, which was irritating the area.
It was also a bit of an awkward place to deal with at times. Like I got worried I might knock it out while I was sleeping.
Other than that though, everything seemed fine. My glucose wasn't higher or lower than what I expected it to be, which was great. And like I said, the site lasted just fine. It even went in really easily, which I didn't expect for some reason.
So all in all, it's great to have this as an option for another site. But I don't think it's the best site to be using on a regular basis.
I think next time (not this time though - I went back to my side) I'm going to give my arm a try. I'll just have to make sure it's during a bit of a cold snap so I've got long sleeves on!
It was also a bit of an awkward place to deal with at times. Like I got worried I might knock it out while I was sleeping.
Other than that though, everything seemed fine. My glucose wasn't higher or lower than what I expected it to be, which was great. And like I said, the site lasted just fine. It even went in really easily, which I didn't expect for some reason.
So all in all, it's great to have this as an option for another site. But I don't think it's the best site to be using on a regular basis.
I think next time (not this time though - I went back to my side) I'm going to give my arm a try. I'll just have to make sure it's during a bit of a cold snap so I've got long sleeves on!
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