Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day!

Diabetes...

I was diagnosed at age 12 and will turn 25 in October. Approaching 13 years...

It doesn't seem like that long, but I think I've adapted as well as I can and some days are definitely better than others. Today was a good day. I slept in till 1:00PM and my blood sugar was 103 when I woke up. I couldn't ask for much better. My blood sugars tend to be lower in the morning and often I wake earlier than I would like to with low blood sugar. I am grateful that my body knows that I need to wake up and I'm always aware and know what I need to do. I'm also grateful that I can live a healthy life and although diabetes sucks at times, I know life could be worse. I've learned to do things a certain way and although I have a lot more things to think about than most people, I try not to let it rule my life or get me down. There are times where I get upset about it, but I think that's normal with any chronic disease.

Carb Counting...

Sometimes I wish I could just eat anything and not worry about how many carbs are in it. I'm always adding and estimating the amount of carbs in any food that I eat. Try counting the carbs for every food you eat for one day. At the beginning when I started counting carbs, I had no clue how many were in all the foods I ate. For a month or so I carried about a carb counting book until I got the hang of things. I also love the nutritional labeling that accompanies almost every food product out there. It makes my life a lot easier, but there are still fruits and fresh things that make carb counting more challenging. I also love the "free" foods where I can pretty much eat any amount of that food and not count a single carb. Hard boiled egg whites, deli ham or turkey, almonds, sugar-free hard candy, light cheese sticks, salad, and green beans are some of my favorites. I'm always trying to find more foods that are low in carbs, but actually taste good and are healthy. Now that the Atkin's Diet Fad has gone away, it's harder to find too many low carb foods, but they're still out there and I just have to look harder to find them. Oh and probably the most annoying thing that people always assume is that I can't eat sweets or candy. I can eat anything I want to! Now, in saying that, I don't eat everything that I want to all the time. Having diabetes has made me very concerned about my diet and I usually try and eat a healthy diet. Blood sugar control is also a lot easier if you eat healthy. I also feel a lot better if I eat well. I do allow myself the occasional sweet, because I have a huge sweet tooth and if I didn't eat real sugar once in awhile I'd go insane. I also try not to keep real candy in my apartment. I do have some sugar free hard candy that I keep around for those times I need a little something sweet. I've found the sugar free Lifesavers are the best and I just recently bought the Lifesaver sugar free butter toffee hard candies and those are pretty good too. As far as chocolate goes, I'm going to eat the real stuff if I need a chocolate fix, because sugar free chocolate has the same amount of fat in it that regular does and regular chocolate is a lot better than sugar free chocolate. I don't really get chocolate cravings though and I keep diet hot chocolate mix around in case I feel the need for some chocolate. As you can see, I've tried almost every sugar free product out there. 

Exercise...

So I love running, but it always makes my blood sugar go down. I've now started taking off my insulin pump while I run, which usually helps my blood sugar stay steady, but I still have frequent lows when I run too far. I used to make sure my blood sugar was 200+ before I ran so it wouldn't get low, but I've noticed I don't feel as good running when it's that high to begin with. I'd prefer to drink water when I run too, but to keep my blood sugar steady I've been drinking Vitamin Water since it's not as sugary as Powerade and Gatorade. As for playing basketball, my blood sugar always increases. So while I'd like to take my insulin pump off when I'm playing because basketball tends to get quite intense, I don't like to because my blood sugar will then go even higher. 

Insulin pump...

I'm on my second insulin pump and this one (Animas IR1250) is waterproof which is nice feature that my last one didn't have. But, all machines tend to break at one time or another and recently it somehow got water in it and stopped working. This episode has happened several times with the Animas pump. The first time, there was crack near the battery well so I figured that is how the water got in. The second time, around the screen there was a suspicious area where I thought water may have been able to get in. This last time, I couldn't find any cracks or suspicious areas, so I'm not exactly sure how water got in it. And I hadn't taken it in any water recently, so I was really puzzled.

Sometimes I wish I didn't have the pump attached to me, but then again it's nice not to have to take several shots each day. And I love telling people about it, because it's a pretty cool little device and most people have no clue how it works.

Well, I'm tired of writing. This was pretty lengthy and if you got to the end I'm impressed. Sorry if I bored you, but hopefully I gave you some insight into what it's like. Oh and I forgot to add that I also prick my finger almost 10 times a day to check my blood sugar. Some people think that my insulin pump checks my sugar too, but maybe one day we'll see a device where it's all integrated and you won't have to wear a separate device to monitor your blood sugars!

Shoes

I went shoe shopping this week because my sweet gray patent shoes ripped! I guess I danced too much in them when I went out with the girls the other weekend! I got them back in November and I figured there was no chance they'd still sell the same ones, but...they do and they had my size! So I ended up getting the same pair and well I found another pair that I of course had to have. Then I was at Target last Friday and somehow ended up in the shoe section and found a pair of pointy flats that I needed. Actually, pointy flats was one of the pairs of shoes that I felt I could use in my collection and I found the cutest shoe at Macy's in NYC in March and they went to get the other shoe and came back and said they couldn't find the other one. I was livid because I had waited over 20 minutes for the guy to go find the other shoe. And they were originally around $100 and they would have been about $30. Oh and last night I ordered this pair that I was thinking about getting when I was in NYC. I also saw them at Century 21 in NYC and was going to have Betty get them when she was downtown, but I decided I should just order them because I'm planning on wearing them to Lily's wedding in June and they're a dressy sandal that'll go perfect with a dress that I already have! I also bought them through a site that accepted Paypal and I had some money in my Paypal account from when I sold some things on eBay, so the sandals ended up only being about $12 once my Paypal credit was applied! Oh and don't think of it like my mom did. She said, so Tia, that means you bought ____ pairs of shoes in one week. I don't like to think of it that way. And I can actually wear all of the pairs except the sandals for clinic. I was thinking practically too when I bought these shoes. Well, enough about shoes, I need to study for a little bit and then get some sleep.

In Need of a New Car

I'm going to start car shopping soon because I can't deal with my car and it's problems. I might even go tomorrow if I get some studying done tomorrow morning! I was going to get up and study this morning since I didn't have class all day, but instead I slept till noon. Yes, noon. I guess I was tired. I did have a long day on Tuesday that consisted of eight hours of class, three games of sand volleyball and running 5 kilometers. I went and got my car today and it ended up being a little over $200, which I guess isn't too bad. But then my car stalled twice today. It has this problem when it is really hot outside where it will just stop running, but it was only 70 degrees at the most today and this was around 5:30 tonight, so it definitely wasn't that hot.  The good news is it started right back up, but I'm not really sure why it shuts off. It's always when the cars not moving either, like when I'm just idling. Hmm...I need to get rid of this car ASAP! 

Things Don't Always Go As Planned

So, my weekend had a very interesting start...

I had a dentist appointment at 8:30am and was over a 1/2 hour late to that because I woke up and just shut off my alarm. Guess I didn't want to get up that early. I was glad my student was able to get me in and I got everything taken care of! Then I only had three hours of class (normally I have four) and after class I had to go to the bank to make a deposit. I was then going to go to the grocery store and run some errands. Well, I never made it past the bank. My car started fine in the parking lot at home, but when I went to start it up after I had been in the bank for a few minutes, nothing happened. I was even just talking to my mom about how

 I really think I should have a more reliable car, because it's had it's share of problems in the past. I'm honestly thinking about leasing one too, because I can't handle any more problems with this car.

So you're thinking big deal, AAA comes and tows the car to a nearby shop and it'll get fixed. Oh and by the way, they think it's the starter. I hope that's all it is. Anyways, I ended up taking the bus home because conveniently there was the right bus stop right in front of the bank. So I guess one thing went my way. And I already pay $9 per quarter to ride the city buses that I haven't rode all year. I was on my way home, when I realized that the bus had a stop at Target, so I decided to get eggs and other various grocery items there since I wouldn't be going to the grocery store anytime soon. I was planning on taking the bus back home, but I ran into a friend who lives really close to me and she offered me a ride home! So, yes another good thing! But...

The night isn't over yet...

I got home and went for a short run (5K) because sometimes running just makes everything better. I then cooked a nice dinner and Karen came over and showed me her dress for a wedding this coming weekend. After dinner, my insulin pump was bugging me (as it had been all day) about it's low battery.

So I figured I should change it. As I'm taking the battery out I notice the entire + end of the battery is corroded. Great. Seriously, could this come at a better time? So I called Animas and since it was late Friday night I wouldn't get a new pump till Monday. I'm just glad I have a good supply of Lantus and lots of needles. I always look forward to taking numerous shots per day. It's sort of nice not having the pump attached to me, but I have to say it definitely has it's advantages and I'm getting sick of the whole shot thing each and every time I eat anything. 

Hopefully next time I update, everything will be in working order. I guess my apartment is extremely organized and clean right now. I had this urge to clean this weekend and I basically cleaned the entire place. I didn't get around to sweeping, but that doesn't take that long and there is always tomorrow!