High Maintenance

I received a great compliment from one of my doctors this morning during a follow up appointment. Dr. Tran is my endocrinologist - her mission? To help me strategize the best methods to maintain control over my blood sugars. With my crazy lifestyle (always working & running around, never eating my meals at the same times every day), it is a constant challenge.

So what's on the horizon for me, Type 1 Diabetic on four to five insulin shots every day? An insulin pump. For the uninformed, an insulin pump is a kind of replacement pancreas. It replaces the need for me to purposefully give myself insulin injections by not only taking over that chore, but delivering insulin to my body on an hourly basis as well as when I actually consume food - very convenient for me in particular; who usually finds herself out and about WITHOUT her medication gear, naturally resulting in blood sugar chaos when I eat and don't take any insulin to offset the food.

A few weeks ago I was in Dr. Tran's office, and because my blood sugars are all over the map (high highs, low lows) she decided to hook me up to this little gadget that would record my blood sugars 24 hours a day, ultimately giving her the ability to graph the data on a chart. With this data, we could discuss what changes to make to my insulin dosages, when I am injecting, when I am eating, and what times of the day do I need to make special exceptions; an example of this is I would take a lower insulin dosage at lunchtime where I am running around in the middle of the day, and a higher insulin dosage at dinnertime when I am sitting on my butt watching television.

It was fascinating to see my day-to-day graphed out on a chart. My job was to record everything I ate, how much insulin I was taking and at what times... and together Dr. Tran and I analyzed the data. She explained to me how my body works to process the foods I am eating, and how the insulin assists in the lowering of my blood sugar... and a few times I came to a few conclusions before she did.

We were discussing my tendency to have a few drinks and share a dessert on occasion at dinnertime, and clearly the days when I had alcohol and dessert caused a delayed spike in my blood sugar readings; I thought about it for a moment, then I asked Dr. Tran, "So, what I think I should do is if I get to the end of my meal and I have been drinking and I share some dessert (three to four bites is my typical), I should take a second insulin shot?"

Dr. Tran looked up at me in surprise. "You are smart," she said. "Some of these connections you are making faster than me!" (and a disclaimer, she is a VERY good endocrinologist)

I smiled. "It's a curse," I told her. She laughed.

So we tweaked my daily insulin and blood sugar monitoring routine, and I set my follow up appointment in two months. I told Dr. Tran I am not adverse to an insulin pump; I simply want to get a handle - medication & lifestyle speaking - on all the pieces and parts of my life that lead to "good blood sugar management." Kind of like: while I agree that a super-duper calculator would allow me to get the answers faster, I still want to understand how to do the calculations the old-fashioned way. I kind of feel like it's a discipline thing. Just like I want to get back on my daily workout routine - not that I gained a bunch of weight since I stopped (in fact, I've lost a few pounds apparently) - but my body looks and feels different. I liked how I looked and felt before. So I know with a little tweaking of my schedule, I can get back there again.

Having these goals - and the strategic plans to reach them - gives my life more normalcy. More inspiration. More... life.

Peace.