Category: Blog

Auto correct got me earlier today.

First, his assistant gave him up – said that the doctor was looking forward to visiting with Dulce. <VBG>

As I posted last week, A1C is tending in the correct direction, as is my weight, blood pressure and the rest of my vitals. Nice to be coming out of the dark woods.

He tweaked my pump settings – ended up with an evil low this afternoon, so it may have been too much but then again I was working in my classroom. I do have around 8000 steps on my Fitbit already.

Someone tweeted today about how wearables do change behavior.

I have several, a Fitbit and an Aria scale. I also have a MyfitnessPal account and use Foursquare.

I use all those check-ins and gadgets to keep me going to the gym and working out even though I fight through arthritis pain to do it. I don’t make the goals as often as I would like but I do see progress.

My latest wearable is a Continuous Glucose Monitor, CGMS to the diabetes crowd and in a little more than a month I have gotten from a 7.9 A1C to a 7.3 which is huge!

FYI, Dulce the diabetes alert dog kept me from too many lows, good dog but not really a wearable, or is she?

Yes, the all work and add an element of game.

Thanks to the Metronic CGMS and changes brought about by it, my A1C is down to 7.3 from 7.9 and I’ve only had it for a month.

I’ve been struggling to get it down for a couple of years, and the CGMs seems to have done the trick!

I have been at the gym every day and doing cardio for about an hour. I will admit I don’t do weights as much as I would like and should, and I need to kick that up.

The good news, my weight has been steady. The bad news, I wanted to lose some more weight and I haven’t really until this week.

Hoping it stays off.

I’ve found out something very odd. Dressing up in the right workout wear helps your workout. Weird.

My favorite – is Zella. For summer, these pants:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/zella-live-in-capri-pants-plus-size/3215864?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=&resultback=571&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-browseresults-_-1_3_C

and these tanks:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/zella-zel-dri-tank-plus-size/3390393?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=WHITE+MELANGE&resultback=799&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-browseresults-_-1_4_C

also these tops:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/zella-zel-dri-tank-plus-size/3390393?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=WHITE+MELANGE&resultback=799&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-browseresults-_-1_4_C

The ruching at the side is flattering and makes you feel a bit slimmer. Also the fabric feels cooler and less sweaty. Much better than t-shirts.

I always feel bad when we have to travel because Dulce doesn’t get much time off. Austin is nice, because there is at least one dog park that we’ve gone to that works out well for us, but it isn’t the same as being at home.

I also have some very strict hotel rules, because I’ve suffered from people’s lack of respect – she is never left in a room by herself – she never made any noise or bothered anyone when we lived in the apartment and besides, she’s with me because I need an alert dog.

She had absolutely no accidents, which has been a concern, because she has eliminated twice in the ring doing agility lately. I think it is my stress.

The hotel helped by putting us as close to the grass as they could. We were two rooms from the elevator, and the elevator was close to the pool.

I was also really good at taking breaks during the day, almost every day but Thursday and Friday.

She alerted Sunday night and Monday night – probably because I spent some time in their pool. I didn’t do that again, because I didn’t want to take that chance. She also alerted on Friday during the day.

She whined once Thursday – letting me know that she needed out. Yes, I can honestly tell the difference between an alert whine and a I need out whine. Also no one else heard either whine.

Met Tara and Duchess finally. They apparently get denied access a lot which is sad, as she needs Duchess much more than I need Dulce.

I think I know why – first of all I'm older and have more presence – I am a 50 something, school teacher. I am not taking crap off of anyone. Plus I'm often limping. She's a cute, bubbly young adult. She doesn't look like she needs help.

There is also the dog difference. Dulce is a cute little beagle. Duchess is a cute, little Lab. Who outweighs Dulce by 4 times.

It's a shame really, because Duchess does much more than Dulce can because of her size.

I've only been denied access twice, now.  Though in the early days did a lot more arguing (but won), then I do now.

Dulce and I have been at the Austin Hilton Airport all week.

I am on the State Textbook Committee and I have been doing whatever it is we do. I’m not sure what it is we do, but it sure is a lot of work.

She has been the perfect Diabetes Alert Dog. She had to wake me up the first two nights because my blood sugar was dropping to fast. Unfortunately we couldn’t do any work on high, because we ended up eating too may carbs. Her, me and my table mates.

She has had absolutely no accidents. She has only whined she needed or wanted out, and only I heard her.

The hotel staff adored her and in fact, I made sure she had an opportunity to say good bye to her fans today.

No access issues at all.

We met Tara and Duchess which was quite fun.

I’m exhausted.

I’m in Austin, sitting at a table all day working on computer / book work. Complete change of routine, food, etc.

My mantra is: the diameter and cords are all shorter than the circumference of the circle. I’m in the Hilton Airport Hotel, there are two elevators positions (4 total). My room is closest to the grass (this is good), and the work area is on the lowest level on the opposite side of the building. I can take the diameter or the cords. Math, even bad math comes in handy (remember, while I am certified in math, I teach CS, and I get kids to pass math tests).

Both early Monday morning and Tuesday morning Dulce woke me up crying. Checked and sure enough was dropping fast. Quick sugar fix, quick walk outside, and we were back to bed.

While it is a pain to keep up with cages, dog food, bowls, toys and other dog paraphilia, it’s also nice to know that she’s not going to let some poor maid find a dead body. Or someone in some type of coma.

Now if I can just get the humans to take turns giving dictation instead of doing it both at once…..

There have been two stories in the news and Scott Johnson shared both of them on Facebook. Once was a diabetic woman who got beat up by cops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LfNjwVQcp4&utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=bufferf8ace&utm_medium=facebook

And one was about a man who killed a child: http://abcnews.go.com/US/diabetic-driver-fatally-hit-girl-previous-accident/story?id=19677565&utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer03d79&utm_medium=facebook

Here’s how type 2 usually works. The patient slowly gets more and more insulin resistant over time. At some point, they show up at the doctor’s office and they have accumulated diabetes symptoms over several years. Remember, it’s a gradual onset, nothing dramatic or sudden. So they didn’t realize they were having problems. They are seeing a typical primary care physician who is over worked and has 15 minutes per patient. Most say, oh, we can fix this with diet and exercise, and send them home with a diet. If they are lucky they get an A1c, but are not told the results. Most are over 10.

And guess what the biggest symptom of high blood sugar they are having? Sugar cravings!! Can they stay on that diet. NO! (Remember, I live this and have the sugar thing going on right now).

If they are lucky they will go back to the doctor a couple of times before the doctor gives them a pill. Oh, and they probably haven’t seen a meter yet either.

The good news, is first pills thrown at newly diagnosed diabetics rarely cause lows. They also don’t do anything about highs, remember that blood sugar craving.

Oh, and when they are given the meter, they are only given one test strip a day. Typical protocol is to test two mornings a week, two days before lunch, two days before dinner, etc. Is this going to give anyone any worthwhile data?

They are really lucky if they ever see a CDE and ever given any real education on diet and exercise.

Why am I not this kind of diabetic? My dad was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 42, died of congestive heart failure of 48. I was also diagnosed at 42.

Good news. I’m 53 right now.