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52 weeks ago, I was hooked up on my pump today.

It has been a very good experience. I’ve been posting about this in bits and pieces, so I’m going to try to tie some of the accomplishments together.

I’ve gone from around 100 units of insulin a day to 40 units.
I’ve gone from an A1c of 7 with lows, to an A1c of 6.2 without lows. I will not deny eating extra food to avoid lows, but I haven’t had an emergency, treatable low since on the pump.
I’ve lost around 10% of my body weight.

But the best thing, is that I feel better. And everyone has noticed.

I decided to move my teacher ID to last year’s lanyard, and noticed something really neat between the two pictures. A friend looked and noticed the same thing …

Thursday is my pump anniversary — it will be 52 weeks then — but the calendar anniversary was yesterday. So what has changed?

Last’s year ID picture was taken one week before I got my pump. They took this year’s last week. If you look at the two pictures, I am definately more tired, my face is fatter as is my neck, and my hair is actually grayer LAST year. You’d really think that they had been reversed. I actually look younger in this year’s ID badge.

I know I feel better this week than I did last week at this time. I also know that my blood sugar is definately lower, I’ve been going between 110 and 190 the last two days.

I definately think the pump was worth it.

So far, the reduced, new basal is working fine. I haven’t eaten since 6:30, and the blood sugar is staying in the 120’s, which I can definately live with.

I had discussed changing my basal rates with my Endo a couple of weeks ago. My basal rates have been close to perfect all summer, but I am typically much more active during the school year.

I really have had trouble maintaining blood sugar since Thursday — partly because I walked the building so many times, been installing software and moving computers around in my classroom.

I have dropped my carb ratio to 1:13 and most meals it works fine.

I’m really worried about my basal tomorrow, so I deleted my sleeping in basal rate, and put in two new rates with the lower basal rate while I’m at school.

I’ve gone ahead and switched to that rate. I’d rather be a touch too high than too low, and am planning to watch my blood sugar as carefully as I can.

And they have been gone for 3 days.

I’ve probably lost around 3 pounds this week, I’ll know for sure tomorrow. It’s been pretty interesting from a diabetic logic point of view.

Monday-Wednesday was technically staff development days, but my department finished their tasks on Tuesday. We’re not core curriculum, our subject areas are covered by the state tests and we don’t have to meet “No Child Left Behind” requirements — yet. We just have to agree to assist.

I had trouble keeping my blood sugar at a reasonable level. 4 hours after every meal, my blood sugar was in the 180-200 range.

Thursday, I had to find a teacher whose room is on the opposite side of the building and I had to install software. It took about 6 trips to get it done, but I did it but every since then, my blood sugar was in the 110-130 range after meals.

Last night, went out with the husband, we ate dinner, went mall walking then a movie. We had walked about 1 leg of the mall when I started feeling funny, stopped and blood sugar was at 90. This was less than 30 minutes after eating, and I had been extremely conservative with insulin. So I ate a lifesaver, and then looked for “good carbs”. Found a snickerdoodle cookie at a cookie vendor, which believe me is almost pure sugar, and ate it.

30 minutes later the blood sugar was 96, but we were still walking, just real slow.

Ate some popcorn at the therater and again bolus very convervatively and after the movie blood sugar was at 180.

Woke up and I was at 106, so I didn’t do badly at all.

I’m going to watch extremely closely, and I am going to up my carb ratio to 1:13 and leave that way.

I am debating if I should change the basals on Monday — I’ve been “sanctioned” to do so by my endo.