Middle of the Night Low

For all of you out there with CGM's, I  hate you on the mornings after this.  Just, fyi.  


I haven't been sleeping well lately, but I have no idea why.  (Probably because the other side of my bed is currently a storage area for my clothes) but I'm trying everything, except putting my phone away for an hour before I go to sleep.  Most of my friends don't live in the city; they've been around for forever and I have a hard time meeting new people so my phone is my lifeline and every time I hear a little "ding-a-ling" with that small green light, I get freaken excited.  So turning the phone off isn't an option for me.  Last Thursday I was actually tired.  I started to get goofy, I think I actually molded to my bed and it's quite possible I fell asleep while trying to send a text.  


I know that Friday I don't have to go into work in the morning, so when I wake up and my room is pitch black, but I feel like I've slept forever and I have trouble rolling over, I know that something is wrong.  I grab my meter, but end up with a book (literally).  So I turn on my light and test and at 2:56 in the morning I see a glorious 54 staring me back in the face.  So I roll back over.  And then I realize the light is on, and then I remember I'm low.  So I grab my bottle of tabs.  And there are two in there.  *%#@! So I grab a cup from a low previous in the week and I fumble to the kitchen, turning on the light and getting my juice.  Either my roommate and her boyfriend ate whatever was taking up all the room in the bottom of the fridge, or she cleaned it, making my job trying to get juice while I'm low much easier.  So I pour a full cup and I take six gulps.  Because as I'm taking the first sip, I remember reading that Kerri measures her juice in sips.  And I remember that the diabetes educator told me on Wednesday that under 50 basically you need 30g of sugar rather than 15g.  I feel like I'm in the 30s, so I take 6 sips and then I refill my cup.  This is a little cup, so put my juice away and head back to my room.  I stop every so often to take more sips.  I finish my juice and I start texting Rebel.  Sometimes those 3,000 miles and 3 hour time difference come in handy.  In the course of 4 texts, we manage to talk about lows, work, camp and boys.  Yea, it's 3AM, what do you expect?  She asked me a few other questions, but by that time, I was back asleep.  All in all, I was awake for 20 minutes, but I didn't retest.  All you good diabetics out there, I know this is wrong, but I don't ever fall asleep when I'm low, so the fact that I was able to fall back asleep was a good sign.  


When the rooster on my phone started yelling at me at 7:30 Friday morning, I wanted to rip my ears out. It felt like 5 minutes ago I had been curled up trying to fall back asleep.  And I had been ambitious for Friday morning, hahahahahahaha nothing happened.  I sat in my room, wrapped up in comfortable sweatshirt, fleece blankets and TV reruns.  Until it was time for a shower, and then music helped me.  Of course, Friday morning, my BGs were great. Friday afternoon, not so much.  

Good Friends

Last week I got together with one of my old friends.  We met in elementary school and started to lose touch in high school, but we were both still there for each other no matter what, we just had a different group of friends.  We lost touch in college, but it's easy for that to happen when you go to school thousands of miles apart.  (Keep in mind this was before facebook even existed.)  And while I still don't get to see her a lot, having her back in my life this year is something I'm very grateful for.

Back in seventh grade, I was still scared going home all by myself after school.  Her parents moved within a couple miles of my house the year before, so I went home with her & her sister every day after school that year. The summer between sixth and seventh grade, she was over my house, going to my neighbor's pool, and I took out my poke bag to test before leaving.  She started asking my mom questions (and I guess me too.)  "What is her reading supposed to be?"  "What is a good snack?"  "What do I do if she goes low?"  I'm not sure if those are the exact questions, but you get the idea.  Keep in mind, also, that this was in 1997.  I didn't carry a meter to/from school with me, I had a strict eating schedule and what to eat (starch, fruit, protein, etc.), and I only tested at breakfast, lunch, dinner & bedtime.  That day, her asking all those questions, it's a day that stands out in my mind.  It's the day that a friend without diabetes tried to understand, and know how to help her friend with diabetes.

As I took out my pump to bolus for the delicious pizza that sat before us, she had more questions.  Who can blame her; the knowledge I gave her is 13 years old.  It's nice to have a friend that I can still count on to make me feel better about having diabetes.  We talked about how the insulin pump works, what the basal is, and what a bolus is and why you need it.  I tested my blood sugar and then we went back to talking about other things, like jobs, apartments and everything else that goes on in our lives.  She's been there for me through thick and thin, and it's nice to know that with everything else, she still takes the time to ask & learn about diabetes.

Mom Genius

From September 21, 2010

Yesterday was quite possibly one of the best diabetes days I've had in a long time (minus the shitfaced low after picking up Boy Genius from school).  It wasn't however, one of the best work days.  At the end of the day, I was waiting to talk to Mom Genius before she took Boy & Girl Genius out to dinner with the neighbors.   This neighbor dad all of a sudden looked at me and said, "Is that an insulin pump?"  It was a moment of "Crap, I've been noticed."  There are a lot of times where I am ready to stand up and fight for diabetes like you wouldn't believe.  It's something that gets my blood going.  Last night, getting ready to leave work was not one of those times.  He was asking me a lot of questions/misconceptions because his mother-in-law is sick of taking shots during the day.  He was not being rude, he was just trying to gather information, and I was trying to explain it in the briefest way possible and I explained about how meters are not as accurate as one would think (hoping Mom Genius catches on and tries to do something about it).  From here I talked about how for so long I didn't want a pump, but now that I've had one for 9 years, I love it, how I still have to carry around a meter, tabs and a pen or needles & bottle, and Mom Genius just said, "She's amazing."  This is Mom Genius!  This is my boss.  This is the smartest woman I've ever met.  This is my connection to the future, and she thinks I'm amazing because of/for my diabetes!