Busy Weekend

Perspective

This past weekend I went skiing again, and not only is it April, but there was powder, sunshine, friends, family and no grass.  When my friends and I showed up last year, this is what the mountain looked like:

And when we showed up this year, this is what the mountain looked like:

Needless to say we skied really hard every morning.  At one point, Meghan said, "We need to wait for my legs to catch up."  And that's pretty much how it went.  The powder was awesome, and the diabetes feelings, well, they were a little off.  I was starting to feel low, so when we got to the top of the chair I tested.  And a stupid 33 mg/dL was staring me back.  My mom & Meghan helped me with the juice boxes. But I didn't FEEL that low.  So when I was done Mom asked how I was doing and I said, let's go!  Don't worry, I went slow and we were making our way over to my favorite lodge for snack.  And Meghan said, "My mom would be sitting on the ground crying."  Meghan has had diabetes since she was 5.  Her brother 6 months later.  And her uncles have T1 as well.  And in September her mother was diagnosed.  This is a woman who knows diabetes, but not the way we do.  She knows how to be a sister and mother of PWD, but is struggling with being a PWD.  She has a fabulous support system, but comments like those put diabetes in perspective for me.  Learning how to be a PWD happened while learning how to grow up, not while being comfortable with my life.

I'm Just A Social Butterfly

Here is my DSMA March Carnival Entry all about exercise!  It took me a long time to sit down and write this blog.  Mostly because I don't feel like I belong in the exercise buff category or the dreading exercise all together.  I've always been active, and at camp as a kid they would over-feed us so we wouldn't go low; I was in the 300s because I was just as active at home as I was at camp.

Plymouth State tennis team (that's me with the Fischer bag)

On the exercise buff side: *side note: I am not an exercise buff by any means, but I also am not a complete hater of exercise* I love doing things with other people.  You might have heard that I like to ski.  And skiing is something I have always done with my family.  I have friends who ski too, and who have supported me while I was super low while doing it, but for me it will always be a family activity.  It isn't what I would call a workout by any means, but it is what I would call fun, active, getting fresh air, and enjoying myself.  My other favorites are synchronized swimming and tennis.  Synchronized swimming is something I do with one of my best friends, my mother, and a few other women.  We laugh, we talk, we make faces at each other under water, and we work hard.  Holding your breath and kicking your legs up in the air and spinning are hard work.  And then when you come out of the water you need to not look dead and be smiling.  It's hard work, and quite often it sends me to the low range.  As for tennis, I've been playing since I was four, and started with my grandparents.  I took lessons with them, played in the driveway, and even against the garage door (sometimes I even won - sending the ball through the window).  As I got older, I'd take lessons throughout the school year with my friends, and in high school I joined the tennis team.  And in college I joined the tennis team.  That was another four years of working out, working hard, playing hard and having fun.  As a kid, I also did dance, softball, swim team, track along with any sort of pick up games you could imagine.  In high school, I ran cross country, was on the ski team, and tennis team (as I mentioned).  My junior year I ran winter track too.  It's easier to do the working out, working had & playing hard if you're having fun while you're doing it.  I guess that is where my motivation comes in.  My motivation is to have fun; because at the end of every day, that is what it's all about.  I know that if I work hard, and keep up with exercising constantly, I'm going to be able to enjoy it alot more.  If not, I'll be stopping to take breaks, I'll be going low inconsistently & worrying and worst of all (in my opinion), I might not be able to keep up.

Onto the I hate exercise side:  I can always find things that are more appealing.  Because, ya know, working out by yourself is BORING!  I go to the gym and I go running, but no part of that is appealing. Unless of course there is a tennis court or pool at said gym...but I digress.  But the easiest and cheapest way to stay in shape is to go for a run.  Living in the city gives me great loops, that are flat or hilly and that I can repeat or not.  I generally don't go on routes that I have to repeat because I find myself lured back to my apartment.  I haven't been running as much I would like lately, but I'm okay with that because I've been going to the gym.  The biggest thing that I find gets in the way is the time I leave myself to go low after.  Yes, I plan this in.  Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't, but if I'm working out in the morning, I need to make sure I have time to come back up before getting back to work.  When I go for a run, I have my keys tied into my shoes, my glucose tabs in my sports bra, and if I'm feeling really ambitious I bring my phone so I can listen to music.  Having these things with me is much easier at the gym because of the cup holders and shelves on the equipment.  And, if I do feel low, I can slow down, take some tabs and not feel as scared that I'm out all by myself.  As time goes on and I exercise more and more, the lows and such are more predictable.  The one thing I do find difficult though is the lack of predictability in my schedule, therefore my workout schedule can also be hard to figure out.  The days that are the hardest are when I'm free after work one night, and in the morning the next day since I know exercise stays in my body for 24 hours.  I haven't paid attention to patterns when this happens, but if it happens more regularly, this is something I will need to pay attention to.

This post is my March entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival.  If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2011/march-dsma-blog-carnival

Tuck's

Found

This is one of New Hampshire's gems, Tuckerman's Ravine.  It's also something that as a skier being able to say you've done it puts you in a different league.  My plan is to do it this spring.  I am concerned about diabetes though.  

First of all, the group of people gathered at the bottom are on the "lunch rocks."  It is a 2 mile hike up to these rocks.  This is not what I am concerned about.  And by hike, I mean not quite a hike, not quite a walk.  (Or so I'm told).  I have seen Tuckerman's before, but only while skiing Wildcat, not while being right there.  For this, I am sure that a temp basal while toting lots of snacks & juice boxes will be fine.  However, after you get to the lunch rocks, you hike up.
Second, I'm scared of heights.
Third, there are specific lines to hike up and everyone follows in a line.  My father has seen one person fall and have it be dominoes all the way down.  I don't want to be that person.  And I could easily be that person, not being low.
Fourth, if I'm hiking up and I feel low, will it be possible to stop, test and take something?  Or even to just take something?  Will I be able to get something out?
And last, I'm just plain excited.  If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!  Especially if you've ever skied Tuck's before.

Deliciousness

When I woke up Saturday morning, I had no idea what to anticipate my BG as.  I've actually been waking up quite well lately, (and I'm sure that will change now) but the "oh no what will it be" is apparently automatic right now.  I was 152 mg/dL, which is darn near perfect for a day of skiing.  When you stick 11 people in a hotel "room," breakfast is a little chaotic.  But I grab a bagel and I'm totally all set and diabetes is great.  Our goal was first chair, and we were almost successful.  We got second.  And at the end of that run, I felt low.  So I took out my pump, pushed the basal down to 70% and went on my way.  And after the second run, I still felt low.  Grab the meter and I'm in the 60s.  Scoff down some tabs (of which I didn't bring enough, but wasn't about to admit that then and there), and take out the pump again and push the basal down to 50%.  And I was on my way.  No more feeling low for this girl! And we skied about half the mountain.

As a ski family, we've always taken snack breaks.  A few people have even mentioned that.  So when a few of us were in need of warming up and energizing, we stopped in at the lodge.  Now I still remember the days when the food was homemade, and the eternal optimist in me still believes that I might walk in one day and it will be there again.  But on this day, it was nearly true.  I grabbed a hot chocolate, and my cousin even showed me the container of marshmallows.  And then I turned around and saw the cinnamon buns.  I ran over to my mother and asked if she wanted to share.  I don't remember why she didn't want to, but I decided to go for it anyways.  And I felt better because said cousin was also getting one.  Not only did it at least look  kinda homemade, it was giant and it was swimming in syrup/frosting.  I am not sure what I bolused for this delicious treat, but I do know that it was definitely bolus-worthy.  And then I was wondering whether I would need a temp basal for the rest of the ski day.  I decided to reset the temp basal, because I could always do another bolus if I didn't need it, and a high BG wouldn't stop me from skiing.  The whole family skied around a lot of the mountain, and then the cousins took off to ski some more.  When we went inside at lunch time, I was 179 mg/dL.  So I probably didn't need such an extreme temp basal, but things definitely could've been worse.  We went back out after lunch, with another temp basal, and at the end of the ski day, a 70 mg/dL was staring me back.  Not so bad either.

The reason these temp basals are perplexing me is because when I first got the pump in 2002, I needed temp basals while I was skiing.  And I of course always thought I would.  And then I slowly needed more and more insulin during a ski day.  But now, I'm needing more extreme temp basals during my ski days, making for some trial and error days.  (But maybe that's all diabetes ever is?)

Happy Birthday

This weekend I went up to Sunday River to celebrate a 75th Birthday for one of my most favorite people in the world: 

Uncle Pepere turns 75!

We skiied

Megan, me, Michael & Karolyn

We love good trails

And we enjoyed time with family

The whole gang to celebrate the man front & center

cousins :)

And we had a lot of laughs in the process.  I hope everyone else had a great weekend too :)

Skiing, Eating & Talking Low

When I was on vacation, I took one day and went skiing with my mom and aunt.  We went to Loon, which is where I remember our family vacations starting.  It was a beautiful day and we skied and skied and took a coffee break (where my BG was high) and skied some more until we met up with another family friend who has two young children.  We ended skiing with the little boy so that he didn't have to wait while they tried to coax the younger sister out on the slopes.  At 11:30 when we picked him up, I was starting to get hungry.  We usually try to wait to eat lunch until about 1:00 or so that we can ski while the rest of the skiers are eating their lunch.  Skiing with the little boy was great, but by the time we met back up with his mother an hour later, I was starving.  And we were on the opposite side of the mountain from my favorite lodge, which is where we had said we'd get lunch.  We skied over and I was working from memory.  I knew I was low.  I walked into the lodge and couldn't even talk to people to see if they were leaving so we could have their table.  I took off my mittens, helmet, etc, etc, and had mom hand over the meter and some sort of 50 number was staring me back in the face.  Whether it was tabs or juice, I don't remember, but I finished it as quick as possible, that's all I know.  But I was certainly still "low" for quite a while.  I went through line and ordered my soup and talked with my mother about what to get to drink and I heard my name.  When I hear my name, it's a seriously good chance that it's someone I know.  I'm trying to figure out who is talking to me, and it's one of my college tennis teammates.  She wasn't just a teammate though, she was my very first roommate.  And I was in the midst of a "shitfaced low!" We talked for a few minutes, catching up, and me staring at my food.  Knowing I needed it in my belly.  By the time I finished my lunch, she was gone, so I couldn't go back and have a real conversation.  But it was still good to be able to talk to her, even it was in the midst of a low blood sugar.

Guest Post: Candy to You

Today's post is from my cousin Kate.  Cousin isn't the right term either, and neither is our technical relation: second cousins.  Being an only child, Kate (and her sister Karolyn) are the closest people I have to sisters.  We spent summers together at their pool and winters together on the mountain.  We both started skiing at three years old, but we couldn't be more different.  She loved horses and was scared of dogs.  I love dogs and was scared of horses.  I went to school for Early Childhood Education and she's going to school for Business, but that's probably why our mother's wish that a little of us would rub off on each other. 

I was shopping at Wal-Mart the other day and wandered into the pharmacy area.  I looked over and saw Glucose Tabs.  Oh, the memories.  Growing up, I guess I never realized that someone with diabetes was sick.  No one in our family ever made it seem that way.  Most of my experience with having a family member with diabetes (my awesome big cousin) was during ski season.  Since Briley had to test, we would stop for one morning break, a lunch, and an afternoon break throughout the day.  Since we had been skiing since we were about 3 years old, it became a routine.  It was never a break for Briley, it was just what we did (and most of the time I think it became more of a break for me and my clam chowder with no clams).  I don't think I ever remember looking at her any different than anyone in the family, which brings me back to Glucose Tabs.  Now that I am older, I know that they are used in the event that a diabetic's sugar is low (under 100 somewhere).  Back then, it was Briley getting candy.  I knew that it was because she needed it, but from time to time she would sneak me one  so that I didn't feel left out.  Oh yes, that was us being rebellious ten & twelve year olds.  I guess my point is that everything became sort of normal.  I used to help her get all of her supplies out when she was ready to test.  We would hope that it would be around 100 and even take guesses to see who could get closest.  When it was time for her insulin, I would watch patiently so that we could go on our merry way and find something fun to do. As I got older, I even asked questions about how much she needed and why.  It was never something that bothered me though.  She was always just my big cousin.  I know that to Briley, it is obviously a large part of her life, but I think that our family made it as normal as we could, or at least we tried.  Now Briley has a pump, but there are still morning breaks, lunches, and afternoon breaks even though they are  no longer necessary.  When I see Glucose Tabs in Wal-Mart, I do not think of my sick older cousin, but instead the sweet taste that I got as a treat when our parents weren't looking.  When Briley asked me to write something for her blog, I think I had so much trouble coming up with something because it was never something that interfered with our relationship or the time we spent together.  She is not my older cousin with diabetes, and I rarely would ever describe her as such.  She is just my cousin, and I love her, diabetes or not.

Did I mention I started crying when I read this?

You Gotta Strip?

As I sat in the lodge on Saturday getting ready to drive home, I took out my meter, and my poker and the bottle of strips.  And there was no rattling sound.  I know that I packed extra strips, but they're magically still in the truck, sitting in single digit temperature parking lot.

And that's when I turn to my dia-buddy.
"Hey, you gotta strip I can have?"
"Sure, take a few"

Dia-buddies are great to have.  There's support and conversation, but it's even better when they can cover your mistakes, even if it is just a simple, easily corrected one.

Sunday River

As I awaited the storm and the early release from work on Friday, I got more and more excited for Sunday River.  With no early release, and few flurries coming down, I got on the road and I heard "continue on I-95 for 115 miles."  (It was actually even farther than that.)  After I got off the highway, Maine was dark.  Really dark.  I called a bunch of my Oregon dia-buddies and they helped to keep me smiling.  I don't get to talk to them very often, so long car rides are the perfect time to catch up (and for those of you worrying about talking and driving, I've got a head set for my phone.)  And then, all of a sudden, I was in Bethel and I had made it.  I was getting to see some of my favorite people: my ski family.  We got up early on Saturday morning and were almost out for the first chair.  We flew down the mountain and within an hour needed to take a break because it was cold.  So a cup of coffee, some water and taking the middle of Dad's cookie, and I was ready to go again.  We skied all over the mountain and I fought to make it to noon before heading in for lunch.  It was cold!  We went in (ski-in/ski-out is a beautiful thing for those of you haven't experienced it), ate a delicious lunch of sandwiches and homemade soup, and got ready to head back out.  I requested my favorite, albeit at one time most traumatic, trail: Shockwave.  It is the steepest at Sunday River, and it was sheer ice.  We finished and our legs were burning.  But back up the chair for a few more runs, and then inside for the day.  I should've gone and worked out, but needless to say that didn't happen.  We watched football, relaxed, went to the store, ate dinner and played some dominoes.  Now that may not seem like a big deal to most people, but this can be a very competitive game in our family.  And I won!  We watched more football and enjoyed lots of laughs, and went to bed early.  But as we got up on Sunday, we weren't in as much of a hurry.  We still got on the slopes plenty early, but as we got to the chair, the ski patrol was sending everyone away.  The chair was on a wind hold.  I hate the wind.  As a 9 year old, our chair almost hit the pole before they realized the wind holds were a great idea.  We went down to South Ridge, and got on the Chondola, and on the way up, we decided to head back.  At 9:30, we were inside, tickets vouchered and getting out of our boots.  So yesterday was spent on the couch, with my feet up until lunch time when I got all my things together and headed back to my apartment.  There were a few highs, a few lows, and lots of in betweens.  A very good weekend; although entirely too short.  I hope you all had a great weekend too.

Sugar Swigs

my ski with my cousins' skis

When I started skiing with my parents, my cousin, her family and friends' families on New Years Eve, I was low.  I don't like starting anything low, but a temp basal plus a juice box plus a chair ride up to the top of the mountain are better to start than most other activities.  As I've mentioned before, I don't bring my meter on the slopes.   I took it easy all morning because I felt low.  After a few runs runs I took some tabs but the low feeling still would not go away.  So finally around 11AM, I look at my cousin on the chair and say "I need sugar."  Her boyfriend looks at me and starts telling me about the mental image in his head.  This includes me coming out of the lodge with a bag of sugar and pausing every so often to take a swig.  Some days it certainly feels like I need a bag of sugar, but hopefully I'll never need that much.  But in the mean time, I enjoyed laughing at the mental image of skiing with a bag of sugar.

When I was skiing my sugars were good

When I got the pump when I was sixteen, skiing had to change.  In years past, I woke up, ate breakfast, went on the slopes, stopped at 10 for snack, back on the slopes, lunch at 12:30 then back outside after lunch.   Snack was at 2:30 and that's usually when we would end our day, because the trails are no where near as nice anymore. But all of a sudden I've got this $5,000 piece of equipment attached to me that needs to survive the elements.  Plus, up until that moment, I was a lente and regular user, so I didn't need to test before every snack.  Just meals and bedtime.  So I got my cousin's hand-me-up snowpants which were bulky and seriously nice with giant pockets.  (I am now 25, and she is now 18, and I got those snowpants when I was 16; in case you wanted evidence that I'm the short one in the family.)  I got my pump March 16, 2002 so there was less than a month left of ski season, and it was during the mild weather, so getting that pump to last through the elements wasn't as much of a problem.  It's the meter though that has always given me trouble.  We still stop for snacks because we like to warm up a little and need a little human replenishing, not diabetes replenishing.  I've spent countless ski snacks sitting there breathing on my meter waiting for it to be warm enough to use, while my mother sits there and tells me that I need to test before I can eat.  And in my head, all I can think is "Yes, I know this, but right now this THING is not cooperating with me and I'm hungry! And oh yea, everyone else is nearly done already."  So on Saturday I didn't bring my meter on the mountain.  I had my juice boxes, tabs, insulin pen, phone and camera.  And as we stood up to go buy a cup of coffee (in a different lodge than where our stuff is), my mother asks why I haven't tested yet.  I explain to her how it's the only meter I have at the moment so I didn't need it to freeze.  I get a "This is completely 100% unacceptable."  I know that I'm supposed to test before I eat, but I made the choice to make sure this one meter I have lasts.  I used to have two meters, but then the batteries leaked in the other one, so now I'm down to one.  So I made the conscious decision to make sure it lasts.  But since my A1C was good when Mom took care of it, she clearly knows better.  Keep in mind this was pre-pump and early teen years.  And that was about ten years ago.  So Mom is really upset at me as we walk to get our coffee.  But we drink our coffee and then we go back on the slopes.  We went in around 1, and my lunch time BG was in the low 100s.  I didn't make a big deal about it, but I wanted to yell "SEE!!"  My BGs kicked butt all afternoon and I was pretty darn excited about it.  When it was time to change my site though, I was in the high 200s.  So I bolused with the pump, then changed the pump, and then we went to dinner.
I sat in my favorite ski bar with my parents, I hear the distinctive "beep beep beep beep beep" and I know that I'm getting a No Delivery alarm.  When I changed my site, I started at 298 mg/dl, so I knew that I was already high, so no delivery was definitely not something that could be waited on.  I had already had one bad site change, and wasn't too excited that the second one failing too.  Somehow I remembered to put a new pen tip in my purse this week, so off to the bathroom I went and was soon able to go back to dinner.  As I sat back down, Mom said "Did you go to the bathroom to shoot up?"  And in between laughing, I said "Good thing Dad didn't say that because the whole restaurant would've heard and I'd be taken away by the police soon."  I gave myself a correction and a food bolus, and enjoyed my delicious drink and food.  We get back to the hotel and I change my site again, and test my ketones and there they are, small.  I felt high the rest of the night, but a little less than 2 hours later, I was back in the 100s, and negative ketones.  Unfortunately, I crashed at 3AM and then woke up low too.  But at least I know how to keep steady while on the slopes.

First failed site

December 13: Silent Night

Weekend Happiness

On Friday night, I drove up to Sunday River with my parents.  We drove through the snow, but we saw some beautiful places, like this in Twin Mountain, NH. 

On Saturday, we went skiing for the first time this season.  The sun never came out, but the skiing sure was great.  Here is my mother at the top of the trail Risky Business. 

This is looking down the trail American Express. 

And this is White Heat.  Closed right now, but I'll be back for it. 

We cut our ski day short, went in for lunch and then went walking with Earl :)

After going back to the beautifully decorated Jordan, we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant. 

When we came back, Dad watched the Heisman show, while Mom and I watched It's A Wonderful Life. Sunday was a snowy, rainy day, so we needed to leave early.  We got up, drove to Jefferson, NH and went out to breakfast.  What a delicious way to end a short, but wonderful trip to Maine

December 13: You're A Mean One Mister Grinch

This was my favorite movie as a kid, and loved to watch it all year long.