My Diabetes Journey

Day 14 – My First Two Weeks

rwtodd2010 — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:27:06 +0000

Well, it has been two weeks since I was diagnosed. Physically, I feel pretty good. Sometimes it gets to me emotionally, but I am dealing with it.

Woke up early for a planned walk. Nudged the girlfriend, and got no response other than a snore. Guess I am on my own this morning.

So I am out the door at 530 am, and get to the top of the street and the main road. I really did not feel like walking laps this morning, so I headed right towards Hodgson Rd. I am about 3/4 of the way there, when my phone rings. Who the heck would be calling me this early in the morning? It was none of the set ring tones I have for family and friends. So I keep walking and answer it.

It is one of my co workers! Asking if I would stop by his office and pick up some equipment to bring to a company meeting. He didn’t want to drive there himself! Oh, and the best part, he said he meant to text me. Umm, Hello McFly? There is a huge difference between typing a text message and clicking on call. Needless to say I gave him grief at the meeting, and no I did not go pick up what he wanted, I do not have keys to his office.

The rest of the walk was great. Light breeze, crisp leaves blowing on the sidewalks and against the curbs. So I ended up with 2.5 miles in before sunrise. Haven’t done that since my days in the military.

Got lots of hugs from the ladies at the meeting this morning. Several had found out about my diagnosis, and wanted more details. Seems everyone has a friend or family member inflicted with this. I did find it easier to talk about then I had been when I first got the news.

Well the work day is about done. Got a text from my little lady, I am to meet her at one of the parks near where she works for a walk around the lake. I’ll get my 10k steps in for the day for sure now.

Day 13

rwtodd2010 — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:15:30 +0000

Had my first scare since being diagnosed. I was working at one of my offices, and as I began to type some commands into one of the computers, my hands began to shake. I felt “funny.” Luckily I had my test kit with me, and checked my blood.

5-4-3-2-1: bg of 77. I have never been that low.

Headed down to the vending machines, crap they are all out of soda! Grabbed some sugary foods and wolfed that down quickly, and headed back up to the office. About 20 minutes later, I was feeling better.

I couldn’t figure out what happened, then it hit me. I am supposed to take my medicine 20-40 minutes prior to eating. I ate first yesterday, then realized 20 minutes later of my mistake. I took my pill and my low dose aspirin and headed out the door for work. My doctor did warn me that Glipizide can cause low blood sugar. Well, he wasn’t kidding!

I tested again before lunch ( 126 ) and then two hours afterwards ( 92 ). Ok, back in business.

Not much walking yesterday, since I was pretty stationary working on one computer issue. So got home, and later in the evening before bed went and walked 1.5 miles. Hey, its better than nothing!

Day 12

rwtodd2010 — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:00:16 +0000

Another beautiful morning here in MN. I think we were close to a record high for the day. Was out the door by 615am for my walk. It felt too good to stop so instead of doing 3 laps around the block, I did 6. Took me just under 2.5 miles. Came in, got ready for work. Pop my asprin and my diabetes medicine and headed in to work. Decided to pick up a bagel with egg, cheese, and sausage for the morning. Tested two hours later, and I was at 93. My first sub 100 reading, I’ll take that!

Need to go out and finish up my step count. I need just over 1600 to get in 10k for the day.

Day 11

rwtodd2010 — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:56:20 +0000

Slow day today. Very lazy, did not feel like doing much at all. Thank goodness work was slow. I watched my carbs all day today, and had to test after dinner. I developed a big headache after dinner, and when I finally tested I was at 190. Not good at all. Had a small bowl of cereal because I was hungry, and the headache went away. Guess I needed more carbs.

Day 10

rwtodd2010 — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:53:43 +0000

Boy, I was sore that morning. Been a long while since I had walked that far, even if it did feel good while I was out and when I got back.

Had my first diabetic counseling class that night. Received a lot of good and positive information on how to deal with this issue. I tested for the first time on my own after we were shown how to set up our meters. I had the lowest score in the class, 156. That was 90 minutes after eating. Better than my 192 after fasting at the doc office weeks ago.

Clocked 5900 steps.

Day 8 & 9

rwtodd2010 — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:02:27 +0000

Saturday was a simple day. Got to the post office to mail a package to the daughters and grandson back in Ohio. Picked up a new pedometer and found out it qualifies for my Flex Spending Account. So immediately wrote myself a check for reimbursement. We headed over to one of the last days of the Minnesota RenFaire. Was tough to lay off the foods they had for sale, but I finally cracked. Had a soft pretzel. I did get some lemonade, but boy was it way too sweet. I think it is because I have been drinking so much water lately that my taste buds are changing. I did manage to get in 4300 steps that day.

Sunday. I couldn’t have asked for better weather. After a simple breakfast of a slice of whole grain bread and some peanut butter, I got dressed and headed out for a walk. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I had my cellphone with me, and snapped some photos along the way, enjoy the weather. By the time I got back, it was 95 minutes later and I had logged 10,289 steps. That was great, but the mistake I made was not bringing water with me. When I got home, I downed about 32oz in one sitting, but I believe I got dehydrated. I did have a terrible headache a little bit later and had to lay down for a while.

On Monday, it’s the first of three diabetic counseling classes. Looking forward to getting more information.

Day 7

rwtodd2010 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:06:25 +0000

What a stressful day. I am the sole IT support for a regional healthcare company, and you name it, it went down yesterday. I did not get a chance to eat lunch till well after 1, since I was being pushed and pushed to resolve a major issue.

Towards the end of the day at work, we were all drained. I work with a woman who is addicted now to exercise, and even she felt like she didn’t want to go and work out last night.

Myself? I was BAD. I did emotional eating last night. Cheeseburger, fries from a local fast food place. I know it is not good at all for me, but I felt I needed it. It’s a throw back. Going back to what you feel comfortable with. Stupid, stupid I know.

Time to get back on the wagon.

Classes start in a little over a week, so will be good to get some true counseling and then be able to start tracking my blood sugar and see if I am doing ok, and looking for ways to improve my health and lifestyle.

Day 6

rwtodd2010 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:27:54 +0000

Thank goodness, the weekend is almost here. This new drug so far is side effect free. I think we are on to something.

I’m finding a good community on FaceBook. It is nice to be able to converse with those who are going through what I am going through, and those who have been surviving.

Plans for the weekend? Well its a toss up between driving north and hiking in the colors, or going to the renfaire on the last weekend they are open. Either way there will be plenty of walking to do.

If anyone reads these posts, I will be surprised. They are basically for me to rambling on about what is on my mind, how I feel.

Day 5

rwtodd2010 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:23:37 +0000

Well it looks like the doc found the right medicine for me. Glipizide (Glucotrol) seems to be fine on my stomach. Although it was only one day, it was a huge day. It was nice not to be running to the bathroom due to the side effects of the other drug.

Food intake was good for the day. Slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter for breakfast, salad and some crackers for lunch, and Chicken Parmesan for dinner. The chicken recipe was found on DLife.com and was wonderful. Simple, and in fact is my lunch for the day today.

While driving to another office yesterday to do some work, I had a mini breakdown. I had a round of “woo is me.” I felt like I caught this, like catching a cold. I know being over weight and eating habits could have triggered this. I felt like I have let family and friends down. Kind of depressing afternoon.

Getting out after dinner last night for a stroll did help though. Just three laps around the block, but I felt good inside and out afterwards.

Day 4

rwtodd2010 — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:24:26 +0000

Dropped the car back off early today, so they can fix something they missed during the accident repair. Was driving all over town once again, fixing computer issues. Wish the mileage traveled was like frequent flyer miles. Drive so many miles a month and get this or that, etc.

Well the doctor’s office called while I was on site to give me results of the latest blood work:

180, down from 216
Tri’s are normal at 122
HDL is normal at 40
LDL is 117, they want that below 100.

So as you can see, I have some work to do.

Picked the car back up after work, and before I got home the same problem occurred. Guess where I will be bright and early tomorrow morning once AGAIN?

Spent the night going through the recipes over on DLife. Found a lot of good ones to try this weekend. I do hope to get out and see some of the fall colors that are finally showing up. A bit late, but I think it is going to be worth it.