HECTIC TIMES...

I have been so busy with month end at work that I have let it take over my life this past week. I have been working late almost every night. Since I have been doing this, by the time I get home I am starved beyond belief and just end up eating dinner- forgoing my work outs. I relax for what feels like a minute and then it time for bed since I have been so tired. Then morning returns all too soon.

It is catching up to me. I am feeling tired again. My bg's are not where they should be. I went to the dr. this past Tuesday and I will start Byetta again. I still have not filled the script yet. I did attempt to last night but the pharmacy was out. I will get it today though. I also am planning on getting to the gym tonight.

Some things I plan on doing this weekend are:

• rest
• attend son's baseball games
• work out
• clean the house
• clean the garage (supervise my husband) :)
• see Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey

Looking at this post, I see I do it to myself. I think I am a bit ambitious with my weekend but I will have help.

Have a great weekend Diabetes Community!

A1C and More Numbers

I went to the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" I'm sorry but I had to do that!

I love my doctor's office. They are so efficient. I walk in and sign in and then sit for about 3 minutes. Then, the lab lady calls me and before I know it they have weighed me, taken my bp, and drained a good deal of blood from my poor little arm.

Then it is off to the waiting area which is well-stocked with the latest issues of many diabetes related magazines. Then, I do what I call the "Read and Freeze" which is me reading while I am sitting their freezing-that would be my only complaint. It is cold!

"Susan", I hear the dr. call me. Off I go into the little room where she is able to pull all of my results up immediately. AMAZING!

Overall, my numbers are good. I am a little disappointed that my A1C went up a tad from 6.5% to 6.7%. Not sure how much a difference that makes, all I know is that is heading the wrong direction. My cholesterol and blood pressure are "excellent" according to my doctor. I lost 5 pounds from my last visit also.

I guess I thought I would have more results with the weight loss. Dr. says it is probably because I am building muscle. I feel like I lost 15 pounds. My pants are getting baggy. Basically, the doctor told me to keep doing what I am doing and the results will come. I really want good control from my bg so I am also going on Byetta in addition to the metformin and amaryl. So we shall see.

Importance of SHOES!

I have all kinds of shoes. I love shoes. I have red ones, white ones, tan ones, pink and white ones, tons of black ones, and some polka dot ones too! I love having the perfect shoe for the perfect outfit when I leave the house.

However, at home, it is different.

I do not like to wear shoes when I am in the comfort of my home. I like to live on the wild side and go BARE. wild side for people with diabetes!

We are often told by doctors and magazines that we should always wear shoes and that our feet need to be protected. I always thought this true when I am outside or out of my house. However, I am in control of the inside. My floors are clean and vacuumed at least once a week. I like the freedom of running around barefoot.

Well, over the weekend, I was loading the dishwasher. I washed pots and pans (we had a great dinner), plates, and the silverware....yes that darned silverware! I am mildly accident-prone so it is not too much of a surprise that while I am rinsing silverware and turning to place it in dishwasher, I dropped a fork right smack on my big toe. It hurt as I yelled an inexplicative *%$$%. It started to bleed. My husband immediately ran for the first aid kit. Once he cleaned it up, you could see the cut area was like a little square. He put neosporin and a band aid. It looks like nothing happened now-healed great. Now, I revised my prior thinking of the no shoes in the house- to no shoes when I am just relaxin. If I am house cleaning or something, I'll put on my crocs, kind of ugly but very comfy. I was wearing them yesterday and I felt like I could clean the whole house!

MISBEHAVING

Since I have been Behaving so well, sticking to my mealplan and daily exercise (most days), I noticed it has been a while since I had visited with my brother. We are tight. We hang out every now and then. But I must say, he likes to have fun and party some so it is hard for me to hang out with him when I am being good. It just brings out the old me. However, I felt it was time for a little bit of Misbehavin! :0))

But I decided to let my hair down a bit last night as we were at the local Buffalo Wild Wings. I had a around 3 beers-which were so good by the way! I discreetly and secretly would check my blood sugars especially since I had a low-carb dinner. I was consistent at 90. Before bed, I tested and it 110.

This morning when I woke, it was 210. I was so surprised at how high it was. I did not eat anything yet it was so high. I always thought that you had to be weary of lows whenever I drank-so not the case this time. I took my medicines and had two eggs for breakfast and then it was 97. I am waiting to see what it is 2 hours post lunch.

Bye Bye...Laziness

Well, I hate to say it but it has been 4 days since I have worked out. 2 of the days were planned rest days, and the other 2...well..were unplanned lazy days.

I am proud of myself though for what I have accomplished this past month. I've stuck to working out and I am not giving up.

It seems like the day to day can really be trying sometimes. I commute an hour to and from work and that is on a good day. I get home hungry and many times I grab a snack and off I go the gym. However, yesterday I had to stay late and meet some deadlines so I was an hour past my normal schedule. Long story short, by the time I got home, I was beyond hungry....more like starvin marvin! Traffic was bad and I was tired, so needless to say I ate dinner and passed on the gym. Not my best decision.

Today, I will get home and get my work out in. It is something that hopefully can become as routine as washing my face and brushing my teeth.

The one positive thing is that normally, if I missed too many days, I would just unconsciously say, "what the heck", and not return to exercise. But, I love it. I do. Plain and simple. Sometimes I just need a kick in the B-hind to get going. Don't get me wrong, I truly am far from lazy. After work, I have to cook, clean the dishes, check homework for 3 kids, attend practices and games etc. I have a lot of room to make excuses, so I say OUT with the excuses. I have to make it a point to squeeze in exercise for me no matter how busy I think I am.

Does Diabetes afftect how you take days off in the workplace?

How do you handle your Paid Time off days from work?

I never really thought about this before, but I heard some co-workers discussing how people should use days off whether it is considered vacation days, sick days, or just PTO (paid time off).
One co-worker is not really wanting to use more than a couple of days for vacation because if she got sick she wants her days for that. I can understand that we need to be responsible and try to save some of our days for sickness. But, this person also made a comment, that if you are "sick" or have a chronic problem then you should really save your time for that.

This bothers me. I consider myself to be healthy despite diabetes. I am eating healthy and exercising 4-5 times a week. I don't think I get sick any more than a non-diabetic person. I work full-time and I NEED my vacation time. I need it for me. I need it to re-connect with my husband and kids. It is our time when we are together away from the demands of the world.

I don't know if I will be sick later this year. I take care of myself. I cannot predict the future. But, do I not deserve to use my vacation time as vacation time? Or should I be conserving my days for possible sickness???

Working out and Blood Sugar

I must have stressed out my body again. I had a great workout with my personal trainer last night. We did crunches, sprints, lunges, and fast walking with 5lb weights doing bi-cep curls or lifting them up and down over head. I was sweating. I like sweating. I feel like I am really on the road to reaching my goals.

I started with 25 minutes on the elliptical. Then it was time to meet with my trainer, so I tested-bg 95. I went through the whole work out and I tested when we were done and it was 157. My body must have been stressed. My breathing does not get out of control or anything. I feel great during the work out-it is just something is making it go up. 20 minutes later it was down to 125.

The weird thing is that this does not happen when I just work out on my own. I think it will take time for my body to get used to workin it! Really, my bod must be in shock. My body probably missed the old routine -get home from work, eat, hang out on the couch watching lifetime movie network, bed! My new routine is-get home from work, grab a snack, work out, shower, smoothie or light dinner, 1/2 time of Lifetime Movie Network, and bed. This is when I don't have to run the kids to scouts or baseball games. Then it takes a lot to get everything in! But then, that is what husbands are for :)) to take the kids to baseball etc.

I test my blood sugar a lot! I test at least 10 times a day. I am not on insulin so some people would say that it is not necessary, but I feel for me it is. It helps me determine the course of my day. If I test before exercise and I am under 120, then I have a snack. If I test before lunch and I am 140, then I will be sure to have a very low carb salad. I make adjustments as needed. If I test high, then I go for a walk to try to quickly bring it down. I have several meters, and I think I prefer the one touch ultra smart, but I have many others too.

Here are two links for some freebie meters
www.onetouchcolors.com
www.freeaviva.com