Wordless Wednesday(Ouch)

It truly is a good thing my infusion set died yesterday. 'Cause it was not a wordless Tuesday when I pulled site out and was bleeding so nicely and fine in the shower.

Before Removal

The site after. Doesn't look to bad, but owww.

Good thing the blood only get my t-shirt.

Emergency Melt Down

With a title like this, you would think that there is a big emergency going on in my life. IT'S TRUE!!! My car, emergency driving supplies melted on me. I mean I did have a back up and all, but my emergency became an emergency. Imagine having a top secret stash of gummy peach rings, oh so good covered in sugar and well yumminess.

This is how it is supposed to look.

Yeah, they all look so yummy. But I went into my glove box today and well, this is what I found.

All melted together and gooey

No more rings. Sadness

But well I want them

Even if they are all one unit.

 I was talking to a bunch of DOCers tonight. I don't even know how to conjugate or blah that one right, so yeah. I showed them all the bag and told them I was still going to eat them.

My original thought was knife and fork. FAIL.

So I ripped off a chunk and dove in. I so need a tripod.

I may have taken a bite out of it too.

Doesn't matter, it was all good and yummy. Even my sugar allowed me to have fun. It was 61 at that point, so well it was a bonus low fix instead of a need to figure out the complexcrabs in those. Complexcrabs is an entirely different story for another day. Just ask some of the other DOC people. That works. Yes, I got DOC conjugated or sorted out.

My lesson for the day is in the summer melty stuff not good in a hot car. i.e. kit kats, snickers, peanut butter cups, starbursts, gummy peaches. All have failed on me!!! In the winter I have frozen emergency stuff as well. Glucose tabs are in the car, but just not as much fun. It is a joke. What do you all keep in your car??

Wordless Wednesday

(Sorry been really busy, I think, I don't remember, I'm old.)

Bliss or Zen. I have my Pepsi, my Bamboo, and my penguins to protect everything and keep my soda cold.

My Contour USB Meter

A look at my meter, (well you aren't going to get a look at my current meter, 'cause well it is at home and well it currently drowning in a see of used test strips. I really need a trash can near where I test).

I may have mentioned in the past in fact I am sure I have mentioned the fact that I am using the Animas Ping Pump. Newest version of pump, is named Blue. Was Murph though. That being said one might assume that I have been using the Ping Meter Remote. However, to be honest with you after much thought and such I stopped using the meter. Reason #1 I was blowing through batteries way to often, like every month I needed new batteries. I don't think I have tested that MUCH. #2 The meter and case did not fit into my travels easily and I had yet to get my murse. (The Murse may show up in the next few days in someone else's blog as well. If that is the case I will add a comment here.) #3 It really was a big thing, I wanted smaller profile and I did not use the meter remote hardly nor did I use the food database often either, so Good Bye.

I wandered into the Bayer Contour USB about a year ago and have been using it since. Last month I was a Children With Diabetes' Friends for Life Conference in Florida and while doing some swag shopping, I was given a coupon for $30 off a new Contour USB. I figured bonus, free meter and I know I like it. Plus now I can have a second meter and not have to drag it with me everywhere I went.

So after a year, I figured I might have some insightful things to say. And I do. I love it. The meter is great. First of all it is small and compact, granted the case for holding the meter was not one that I would ever us. It did not really accommodate the meter and other all that well. This is my one complaint to be honest with you. I keep my back up insulin in my meter case, this case just did not have the ability to hold two bottles of insulin and a syringe or two. So I moved the meter into my old one touch mini case and all is kosher.

Inside the case. It is really tight and the lancer + strip case are as big as the meter = fail

What am I supposed to keep in that sleeve?? My dentist's bill?? No that I leave on my desk to get into pictures

Otherwise, the meter has been nice. It is a very simple device to setup and you can turn alarms on and off as to what you are looking for. i.e. retest alarms and the likes. You can do basic logs of why your sugar is the way it is. Pre/post meal, exercise, stuff like that. You can't type in what caused each sugar, but that is okay with me.

The screen is color and nicely done, so you can see it in the dark, which is a bonus along with a light up spot where the strip goes in. This way you can actually have an idea of where you need to send the blood. The sample size is small enough, however I have probably lost about 40 strips to the trash can Gods as I did not have enough blood. But hey, nobody/no meter is perfect.

The meter is accurate on most things. I mean as far as I can tell it has been good, usually within 5 - 10 points of my Dexcom. I think that is key. Oh and being a USB meter you can recharge it, no battery necessary. Also, there is the ability to upload your results to a Bayer software program and download or print all of you sugars, pretty sweet (yes, I went there).

The graph's are nice and easy to read and can be customized for any use. Sugars from the week, month, 3 month's and so on. It is good to have something easy to hand into the doctor. Here is a sample of my results.

This is only a small sampling of readings and numbers and what the program can do, but still awesome.

It's good. This morning I was entertained by the results I got with my test. I know I was a little low, but this is the screen shot I got....

I am curious about what the medical advice is that I should be following, but I digress. I retested and got a 49, which is better, but ehhh.... (if you look closely you can see the used strip grave yard under my lancer).

I am happy with my Contour USB meter, it is nice and easy to use and all that jazz. The software is both PC and Mac friendly and again easy to work with. No complaints from me in the least. Thank you Bayer for the coupon and stuff.

~Disclaimer: I paid for all expenses involved in attending FFL, including airfare, hotel, food, and conference fees.  I was not asked to blog about the experiences, and crazy as they are all of the thoughts are my own. Bayer did not ask me to talk about their meter or any of their products. Yet I am happy too, help if they see this and want help with a practical meter case design, please let me know (we all need to plug something from time to time. I choose my brilliant mind... haha!)~

8 Month's Ago

I had no creative title for this post as of yet. So I figured this is where to start.

8 month's I could not have imagined so many different things happening in my life. Mind you the 8 month's is a fictitious number, I don't know how long ago this all started.

8 month's ago, I did not see myself creating a d-blog and joining an interesting online community, but I have.
8 month's  ago, I couldn't imagine participating in an awesome d-blog week, but I have, 
8 month's ago, my interest and involvement over at Juvenation had sputtered for lack of a better word, but I have.
8 month's ago, I could never imagine myself going off to Florida to meet a bunch of people I had never met before, in this case Kimmy and C and now so many others, but I have.
8 month's ago, I did no see myself spitefully gorging myself on a Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter cup Sundae at an online Ice Cream Social, but I have.

(Sorry I was my own photographer)

A list of things I never saw happening has happened. I am happier and a better person because of it. I have met so many great people and I am mourning not seeing them everyday. One month ago, I was at the Magic Kingdom with my sister going to d--coaster day, to run into the famous people. 

One month ago I was at FFL11 and saw so much going on that I never imagined possible. I am so glad this all happened. 

I have been doing this on my own for so long. Yes there were random people in my life along the way, but primarily it was all just me, myself, and I. I have had some ups and downs. High's and Low's. Some near misses due to mismanagement when I was young and stupid. But I survived by the grace of God. I am so glad I did too. 

You guys truly mean so much to me, you know who you are. Even you Keri, you don't even know it. I was afloat in a sea of sugary mess, just hanging there head above the water clinging to my door with frozen fingers. Yet at first there was no Kate Winslet there telling me to not let go. It was just sheer force of will. Yet now, I have so many people on my door all pulling me back on, I know it's all going to be fine. I know that (crap here it comes) I can do this. 

You guys rock and are so totally awesome. I don't know what direction my life would have gone had I not made that decision 8 month's ago. One thing I can tell you is that it was not a mistake. It was a great idea. Thank you one and all. 

Oh I ate my ice cream, it was good and well I don't regret it 'cause I swagged and bolused and will wake up again another day. To you Mr. Fowler, suck it.

Wordless Wednesday (POKE)

(In case you ever wanted to know what a 90 day or year supply of lancets looks like. Yeah it is 8 boxes)

They are only numbers

I preface this comment with my saying, this is not a less than subtle attempt to get added adoration and birthday wishes from all of my fan out there. Because, well it isn't.

30 is a number just like any number. Until you actually hit it. I mean, it's nothing to big, but people seemed to make a big deal of it. So I was all weirded, worried, crazed about the fact that I was turning 30 yesterday. And you know what. Nothing happened. I didn't turn into a piece of bacon. I didn't see any unicorns. I didn't turn "old". Nothing. Why??

Well, 30 is just that a number. It is between 29 and 31. It is small, infinitesimal. It is just a number. Yet people get worked up about it. Same as those who get worked up about turning 40, 50, 60. Just numbers. And you can deal with it. (Almost said you can do this, but that is someone else's schtick.) I mean, yes some mornings I wake up feeling older than a 16 year old. But you know what I am. THIRTY is just a number.

One of the kids in my Youth Group made a comment to me yesterday on Facebook, Happy Birthday.... Since you have seen so many of them. To which I responded. "Yes, yes I have. But I also can drive past 11:00." There are so many things I can do, that in the past I wasn't much able to do. Drive, drink, buy cigarettes (not that I ever smoked.), buy adult movies(not that I ever would.), vote, make my own decisions. All fun things, all great stuff. And you know what 30 is only a number.

But that got me thinking, since it is only a number. Why worry? Why sweat the small stuff. In a birthday wish from Jess, she said "Wishing you happy bgs all day long! :)" That was an awesome wish from her. And the numbers were pretty sweet... I mean awesome. Shouldn't say sweet 'cause that might make me forget about moderation or turn me into a sugarholic or something.... Wait where was I? Oh yes, a different type of number. The sugar numbers, the blood glucose numbers. The numbers that actually are important.

Well I mean yes they are important, but no they truly aren't. Yesterday I ate a cupcake my sugar spiked, but I also bolused so my sugar evened out. I had some chips, so my reading went up, but I also bolused so my number went down. I over swagged, so my number went down. So I ate a cookie (OMG yummy). Yet each time I saw a different number. I didn't sweat it as it was only a number. I mean I like my numbers to stay somewhere between 80 and 125. But if they are not there I can fix it. I can balance it out. All is good.

It is only a number, an important number for us. But again only a number. If you end up getting a 210 on your meter. You know what to do. Bolus based upon what you know you need or your pump tells you. Check your infusion site if you have a pump. You know what to do. If you are low, you drink OJ, eat a glucose tab. Ingest a cupcake. It doesn't matter. You know what you need to do. I am not perfect, my numbers are not perfect. I swag and fail. I count my carbs and fail. I get attacked by #complexcrabs. It happens. But I move on. I need to.

I know I can't dwell on the number. Sometimes it just doesn't work. But I can try again. Numbers are important at times, but again they are only a number. What you do with them does matter. How you live your life and not let them rule your life is what matters. You Can Do This. Damn, I did it anyway!!