It's official...

sort of. Apparently my 11 year old diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes is incorrect. I'm actually a diabetic of some other flavor. I'm not sure of the details as I haven't talked with the endo yet but hopefully he or his nurse will call me soon and I'll learn more. My suspicion is that I have Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA) and the endo should be able to confirm or refute that.  

When I talked to the GP's assistant yesterday and she told me the GAD test was positive I wasn't surprised. Disheartened and disappointed but not surprised. Today I've been pretty depressed over it. Had I known when I was first diagnosed that I wasn't a Type 2 I'd probably have been willing to start insulin much sooner and save some of the beta cell function present at the time. But I didn't know and my actions/lack of actions over the last 11 years have more than likely worn out my pancreas. That's a sobering thought as I really thought I was doing what was best for my body. Also, having LADA means my hope of someday being free of the insulin shots is nothing more than a pipe dream. Even when I get down to ideal weight, without some miracle it looks as though I'll need insulin the rest of my life.

On the other hand, there's a strange sort of relief. From what I've learned recently, the problems I've had controlling my blood sugar more than likely aren't due to being a "lazy diabetic" or being ignorant about carbohydrates and insulin. The crazy highs after eating a salad, something I used to be able to eat with no major increase in blood sugar, and the terrifying middle of the night lows, which are much scarier now that I live alone, more than likely aren't due entirely to injecting too little or too much insulin. And my exhaustion and emotional state appear to have something of a physical basis after all. There's some comfort in all that, albeit small and too late in some ways.

Since I already use insulin I'm not sure what difference, if any, this change in diagnosis will make in regard to treatment and prognosis. I don't mean to sound flippant but I strongly suspect that the major differences will be a note in my medical records and a change in diagnosis codes for insurance purposes. Whatever differences come I'll deal with them. 

In the meantime I'm plugging along, trying to eat as I know I should, faithfully injecting my insulin, testing, testing, and testing, exercising, and trying not to stress over this. Good thoughts are welcomed and appreciated! And if you have Diabetes, especially LADA, I'd love to hear from you.

April 24th - 30th Menu

Last week was another very busy one and between the job and the life I didn't have much relaxation time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself yesterday, though. I spent the morning and early part of the afternoon doing very little then went to a friend's house for dinner. We had a simple yet delicious meal of roasted chicken with plenty of sides, most of which were too high in carbs for me but I did eat a bit of this and a smidge of that and brought some of the leftovers home to eat later this week.

I noticed this morning that my zucchini plants have flowers! I need to move one of the plants to another container but I'm thrilled to see they're flowering. The tomato and pepper plants have no flowers yet and seem to be growing too slowly but I haven't given up on them. We might get some good storms over the next three days and I sure hope we do as my plants need it.

I'd planned to prepare a beef roast this week using Ray's 3 Envelope Roast recipe but when I took the roast from the freezer this morning, it had bad freezer burn. I dug a little more and found four additional packages of beef with the burn. Argh, how maddening! I've used my sister's sealer a few times in the last four months and those items are fine so I'm buying one this week and will try to use it faithfully! She has a method that works for her and I'll do it her way to see if it works as well for me.

As for the bad meat, I was going to trash it but remembered a Freecycle member who used to ask for freezer burned meat for her dogs so I listed it on Freecycle and someone is getting it tomorrow for her dogs. I hate wasting food but at least it isn't going into the trash.

Thanks to the freezer burned beef, my menu for this week changed and here it is, in no particular order except for tonight's dinner which is listed first:

Chipotle fish with vegetables from Sunday's dinner

Chicken and vegetables, more than likely made using Ray's recipe above. I haven't tried it with chicken yet but I'm sure it will be delicious.

Creamy Chicken and Cheese enchiladas made with egg wraps and served with faux spanish rice and a salad

Steak wrap made with Joseph's Lavash bread, thinly sliced ribeye steak, bell pepper, purple onion, and Alton Brown's Tzatziki sauce and served with spicy cucumber tomato salad

Archer Farms California grilled chicken salad

Dinner out one night, probably Italian or Chinese

As a side note, I've managed to gain 4 lbs in the last two weeks! Knowing that my weight fluctuates either way up to 5 lbs and I'm prone to water retention I'm not too worried about it. I still need to lose about 20 lbs but I think it's going to take a major increase in exercise to get there and right now I simply don't have the time so I'll continue to eat low carb, work out when I can, try to get an extra walk in here and there, and watch those 4 extra pounds like a hawk! I've gotten rid of any clothes above a size 12 so I really need to get and keep a handle on this. ;)

And that's it for this week. Join Laura and her many fans at Menu Plan Monday to find out what others are planning to nosh!

Shhhhh!

Don't tell anyone but today was the second of four days I took off work! I ended up being very busy yesterday and today and the "days off" weren't so this weekend my plan is to do nothing. Nada. Rien. Nichts. Ingenting. Nihil. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration but you get my point, I'm sure.

I'm actually going to do some house cleaning, grocery shopping, a little cooking, and complete my FAFSA for the upcoming semester. Other than that, though......

Enjoy your weekend!

Black Bean and Pepperoni Soup

I had a few things languishing in the fridge and decided to use some of them to make a hearty Black Bean and Pepperoni Soup. I had it with half a deli flat and a small salad and it was a hearty lunch. There's enough left for one or two more servings so later this week I'll remake it into a Tex Mex (sort of) dish. 

Black Bean and Pepperoni Soup

Handful or two of pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni)
3/4 cup of cooked black beans (I used canned)

1/2 to 1 cup of tomatoes (I used plain canned tomatoes)

4 ounces of broth, water, or other liquid

1 Tbsp chopped onion

2 Tablespoons chopped bell pepper
Dash of celery salt
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Put the beans and other ingredients in a sauce pan and heat. Add pepperoni and voila, soup! It doesn't get much easier than this. :)

The newest addition to my household is...

Sammy, my precious cat! 

He's a real joy and a pain in the butt but I love him dearly!

April 10th - April 16th Menu

Whew, what an interesting time the last week or so has been! Work has been particularly stressful and I've been struggling with some negative things going on but I think I finally have a handle on them. I hope so, anyway.

I've had a lot of 'thinking time' the last few months and after much consideration and research and quite a bit of discussion with people who've done it and survived, I've decided to go back to school. Retail can be difficult for the young but for us oldsters it can be downright brutal. Standing for umpteen hours a day has lost it's luster, if it ever had any, and the pay sucks and my patience with customers too often wears thin so back to college I go! I don't know yet just what classes I'll take and I need to get my transcripts from many years ago (you know, back when transcripts were put on clay tablets!) but I'm going to do this. Finally. As they say, there's no time like the present.

I've gotten back into gardening and genealogy this Spring and both are great hobbies, especially the gardening. I hope to have some lovely home grown tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and who knows what else on my menus a bit later this year! I'll try to put pictures up now and then.

In the meantime, here's my menu for the week, starting with Sunday's dinner then listed in no particular order:

California grilled chicken salad complete with feta cheese, walnuts, a few dried cranberries, and a bit of poppyseed dressing

Beef tips in low carb gravy served over roasted, mashed turnips with a hearty side salad

Vegetable beef soup, made with plannedover beef tips, gravy and turnips, and half a deli flat

Dinner out one night

Black Bean and Pepperoni Soup with a salad

Turkey bacon and a bowl of cottage cheese mixed with homemade pico de gallo and plenty of garlic

Leftovers, when whatever is in the fridge gets eaten

And that's it for this week! I have a few new recipes I've been playing with and hopefully will have at least one ready to share next week. Until then, don't forget to play with your food and join Laura and Friends at Menu Plan Monday to see what others are serving.

Just a quick update

I'll post my menu for the coming week tonight or tomorrow but wanted to share a quick update. I'm now wearing a size 10 or 12 jeans! Right now that's the only exciting news in my life but that's pretty darn exciting to me. Oh wait, there's more. I had a c-peptide test and it turned out to be on the very low end. What does this mean? It means my pancreas is producing very little insulin. Surprise! ;) We're waiting for the results on a GAD test, also.

Regardless of the GAD results, I'm on the right track. I still need to lose another 15 to 18 lbs but I feel better now than I have in years, literally. My sleep is still not quite right but the old Denise is coming back and I'm so relieved!