A great day!

I woke up this morning with a FBG of 84, which is awesomely good. I was thrilled and have managed to keep the blood sugar between 84 and 110 all day.

I got a great pseudo surprise today - my mother, stepfather, two sisters and the boyfriend of one of them met me for lunch! I say "pseudo surprise" because I knew the sisters were coming to east Texas but I had to work and didn't think I'd get to see them. They left Dallas early, though, and although they were a bit later than I'd hoped we got to spend some time together before I headed to work. It was great to see them, even if it was for only a short time. This week has been really rough and I felt cheered by the visit and it just made my day.

And here we are at Cheddar's!

Left to right: Connie, Terra, and me

It's officially official...

I'm definitely a Type 1 diabetic. I got the call while I was out and about today but talked to the endo's nurse, who couldn't answer any of my questions. Basically all she said is I'll have to stay on insulin from here out and see the endo every three months. I have an appointment with him at the end of May and hopefully he'll have more information for me. I hate being left with all these questions and no answers.

To say I'm upset is something of an understatement. I've suspected this and yes, the phone call last week with the GP's assistant pretty much confirmed my suspicions but to hear it again, in no uncertain terms, no 'we think' or 'it looks like' or 'you appear to be', was really not what I wanted. On the other hand, a lot of things make more sense to me now.

I have a lot of questions to ask, a lot. And no answers for awhile.

Just sharin'....

I was almost asleep last night when I started hearing weird sounds. I figured it was Sammy and tried to ignore it but the sounds continued and got louder until I finally had to get up and see what he was doing.

Here's what I found in the living room!

I guess he decided to use the box as a bed and what I'd heard was him scratching and pawing at it, trying to get it just right. 

Ha ha, gotta love cats! 

Have a great Wednesday. 

May 1st - May 6th Menu

This week's menu is a good one! I got some great deals at the grocery store and spent my weekend off resting and preparing dinners and lunches for this week. Other than the California Grilled Chicken Salad, there isn't much I can eat where I work so I do try to take lunches. However, sometimes I'm lazy about it or just forget to grab my lunch and if the salad isn't available or I'm not in the mood for it I end up eating chicken nuggets or chicken strips, both things I really don't need. I'm really trying to be more careful about what I eat and taking meals to work is a big part of that.

Last night I had oven baked beef ribs and salad for dinner. The ribs were incredibly delicious and much more tender than I expected. I'd found a large rack of beef ribs for a great price so I divided the rack into two sections. The first I seasoned with pepper, garlic powder, and a little celery salt, wrapped tightly in foil, and baked at 250 for about four hours. The second I pan cooked on very low heat for about three hours with plenty (15) of fresh whole garlic cloves. Both cooking methods produced meat that fell off the bones and there's enough for at least two more meals. 

The rest of the week isn't nearly as exciting but is still good and healthy. Here's my menu, in no particular order:

Vegetable and chicken soup with salad and green beans

Chicken Parmesan with sauteed parmesan spinach 

Salad with several kinds of greens, tomato, baby carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, and cheese

Chicken and vegetable stir fry with a bit of wild rice and mushrooms

Beef ribs with salad and 1/2 a small baked sweet potato 

Vegetable fajitas made with a slew of fresh veggies and low carb tortillas

And that's it for this week! It's all made at home, thrifty, and good for me.

What's on the menu at your house this week? If you're stumped for ideas, join Laura and her followers at Menu Plan Monday. I'm sure you'll get some nice ideas.

Where's my whip?

I still haven't heard from the endocrinologist and I'm just about ready to jump out of my skin.

I've spent quite a bit of time the last couple of days thinking about what I can do to get my blood sugar under better control. My last A1c was 7.1, a marked improvement from my January test but not close enough to the short term goal of 6.5 I've set. It does show that I'm on the right track, though, and that's encouraging.

After I had my little pity party Thursday I hitched up my big girl panties and was ready to beat the ever loving hell out of the Diabeastie. Where's my whip? Oh yeah, I don't have one so I guess I'll have to approach this differently. How about using common sense, planning, and forethought to gain the upper hand? How about putting to work the knowledge I already have and gaining more to help me overpower the dreaded creature? Yeah, I think that's a better plan.

In light of that, here are some of the things I must do/changes I must make to better manage my blood sugar:

Test more frequently - Depending on what's going on in my life, where I am, what I've eaten, and how I feel, some days I test only 3 or 4 times. Most days I test more often but when I've eaten something that's likely spiked me I'm more inclined to skip testing. I don't want proof that the 15 units of Novolog I shot weren't nearly enough for the two plates of food I ate so I just go on about my business. Trust me, that doesn't work well. I've returned to the test schedule that served me well as long as I faithfully kept it. I'll test before eating and drinking when I first get up in the morning, before each meal and two hours after starting the meal, before going to bed, when I eat something new to me, and when I don't feel good or feel like something is "off".  And I'll do this... Every. Single. Day. That's 10 tests on a good day. A bad day will mean 15 or more. At about $35 for 100 test strips it isn't cheap but it's a lot cheaper than a hospital stay, losing my vision, or having a leg amputated. To help with this chore, I've ordered 500 test strips to keep me going for a little while.

Multiple Daily Injections - Since a pump isn't financially feasible for me and haphazardly shooting when I think about it or when my glucometer freaks out over a high number isn't a good idea, I'm going to continue my MDI schedule with a little tweaking. Yes, it's something of a pain in the butt - I have to faithfully test, remember to take my glucometer and insulin everywhere I go, eat soon after shooting rapid acting insulin and for the amount for which I've shot, remember to take my basal insulin at the same time each night, and (arrgh, the worst part of all!) accurately count the carbs I eat. But MDI, when conscientiously performed, can produce very good results. Or so I'm told.

Count carbs - I admit I'm one of the worst carb counters out there. In the beginning and for quite awhile after my initial diagnosis I ate fewer than 20 grams of carbs most days, often eating 10 grams in an entire day, and if you aren't eating carbs, what's there to count? It was easier and quicker to eat a very low carb snack and pronounce it "about 2 grams of carbs" than it was to learn exactly how many grams of carbohydrates are in a serving of something,  measure or weigh to get that precise serving, and then consume just that serving. And that worked fine for awhile but I quickly needed insulin and still didn't properly count my carbs. Yes, I've been a horrible carb counter but I do know how to count carbs and I do it well most of the time. I simply need to be more faithful about it. So Friday I dug out my carb counting books, found a good food scale, and started putting them to use. No, I don't like it and yes, I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do than memorize carb counts of my favorite and not so favorite foods. But it is what it is.

Exercise more - This is another tough one because, well...I don't like exercise. However, I've increased the physical activity I get and it's already made a difference in weight and blood sugar so more should help. At least in theory. I don't have a gym membership. I just walk around the neighborhood and use my exercise DVDs. I simply need to do those things more.

So, the above things basically are my whip and I plan to fiercely use it!

I'll try to post updates on this now and then. Life is pretty hectic right now and I don't have as much free time as I'd like. At any rate, this week's menu will be posted later tonight or tomorrow. It's a good one!