Because you know I'm all about that pump

All About That Cure | JDRF

AHHHH how cute is this?! Its one of my favorite things! I just wanted to hop on real quick to share how I feel about medical technology (the Omnipod. specifically). I remember feeling so left out when I was first diagnosed because I didn't have all the fancy medical devices that everyone else had. 

Now that I have had those devices, and am unable to use them currently, I have my own opinions. 

I really loved/still love omnipod. I never experienced a tether pump, and I'd like to some time, but ominpod was/is truly awesome. When my insurance stuff got jacked up and I was no longer able to get medical equipment, I still had about 10 pods left. I have kept them and used them on occasion when I've felt burnt out. I have, in recent weeks, lost a lot of my appetite, but I think I've discovered the main cause of this- I'm lazy. 

Here is the succession of events for eating for me during quarantine:

1.  Decide if I am eating carbs 
2.  Make food
3.  Go hunt down my insulin pen or a syringe and vial of insulin (this is sometimes a daunting task, as I have been leaving stuff laying all over creation since I've been home all the time)
4.  Change my needle (maybe or not)
5.  Calculate carbs
6.  Take a shot
7.  Eat

Its honestly exhausting 😆 And I'm honestly just lazy. Plus, I've forgotten my insulin once or twice on the occasions when I have gone out, just because I got used to being at home where everything was readily available. 

So, I put on a leftover pod a couple days ago. HALLELUJAH FREEDOM. Oh man it was nice. Press a couple buttons and BAM insulin on the way and I can go about my life.  

My Endo recently told me that pumps are a "lifestyle" not really a medical necessity. Which I totally get. We decided that I cant wear a pump without wasting 20-30 units of insulin each time I wear one, because I cant use up the minimum amount required for a site change. I really felt like that was my answer on a pump- if it wastes insulin, its not worth it. 

But HOLY SMOKES its just so much easier 😩

I almost feel like my mental sanity is worth that 20-30 unit insulin waste if I ever get good incurance again. 

What are your thoughts?

Loving my body (NOT as a plus sized social media influencer or totally toned, protein loving, gym-going junkie)

Okay so I had this grand post idea where I was going to share my current lifestyle choices with food, explain the change in my mentality towards food, and explain my whole journey towards that mentality as well as share how I drink my coffee and eat my salads.

Well I started typing all this and realized it was WAY too much for one post. Ha! So, we are going to start with the back story here in comparison to now, and I'll post soon about coffee and salads. This is where our story starts:

13-17 year old Kelby, when interacting with any girl close to her age:

 "OH MY GOSH if I hear one more girl say she needs to go the gym I am going to smack someone" 

"If one more average sized girl says she is fat again, I will smack myself"

"OH MY WORD YOU LOOK FINE please stop asking me 895 times if your hair looks okay!!"

Granted, this is coming from teenage Kelby. Lemme explain teenage Kelby to those of you who were fortunate enough to miss out on knowing me personally during this time of my life. Lets try to describe me in 4 words...well sentences/phrases and endless parenthesis...: 

1.  Baggy clothes (usually a floor length jean skirt and random patterned shirt)
2. "Messy" buns (Not the cute kind... imagine 4 ft of hair wrapped around itself and secured with ONE pony tail holder)
3.  Total disregard for any current fashions (meaning I probably did the OPPOSITE of what was trendy ON PURPOSE)
4.  Not even attempting to attract the opposite sex or fit in with other girls my age in any way, shape or form

I am not exaggerating. I literally did the opposite of what everyone else did because I detested girls who were hung up on themselves (even though, lets be honest, MOST teenage girls are like this because they are just insecure and trying to figure out life). But I was not like that. I ate all the cupcakes, did all the things that were NOT trendy or attractive, and just bee-bopped through life mostly happy and content with myself. 

I credit my parents and wonderful upbringing with this beautiful mentality, but also slightly faulty perspective of genuinely not caring about my body or looks.

I was dx with type one in 2015, at age 16, at which point I had lost around 10 lbs but easily gained it back with a few extra pounds in the next couple years. Contrary to what you think I'm going to say here, "I realized the importance of diet and exercise and fixed my mindset" I actually kind of spiraled downward. My whole mentality of type one was, "I can eat a cupcake if I want and you cant stop me" in addition to, "This disease doesn't have to control me or affect my lifestyle". Ouch.

That's not altogether wrong, but I was viewing everything SO wrong. My perspective was so twisted.

*Disclaimer: Just because I felt like I could live this way, did not mean I was always comfortable in my own skin. Everyone wants to have a flat stomach, be a certain "goal" weight or look a certain way in that perfect dress. But because my heart condition/perspective wasn't in the right place, I could never achieve what I considered perfection because I was either so afraid of being like every other girl and worrying too much about my body, or too caught up in not being happy with myself that the solution was stress eating or short term binges of exercising when I would get self-conscience. So I was a mess!

I love food.

Lets get that straight. A this point in my life I hated salads 😝, veggies, and anything that was not heavy in carbs and/or fats.

Food became my coping strategy

After a hard day at work, I would hit up a barbeque joint and eat away my feelings with fried chicken, potato wedges, hushpuppies and piles of honey mustard or ranch. (Imma be honest, my mouth is watering rn). I was sucker for sweets, but instead of just enjoying one, I couldn't stop myself and would eat and eat and eat until I just couldn't hold anymore (7-8 cookies later). What a rough spot to be in.

My sisters and mom kept pushing me to eat healthy, which always felt like somewhat of an insult, but was meant with all the good intentions in the world.

My endo told me that because it was easier for me than most people to manage my blood sugars, I should get tighter control of my spikes. I began considering the following:

Co 6:19  "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

This was Jesus in response to my (then) perspective on my body: "WHAT?" 😂

Essentially, I began over 6 months ago trying to change my perspective on food. 

 I got on a bandwagon with my sisters and my mom and they helped me, supported me, and cheered me on. I now still get to eat good things, just with less of a focus on living to eat. I will go into more detail on just how I changed my eating habits and what that looks like for my diabetes in a future post, but right now I just want to say this.

I still love food!

I eat a good brownie, piece of cake, or box of french fries every once in awhile. But now, instead of not caring, I also keep in mind how these decisions are affecting my body. My arteries, my heart health, my blood sugar. These reminders help me reign in my tendencies to stress eat or binge sweets. My overall lifestyle has changed, but when I'm eating out or on Holiday I still get to enjoy food because I don't obsess over it. However, I eat GOOD yummy food that is GOOD for me on a daily basis.

Sure, I have lost weight and that's nice, but I am happier all around because I feel better and I know my body is happy because I am taking care of it. My diabetes management is SO much better too! Because I am eating purposefully.

Exercise is still hit or miss, I am not going to lie there. I'm still lazy. So we gotta work on that. 😂

But, what I want you to take away from this is: eating healthy does not mean you have to be obsessed with your appearance or body image. And being obsessed with you appearance or body image is NOT the right reason to eat healthy or change your lifestyle.

LOVING your body does not mean being happy with it being overweight and leading to health complications. You can prove to whomever that you are happy in your skin without being plus size.

Because truly loving your body means TAKING CARE of it. 

Wether that means your weight is a little above average or not. You can rest in knowing that you do what is best for your body regardless of if it lines up with cultural norms.

For me, my body is the temple of Christ. As a Christian, it is my duty to take care of my body to the best of my abilities, because I am commanded to.

So my friend, I hope you can find this happy medium and this beautiful balance like I have. Because I am loving this lifestyle!


P.S. I do actually fix my hair and wear clothes that fit me now (most of the time). Just needed to add that 😆

Larissa and Bailey

Larissa: The sweet, red headed young mom that came to church 13 years ago. Larissa with a tiny newborn girl and 2 year old little boy (who called me his girlfriend by the way for SEVERAL years, but lets not embarrass that NOW 15 year old!). 

Larissa: The type one diabetic that showed me her pump site one time. I remember thinking something crazy about how she changed her site... and I can't exactly remember what I thought but something like she had a thing that stayed in her all the time and she had to tap into it every three days? Like a port? I would later chuckle at the irony of this ignorance. 

Larissa: The first person I called after I left the Drs office with my type one diagnosis close to 8 years after we had met. She cried with me as I tried to explain everything to her through my tears and, "I'm okay I'm just scared".

Larissa: The only person outside of family that I let come see me in the hospital. She brought a stuffed horse and cards with hand drawn pictures from her babies. 

Larissa: The PANCREAS TRANSPLANT SURVIVOR and THRIVER who does not take insulin anymore, but continues to deal with the repercussions of being type one for 30 years before God gave her a new pancreas. 

Bailey: The girl I followed on Instagram when I discovered the massive type one community. She was type one and lived close (I didn't realize how close at the time) and didn't know anyone else with type one. 

Larissa: The oh so considerate and sweet person who I was unaware also followed Bailey. She contacted her (or the other way around) and said hey! we all have something in common, lets get together!

Bailey: The girl who relates to me on a personal level that many cannot. The girl who pulls her checker out before meals, injects insulin the same way I do, and FAWNS with me over Myabetic bags.

Bailey: The girl who offers her extra supply of Humolog when she knows I don't have insurance. The girl that gets and makes diabetes jokes and understands my lingo. The girl who I see barely once a year (but hopefully that will change soon). 

I love you both so much. Your support means the world, your company is precious. There is nothing like being with people who battle with, and for you. So shout out to my friends. My friends who understand. My friends who love to eat carbs with me (YAS queens!). My friends who buy me awesome Christmas presents. My friends who make me feel less alone on this journey. 

Ya'll are the BEST. 

 Bailey

Larissa

A Bloody Mess

The title pretty much sums up my day yesterday. I'm not going to lie- it was kinda a rough day diabetes-wise.
*Disclaimer* This post contains girl-stuff and a lovely little pic of my bloody back (per a failed dexcom sensor), so to all you dudes out there- might wanna skip this one.
Okay so, first: That smoothie I drank night before last? I majorly over-bolused for it and ended up with a low that dropped from 66 to 53, even after I treated. I was a little freaked out by that, ended up eating half the kitchen, and had a high BG from 12-4am (in the 200s) according to my dex. *Insert non-paid promotion here* That dex was a life-saver. I would've went to bed with a BG of 106 (what my glucometer read) if I hadn't seen the arrow pointing straight down on my receiver.
So, needless to say, it was a bit of a rough night. Morning dawned with a good BG and I headed out to school. I stopped by work to grab a biscuit, which shot my BG up to the 200's and left it there until lunch time (around lunch time I discovered mother nature had left me her present for the month-possibly the cause of those higher BGs). I took extra insulin for lunch and was still high until I accidentally ripped off my receiver (which still had two more days) and had to change my dexcom site.

Now you see that picture? And where that little girl's transmitter is?

Yeah that didn't really work out for me. Maybe because my skin is thinner there because of stretch-marks from that rapid growth spurt (more like weight gain) of my preteen years. 

So I ripped that site out after I realized the little window had filled up with blood. Ouch. And I wasted a dex transmitter which makes me sad, because I only have three more.

Theeeeen last night the site where I did my Lantus injection bled and I was just like...

Oh well! After all, that's life, right? 

My day diabetes-aside was fine. I got to have lunch with my parents and actually clocked out of work on time. Plus- everyday with Jesus is a good day!

 So don't think I'm trying to be a negative Nancy- just trynna keep it real. 

~Realistic T1D

Dexcom & Smoothies

Absence makes the heart grow fonder... right?

Goodness, sorry for being so MIA, my life has been full lately with school, work, friends and family.

I had a super good day today. Not with my BG's (although that was my fault) but I just had a great attitude all day. The weather here was low seventies, and I was soaking it in after a cold dry winter.

 If you follow me on Insta, you know that my transplant friend loaned me her CGM. I am on week two with it, and, in contrast to the inaccuracy the first couple days I used it, it has been almost spot on this week. I run level all through the night (I'm talkin perfect- 90's) and haven't had it alert me to a low yet! I actually still have yet to experience a night time low- Thank you Jesus! So back to the CGM. I'm learning just how bad of a carb counter I am... When I have exact carb info (right off a box) I raise to around 130, then level out to 100's or 90's, but when I'm guessing....shew momma. I've hit 200's a couple times this week. The reason my BGs were off today? Well there are a couple.
Reason #1) I ate a quinoa bar for breakfast and its like oatmeal- Spikes my BG, then drops below 70 a couple hours later. I know now (thanks to some info from fellow type ones- Yay community!) that I should've had a spoonful of PB or some other protein to prevent that spike and drop.
Reason #2) Reason two is that I made some bad decisions. I ate some trail mix during class and later drank some of a starbuck's frappechino without blousing....... We are just going to leave that at "Do better next time", K?

Even with a funky BG day, I've been a happy girl. My room is clean and half of my laundry is clean and put away (yes, only half. Don't act like your perfect). And I am done with all my major assignments in all 3 of my classes! Now to just tackle finals!

I've been kinda interested in smoothies lately, but discovered I cant handle the ones that contain banana... I just cant do it. Its already such a mushy fruit...mushing it up more in a smoothie...just...bad idea.

So tonight I made my own smoothie concoction (instead of following a recipe)...

• Frozen strawberries
• Fresh blueberries
• Plain greek yogurt
• Unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• Honey
• Vanilla extract

I don't have any measurements, I just threw stuff in. And guess what? Its good! Hurrah!
I bloused 46 carbs, we will see how my BG handles it.
***UPDATE*** Ended up with super bad low right before bed. I'll probably cut that carb count in half next time!!!

I hope to do a Dexcom review pretty soon, and tell yall all about the JDRF women of type one conference I attended last weekend. So hopefully there will be more to come! Stay tuned!

~Slacking T1D

P.S. This weeks resolution? No sweets. And no meals over 45 carbs. That one skirt just isn't fitting right.... ya know what I mean?
P.P.S My Lantus alarm just rang for the third time...should probably add "Take Lantus on time" to the above resolutions...

Death by Holidays (goodbye honeymoon phase)

Alright, I don’t know about you guys, but when I’m stressed out, super busy, or on vacation, I get a little lax in my management if you know what I mean. Finals week, Thanksgiving, and Christmas vacation are all perfect examples of this. Finals week was, well, stressful. And when I’m stressed out, I like to eat. I mean, who doesn’t love a good a candy bar when you’re on the brink of mental collapse? (Okay, that may have been a slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean) When I say “lax in management” I don’t mean that I completely stop taking insulin or ignore a bad BG reading. It means that I snack more than I should, don’t check as often as I need to, and fail to stay within my normal carb range. I try to shoot for around 45-60 carbs meal. Well obviously, that goal is not even realistic on Thanksgiving.

Let’s start with Thanksgiving. Lots of food, right? Want a general idea of HOW MUCH food? I took nine units of insulin to account for my loaded down plate. At a bolus ratio of 1-15, that means it was about 135 carbs. Post-Thanksgiving meal, my tummy was NOT happy with me. As a diabetic, I rarely eat until I am stuffed. And this was the first time since the beginning of this year (my diagnosis) that I had really gorged. And oh boy did I pay for it! The stomach cramps that night that followed were NOT pleasant. I can’t remember if I checked my BG before bed or not. Forgetting to check my BG before bed was a bad phase for a while (more on that later). So after Thanksgiving I seemed to be having difficulties staying in range. So I monitored my carb intake, insulin dosage, and BG’s closely for a couple days then decided to bump up my bolus rate. So I started doing a unit to every 12 carbs instead of 15. I also upped my daily injected of Lantus from 5 to 7 units.

So that was Thanksgiving. Now on to Christmas.

Pretty much same story, different holiday. Poor control, snacks, too many carbs, too much food in general, ect, ect. This past week I was out of state visiting a friend before school starts back. All week I kept seeing a reoccurring high post-prandial (after meal) BG. So, I upped my intake again, and tried 1-9 for a couple meals, with results still above my preference. Another bump down, and I seem to be back on level ground with a 1-7 ratio.

Now I’m wondering if I might need to give Lantus another bump up, considering I went to bed last night with a BG of 113, and woke up with a 130.

I said all that to say this: Honeymoon period is obviously either over, or in fast decline, and I can’t help but wonder if I was responsible. Did all that over-eating, inconsistent snacking, and irresponsible management finally send my pancreas over the edge? It’s a question worth asking, but I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to admit all of the above to my endo next week. He’s bound to notice those highs and missing bedtime BG’s. Good thing he is a super nice guy.

 ~Regretful T1D

An Icee Revelation

So this one time I walked into a gas station and, temporarily forgetting about my (almost) dead pancreas, I came this close to buying a slushy.

1^st thought: *Gasp* those look ah-maz-ing

2^nd thought: It’s hot out, a perfect day for a slushy!

3^rd thought: And they don’t even cost that much!

Then, just as I was getting all worked up, a light bulb went off:

4^th thought: Oh yeah. I have diabetes.

Although I don’t often let this disease limit me when it comes to sweet treats, I had NO idea how to count carbs for a slushy. Not only did I think the amount of carbs would be too much for a normal day treat, I also wasn’t in the mood to take insulin. The thought of avoiding an injection was a more pleasant one than the thought of the cold cherry-coke slushy touching my taste buds.

As before stated, T1D doesn’t usually detour me from devouring sweets. I mean, let’s be honest here, Mickey D’s frappes are my weak point. I think I had three last week (hopefully my Mom’s not reading this…). A small Oreo frappe, my favorite, (thanks a lot person who introduced me- you know who you are) has 82 carbs. A small chocolate chip frappe has 110 carbs, a fact that I discovered yesterday after I already bought one because the Mickey D’s employee informed that they did not have Oreo frappes, even though the picture was clearly displayed on the menu (Uhhh can you say false advertising?!). Although I’m addicted to these things, in all fairness I only get one when I’m out with friends or, like today, traveling. I just happened to hang out with friends a lot last week. Frappes are probably so processed and terrible for me. Ew. I’ve got to kick this habit.

Healthy eating is something I aspire to pursue when I move out and have to buy my own food, but right now I don’t pay for food so I don’t complain, ya know?

Referring back to the slushy story, have you ever almost forgot you had diabetes? It’s all still fresh for me, so I guess it makes sense that I might have a momentary lapse in memory. Or does it?

~Absent minded T1D

Traveling

My blood sugar does not like traveling. Rather, it doesn't like high carb foods and lack of physical exertion. As I'm sure you've figured out, from last nights post and the sentences opening this post, my sugar has been wacky. Mostly high, but today I went low and this why (I think):

• We were eating food prepared at someone's home, so I didn't have an exact carb count
• I corrected for a slightly high BG (163)
• I also tried adjusting my bolus ratio
• I didn't have a calculator so I had to guess when dividing my carbs

So I corrected, but didn't re-check (I know, bad Kelby). In all fairness though, I was in a vehicle and I couldn't even wash my hands to check. When I corrected, my glucometer stated my BG was 88 but I knew better than that. I was pretty sure I was dropping fast, so I drank some juice. It was the lesser of two evils. I mean, don't correct and pass out, or correct without an exact number because I couldn't wash my hands, ya know? I ate some chips just a bit ago and didn't count or bolus for them. I had maybe a handful. 18 chips=19 carbs. I can have a 15 carb snack twice a day, so I figured the amount I ate was around that. Well I just checked and I was a little high, but feeling like I'm climbing. *Sigh*. Can't wait to get home and hopefully get this wackiness straightened out!

If these kinds of posts are annoying, just let me know. Ill move on to more relatable stuff eventually.

~Apologetic T1D

Troubleshoot

Current location: bathroom floor of our hotel

Current time: 10:55pm

Last four BG's

1. 7:57pm- 139
2. 8:50pm- 180
3. 10:34pm- 229
4. 10:49pm- 230 *after a bottle of water

 Last meal's carb count? 106 carbs, 7 units of insulin administered.

Cause of high BG? Probably all the processed junk I've been eating on this trip and lack of physical activity due to sitting on my bum in the car.

Ketones? Negative.

Action being taken? Almost finished with my second bottle of water, retesting at 11:05 to see if my BG is still rising or if it's decided to cooperate and drop for me.

Future preventative measures? Lowering carb insulin ratio for lunch and dinner from 15/1 to 12/1, trying if at all possible not to eat as much junk tomorrow and maybe try to get some exercise in.

Why don't you take insulin? Because my endo recommended no insulin before bed right now.

****UPDATE****
BG at 11:05pm is now down to 205. Goodnight folks!

BAD Days

Have you ever had a bad day with diabetes? Not a bad day as in, my numbers are all over the place and I have no idea why because Ive done everything right, but a bad day as in, wow I ate too many carbs, didn't check my BG when I should have and didn't inject at the right time. Its about to get real y'all...

My BG is currently 235. You know why? I ate out all day, for starters. A biscuit for breakfast, a burger and fries for lunch, and Japanese for dinner. I also had ice cream after lunch, and a Klondike bar after dinner. I'm sharing this, not because I am unashamed, because certainly anyone who is as glutenous as I was today should feel a little remorse, but because I want you to know that sometimes a lot of times I mess up. 

My sugar likes to go high on Sunday evenings anyhow, so when I checked my BG before eating out with a friend this evening, it was no surprise I was tad high (166). I bolused as well as I could without an exact carb count, and ate, probably using too much shrimp sauce (contributing factor #1). Then, we stopped by Walmart and I bought Klondike bars (bad decision #2). I remembered I had forgotten to give a correction dose at suppertime so I injected 3 units for 28 carbs instead of two. Pretty rough management here folks- but I'm not done yet. When it came time for my nightly Lantus injection, my friend and I were in the middle of a movie. So what did I do? Put that off until 11pm, when I should have given it at 10 (bad choice #3). 

So this explains why my sugar is high and why I am a failure. Does anyone else ever just NOT care? Of course I care to certain extent, I don't want to go blind, lose limbs or go into kidney failure, but are there times in anyone elses life where you just wish diabetes didn't have to be the center of attention? That you could be careless and get good results? 

Unfortunately, this is not the way life works. In order to obtain good results you have to work hard.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might".
Here's to a better controlled tomorrow. 

PB Cookies :b

Preheat oven to 350

Combine 1 cup PB, 1 cup sugar, and an egg. 

Dollop out into 12 cookies on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes.

24 carbs for one cookie. Not bad!

Your welcome : )