Monday, September 17, 2007

"I think she's got it! I think she's got it!"

(Ahem, "The raaaaiiin in Spain stays maaaiiinly in the plaaiiin!")

So here's what Nancy the NP and Carla the CDE laid out for me: I'm heading in the right direction, I just need to focus my efforts.

The first matter of focus is my Symlin. I was only taking it twice a day, and really I should take it with every major meal, so on the days I eat breakfast, that means 3 times. The weekend kind of screwed up my Symlin schedule, but I'm right back on it today. My numbers have been looking a lot better. I don't think I've been above the 200's in over a week, but I need to log to make sure.

That brings me to the second matter of focus, which is logging. Nancy the NP wants me logging my blood glucose, plus whatever I take to correct for the number and my food bolus. Carla the CDE wants just the food info as it affects the insulin, which comes with a log sheet detailing which carbs/how many carbs I'm eating in a meal. So far, the logging process is a little lagging. I'm hoping I can deal with that this week. I'm not sure that my free account over at SugarStats can log all this info at one time! However, I'm finding the site really, really helpful.

Third of all, this is probably a "duh" moment for more people than just me. The cafeteria at college made it difficult to judge the amount of carbs I was eating at any meal, so I just started guessing, and even though I graduated in 2004, I still have the same old hang-ups. It's hard to break the bad habits it took 4 years to form. I've been eating too many carbs all the time, and definitely not bolusing enough for them! Carla the CDE advised me to (1) limit my carb intake and try eating lower-carb snacks during the day, and (2) aim for a consistent number of carb grams at each meal. I think this is something I can handle. It's been going well so far, mostly likely thanks to the Symlin limiting my appetite.

Sure, I've got a lot of work to do. I've got a lot of things to learn. I'll be switching all my doctors once I move to Pennsylvania in the middle of this process! I'm feeling confident today. Maybe tomorrow things will change, but I have to have faith that even when the confidence in myself wains, it will come back eventually, as long as I keep working.

But enough self pep-talk...

Have you seen this terrific story? (Click it to read it!) These two Canadian boys may have only been acting in the confines of their relatively small high school, but they are acting for the justice of nerds, dorks, and anybody who's ever been bullied anywhere! Viva la Pink Shirt!

1 comment:

  1. Yay Hannah! You ARE on the right track. For sure. And I loved that story.

    Some suggestions about sugarstats. Though I don't think that the site's medication logging system is great... I use the comments and day notes a lot.

    Here's how I work it and how I would work it if I had Symlin. When I record a bloodsugar and I'm going to eat something - I first log the sugar and the time and the note (ie: before breakfast) then in the notes - I log what I ate (ie: 30g carbs - English muffin with pb) and how much I bolused for it (ie: 2 units - plus XX correction bolus). In the day notes section - that's underneath where you log the sugars - I put notes about basal rates - ie: Current basal rates - and any changes I've made since last making notes (ususally the day before). I also track my TDD, meal bolus total, correction bolus total, etc. using day notes - and any reminders to myself about d-stuff. As for Symlin - I would use the med function for this. Enter Symlin as a medicine and then log the dosage each time you take it...

    Again - let me know if I can help!

    N

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