Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Good luck with the dentist, BRENDA.

And it sounds like you're in the home stretch on your book. Congrats! I hope I get a chance to read it.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Good luck with the landscaping Sigs. Take some pictures. I'm glad you're feeling well enough to start tackling big projects like this again.


I got a good night sleep after the terrible one the night before. My weigh in this morning is 151.2 lbs, which sounds a lot more reasonable than the 152.2 from yesterday when things were all wonky. We're pretty much at about an 8lb gain in 2 weeks from the low. I'm going to want to slow that down once I hit around 156, so that means I really shouldn't have too much trouble getting the caloric intake necessary, as I don't really feel that I'm eating all that much right now, especially compared to when I was panic eating to try to counteract the weight loss.

I can actually see it on my belly now, and my butt seems to be filling back in again. It's going to be nice to be able to sit on a chair again without having to shift every 2 minutes because of how uncomfortable it had become.

IBS seems mostly under control, with some instances here and there but far down from even pre-diagnosis levels both in occurrences and severity. Had a minor acid reflux occurrence the first night I was on all the new pills, but it went away as quick as it came without needing any tums. Thirst level still low and reasonable.


My dad is coming over later this week, so I'm going to work on cleaning the house today. I'm also going to get up into my attic and see about finding my huge cooking pot. The nutritionist wants to see me eat some protein in the morning when I take my meds, so I'm going to start doing hard boiled eggs again. They were only $1.97 yesterday, so I bought 3 dozen of them. Perfect timing, since I won't ever pay $3 or more for eggs.



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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Out to the dentist for the last big job.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Out to the dentist for the last big job.

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I bet that'll be a relief when it's over!



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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Out to the dentist for the last big job.

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I bet that'll be a relief when it's over!



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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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I am back and it is done. This one was broken down to the gum line, so it took some extra freezing to get it out with the root intact. They put some foam in to help with the healing along with removing some infected tissue. Nothing was bad enough to need sutures or antibiotics. Just the usual if you need pain killers take them and be extra careful for the next three or four days.

Think a lot of the freezing is out. Jaw joint is a little sore because of where the needles went. But I expected it.

It is a big relief to have all that hard work done. Now it is just a cleaning in a couple of weeks.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
It sounds like you're on the right track, SIX. I hope you get that meter issue resolved on Thursday. I'm never comfortable doing anything unless I know where I am, and that goes double for medical interventions. Even when it's scary news, like kidney failure, I justHAVE to know the numbers!

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I'm usually a numbers guy, but I'd rather not, when it comes to me.

Personally, this is just one more reason why I don't really care much if I live beyond 50 years old. The best days are far in the rear-view mirror, and the idea of living the rest of my life into old age having to count calories just to exist isn't appealing to me. If this doesn't stabilize and isn't going to be easy and something that I don't have to put a lot of effort into, I probably just won't bother. I already don't have a bad diet, but if I have to live off of tree sap and crickets to stay alive, count me out.

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And just bc I'm nosy as hell, let me know how it goes in Thursday,
m'kay?

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Oh, also...SALT ... works a little like insulin. Yanno how electrolyte drinks always have a little sugar in them to help with absorbing salt? Well, salt also helps absorb sugar. So make sure you have enough in your diet.

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The question is "what is enough"? I could show you 10 blogs on diabetes that tell you to stay away from salt completely and another 10 that tell you to make sure you get enough salt. The more I try to read up on diabetes the more depressing everything gets.

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Happy housecleaning!

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Didn't happen. Slept the day away again. Maybe tomorrow.

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Eggs. Yum! Other options: cheese, sausage, ham, leftover chili con carne... damn,I'm getting hungry! Time for bfast. For me, it's beans, again. My blood sugar is fine but my cholesterol is sky high. I'm trying the vegetarian route, but according to my doctor itr hereditary, and according to my sis (who has the same problem) diet and exercise was useless. Still, I want to give it the old college try.

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Good luck!

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Dug up my plant list from my very first post just to see how it all went

The avocado trees and camellias are still going great

The Canary Island pines that I planted on the property line to shade the house in the evening are 25' tall.

The Sundrops all died.
I have one verbena lilacina (out of three) still going strong

The Spanish lavender is still doing well

Thee penstemon BOP (blue/lavender) died, but the "pink" penstemon did well. It was such a drab color, tho (more like a tan-salmon) I dug it up

The white monkeyflower did spectacularly well ... for two years.
The blue-eyed grass also did very well, but looked so much like regular grass it got weeded up by an overenthusiastic helper

I never did try the Indian rice grass, but I tried other grasses that did well- alkali sacaton, unfortunately got overgrown by a shrub and invaded by crabgrass and was so hard to keep clean I dug the whole thing up. Worth another try, tho.

Purple three awn which looks lovely but I have to keep the dog out of it because the seeds are sharply pointed with microbarblets which cause them to work their way into fur, skin, and tissue

The germander sage, Dusty Miller, red autumn sage, and the creeping Oregon grape are doing well

The native gooseberries did well, but were so thorny I dug them up bc they were impossible to garden around. I have a much better-behaved pink flowering currant waiting to go into the ground.

The snowberries failed, but the evergreen island currant and rhus trilobata are doing well
In addition I have a hollyleaf cherry doing well, I'm in the process of cutting down two others bc one didn't grow true to form (it seems a prostrate variant) and the other never did do well. But they'll make decent firewood..

So, many failures but many successes. Gardening is an evolving process!

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Out to the dentist for the last big job.

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I bet that'll be a relief when it's over!



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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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I am back and it is done. This one was broken down to the gum line, so it took some extra freezing to get it out with the root intact. They put some foam in to help with the healing along with removing some infected tissue. Nothing was bad enough to need sutures or antibiotics. Just the usual if you need pain killers take them and be extra careful for the next three or four days.

Think a lot of the freezing is out. Jaw joint is a little sore because of where the needles went. But I expected it.

It is a big relief to have all that hard work done. Now it is just a cleaning in a couple of weeks.

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That doesn't sound like it was fun. Glad you got it behind you, Brenda.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Out to the dentist for the last big job.

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I bet that'll be a relief when it's over!



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

I am back and it is done. This one was broken down to the gum line, so it took some extra freezing to get it out with the root intact. They put some foam in to help with the healing along with removing some infected tissue. Nothing was bad enough to need sutures or antibiotics. Just the usual if you need pain killers take them and be extra careful for the next three or four days.

Think a lot of the freezing is out. Jaw joint is a little sore because of where the needles went. But I expected it.

It is a big relief to have all that hard work done. Now it is just a cleaning in a couple of weeks.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Out to the dentist for the last big job.

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I bet that'll be a relief when it's over!



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

I am back and it is done. This one was broken down to the gum line, so it took some extra freezing to get it out with the root intact. They put some foam in to help with the healing along with removing some infected tissue. Nothing was bad enough to need sutures or antibiotics. Just the usual if you need pain killers take them and be extra careful for the next three or four days.

Think a lot of the freezing is out. Jaw joint is a little sore because of where the needles went. But I expected it.

It is a big relief to have all that hard work done. Now it is just a cleaning in a couple of weeks.

---

That sounds difficult!
Hubby had an impacted and broken wisdom tooth that needed to be extracted (broken in an old motorcycle accident). It had four roots, each one had a hook in it, and they were embedded into his jawbone. They actually had to split the tooth into four pieces and angle out each piece, and it was a struggle! He was a bit swollen and black and blue around the jaw angle.
I can sympathize!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Be careful in the heat Sigs.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
527mg/dL this morning. 151.2lbs.

This goddamned meter had better be busted.

I'm pumped full of 2 weeks of meds, 1 week of insulin and almost 8 more pounds of body weight and the numbers just keep going up.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Seems like getting your teeth taken care of was a major project, and a major accomplishment. I hope this means smooth sailing for you, at least in the dental department, from now on.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Be careful in the heat Sigs.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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I will SIX. Thanks.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
152.6lbs tonight before I go to bed.

Hey Sigs... Do you have any idea how I could have put on 9 lbs since my diagnosis (15 days ago), and my liquid intake is about 1/2 to 2/3rds less than when I was put on meds but my glucose level could have increased as much as 100-125 at the same time?

I'm going to see that nutritionist/dietician tomorrow. Hopefully she has some info for me and we can get one step further to figuring out what the hell is going on.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from mah jong and some grocery shopping. Just got my money back this morning as it was a tough go.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So... Still 152.6 this morning after doing my business.

Thirst is not and hasn't been an issue even with all that overeating.

I tested 313mg/dL this morning when I was sure I'd test over 550 after the 527 I had yesterday morning before all that eating. So I went from my highest all time reading to my 2nd lowest all time reading in 24hrs while making all the bad decisions.

Whatever.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from mah jong and some grocery shopping. Just got my money back this morning as it was a tough go.

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Well, I suppose breakeven is better than not.


I hope your weather becomes sunny and warm.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So... Still 152.6 this morning after doing my business.
Thirst is not and hasn't been an issue even with all that overeating.
I tested 313mg/dL this morning when I was sure I'd test over 550 after the 527 I had yesterday morning before all that eating. So I went from my highest all time reading to my 2nd lowest all time reading in 24hrs while making all the bad decisions.

Whatever.

-------

I feel a lot better after having gone to see her. She was wonderful, and I let her know that. She said that she used to do this but then worked at a private practice making more money for years and she didn't like that because she felt that she never had enough time with the patients and likes what she does now more so took the pay cut and went back to "Diabetes Education". I told her that it was her calling and I couldn't thank her enough.

I got a lot of questions answered today. Not nearly all of them, but that's only because we still don't know a lot of them yet. She knows my Endo personally and she will make sure that cross-communication between everyone involved happens.

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Once we get the numbers down, she wants me to use the 15-day implants she gave me (and hopefully my tablet will work with it), so I can get regular readings through the day without needing to constantly prick myself. She said right now with readings regularly over 400 it would be a waste because they don't even give a reading over 400, but it will be a great tool to see what my levels are before/after eating and working out.

She's also scheduled a 2-day class for me at the center in a few weeks all about the nutrition and managing all of this.

I'm at 151.6 right now and I'm starving. I think I might actually cook and eat at a reasonable hour tonight, and if I need anything else later (which I'm sure I will), I'll cook myself a few chicken breasts and not have any carbs with them.

My old man came to visit today and he says I look fantastic with the extra 9-10 lbs on me since the last time they saw me. Looking forward to going over to their place and seeing what my brother who told him I looked like I had AIDS has to say about what I look like now though. Although he didn't say it to my face, he's the only one who's been brutally honest about how bad I looked before I got treatment.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You're getting there, SIX. Would this be the day to bump up your long-lasting insulin? If so, I'd try that. Bc you'll have another three data points (Sat, Sun, Mon) to take to your doctor on Tuesday.

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Yes... I upped the insulin to 24 units (first 15, then 18, then 21 and now 24), and I have 3 more data points from today too.

I took the insulin and ate a banana with my oral meds like I usually do. I decided I was going to mow the lawn today and forgot to eat anything for lunch before I started. It was pretty low energy, but that could just be because it's friggin cold and humid and cloudy out and not because of my current physical state. I just mowed the lawn which takes about 2 hours and when I came back in I tested my sugar.

I had to do it twice because I didn't believe it.

80mg/dL and 82mg/dL!

I decided to run a little experiment. For a LATE lunch, I had two giant bowls of Frosted Mini Wheats with skim milk. Even though they say don't test your sugar until 2 hours after you eat because the reading might be too high, I tested it 20 minutes after I started eating.

124mg/dL!

In a little under 90 minutes I'm going to do the 2 hours after eating test and see where I'm at.

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Yanno, the cancer program here is EXCELLENT. I was in love with Dr Onco (B4 she left for bigger and better things) but the best thing was the FABULOUS coordination. Dr Surgeon knew when to cut in (so to speak) and Dr Radiology knew when to zap, and all the while Dr Onco's office played continuo with infusions and blood tests. I was in very capable, multiple hands that were following a well-developed protocol.

But the rest of the facility???

Coordination worse than non-existent. All doctors afraid to step on anyone else's toes, so if I need multiple doctor's advice (like, what will this med that Dr Cardio recommended do to my kidneys?) I have to shop my question around to each one individually. Dr Rheumatologist is fabulous. But her scheduling office has cancelled my appointments with her FOUR TIMES. And not only did they not automatically reschedule, they didn't even tell me. The first time they did that, I actually showed up at her office only to find I wasn't on that day's list.


So I learned I gotta be the organizer, trot info from radiology to the relevant doctor, check up on schedules and ask questions without pissing anyone off.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You're getting there, SIX. Would this be the day to bump up your long-lasting insulin? If so, I'd try that. Bc you'll have another three data points (Sat, Sun, Mon) to take to your doctor on Tuesday.

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Yes... I upped the insulin to 24 units (first 15, then 18, then 21 and now 24), and I have 3 more data points from today too.

I took the insulin and ate a banana with my oral meds like I usually do. I decided I was going to mow the lawn today and forgot to eat anything for lunch before I started. It was pretty low energy, but that could just be because it's friggin cold and humid and cloudy out and not because of my current physical state. I just mowed the lawn which takes about 2 hours and when I came back in I tested my sugar.

I had to do it twice because I didn't believe it.

80mg/dL and 82mg/dL!

I decided to run a little experiment. For a LATE lunch, I had two giant bowls of Frosted Mini Wheats with skim milk. Even though they say don't test your sugar until 2 hours after you eat because the reading might be too high, I tested it 20 minutes after I started eating.

124mg/dL!

In a little under 90 minutes I'm going to do the 2 hours after eating test and see where I'm at.

Quote:

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Yanno, the cancer program here is EXCELLENT. I was in love with Dr Onco (B4 she left for bigger and better things) but the best thing was the FABULOUS coordination. Dr Surgeon knew when to cut in (so to speak) and Dr Radiology knew when to zap, and all the while Dr Onco's office played continuo with infusions and blood tests. I was in very capable, multiple hands that were following a well-developed protocol.

But the rest of the facility???

Coordination worse than non-existent. All doctors afraid to step on anyone else's toes, so if I need multiple doctor's advice (like, what will this med that Dr Cardio recommended do to my kidneys?) I have to shop my question around to each one individually. Dr Rheumatologist is fabulous. But her scheduling office has cancelled my appointments with her FOUR TIMES. And not only did they not automatically reschedule, they didn't even tell me. The first time they did that, I actually showed up at her office only to find I wasn't on that day's list.


So I learned I gotta be the organizer, trot info from radiology to the relevant doctor, check up on schedules and ask questions without pissing anyone off.

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I'm sad to hear that this might be the norm. Sorry to hear that, Sigs. :(

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Sun of a gun, SIX. It seems whatever is going on with your blood sugar is happening at night, and your morning readings are the worst?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sun of a gun, SIX. It seems whatever is going on with your blood sugar is happening at night, and your morning readings are the worst?

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sun of a gun, SIX. It seems whatever is going on with your blood sugar is happening at night, and your morning readings are the worst?

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I don't think we have enough data to say that yet. Until yesterday I'd never tested at any time other than the morning, and until today I'd never had a reading within or even anywhere in the ballpark of normal.

(That's not entirely true... I did test before dinner the first night I got the device and if memory serves it was at or above 500 or something then. Certainly way over 400 in any case).

It's not all good news though. Frosted Mini Wheats are off the menu for sure. I tested twice again 2 hours after I'd eaten and both readings were over 400. :(



And at this point, I'm going to treat the 3 good readings as the anomaly until I get more of them.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Frosted mini wheats???

I know, I know... you were trying to save money. But savinga few pennies on cereal only to have to spend a lot more on medication... Kind of defeats the purpose besides not being good for your health. You can't just shove junk into your body and expect it to run right. That's like fueling a race car with molasses and fryer oil.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Frosted mini wheats???
I know, I know... you were trying to save money. But savinga few pennies on cereal only to have to spend a lot more on medication... Kind of defeats the purpose besides not being good for your health. You can't just shove junk into your body and expect it to run right. That's like fueling a race car with molasses and fryer oil.

SIX: I didn't buy them AFTER my diagnosis.

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SIX: I'm not throwing them out though.

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SIX: Besides, if these meds are working right, I should be able to get the same readings tomorrow. I'm experimenting right now...

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SIX: ...and it's not as if I've ever even had any actual advice from any doctors yet on what I should or shouldn't be eating. Even the Nutritionist didn't have much to say on the matter during the hour and that's why I'm going to two classes in the middle of May.

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SIX: I'm never going to be perfect here.

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SIX: I doubt anybody actually is, and if somebody tells you that they are, they're lying to you. If everybody was perfect, than diabetics wouldn't even need glucose monitors because there would be nothing to check.

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SIX: I've documented what I've done and won't be hiding it from anybody.

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SIX: Just got back from my friend's house and gorged on food. Man his wife is a great cook. They even sent me home with more food. Scale says I'm 152.6 right now, so that was a lot of food when I was down to 149.2 this morning.

We played a lot of pool. I was really on my game tonight. I was actually beating him all night until I choked at the end. In a race to 9 I was up 7-6 but ended up losing 9-7. He's the better of the two that have been playing on leagues together for years. I've probably gotten up to about 50-60 games now in the last few years after not having played for 15, so he's pretty amazed at how good I've gotten. If I could only stop choking when it matters I'd think about joining the league with them. He said he'd drive me out there every Tuesday night if I wanted to do it.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Frosted mini wheats???
I know, I know... you were trying to save money. But savinga few pennies on cereal only to have to spend a lot more on medication... Kind of defeats the purpose besides not being good for your health. You can't just shove junk into your body and expect it to run right. That's like fueling a race car with molasses and fryer oil.

SIX: I didn't buy them AFTER my diagnosis.

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Of course not.

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SIX: I'm not throwing them out though.

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You could trade them for something else or give them away. Build up that social credit. Seriously, how much money do you have "invested" in Frosted Mini Wheats? $10? $20? $50? In the grand scheme of things, it's not that much compared to your health.

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I'm almost done with them. Half a bag left.

It should be noted, however, that I don't eat them everyday and my readings had never been lower than 270+ before I checked after mowing the lawn and had 80. It looks as though the Frosted Mini Wheats weren't raising it any higher than anything else I'd been eating and/or the particular type of long-active insulin I've been using didn't actually do the job until I upped it to 24 units yesterday.

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SIX: Besides, if these meds are working right, I should be able to get the same readings tomorrow. I'm experimenting right now...

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THAT I understand. There sometmes are counterintutive results: My morning sugar is lowest AFTER I eat a little something sweet before bed. (The operative phrase is: "a litle"). Nonetheless I try not to, since it still drive up my overall average (A1C).

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I'm running out of strips, quickly. That was supposed to be a 90 day supply. I'm hoping Dr. Endo can write another script for me on Tuesday because I can't keep testing all day long like my Nutritionist wants me to without them. They're hard to count, but I think I have around 20-25 of the ones for the meter I bought, and the nutritionist only gave me 10 of them even though she gave me about 110 lancets.

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SIX: ...and it's not as if I've ever even had any actual advice from any doctors yet on what I should or shouldn't be eating. Even the Nutritionist didn't have much to say on the matter during the hour and that's why I'm going to two classes in the middle of May.

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THAT sounds suspiciusly like a dodge. I'm pretty sure that YOU'RE pretty sure what "they" would say about eating sugary stuff.

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We know that. IRL I tend to play a real dummy around most people I don't know well enough and/or don't see any advantage of letting them know how smart I actually am. How many millions of people are diagnosed with diabetes every year and they all go weeks with a half-diagnosis that doesn't tell them what type they have and none of the doctors lay out a meal plan for them until 5 weeks after the initial diagnosis, if they're lucky?

Yeah. It is a dodge. You know me a lot better than any of them do. You also probably know by now that I'm stubborn and I've also been known to cut off my nose to spite my face. That's usually the answer I want to give them in a job interview when they're asking what my greatest weakness is, but I think that one is just a bit too honest when you're meeting somebody for the first time that is going to be in charge of hiring you.

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SIX: I'm never going to be perfect here.

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Most people aren't*, and fortunately you don't need to be. All you have to be is good enough most of the time.

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All people aren't.

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*My dog-walking friend controls her diabetes entirely through diet by limiting her carbohydrates to less than 30 grams/day. That's a very strict limit, but she apparently has iron self-control. My sis's diabetic neighbor, tho, routinely ... like, a few times a week... goes on junk food binges and his blood sugar is often above 400. He's in early kidney failure. Somewhere in-between is good.

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Your sis's diabetic neighbor is easy to spot because he's in early kidney failure. For many years before it got beyond out of control, I was able to hide my alcoholism from people because I didn't do it in public, when I'd drink with friends I'd drink responsibly, I was still functional for the day to day work and I was getting a lot of work done on my house that I could show off all the time, and I was not packing on the beer pounds. Nobody knew at the time the problem I had or how bad it would get because my coping mechanisms worked and I could compartmentalize the drinking and my real life outside of it.

My brother, OTOH, could never hide his overeating eating disease from anybody because he wears it on his body for everybody to see any time he is in the presence of somebody else. (and I'm assuming that your sis's diabetic neighbor is like him and can't hide it because A) it interferes with his life so much that it's obvious something is wrong with him and/or B) he's the overly-talkative type that lets everybody he sees know that he's got kidney failure because of his bad diabetic habits since neighbors [usually] aren't family or good enough friends where most people would be comfortable sharing that kind of personal information).

Your dog-walking friend sounds to me like the people in my life over the years that are GREAT at gambling. They know the system. They've convinced themselves they can read the slot machines and will prove it with their anecdotes of how they won $800 this night or $1200 this night on the slots. But they never tell you about the nights they lose, and have probably never added up all of the money they've won and lost over the years and aren't even aware of the fact that YES, even in their case, the house always wins.

Has she been doing a lot better managing her diabetes than your sis's neighbor? Almost without a doubt she has (not taking into any consideration how much worse of a case either of them were when they were first diagnosed, who has been living with it longer, etc.). And as long as she's doing it right MOST of the time, she'll probably keep on living beyond her diabetic life-expectancy. But I don't believe she's NEVER out of range. I don't believe that anybody is never out of range.

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SIX: I doubt anybody actually is, and if somebody tells you that they are, they're lying to you. If everybody was perfect, than diabetics wouldn't even need glucose monitors because there would be nothing to check.

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Errr ... You wouldn't repair framing without a measuring tape, or put in a cover plate without a screwdriver, would you? You've got all kinds of tools to do all kinds of things. Monitors are just another tool, like your weigh scale is a tool.

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No. I understand that. But I'm talking about perfection. If everybody was perfect you wouldn't need scales either.

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Just as nobody is perfect (except my dog-walking friend), nobody responds the same either. Nobody reacts exactly the same to meds, diet, and exercise. And while there are broad general outlines, it's the results (as revealed by your monitor) that will tell you whether you respond to a particualr medication ... or cinnamon... or chromium... or all of the above, and how much exercise will drop your blood sugar and how much will raise it, how much sugar and starch (and what form) you tolerate.

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Again, on the chromium... Is that over the counter or do I need a scrip for it?

I have to remember to get cinnamon too. I keep forgetting that when I go to the store.

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SIX: I've documented what I've done and won't be hiding it from anybody.

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That's good. Like any experimenter, you can't tell what to do unless you know the results of what you tried.

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Yeah... I wish those testing strips were a lot cheaper than they are. Everybody in the news talks about the price of insulin, but nobody talks about the prices of everything else diabetes related. It seems that the meds (at least for Type II) are reasonably priced, but testing all the time is not affordable. And don't get me started on the Glucagon pen. My Nutritionist wants me to have one on hand and to educate my friends and family how to use it if I need a shot, but that's probably out of reach for me.

My Nutritionist's aide told me yesterday that it costs $300 to $600 without insurance. I did a little digging online and I'm seeing it's more like $150 to $270, but still... WTF. That thing could keep a lot of people out of the hospital and even prevent things like car accidents, and they're going to put a price tag like that on it?

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SIX: Just got back from my friend's house and gorged on food. Man his wife is a great cook. They even sent me home with more food. Scale says I'm 152.6 right now, so that was a lot of food when I was down to 149.2 this morning.

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401mg/dL reading this morning when I woke up. 150.2lbs.

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We played a lot of pool. I was really on my game tonight. I was actually beating him all night until I choked at the end. In a race to 9 I was up 7-6 but ended up losing 9-7. He's the better of the two that have been playing on leagues together for years. I've probably gotten up to about 50-60 games now in the last few years after not having played for 15, so he's pretty amazed at how good I've gotten. If I could only stop choking when it matters I'd think about joining the league with them. He said he'd drive me out there every Tuesday night if I wanted to do it.

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Hey, sounds like fun! But, what happens when you "choke"? Do you miss easy shots, or are you just marginally "off" on the hard ones? Just being my usual nosy self.

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You can't make all the hard shots, but I make a LOT of them. But give me a ball I need to hit perfectly straight on that is across the length of the table and I'll miss it half the time. My buddy tells me I need to stay down and he notices that I "pop up" too early on those easy shots and that I don't do that when I'm doing kicks, banks, combos or hard cuts.

He's always laughing because I'll pull off something amazing and then blow the next easy one. But then sometimes I hit everything too. I ran out the table one game last night, and got close a few other times. I even won a game using a "safety" to put him in a bad position on the 8 ball, which means I'm growing as a player because I usually just go for the glory and end up losing more often than not.

My best shot, even though I ended up scratching and just barely missed it was a 2-rail kick PLUS a combo. Actually... I'm going to make a quick and dirty mock-up picture of what I did so I can show it to you...



I'm pretty sure you can get the gist from that pic.

My buddy didn't even know what the hell I was talking about when I called the 7 in the back corner by me and said I had quite an imagination when it almost went in. Back when I was a kid I used to do this weird thing sometimes when I was in a room and visualize angles by pretending there was an invisible ball ricocheting off of the walls, floors and ceiling. I get this game and I knew that there was a good possibility that I could pull that shot off even with my limited real-life playing time and skills with an actual stick.

It's just weird. I can make so many really hard shots and I'm really good at leaving my ball in a good position for myself or in a bad position for the opponent if I can't get a good setup for the next shot with the layout. But give me a head-on shot that most players would never miss and I choke on them... exponentially the further the cue ball is from the ball I'm intending to hit.

My buddy jokes that I should just always go for banks and kicks whenever I have easy shots and I'll be running out the table all the time.



Anyhow... There were points that I was up 2 games on him, and at the end all I needed to do was win 2 more games when he was down 1 on me and I let him win 3 in a row. You can't miss much with this guy. He doesn't run out the entire table very often, but if the balls aren't bunched up and ugly he has no problem making 5 or 6 in a row.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yeah, WTF on the test strips??? It's cheap prevention, and it's not like people are going to abuse them!

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I had a sucky night. My nose stuffed up so thoroughly it woke me up 2AM, and despite rinsing and soaking my nose with decongestant and getting a humidifier going it just wouldn't unstuff. It did drip prodigiously down the back of my throat, tho.


I finally gave up trying to sleep around 6AM and got up to do something useful. So I sent a question to two doctors and did some internet shopping and did the backlog of dishes and started to dust the house. (But quietly so I wouldn't wake anyone up.)

I hate my stuffed up nose. I've had two sinus surgeries, trimmed turbinates and all, and I still can't sleep.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is a slow-progressing form of autoimmune diabetes. Like the autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes,...
If you've been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and you're lean and physically active or you've recently lost weight without effort, talk with your doctor about whether your current treatment is still the best one for you.

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