Monday, May 2, 2011

The Perfect Storm

I haven't blogged in way too long.  The list of excuses is so long I can't even remember the first excuse I had.  Finally, I have time.

Today was a pretty good day.  The toddler did considerably well at playgroup, although I suspect that toddler is "that kid".  You know, the one that if you didn't see what happened you just automatically blame for whatever went wrong.  There is evidence showing he is "that kid", or at least viewed as "that kid" by some.  Either way, I was proud of his behavior today.  Particularly the compassion he shows towards beings smaller than himself (or big animals on tv that look smaller than him because they are on tv).  There was some nature movie on tonight and every animal that came on the screen was followed by "Hello little hump back whale (or whatever), I want to swim with you and cuddle you."  Yeah, I know!  I cried.

But lets back track to before the crying.

Lets back track to last week.  I busted out a new box of Freestyle test strips last week.  And they didn't work.  Not because I am an idiot, but because they are the wrong stupid strips.  I kindly called the company who, of course, said they will send me new ones ASAP and I can send back the wrong ones.  Great.  I have no Freestyle strips left.  It's Friday afternoon, I can't get strips from the doctor.  Ugh.  So I grab the handy old One Touch Ultra Mini and some extra One Touch strips and carried around some extra luggage all weekend (Omnipod for bolusing and Mini for BGs).   I lived.  The strips came today.  They are different than the wrong ones I have, but they are still wrong.  Yes.  The WRONG strips again. 

I call the company again and they apologize, the new strips are on their way.  Great (there is no excitement there). 

In the lag time I decided it's CGM time.  Haven't worn it for a month, time to throw it back on.  I start it, which takes 3 hours.  Error message.  Annoying.  Restart it and pray the next 3 hours make a miracle.  They don't.  Last shot before I run over it with Souleste...

While I was waiting, I went for a run- I know.  We were suppose to swim but it got too late, so I ran.  Checked the BG before leaving- 103.  A little low for pre-run for me so I threw a 5-7g Easter Clearance Robin's Egg (I only have like 3.6 lbs left of them) in my mouth, grabbed the dog and her poop bag, turned on the iPod ("She's a Bad Mamma Jamma" started me out tonight) and took off. 

When I say took off, I should elaborate.  I have a pace and it works for me.  I am very proud of my pace normally.  If you run, and you are proud of your pace do yourself a favor and don't do what I did.  Don't take your dog.  Especially a small dog.  I have a Miniature Schnauzer- she has a small gait- and she still manages to walk while I run.  Not a great confidence booster.  As I pass the neighbors, I avoid eye contact for 2 reasons.  1. My iPod is thumping "Bad Mamma Jamma", I am not turning it down and I can't hear 'em.  2. My dog is walking faster than I am running!  Really???  There is no way I have the confidence to raise my head or gaze at this point.  As far as I am concerned, no one saw me.

Get back from my run and notice my Omnipod is about to expire so I just rip it off and discard it.  I will shower and then fix it.  My after run BG is 62 so I grab another Robin's egg.  Kinda defeats the whole calorie burning part of the run, but hey, it's the thought that counts.  Maybe I can think myself into a hot bod. 

Toddler wants to cuddle momma a bit and tells me how much he missed me while I was gone running for a whole 20 mins.  Precious.  Kiss him good night and go to shower.

Clean myself up and am feeling pretty good inspite of myself.  CGM is ready to be calibrated so I check the BG.  264.  WHAT??!?!  That can't be right.  Retest 259- Ohhhh that's much better.  NOT!  (I know, I just dated myself).  At least the CGM is working.  It's been like 30 mins since I took off my pod.  30 mins and a super hot shower.  And I started with a low BG.  Whatev.

Throw on a new pod and bolus to try and combat my syrup blood.

I noticed the last few days, since the new insulin vial was opened that they BG's haven't been great, hence the CGM.  I figured it was those Robin's eggs throwing on extra lbs so I uped the basal. 

I can't type what my next BG was an hour later.  I am embarrassed.  Lets just say it was more than 264 but less than "Call an ambulance, I'm going into sugar shock." 

Check the pod- insertion site is flawless.  It better be,  I changed it an hour ago.  Never had this happen before.  I don't know what to do.  What I do know is that the BG is ridiculous and this insulin is doing nothing.  OHHH!!!  The insulin!!!  That's it!  The insulin is bad!  (Give me a break, I am still new at this).

Take out my last vial of insulin and pray it's good.  Remove my perfectly good pod and discard it.  Fill a new pod with new insulin, throw it on and wait.

So, now I'm waiting.  All I want is a snack or to go to bed.  Neither is a good decision now.  A snack, unless it's a piece of meat, cheese or raw broccoli is not a good idea when my bgs are that high already. Going to bed is also not a good idea because I know that I will just ignore my bgs while I sleep.  I can't go for another run, they don't recommend exercise over 250.  Which I am still at.  At least it's progress. 

So, today is the perfect storm.  No compatible test strips, 2 CGM failures and bad insulin.  Just when I got into a groove.  And that, my friends, is why I always want 2 vials of extra insulin and at least 3 boxes of extra strips and 4 extra pods hanging around.  With diabetes, you can't prepare enough.  Trust me.  I tried. 

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you posted again. Hope you weren't too gracious with the test strip people after the 2nd error...

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  2. I felt bad for the poor guy- it wasn't his fault. He even highlighted the test strips to bring attention to them. It was some idiot in the warehouse who doesn't realize how important it is to someone (me in this case) to get the right strips. So, no, I wasn't mean to him. He did everything he could, including apologize about 100 times, to try and make it right.

    Now, if the idiot in the warehouse gets on the phone- lets just say he wouldn't make that mistake again.

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  3. So sorry to hear about all this runaround and frustration. You have enough to deal with just having T1 and a toddler! (who, by the way, is NOT "that kid"...and I'm confident in speaking for the whole group here!) I personally was thankful for your advice re: toddler tantrums yesterday. You are, in my opinion, "that mom". As in, the mom who always has good advice and an answer for my problems!

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