Onward and Upward...2010

Well, it's that time again. The time where you say your goals out loud, and hope that no one remembers them so they don't come back to bite you in the ass.

My 2009 year in semi-review
(It's early to do a year in review, but I want to start looking toward 2010)

2009 was the year of no racing. It was one of the hardest and easiest decisions I've ever made. Hard because it's the first year I haven't raced in any event since 2001 I think. Easiest because my training wasn't up to par. I mean really, really not up to par! Why kill myself to race when I can't race well?

2009 was also a year filled with stress. I had to travel quite a bit for DTC, not to mention the work that went along with it! They were long trips and I missed being home terribly. The last DTC Camp was in Oregon...which had to be the hardest for me to date. We had a very old Airedale, 14 to be exact, that had been going downhill for the past year. Decisions had to be made, and Brent had to put him down while I was gone. I'm sure it was harder for him then me, but nonetheless it was an awful time not to be home with him.
Then there was the move to the new house immediately after I got home from that trip. We had a tremendous amount of help from friends and family that made it easier...but still stressful.
THEN......he realization of not racing with my teammates of Team WILD set in. I set out to do the Austin 70.3 in October with them, but when training was too hard to get in, and money was tight, I had to back out of the race. NOT the team but the race. (AND the training camp they had down in Austin I missed!) The countless emails that were bounced back and forth with details of the race were heartbreaking for me. I admit I skipped most of the team phone calls partly because of that. Since I am the official blog poster for the team, I have read every single blog post, and enjoyed every one of them. Bittersweet to read them, but it was the one thing I could do to participate with the inaugural event. Inspiration is a word that's tossed around a great deal when people speak of Team WILD, and being a fellow teammate it's no different. Thanks to all the women of Team WILD for inspiring me all over again!

Ok...out loud...here are 2010 race goals:

• 3 Olympic distance races

• Steelhead 70.3...hopefully the swim won't get canceled this time

• Team WILD 70.3...wherever that may be

• Detroit Marathon (tentative)

And then there is that dangling carrot......

Can You Feel It.....

......the winds of change are finally here. Time to kick some butt!

New Location, Fresh Start

Another day, another Doctors appt. I actually forgot about this one. Unusual for me, but I received the phone call reminder AND the snail mail reminder. I think this is due to the new office location. (Thank goodness for me they have a new location) It's closer...by maybe 20 min. for me. Which is saying a lot, because in the winter getting to Ann Arbor is grueling! The new complex is HUGE...notice the photo. (It's on the compound of Domino's Farms. Yes, yes, the pizza Domino's. Diabetes and pizza, how's that for irony?) That's what you get when you go to the University of Michigan Intensive Insulin Clinic. State of the art stuff there, and nothing done on a small scale.

No resident doc following him today!! YAY! I'm going on Tuesday's from here on out! BUT, there is a bunch of new staff...and they are obviously still learning. AND, the young lady who drew my blood was nice enough to listen to me and use that butterfly to get my blood sample. Tiny veins require child like tools:) Wait...is there a theme here? Am I child like?
I asked my Doc to not only do the draw for the usual stuff, but I wanted the Vitamin D test also. He humors me...I like that.

The rest is pretty uneventful I suppose. We sat for a bit talking his new baby boy, sleep deprivation, Omnipods, CGM's, basal rates, bolus ratios. I think it was in that order too...how funny. Before I knew it, without hesitation, I whipped out my Omnipod PDM and changed the settings we were talking about. What possessed me?? I've always been so casual about that stuff thinking I'll just do it later. Is this the fresh start to getting my A1c down? Knock me over the head with a hammer already. What the hell took so long? I still think having the CGM will/would help me with this by leaps and bounds, but I'll take this baby step in the right direction. Maybe my insurance company will come around and surprise me. HA! A girl can dream!

Fresh starts for both of us!

Eco-Friendly Diabetic Part 2

I realize most diabetics out there have a snapshot or 2 of this kind, but I'm sharing mine anyway. If I stop and think too much about this photo, I'd depress myself! Not so much for the landfills that others are filling, but because this is a snapshot of about 3 months worth of diabetes...without insulin bottles, tape, lancets, test strips......(FYI..don't put the 357 batteries all together, they get very, very hot. Duh!)
Weep not....I will now move on, and embrace my eco-friendliness!

Here We Go Again

I know I haven't written much about my training lately, but there have been too many good diabetes stories not to share! I've been trying to get back my tight control, and in that process lows happen. Shit happens, lows happen! Here comes another good story.

I was in the grocery store, collecting ingredients to make my Mom's birthday cake. (Yes, this is another grocery store anecdote) Beautiful cake by the way...one of my best to date. I picked up a bag of marshmallows, which will help with the theme of the cake. As I'm walking to the checkout with my yellow cake mix, and marshmallows it hits me like a brick in the face. The confusion, lightheadedness, and the sweating....ohhhh the sweating! I fish through the purse to find my glucose tabs, and of course the container was empty. Of course!! I buy a real soda in the checkout line and head to my car. My plan as always is to drink only half of the soda...which I did. As I sat in my car waiting for all the symptoms to pass and get the "all clear" blood sugar reading from my meter, I proceed to open the bag of marshmallows. "I'm only going to eat the 4 that is the serving size. All people with diabetes can attest to the fact that when having a low all logic goes out the window, and the involuntary urge to put your hand in the bag and keep eating is just that...involuntary. When I finally get to feeling better, I glanced down at the bag and to my shock I ate about 2/3 of the bag!! Crap...here we go again...over-correction.

I put in an emergency call to my friend Michelle. I knew what I had to do, but sometimes having a back-up to agree or disagree with your plan of attack is comforting. At this point I'm laughing...she's laughing. Then I send her the photo of the evidence. Hilarity ensues again! I checked my bg while I had her on the phone to find it only in the 200's. We decide that I had around 100 carbs, but I only bolused for 50 and rode it out. Riding bg's out is the only way to do it sometimes. I checked my bg a couple of hours later and now it was in the low 300's. Not too bad considering. I bolused again and all was good again!

So what happened with the cake?? The original theme for it proved to be too time consuming, so the marshmallows weren't needed. Of course they weren't needed!! Of course! I threw out the remnants of the bag as it made me sick to look at it, and I've chalked it up to another hilarious diabetes event.

p.s. I got in the car the next day and found a stray marshmallow and was sick with laughter all over again.