One day at a time

8:30 am - no alarm set today because it’s Saturday. A black paw hits at my arm, which is hanging off of the side of the bed. I reach over and pet her head, then roll over. Now a black paw is hitting me on the back. All right. I reach over on the table and grab my tester. Load it up with a strip and poke. Countdown, then a number appears in the screen. 56. I open a straw wrapper and push it in the juice box. The black dog sighs and leaves the room. I drink the juice and then fall back to sleep.

9:55 am - I wake up. Stretch. Get out of bed. The black dog is happy that I’m finally awake. Check blood sugar. Happy that I had the whole juice box earlier because blood sugar is still a little low. (78) Have a piece of toast. Bolus for 15 grams of carb with correction for 78.

10:30 am - Disconnect pump and hit the shower. After, dry off and then reconnect. It was a short shower so I didn’t use the disconnect feature to cover the missed basal rate.

10:45 am - Check blood sugar to check that I gave right amount for toast.

1:00 pm - Time for lunch. Check blood sugar and bolus for carbs.

2:15pm- Black dog starts hitting me with her paw. I check. Blood sugar is 135. I check Insulin on board. Shoot. I overbolused for guessed carb content. Turn basal rate down to 10% for an hour to correct.

3:30 pm - Check blood sugar to make sure that I turned basal rate down enough to make up for the overbolus at lunch. I guessed right this time. Blood sugar is holding steady.

5:00 pm - Check blood sugar. Still holding steady.

6:30 pm - Check blood sugar before driving. Load black dog in the back of the car. Drive to restaurant to meet friends for dinner.

7:00 pm - Check blood sugar. Give bolus for estimated carbs in dinner and beer. Black dog seems to agree with bolus. She continues to snooze under the table at the restaurant. People are starring at the black dog and me. Someone comes over to the table and asks if the dog is in training. I say no. Then the person asks if I’m almost blind. I say no, and tell the story of what Dixie’s job is. The person says that she’s never heard of that before, but she has an uncle with “brittle” diabetes who has had his foot amputated.

8:45 pm - Get in the car and check blood sugar before driving. Guessed carb content pretty well, so I'm in a good zone and ready to drive home. Roll back windows down in the parking lot so the black dog can sniff the air outside.

10:00 pm - Give black dog some treats and snuggles. She loves having a bedtime snack.

10:30 pm - Check blood sugar one last time before bed.

April? Really?

Yikes. It's April already. And not just April... the end of April quickly approaching May. Seriously, where does the time go?

This photo is from our spring vacation up north in March. The weather (even on the Canadian border) was unseasonably warm and Dixie (and I) had a wonderful time. She loves sitting outside and just watching and being part of nature.

I also visited the endo in March. Not much new on the diabetes front. A1c is holding steady, Vitamin D level was finally in the average range, BP is fine, Kidneys are healthy, and all other random labs were fine.

This week, a special aired on PBS. If you didn't catch it... it was an amazing show about service dogs. Through a Dog's Eyes.

Here's looking at Dixie's eyes right after she dug a nice hole on vacation. :-)

Passed from my friend, Kathy. :-)

I have to admit. Life has been crazy busy lately. School is nuts. I had the second stage of a dental implant done last Thursday. (which was PAINFUL!) As much as I enjoy blogging, I have let it slip the last few months. I still read blogs daily, but just can't seem to pull it together and post.

So... Dixie is still a super dog. She loves the snow and is a happy dog romping around in the yard.


I saw this on Kathy's blog and thought, "better late than never."

Here are my responses to the survey:

1. Where is your cell phone? in my pocket.

2. Your hair? in need of a cut

3. Your mother? Living and working in the Twin Cities.

4. Your father? Living and working in a small town outside of the Twin Cities.

5. Your favorite food? deli sandwiches

6. Your dream last night? hmmm. don't remember

7. Your favorite drink? Diet Mountain Dew.

8. Your dream/goal? Be the best I can be.

9. What room are you in? Living room/Great room.

10. Your hobby? canoeing, camping, shopping for fun camping gear.

11. Your fear? Chronic Pain

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here.

13. Where were you last night? Home watching the Vikings game. (Booo!)

14. Something you aren't? Tall.

15. Muffins? Carrot.

16. Wish list item? Pool.

17. Where did you grow up? A suburb of Minneapolis.

18. Last thing you did? Worked on report cards.

19. What are you wearing? Jeans and a Dam Diabetes sweatshirt.

20. Your tv? Samsung.

21. Your pets? Dixie, the service dog and Ella, the cute pet dog.

22. Your friends? Mean the world to me.

23. Your life? Crazy busy right now.

24. Your mood? Calm .

25. Missing someone? Yes. My friend, Kim who stopped communicating with me over a year ago. Not sure why, but so very sad about it.

26. Vehicle? Yep. Subaru Forrester.

27. Something you're not wearing? One earring. The back fell off and I can't find it, so I only have one one right now.

28. Your favorite store? REI

29. Your favorite color? Red

30. When was the last time you laughed? This morning.

31. Cried? On Saturday when my mouth was hurting and I was frustrated with it.

32. Your best friend? K.

33.One place that I go over and over? canoeing in the BWCA.

34. One person who emails me regularly? MS, a good friend from New Mexico and W, a friend from work.

35. Favorite place to eat? Paddy Ryans