Still Nothing!

Short update today - still nothing to share!

And this website won't show the picture I had on here, booo. I'll have to figure out a way to put it back on!

Jamie and I are headed off to Vegas in less than 2 weeks, can't wait!

Hopefully we'll have some actual news to post on here one of these years, this is getting annoying!

Back at it

Kilimanjaro in the background!

I have officially summitted Mount Kilimanjaro for the second time. This Kili trek was the HARDEST thing I have ever done. My Mom told me that summit night was harder than being in labour and giving birth (she delivered me and my brother both through natural unmedicated labours) so I'm looking forward to the next step of my life. I am planning on doing a whole blog post about the entire adventure, but it will take me a long time to write. The experience was just simply amazing. You can't even begin to imagine how gorgeous the scenery is; how amazing it is to wake up one morning to trek up and over a rock wall that had been intimidating you all night, and to finally make it all the way to the top. It is truly beyond words, but I will try one day to write something and add more photos etc. I'm still starting my photo book - I printed off all of my photos, but printed photos just aren't as exciting as the new books you can make, I'll get there!

Anyways, since I've been back, life has been going well. Jamie and I are back in the swing of trying to make things happen, and even though I say I am 'just going to let it happen' it is so difficult. I don't know how to not obsess over every single 'symptom' in the second half of your cycle. I've tried, believe me. We're going to give it another couple of months and then maybe start looking at getting some testing done. I'm sure everythings fine, but it's frustrating for sure. I always expected we'd throw away the condoms, ditch the birth control and BAM be pregnant. I wish it was that simple, but it just isn't. I can't wait until I can use this blog to talk about managing my diabetes through pregnancy, instead of just talking about the future. I know we'll get there soon though, so I'm staying positive! We've put off TTC for a few things in the past year, and I have to say I'm glad we did during those times. I wouldn't wake up with perfect vision (thank you laser eye surgery) and have enough memories to last a lifetime from the Kili trek if we didn't take a break.

Diabetes wise.... I have been slipping a little bit. After 3 years of writing down all of my blood sugars, I have stopped logging everything and even though I say I will download my meter and pump every week, that hasn't been happening. I need to get that back on track for sure. I think I went so hard trying to prepare the other times we've been TTC that when we took some time off I just let it all go. I'm not saying anything is BAD, I need to do a new A1C but I think it will still be pretty good. I just don't obsess the way I have in the past. I don't always test exactly an hour after a meal, I don't wake up at 2AM to see what's going on in the middle of the night. I'm sure that will all change as soon as I see 2 lines on a pregnancy test, I think I need to get out of the mindframe of thinking 'it's never going to happen' that I occasionally fall into and keep the good thoughts coming.

I'll update again soon - hopefully with good news! I'm just way to impatient for this stuff, I swear! I'll finish this with a photo of my Mom & I at the top of Kilimanjaro. I was SO out of it during this photo.... I also thought I was low, so I was trying my hardest to bring up my blood by choking back fruit bars and trying to drink my (frozen) gatorade. I found out a hour later when my meter thawed enough to use that my blood was actually in the 30's (540 for any American readers) and it was not a good day getting it back to normal.... More on that later though!

Almost Time!!!

Wow, this website looks different once again, weird! Oh well.. :)

I am leaving Vancouver and heading to Moshi in only... 17 sleeps! Holy moly, it's coming up so soon! I am feeling very unprepared, and need to start packing! I feel like I planned way earlier for the other treks. I need to get things like long underwear and hiking poles, and start stock piling snacks to bring on the trek. I also need to get a camera, I'm thinking about buying one that takes double A's, so that I don't need to be worried about it dying half way up the mountain. My current camera has been crappy lately, and I also have my waterproof one which is great, but doesn't work all that wonderful unless it's for the 'beach/pool' thing. So methinks I need to hit up Future Shop in the next week and finally find something that I love. My Mom and I are determined to get some good pics on the top of Kili, even though I explained to her that you feel pretty much DEAD at the top. I thought a lot about using a different backpack (as mine is ugly and orange) but it is SO comfortable and I think that's more important than something stylish. Either way, exciting stuff!!!

Other updates on the home life is that I really hope Jamie gets around to finishing the backyard while I'm gone! We've been debating whether or not to put in a deck (I say yes, he says no) and I'm getting to the point where I don't care, I just want it done! I want to enjoy the summer out the back with a fire pit, that's all I want! The May long weekend was fun, it was my birthday on the Thursday, Friday I went for a hike and then to the Keg with my Honey, which is always great. Saturday I went boating with my family, and Sunday/Monday I think Jamie and I just drank and lazed around the house, haha! I can't remember exactly.

With the baby updates, we're going to see how things go when I get back from Kilimanjaro. We went to Vegas at the beginning of May (for our third 'last hurrah') and that was a ton of fun. When I get back in late June, we want to just see how things go, and try to not put pressure on ourselves. I know I'm going to change my mind completely and obsess over everything, but my plan is to NOT PLAN!!! We'll see how that works out for us though. I am excited to get pregnant, but at the same time, I love our summers of having a palm bay on Friday nights after work (or maybe a couple) and just enjoying the good times. If it doesn't happen, there is talk of another Vegas trip in September, so we'll see!

Anyways, I'll try to update again before Kilimanjaro, but no promises. And I know there is not a single diabetes update on here, but things are pretty much the same as always right now!

Until next time :)

Change of plans, for now!

Whew - don't blog for a couple months and the website completely changes!

Anyways, plans have changed. Jamie and I kinda 'tried' for January and February, and a few weeks ago I actually booked a trip to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for diabetes research with JDRF. This is my fourth trek with this group, and I am so excited to take on this challenge. This of course does mean that babies are pushed on the back burner once again, but I'm okay with that. I briefly googled if it's safe to be at a high altitude when pregnant, and it doesn't seem like it! I'll be back in late June, and then Jamie and I are looking at potentially booking another Vegas trip for our two year wedding anniversary in July, so who knows. I'm at a point where it'll happen when it happens. I'm in a good place, my blood is behaving (although I am very overdue for my 6 month blood tests!) and life is pretty good.

I'm looking forward to getting into shape for Kili, and hopefully carrying that through into the summer! Anyways, that's about all that's new for me lately, I'm going to try to update this more in the future, and I'm considering renaming the blog, but we'll see.

If you're reading this, please check out my donor drive page with JDRF. It has all of the information on the past treks and why I am doing this. My Mom is actually joining the team this time and helping to try and raise funds again this year. This is such a great cause. I was 17 when the first trek was completed; and to have close to 10 diabetic teens reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro was unheard of. Now the existing and new members of the team are all a little more grown up, but we are still sharing our journey.

My donordrive page with JDRF can be found here. Please read it and donate if you can. Any money raised goes DIRECTLY TO THE CAUSE. None of the donations pay for the trip, it is all paid for completely by the people going on the trip.

Thanks, and until next time.... :)

Wonderful Wednesday!

Note to self: When the pump educator says not to change infusion sets before bed, take it to heart. I have never had a problem before and have been changing my sites every 3 days shortly before bed. Last night was just like any other night, except my infusion set was a little bit more painful going in. It felt like the cannula was out of place, but after 5 or so minutes, it was back to normal. I was at 12.7 before bed, so I did a correction bolus and hit the hay. I had a terrible sleep (which isn't all that uncommon) and woke up with that terrible cotton mouth feeling. Took a look at my site and it was looking yucky.... Tested and 21.8. I haven't been that high in as long as I can remember!!! I took out the site right away and it was totally kinked in half and had been laying next to my skin pumping my basal onto my stomach, not INTO my stomach all night. Took about 4 hours for it to come back down (and close to 10 units of insulin!) but eventually it leveled out and it hasn't been bad since then. But I will be a little bit more careful next time, that's for sure!!

And then it just doesn't make sense sometimes...

Last night my blood wasn't terrible during the day, and before the gym I was at a glorious 6.0 before leaving the house. I set a temp basal of -40% for my workout and had it stretched out for 3 hours, even though I knew it would be reset when I changed my infusion set that night (around 1.5 hours in). I had a pretty good workout and at the grocery store on the way home I was 6.5, which I actually took a picture of because I was so proud. I've been having troubles with my numbers post-gym lately so this was a big moment for me.

Come home, have a snack, switch out the infusion set (yay for not seeing blood drip down my pants!), and tested around 11:30... 13.8. I went the ezbg route and completely ignored the fact that I likely had iob that wasn't taken into consideration due to my site change. About an hour after my correction, I was down to 11.8, so not a huge improvement. I figured it would come down eventually and headed to bed.

I had a ton of trouble sleeping, and tested my blood somewhere around 1:15AM, and I had dropped to 6. I was happy with that and was looking forward to waking up in the morning in the 5's, right where I should be. When I opened my eyes a couple hours later and noticed that it was 3:17 I knew there was only one reason, and I could feel it coming on. I fumbled for my blood checker in the dark (why can't the ping have a light for the test strip) and after taking FIVE tries to draw blood I discovered that I was at an (un)healthy 1.7. As soon as you see the number you feel it a thousand times more, but I headed downstairs to sugar up before heading back to bed and hopefully getting some sleep.

Anyone diabetic understands the feeling of a late night low, and I was up and eating/reading the newspaper until 3:45 AM. I realized I had consumed way more carbs than I should have and attempted to bolus without overbolusing and eventually just went to sleep and hoped for the best.

Morning came with a 9.5 (ugghhh, so not the 5.3 my endo would like me to wake up to) to start my day and it's been wonky from there. I was fine after breakfast, dropping by lunch. After lunch I lingered high until dinner (when I was dropping again) and since then I have been plummeting no matter what I do. I just ate some carrots and pistachios so I'm hoping that stabilizes things a little bit.

It's just so frustrating that what works one day, does absolutely nothing the next day. I have been googling all day to see when Dexcom might be coming to Canada and I haven't been able to find anything - but hopefully soon. In the meantime I am going to play dexcom one day this week and test every 30 minutes during the day and every hour at night.... At least that's my plan for this week, we'll see when it actually happens.

Enough of this crabappleness, let's end this with Holly; because I actually sang 'you are my sunshine' to her tonight and she is a perfect way to brighten a day. Only Jamie is my other (brighter)sunshine, although Holly looks a lot cuter than he would when being completely enthralled with a stuffed octapus missing 2 legs.

Prenatal fun!

So, I've been on Pregvit Folic 5 for way too long now. With the babymaking planning being on, and then pushed back and then on again, it's been a lot of little pink and blue pills. I wasn't really taking them consistently during the fall, because we weren't actually trying at that point, but I've been back on track since about December now. These pills however, are a bitch to take because they come in these stupid little packages that take up way too much room, and they are not fun to get the pills out either. SO, Jamie and I decided to take all 3 months worth out now and separate them so it will be easy to fill up my little weekly pill holder without having to pull out the boxes! YES, this is an exciting post, but I feel that it should have been shared. That is all.

Pills in their little case, time to be extracted.

All done, morning (pink) on the left and night (blue) on the right. Yay for organization!

All done! Prenatals and calcium pills (with vitamin D!)... Fun stuff!

Joys of working out with diabetes

So I've been working out a lot more lately (on and off) and it can be so frustrating with diabetes. Case in point: Tonight I had dinner at 5:30 and gave myself what should have been the perfect amount of insulin. At 7:15 Jamie and I were about to leave for the gym and I am at 3.6 which right off the back means that I will be fighting a low the entire time. I drank a juice box and ate a bunch of crackers, thinking that it would keep me above 6 or 7 for the half an hour I was planning on doing cardio.... No such luck.

I was going to do 1.5 miles and about 2 minutes in, I decided to test, a nice big 2.9 to start off a run, wonderful! I decided to keep going for it, and after about 12 minutes, my blood was starting to move up, I was 3.6. Finished my run, and moved over to the stair climber. Did 10 minutes and felt like I was going to die (my current fitness level might have helped with that) and when I tested afterwards, my blood was down to 3.0 again, once again wonderful.

Moral of the story is: Good luck raising your blood and keeping it elevated when working out!! I had my pump set to a -50% temp basal as well, I probably should have just suspended it!

In other diabetes related news, I had one hell of a gusher last time I changed my infusion set! I was pulling out my old set absent-mindedly and felt something warm and wet on my tummy... Looking down (with the set still attached at the bottom) I discovered that I was gushing blood and it was currently dripping onto my pants. I ran into the bathroom and mopped it up with some kleenex and bled into the sink some more. Pretty nice suprise for 11:30 PM on a Monday! Once it was done bleeding out, I realized it was a lot less blood than it looked like, but still pretty gruesome. I googled what it could mean, and I guess I must have hit a capillary wrong when inserting the set, and when you take it out, it finally blows. I was pretty slow to notice and didn't really apply any pressure to it, so I think I saved myself from a pretty decent bruise by doing it that way. Apparently if you try to stop it from bleeding before it's done, you end up with a nice yellow bruise for a week.

Again, joys of diabetes.

Battery issue again!

And the battery issues continue...   Last week, I went snowboarding with my brother and his girlfriend. Earlier that day, I was at the dentist and when I checked my blood (this was around 3PM) it told me the batteries were running low and to replace soon. Usually I have another weekish before the battery dies, so I didn't think much of it at all. Before snowboarding I decided to bring a spare meter just because I was scared of falling on my ping meter and busting it. At dinner, I pulled out my ping meter to test, and it wouldn't even turn on because of a low battery!! It went completely dead within 4 hours of the first warning, without it being turned on in the meantime! I mean if I was at work, I would have had no meter at all, luckily I had brought that spare for snowboarding. I would have hated to have to drive home, but I hadn't been snowboarding in 6 year, I was not interested in doing it without having a clue what my blood was at. I feel like I complain about my pump too much, and I really don't mean to. I love my pump and what it does for me, it's just that these things are frustrating at times. When it's your health in question, you really want things to be 100% perfect, ALL the time.

Other than that though, I'm still trying to get back into writing down everything I eat and whatnot. It's just sooo time consuming, but I really feel better when I do it. I'll start again this week, maybe. My bloods been pretty good lately though, so that's a plus at least.

Anyways, not a whole lot of anything going on in this post. It snowed this weekend so Jamie and I had fun taking the pups out for nice long walks and throwing snowballs at them. Poor dogs didn't love the salt on the sidewalks, but we rinsed them off, and all was okay. We're supposed to get more snow this week, I really hope we do! I feel like we need at least one BIG dump this year.

Enough for now, hopefully more exciting stuff to post in the coming weeks/ months! :)