Winning the game
So big things happening this week on the diabetes front. Got the results of back of my first post-diagnosis A1C and I have to say I'm pretty proud. Here's the run down:
Normal Hemoglobin A1C: 4.8% - 5.6% (Therapeutic goal for a diabetic is >7%)
Normal Average Glucose: Range is 70 - 110 mg/DL
May 1st(Diagnosis) A1C: 13.3%
Average Glucose: 336 mg/DL
June 25th A1C: 7.5% (a 6.5% drop)
Average Glucose: 169 mg/DL (166 point drop)
So I'm pretty stoked about these numbers. Particularly because this these results are skewed from my highs pre-diagnosis which hopefully means that when I retake my A1C in late August, I will be squarely in the normal range. That's the plan anyway.
My endocrinogolist was very pleased with my numbers and was very congratulatory about such a big drop in just shy of two months. It was really nice to get the encouragement particularly when I've been having some tough days this month.
We have been crazy busy with visitors and parties and volunteering and just general to-do lists that it seems like I've hardly got time to catch my breath. This has been all well and good but it has proved challenging when it comes to eating as we have gone out quite a bit or to potlucks where it's a crap-shoot as to what will be available to eat and how it will be served. This last weekend for example, we were at a potluck and I decided I wanted a beer - okay 1 unit of insulin there. But wait, what about dinner? Well at this point, dinner is not yet served so I can't account for what I'm going to eat yet. So I take the shot of insulin for the beer. Thirty minutes later, it's dinner time. I load my plate and then take another shot to cover those carbs. But wait, there's more. That's right, you guessed it - dessert! And German chocolate cake to boot! When was the last time you had German chocolate cake?! Exactly! That's what I was thinking, so I took a small slice and yet again another shot of insulin to cover the cake.
Three shots over the course of about a hour/hour and a half. Three needles. Three injection sites. Three times to attempt being a diabetes ninja (when you can test your blood or taking your insulin shot in the blink of an eye without drawing attention to yourself).
And although I had been toying with this thought over the last few weeks, it dawned on me then in a post-German chocolate stupor, this would have been a lot easier with an insulin pump.
This past Monday, I met again with Chandra (RD/CDE) and amongst other topics, we chatted once again about a pump. The reasons have been adding up for me and as much as the tubing idea freaks me out, the benefits have swayed in favor of a pump. I think a lot of the hold up for me was my misconceptions about pumps. I had it in my head that a permanent catheter would be implanted in my tummy, that the tubing was the size of a water hose, and that I would forever have to wear a fanny pack to transport the thing (this being the scariest factor of all). Not the case it turns out.
Chandra was very reassuring about the pump and made it very clear that if I don't like it, I don't have to use it. That if I was to disconnect from it for an hour, a day, a week just because I feel like it, that that's fine too. I will always have to have some insulin pens on hand in case of a pump malfunction, so if I decide to go back to pens for a period of time or a specific circumstance, then that's okay too. She reminded me that the pump is to let me have better control and to make my life easier and that ultimately I need to determine a strategy that works for me and it's okay if that's a combination of pump therapy and MDI (multiple daily injections) if that is what I want.
So after thinking on this and talking to Nathan, I pulled the trigger today at my appointment with my endocrinologist and she is going to get started on the paperwork for the pump I'm interested in using. I think she is rather please with my decision to give it a go, although I think she wanted me to go with a different version that has a linked CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor). Can't please them all, right?
Oh and the salad I mentioned last week - here's the recipe - it's delicious - you're welcome.