Stick me with ya best shot!!

Okay, as previously discussed, I am a big, fat, feathery chicken when it comes to sticking my finger for blood sugars. It's not that it hurts much at all. It really doesn't. It's just that I can't stand to see the needle hitting my skin.
Well, that's not it, exactly. I can watch someone else do it. It's the combo of being the one to jam the "thumbtack" into my finger and watch it go in. I am so pitiful. I should get my big, bad nurse badge taken away.

But, the good news is, I found something I can use very easily and it is actually the least painful lancet I have used thus far. It's an Accuchek Multi-clix. It's a pen-type lancet device that holds a barrel of lancets. You load them in, click to arm it and then push the little yellow button. It sticks you at a depth varying from no-one-can-have-skin-this-thin to seriously-are-you-checking-a-rhinos-blood-sugar. I use a 3.

The niftiest part (other than me finally being able to stick myself with a minimum of whining) is that you don't have an exposed lancet to try to wrestle out of your device or to possibly stick someone else. They all go back into the drum. When they've all been used, you simply pop out the drum and put in a new one. I toss the used drum into my sharp's container, but you don't really have to. There is no way anyone can accidentally stick themselves with your used lancet. I am all about sharps safety, so this makes me tremendously happy.

Another nice thing about the multi-clix is the ability to find the lancet drums locally. Wal-mart and Walgreens carry them for sure. I'm sure other places do as well. I got a box of 120 for $16. Not bad.

I hope that this blog is helping a few people. If you know someone who has Diabetes, please feel free to have them jump in and contribute or even just read and lurk. The more I learn, the more I am going to share.

Oh, and one more quick note, Books-a-Million has a large sale section. In it, I found 2 Diabetes cookbooks and a low-carb one. They really had some good recipes I'm going to try.

If I find good ones, would you like me to post the actual recipe or just a hint of what I made? Feedback, people, I need feeback!

eBay is even sweeter than ME!!!

As I mentioned in my very first post, diabetic testing strips are outrageous!! So far, my favorite meter of the 4 I am trying is the Acensia Breeze 2 by Bayer. It is a super easy to use meter that is self contained. You put in a little packet of strips (they remind me of the old film discs if anyone remembers the Kodak disc cameras), and they spit out each time you need to test. So, you test 10 times before you have to load a strip. No coding (lots of meters require that you have a chip with a certain code for your strips. Lose that code chip and you have a bunch of useless strips. Try and use a strip with a different code and it errors out), very small sample size. The downside is, of course, it is expensive to get the strips. The cheapest I'd found them so far was $67 for 50 strips at Walgreens. On a whim, I thought... why not try eBay??

One of the better thoughts I've had lately, can I just say!!! I just bought a lot of 100 strips for $19.95 plus $5.48 s&h. Holy cow!  I'm figuring this guy probably hijacked a truck of diabetic supplies for them to cost this little, but  I am pretty sure I don't care. Sure, hijacking is wrong, but so is highway robbery! LOL!

So, to alla you folks who are stickin' yourselves for blood sugars, it may behoove you to check into eBay for some of your supplies! I'll update this when I actually get the strips and tell you how it goes!

Product Testing... a position NOT for sissies.

OK, I am doing great on the low-carb thing. Still have not cheated at all. Of course, it's only been a little over 2 weeks. You people know me... I got fat for a reason. It's not that the fat chased me down and attacked me, inserting itself under my skin in a horrible process. I put it there all by myself. With lots of help from my friends... Mr. Bakery and Mrs. Pasta. Oh, we had good times, but they were not the friends that I thought they were... they turned on me!!!

So, I know that I am not going to last forever on grilled chicken and iceberg lettuce. I'm going to have to give myself an occasional treat. But, if I can find a way to fee myself the things I love without them being bad for me, all the better. Then, I do not have to ration them, and treat them as if they were radioactive.

So, I cruised a ton of websites and read a lot of reviews. So... I decided to start my search with a few relatively easy items. The first? Pasta.

Or to be more accurate... "pasta substitute". That's what the bag actually says. The most highly recommended low carbohydrate (2g of carbs per serving versus 14-40 for most) noodle substitute is "Tofu Shiritake" noodles. They are about $2.99 for a pack (which contains 2 servings) on the internet, but they are available for $1.89 locally at the Asian Grocery inside the Stock Pot on Hanover Street in JC. They're refrigerated. I got the "fettucine" package. Every review I read stated emphatically that if you did not rinse, boil, drain and dry, you would really regret it. The package actually tells you to rinse for at least a minute, then "parboil" for 2-3 minutes then drain and dry to "decrease the authentic aroma." That is packaging speak for killing the oddly fishy smell of the product.

So, cooked and drained and dried, I put a little veggie-rich pasta sauce on them. I took a deep breath and I tried them.

Not bad.

Second bite had a lot less sauce on it. Not as good. That's when I realized that the noodles themselves do not really have much of a taste at all. Much like birthday cake (in my opinion), it's not there to be eaten. It's there to give the main ingredient something to ride on (icing in the birthday cake analogy, but the pasta sauce in this study). Basically, it's just there to give you something to munch on as you taste your sauce of choice.

Consistency wise, they will take a little getting used to, as well. They are, as my mother would say, "squiggly". Which means a little chewy, a little squeaky on the teeth. Sorta rubbery.

So, does it hold your pasta sauce? Yes. Was it a noodle substitute? No. It tastes nor feels nothing like actual noodles. Is it hideous? No. It'll do in a pinch, but truly, I'd rather just have a tiny little serving of whole wheat noodles than have a big serving of these things. So, right now... the search continues and I will not be buying a case of these rubbery noodle subs.

So, tomorrow, I will be trying a rice noodle that I found at the Asian Market. It has no carbs at all. It also looks a little like hot glue strings. We shall see...

Wish me luck.

Yet another day in paradise!

It is funny. I am doing pretty good on taking care of myself. I've never been too good at this. I like to take care of other people, but myself... not so much! But, when I decided to apply myself to the situation... I am doing pretty darn good! :-)

I've learned to tell people "no." Someone actually asked me today what my blood sugar was and then said, "Oh, you're doing good. Here, you can cheat." and she crammed a cookie at me. Seriously. When I said, "Oh, no, I can't." She kept yelling "just cheat!" Back a few weeks ago, I woulda  just said, "Ok." and done it to be nice. So, nope... not the new me!! I just looked at her and said, "I don't eat things like that." Yeah!!! So, there!

So, I am doing good! I am very happy with myself. I even went to my parents house tonight and cooked somewhat healthy for them. Of course, they also ate cake and ice cream. I can only do so much. LOL

I continue to strive and work and try to figure out this disease. At first, it was my enemy, but I think now, it just might be my saving grace. I am losing weight, I am becoming active. Maybe it has come to save me.

Then again, that might be the carb withdrawal talking...

Another day, Another Diabetic Lesson

I am so happy. My blood sugar was 127 this morning. That is the lowest yet. I am beyond thrilled.

I went to Walmart tonight to pick up a small handful of items I'd forgotten and to have another house key made. While I was there, I did a lot of label reading. It takes me forever to shop now. I'm always grabbing 37 varieties of the same item, seeing which one has the least carbs in it. I got a shock while label hunting...

BBQ sauce is apparently sugar in disguise!! Holy crap. I knew it'd be somewhat high in carbs, but it has around 18 to 30 carbs. For 2 tablespoons. No, I'm not kidding. TWO TABLESPOONS. When I go to BBQ places, I drown my meat in sauce, I dip my fries in it. I do everything short of drinking it. And, now, when I am allowed 40 or so carbs per meal (although I usually eat much less), I can have a glimpse of sauce and that's all!

Who knew???

In comparison, a cup of chili has 1/2 that many carbs. Salad dressing 1/3 that much for the same 2 tablespoons. Yeesh.

I guess I will have to figure out how to get Ridgewood BBQ sauce to cover an entire sandwich with only 2 tablespoons. Sigh.

The start of the journey

On March 3, 2010 I was diagnosed with Diabetes, Type 2. The diagnosis itself came as no surprise. I'm obese. Both my parents are diabetics. I have a lousy diet, I hate vegetables. I never exercise. So, I'd been wary of how my lifestyle would eventually catch up with me. What caught me by surprise was just HOW diabetic I was. A normal HgbA1c http://www.diabeteshome.ca/hemoglobin-a1c.php is around 5. Diabetic is over 7. Dangerously Diabetic is over 8. I rang the prize bell at 10.6. I actually sat in the doctor's office as he told me and kept saying, "Holy shit." Eloquent, no. But, let me tell you... it was heartfelt. Holy shit indeed.

I am a nurse. I have taken care of diabetics for years. In their senior years, I have seen what happens to uncontrolled or poorly controlled diabetics. Open sores on their feet, leading to gangrene, leading to amputation. Blindness. Heart attacks. Strokes. I'm already hypertensive (high blood pressure), so my risk of heart attack and stroke are already high. Now, it's worse.

I do not want to lose my feet. I don't want to be blind. I don't want to feel like crap all the time. I'm only 37, and I do not want to die. How's that for honesty?

So, there I was. Hemoglobin A1c at 10.6. Weight at 268 pounds (at 5'4"... Yeah, I know). Glucose at over 300. The doctor (someone I have known, work with and trust) told me, "Emily, I could send you to a nutritionist, but you know what to do." He was right. I had to change. I couldn't get anyone to do this for me. I had to do it myself. And, instead of worrying about everyone else, and trying to be everyone else's nurse... I had to "heal" myself.

On my way home from the doctor's office, I stopped at Earth Fare. I knew carbs are the devil to diabetics, so I bought meat, cheese and salads. I hate veggies, so I figured I'd let them figure out what kinds of things I could mix together and they'd work. I was very correct. I have discovered Live Dark Green salad and Cleansing Fennel salad. Both are excellent and both are A-OK for diabetics.

Then, I got home, I went online. I hit every diabetes website I could find. Turns out, a lot of my knowledge of diabetic diets is obsolete. Back in my day, we did the 1800 calorie ADA as a gold standard. They've moved away from that to carb counting and such. It takes into account that not everyone eats the same thing. But, as a newly diagnosed person, it's a little harder to nail down what exactly I need to eat. So, on with the search.

As a nerd, research is power. As a Diabetic Nerd, I went book hunting. I am now the proud owner of 3 diabetic cookbooks and a book titled " The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes" by Gretchen Becker. She writes from a Diabetic's point of view, not a nurse or doc point of view. So, it comes highly recommended and what I have read so far is really informative. I am already highlighting and using post-it flags.

I have drastically changed my diet. Smaller portions. Very little "premade" food, which I have found out by label reading is chock full o' carbs. Almost no carbs. Lean meats. Salads, veggies, fresh fruit, yogurt (Kroger makes a CARBMaster yogurt that has only 3 carbs. Most other yogurt can go as high as 18... yikes), cheese, low fat milk, whole wheat grains for what little carbs I do get. Yeah, totally different from my usual. Holy crap. Total life change.

Oh, and did I mention I now need to exercise? Research has shown that diabetics do better controlling their blood sugars when they exercise. So, here we go. O.H.S time again. Ugh. Have I mentioned I loathe any form of physical activity? Even as a kid, when other kids were out playing tag, I much preferred to be inside (in the Air Conditioning, thank you) reading a book. I'm not a total sloth. I walk a lot at work, and I can walk your butt off when I'm shopping. But, as for exercise... I hate it. It's evil. TOO BAD.

So, I'm walking each day. To complicate this, one of the heart meds I am on will make me short of breath rather quickly with exertion. So, I gotta start really slow and build up. Right now, I'm just walking up and down the driveway at my apartment complex every afternoon. Sometimes twice. That is such a pathetically small amount. But, it's much more than what I was doing.

They say a key to overcoming Diabetes is support. If that is true, I should be able to make IT say O.H.S. I called Chad in a total stun from the doc's office. He had to work that night, but he told me right then and there that whatever he had to do to help me, he would. And, he has. He has bought me a tiny grill that I can use when it's just me (our other grill is absolutely HUGE and takes forever to heat up). He's grilled out, he's lugged in bag after bag of groceries. My friends have had me over and have asked me what I can eat and cooked accordingly. I have 30 plus FB comments from when I announced my Diabetes that are encouraging me, pointing me to websites, magazines, cookbooks, etc. At church, when I announced my Diabetes as a prayer request, several folks came up to me and offered me help, or even just said, "I know you can do it."

Of course, as a nurse, I am used to needles. Who on earth knew that I had a little phobia about them? I did not know this. I do not mind anyone giving me a shot. I'm A-okay with that. Doesn't phase me. But, apparently, using any sort of sharp on myself is another story. I tried every single morning for a whole week to poke my own finger to check my blood sugar. I mean, sitting there with the lancet in my hand... waiting. Finger poised mere air between it and the stabbing point. Could. Not. Do. It. How embarrassing to have to go to one of my nurses and say, "Um.. can you do this? 'Cause I can't." Thankfully, they understand me. And, they checked my sugar each morning.

Speaking of glucometers, do you have any idea how expensive they are? They are FREE. Great, right?! Let me tell you WHY the damn things are free. Because they charge you a FORTUNE for the stupid strips that go in them. Holy Cow. $50 for 50 strips is about the base. The free meter I received first (I've ordered every single one I could find so I can figure out which one works best for me) is the Breeze 2. It's way cool. It spits out a strip off of a disc, you don't even have to load one! Tiny amount of blood needed (not that it matters so far, as I bleed like a pig every time I get stuck). Works in 5 seconds. The strips are $67 for 50. O.H.S. again. But, the good news is, it comes with a free lancet, too. One that hides the pointy part. I just push the button and it does the rest. I still have to do a few deep breathing exercises, but I can finally stick myself.

So, where does all this leave me? Today is March 14th. I have been a Diabetic (officially) for 11 days. I have lost 17 pounds. My blood sugar has dropped to the 150s for the most part (up to 174, down to 133, but mostly in the 150s). I own 3 cookbooks, a reference book, a glucometer. I have 3 more glucometers on order. I have ordered a med alert bracelet. I have a prescription for glucophage (that's a blog for another day... great medication with one really bad side effect) and am taking it like clockwork. I am walking beyond what is necessary for point A to point B. I stick my own fingers. I have announced my disease and my need for support to the universe.

And, now, I have a blog.

Wish me luck. I have to go and walk.

Love,

Emily

PS The name of this blog is a play on my having too much sugar in my blood. So, I am too sweet. I joked to Chad that if you drank my blood it would probably taste like Maple syrup given the amount of sugar in there.