Friday, September 2, 2011

Diabetes GPS Travel Patterns: Blood Sugar Left Nirvana & Arrived in Shitsville At 7pm Last Night

Blood sugars remained in the vicinity of Nirvana all week, until 7:00 pm last night, when I realized a detour had been made and we (my bloodsugar and I) had arrived in Shitsville! the tipoff being the fact that my meter was blowing a 301.

I immediately washed my hands and tested again and the number 268 flashed across the screen. It was at that very moment I began cursing both diabetes and the blood sugar meter margin for error FDA rules. Really FDA, REALLY!!!!!!

Turns out my infusion set had crapped out, and a red, hard lump surrounded my cannula.
I changed it out for a fresh one, added 301 +268, which = 569. Then I divided 569 by 2, for a blood sugar of 284.5, rounded up and did a correction bolus for 285 and hoped for the best.

Of course I'd just bought a 1/2 a Regular (a.k.a, Italian) sub on my way home from the hospital and was dying to eat it. It'd been a long day both work and hospital wise and I was hungry!

The minutes ticked by as I watched the clock, did laundry and raged bolused ever so slightly. Finally, 220 flashed across my meter at 9:12 pm - I bolus 25 carbs for 1/3 a sub and downed it.

The rest of the evening went rather smoothly, until I headed for bed around midnight.
I was all ready to turn out the lights and finally get some much needed sleep, when I realized I hadn't tested.
So I grabbed my bedside meter, pricked my finger and waited the mandatory 5 seconds to find out my blood sugar fate.

The number 83 blinked back at me and in my head I could actually hear my blood sugar LOLing at my expense.

I was far from happy and I just wanted to sleep. I decided to go for a temporary basal rate of .20 for 3 hours and jumped back under the covers. But as tired as I felt, I knew that the temporary basal rate probably wasn't my best bet.

So I got up, went to the fridge and grabbed 5 ounces of juice and a cheese stick, consumed said juice and cheesestick, suspended my temporary basal rate and headed back to bed.

Before I shut the light off I made sure a tube of glucose tabs were on my stand and I went to sleep.

Cut to this morning when I woke up with a blood sugar of 79.

And so far, so good.

It's always something in life.... diabetes or otherwise ;)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love how you add both numbers up and divide in half to correct... I've thought about that, but never had. Glad things balanced out eventually this round, on the d-side.

Girl Schmuck said...

Just floating about in blog world and hunting down some topics close to my heart. Thanks for sharing your great sence of humor. I am a type 2 for seven years. But both kids were worth it. they are the best part of the diagnosis. Now I have been a real slack ass for owning up and taking care of myself. But my doctor is awesome and we sat down and had a great pow wow and I am geared up for doing better and living healthier and stronger. Look forward to learning more from you.

Penny said...

Hee hee hee, I thought I was the only one who got two readings, then added and divided by 2! Here we are sisters! I'm glad you are home, eating and taking care of yourself. Sorry the D had to rear it's ugly head. Hope the hoagie was good though. ( and darn iPad wants to change hoagie to hiatus each and every time. You can tell they made it in CA and not PA :0)