Iheartguts makes an honest to goodness "perfect pancreas, " and it only costs $16 bucks!
So in the Diabetes On-line community we are all working pancreases both by day, and by night - Continually on the quest for pancreas perfection and achieving Blood Sugar Nirvana.
We are litigious calculating carbs, experimenting with temporary basal rates, trying out carb combinations in all their many shapes in forms and every thing else diabetically speaking in between. We all try so hard to be the perfect definition of a what a working pancreas is. And lets face it, our health depends on our hard work and we are constantly reminded of that at every diabetes twist and turn.
And we are much harder on our ‘Working Pancreas” alter egos than we are on ourselves. I'd I'll be the first to admit, I’ve said the following, and much, much more:
Oh, Kelly you stupid pancreas, how could you not realize that forgetting to bolus for that third cup of coffee would create havoc with your numbers?
Nice job being Kelly’s pancreas, Kelly. Seriously, how could you let yourself go so low?
Really Kelly’s pancreas, REALLY. How the hell could you forget extra batteries for your pump professional - REAL PROFESSIONAL.
YES, I sound like Sybil - But at least I’m not alone!
And I know myself well enough to realize that I will continue to have these Sybil like conversations with myself.
And I'm smart enough to believe it's OK to vent - I'M ALL ABOUT VENTING.
And I'm damn glad I have people to vent with, who understand what I'm going through because they've gone through it themselves.
BUT As people LIVING with busted pancreases, we are critical of ourselves, as are parents working as full time pancreases for their children.
And sometimes (at least as far as my own quest for pancreas perfection and achieving Blood Sugar Nirvana is concerned,)
I can be so focused on the goal of perfection, that I (we) forget to remember all the lessons continually being learned on the road to perfection.
And I’ve come to realize as of late that nothing is perfect - in life or diabetes.
And if we stop learning, we stop appreciating all the knowledge that we’ve gained. And then we become stuck... and who the hell wants to be stuck - be it in dog shit or life?
Being stuck in life means that you don’t have the chance to move forward.
So I guess what trying to say is: LIVE AND LEARN, get unstuck and appreciate all those lessons you're learning.
And remember to give yourself some much needed credit for the difficult job that your doing 24X7 & 365 days a year - Because you deserve it~
This was a good reminder, thanks :) I've read several times that you bolus for coffee and I've been meaning to ask - do you mean Starbucks (latte, mocha, etc...) or plain old, black coffee? This might be a very dumb question, but I've been curious...odd things cause spikes in different people, right? :)
ReplyDeleteSteph - I'm not a Dr. or CDE and I suggest that you talk to your own Endo & CDE about this in greater detail. Everyone has their opinion on re: bolusing for coffee and diabetes is not one size fits all disease.
ReplyDeleteBut as far as my personally, I bolus for my two mugs of coffee with cream and sugar ( I like my coffee sweet) every morning. If you're at Starbucks, you can actually get the carb, fat, caloric, etc count for ALL their drinks, fancy or not, including drink sizes via their 'Nutrition By The Cup," handout.
It makes bolusing so much easier! Plus, you can keep it in your car for other coffee excursions! :)
Hey, k2: I actually got that plush pancreas as a Christmas gift!!! Awesome, for those of us trying to serve as our own pancreas(es, or pancreai?)
ReplyDeleteOn the coffee-bolusing question, I actually do bolus for regular black coffee. When I've been on MDI, I give myself a couple extra unites because of the caffeine boost. When pumping (which I normally do) my morning basal is slightly higher to accommodate for the excessive black coffee I consume each day. Does the trick for me. But as Kelly said, Your Diabetes May Vary and it's best to seek your doc's advice.
reminds me of the Chris Rock routine where the dad says "I take care of my kids" and Chris says, you are supposed to take care of your kids. Diabetes is like that, we take care of our diabetes but we want rewards for doing it but we are supposed to do it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have the carbs memorized for Starbucks, but I've read in more than one place that coffee, or I guess the caffeine in it, can effect blood sugar. because I always eat breakfast with my coffee I've never attributed spikes to that, but it might be worth paying attention to more closely...
ReplyDeleteI definitely have the carbs memorized for Starbucks, but I've read in more than one place that coffee, or I guess the caffeine in it, can effect blood sugar. because I always eat breakfast with my coffee I've never attributed spikes to that, but it might be worth paying attention to more closely...
ReplyDelete