This week, there has been LOTS of changes going on with me. So much that my head is spinning, with numbers twirling around my head like little birds.

My glucose levels have been doing some pretty weird things the past few weeks. This week was the worst. I was constantly in or above the 200’s, and no correction or temp basal increase would bring it down. I finally had to double my rate at one point just to get down to 150-ish! When I uploaded my Dexcom before figuring my rates, I got really upset. Everything was floating all over the place and my averages where high. I broke down in sobs because all I could see in my mind was my wonderful 6.8 A1c floating out the window. Funny thing is, I got so aggravated at trying to figure out what was causing it, that I named the new basal rate the WTFreak rate. I know, it’s corny, but I liked it. Now, the bgs are getting more in line, but with quite a few lows as well, so I’ll be doing more math to refigure my basals once again. The highs and lows have been really hard to treat for some reason. My highs are taking a lot more insulin to bring them down and my lows are taking longer to come up. Two nights ago, Erik and I stayed up a good two hours eating various foods to try to get me to come back up from my 40 zone that my bg was determined to stay in. Two Oreo Double-stuffed Halloween cookies, half cup of orange juice, one cup of milk, and half of a peanut butter sandwich later, I was finally on my way up. And only topped off at 200 (imagine me adding sarcasm there..)!

The hardest thing for me to learn right now is how to compensate for workouts. Since getting the Wii Fit Plus and the EA Sports Active, I have been trying to workout each night. The Active doesn’t take that long, usually only 20 minutes at the most, so I will add in the Fit Plus (I LOVE the hula-hoop and dance in the aerobics section!!!!). My only problem is that after about 10 minutes into my workouts, I am low. I know I need to change my basals anyway for that time period, but how do you compensate for 30-45 minutes of exercise too? Lower by 50%, 30%? Time to get the math figures going again!

And, finally, after much thought, I have come to the conclusion that I need to change my goal. Instead of trying to lose 40 pounds, I’m shooting more for 30. That way I’ll be back in the healthy range without trying to set a goal that I may or may not be able to reach. Not to mention with the lows I’ve been having and eating more than my Weightwatcher’s daily allowance because of snacks, it makes it that much harder. I know I can reach the 30 mark, so I’m set it for that and celebrate even more if I pass it. Where’s The 40 will change to Where’s the 30. I did gain this week… 1.2 pounds, actually. I’m not too terribly upset considering I know it’s because of overeating on my part, and maybe even some muscle weight (trying to be hopeful and optimistic here…)? I’m not in any rush or time frame, so I will get there when I get there.

But, even with all of the issues that diabetes has thrown me this past week, it’s all good! It’ll be better next week, I’m sure of it.

By the way, did you notice the webpage change, too?

I have had it. I hate being overweight (not to mention it’s not good when you’re a diabetic!). I have been, for most of my life, if you go by the BMI scale. Although I was smallest I have ever been my adult life when I got married, I was only  just inside of the “healthy weight” margin of the BMI calculated scale for my height (I’m short compared to most people… I can count on one hand the people that are my age that I am taller than, even by only one inch). I am technically only supposed to weigh somewhere between 115 and 140. Weeeeellll, since getting married and not having that goal of fitting into my size 6 dress, I have put on a whopping 37 pounds in two years! (HOWLY COW!!!!!) So, in August, I began changing my diet and trying to lose some weight. I also joined Weight Watchers Online and am tracking my meals on my iPhone (yep, they have an app for WW too!), as well as weighing in each Thursday on my computer (wish you could do that part on the iPhone… oh well). So far, I have lost 10 pounds! YEY!

This weekend, my husband and I bought a Wii for our anniversary. (Geeky, I know, but we’d rather spend the money on that instead of going on a trip – less expensive.) A few days later, Erik’s Christmas Club check came in and he gave me $100 to do whatever I wanted with it. I chose to buy Wii Fit Plus after discussing it with some of my twitter buddies. I LOVE this game! I was actually surprised to see that I was actually sweaty after playing it for 30 minutes just because I was having so much fun! I was surprised though by the fact that once you did your first startup BMI checker, it changes your Mii to look like you – skinny, good weight, overweight. Mine looked great until I did it then my little Mii plumped up a bit! I laughed! I also weighed my cats, Lucky and Sophie. Lucky is a good weight, but Sophie is, well, plump. It didn’t change her shape… she’s still a skinny little cat on the screen! Here’s a picture of us in the startup screen:

(I think what amazed me the most was that Lucky (left) and Sophie (right) look like they do in real life. I’ll have to see if I can get some pictures posted later to show you what they look like.)

The next step was to get EA Sports Active. A twitter-friend, Leighann, from Multi-Minding Mom, suggested it.  Since I had some coupons and BestBuy RewardZone money available, I picked it up last night and did my first workout of the 30-day challenge. One phrase describes my reaction…. Oh My Gosh!!!!!! My 20 minute workout really was a workout! Today, my shoulders and butt are SORE! I see it as a good thing! I am hoping it will help me lose the rest and get back to and less than my wedding-day weight and to a healthy weight for my shortness.

I will have about 10 more to go after my 27 to get in the middle of the healthy range for me. So, in total, (and rounded up), I have a total of 40 pounds to go. I contacted my other twitter-friend, George, from The B.A.D. Blog, and asked him if I could steal his idea of “Where’s the 40?” and he gave his permission. So, from now on, I will have a little picture on the side of my blog page that shows how many more pounds I have to go. My weigh-in’s are on Thursdays, so I’ll do my best to post it every week.

So to all my friends out there, (raising Wii-mote) here’s to gettin’ Fit!

Yesterday, I celebrated my second anniversary with my husband, Erik. It is hard to believe it has been two years. In some ways, it seems shorter, but in most ways it seems longer. (And I don’t mean that in a bad way, either.) We have actually been together a total of four years, and to be honest, it seems like forever. Only because to try to sit and remember life without him in it is hard to do. It seems that he has always been there.

Even though he is my best friend and most memories seem to have vanished my mind of the days before him, we are still, technically, newlyweds. We are still learning each other. He has his weird little quirks and I have mine. It’s been the hardest, though, for me, to be a newlywed and be a newly determined diabetic. Sure, I have been diabetic for 21 years of my life, but it hasn’t been until after I married him that I really tried being a good diabetic. So, the diabetic he dated isn’t the diabetic he has now. The diabetic he dated didn’t care about what she ate, when she ate it, if she bolused her insulin or not, let alone checked her glucose levels even as often as once a week! But the wife he has now is determined to check before each meal, in between them, and before bed. She is determined to do her best bolus ahead of the meal at least 20 minutes to allow time for her insulin to work. She is determined to have a great a1c. She is determined to get back to the healthy weight she was when they were married.

We are married, and for better or worse, we are a team… our own little Team Type 1. For better, for worse… when you finally hit the great a1c you’re looking for, or close enough to it. For better, for worse… when you have a bad day or week and the numbers just don’t make sense. For better, for worse… when you have a 100% day and all your numbers fall in line. For better, for worse… when you just can’t get the glucose tabs because you’re too low to think on your own. For better, for worse… when you’re glucose is high and you get mad at anything and end up taking it out on your spouse, but they understand and stand by you and help you get through.

Erik has been wonderful through out everything. He has really tried to buckle down and understand what diabetes is, how it affects me health wise. He’s getting used to the terms of what true high’s and lows are, understanding that a post-meal bg is okay to be higher than pre-meal, but not too high. He’s getting used to how I look or act when I’m low or high and is able to help spot them even before I notice them. He’s getting used to all the pumping jargons of bolus and basal, correction factors, and insulin on board. He’s a great husband. I couldn’t have asked for anyone to be anymore understanding than he is. I love him. He is, to me, the greatest.

On “No D-Day”,  while other blogs were being publicized and advertised on twitter, I was unable to blog that day.  Which I am actually glad, because at the time, I really didn’t think I had anything to blog about besides.., ya know. Well, I was wrong. It is hard sometimes when you get so wrapped up in the fact that you are… *clearing throat*diabetic, to think of the other things that make you, you. So, to make up for my missing the “No D-Day” blogging opportunity (for which I thank George, the Ninjabetic, for coming up with), I am posting mine today.

Today, as I was talking with my sister over Yahoo! messenger on my iPhone ( I love that app!), we were discussing her desire for a new cell phone. I have tried and failed to talk her into getting an iPhone, so she is looking into other options. While discussing how she would receive email on a “dumbphone” (it’s a phone that has a QWERTY keyboard, but basically only has an interface of a regular phone… a basic-basic-basic smartphone), she stated she never understood POP email. Here is the jist of the conversation:

Her: “ What’s so special? What does POP do?”

Me: “POP (Post Office Protocol) is used to retrieve email from an email client. Most email clients still use it (it’s been around since the 80’s), but some are now using IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).”

Her: “Ooookkkk”

Me: “So email is sent from one person to your “post office”, i.e., Yahoo!, Hotmail, etc., and POP is the postman putting it in your inbox. Make sense?”

Her: “Got ya… haha”

This is when I actually laughed out loud because I then had this visualization of a smiling older gentleman working at the local post office whose name is “Pop” putting my mail in my box.

I don’t know why I found this to be so funny. I guess I was having one of those moments where it didn’t take much to make me giggle.

I feel terrible. I am just getting started with this blogging adventure of mine, and already slacking off. But not without good reason. See, for the past couple of weeks I have been sick. So, no, I didn’t intentionally take a cyber vacation, I really didn’t. But I am better now, so I am going to try to be better about my blogging (and twittering!).

Through my sickness, I promised myself that once I got better, I was going to stay away from Tylenol containing products as much as possible. See, having a CGM is a wonderful thing, but not if you have to take Tylenol because the doctor didn’t listen when you said you couldn’t take pain meds containing acetaminophen. I was trying my best to avoid taking it at all cost because Dexcom’s sensors don’t play nice with it. Since getting the CGM, I have been able to see trends in my bgs and act on them, change a few basal rates, and get most of my readings under control. Now, I was excited to be able to chart the effects of being sick as well. But, true to form, within 30 minutes of taking the pain meds, I got the (???) code on my Dexcom receiver. I shut down the receiver so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it trying to get readings while I was on the meds at night (they were prescribed only for night, but eventually, it became an all day need too), but that didn’t work. So, for over a week, I was flying without my CGM. It is the weirdest thing to go from being in the dark about your glucose (outside of a few finger sticks per day), to having this wonderful thing given to you to help you control your bgs, only to be so hooked and reliant upon it within a few weeks that you panic to be off of it for a few days. So, I figured that since I almost had my basals and ratios figured out, I’d be okay without my new little friend by my side. Well, I was wrong. I had more unexplained ups and downs than I could think of. Even now, I am off all of the medication and back on the CGM, and guess where my numbers are? They are great at night, but now, during the day, it is teasing me by bouncing around the 200 line, whereas before I stayed between 80 and 100 during the day. I have finally doubled my basal to get it down to the 140 range. I am just as lost as I was when I first started.

My biggest hurdle to overcome with diabetes is that there isn’t any set in stone rules to follow. Just because your plan worked before, doesn’t mean it will work now. It’s not like a recipe on a cake box. You can eat the same thing, drink the same thing, and do the same thing every single day of your life, and each day will never be the the same. You work and work to figure out your personal diabetes pattern, and just when you think you’ve got it, you don’t. Two plus two doesn’t always equal four. Each day is a new equation, a new bowl full of ingredients to make a new cake… only without specific instructions. The only instructions you have are a pile of past experiences to rummage through and hope that they can help you this day. And, yes, there are days when your cake will fall flat because it all didn’t add up or mix well, but you go back the next day and try again. Another day, another cake. But, you can’t give up, because the days when the cake turns out great helps to make up for the days that they didn’t.