California!

I leave on Wednesday to fly to California for my friends' wedding and a little vacation for me. I tried my bridesmaid dress on last night to make sure it would still fit (I've lost 10 pounds since I changed my eating habits). It was a bit tight before I lost the weight and now it fits perfectly. I bought some of that fake tan lotion to try to get rid of the bright white stripes on my shoulders from wearing spaghetti straps. I'll look foolish in the strapless dress if I don't make them go away!

I got a new one-piece, brown halter top swim suit from J.Crew. I really like it and think it will be great for the beach in California! I most excited about seeing my friends, and helping them get married. This will be the fourth wedding I've been a bridesmaid in in 2 years. My sister's wedding, my best friend from high school's wedding (in the same church and hall as my sister, which created a lot of deja vu), a good friend from college and now my college roommate (four years together and we never fought. amazing!). Her and her fiance are wonderfully laid back and I think their wedding will be the same. We get to wear flip flops with our dresses!

I fly out on Wednesday. Tonight I'll go home and try to figure out what I need and how I'll pack it all. Insulin, bridesmaid dress, infusion sets + extras, swimsuit, test strips, wedding presents, doctors' numbers, dress rehearsal outfit, camera batteries, meter batteries... I feel like I have double the amount of things to worry about. I think I'm going to make a list at work today so that I can calm my unnecessarily nervous nerves. I've traveled before with my pump and supplies, but I get nervous every time. Will they stop me going through security? Will they know what an insulin pump is? Or will I just go through like any other normal person and not have a problem. And then the fun of checking your blood sugar on a plan. I've done it two ways in the past. Once I just hid what I was doing with my bag and the person next to me was asleep, so they didn't care/notice. But the second time the person was awake. It was a little ol' lady and I just said "Miss, I just wanted to let you know that I need to check my blood sugar, that won't bother you right?" and it didn't. I know that I could easily hide what I'm doing so people don't become alarmed by the site of blood, but people are nervous about someone hiding what they are doing on planes...

So while I'm nervous, I've done this before and haven't forgotten anything too important in the past. I'm 80% excited, 20% nervous. I can't wait for Wednesday.

No, I'm not texting my friends.

I went on date number two last night. Again it was... fine. Very nice guy, there's just not that spark or chemistry or whatever you call it. Anyway, on to the diabetic related portion of my evening.

We are seated (Thai restaurant, so good) and order. She brings out our appetizer. I tested minutes before in the bathroom so all I have to do is enter it into my meter. I try to be fast about it, and I am. But when you are on a date and your date starts looking down at something, you hear electronic beeps etc, you get confused. Is she sending her friends a text message right now?! How rude! I just ignore his slight confusion and start eating our yummy appetizer. Then the entrees come. Okay, time to just tell him so he doesn't think I'm being horrible.

"yeah, so, just so you know that I'm not texting my friends or anything... I'm a type 1 diabetic and I have to take insulin when I eat, so I'm using my insulin pump to do that, not my phone." I just wanted to let him know what I was doing, didn't really want to get into it, especially since I realized I probably wasn't going to go on another date with him. It never happens like that though! He confesses he has no idea what type 1 is etc. I give him my ridiculously short explanation of what type 1 vs type 2 is. I think we're fine to go on to other topics now. I think I've made it through without turning the date into a teacher/student education on diabetes. That is, until he said "well, I better be careful about that, especially since I'm a pastry chef and eat so many sweets." doh! no no no. Now I'm completely out of date mode and into educate the non-diabetic mode. Don't worry Mr. Pastry Chef, you won't get diabetes because you eat a lot of sweets. No one gets diabetes because of that. I didn't eat a lot of sweets when I was a child... blah blah blah.

At the end of dinner he says he brought me a gift. Chocolate raspberry jam. Homemade. I wave good-bye and start walking home. I just have to find a place to hide the jam so my roommates don't eat too much and *gasp* get the 'betes too!

P.S. I tasted the jam and I could eat it by the spoonful. So good! I think I'm going to keep it around to use for when I'm having lows. Perfectly full of sugar!

Thigh infusion site & absorption rate

Alright, so this is the second time I've used my thighs as an infusion site and I'm having some problems with the rate the insulin is absorbed. Normally, with the site at my stomach, I have no problem getting an in range number 2 hours later. After breakfast it's usually 90-120. The past two days it's been 170 or so, and then an hour or two later I am dropping to 90 or so.

Is there anyway I can program my pump differently (square or dual wave) so that I don't have to have that high? I don't use these functions much so am not sure how I'd use them. Any advice would be appreciated. I really like having the site in my thigh but if I can't get it to perform as well I'll have to just use my abdomen.

Oh, could I be putting the catheter in at a bad/wrong angle? (too deep or not deep enough)It's harder to see the angle I'm putting it in at.

Thanks

Pistachio ice cream

Just wanted to give you all an update on my date last night. I met up with the Pastry Chef at a local bar for drinks. We had a very nice, fine night. Just had a couple drinks and talked for a few hours. He's very talkative and attractive.

I think we talked about sweets for a good half hour. We talked about his favorite to make and eat, as well as mine. I was almost drooling on the table. I've been doing such a good job and not eating many sweet since starting on the South Beach thing. But if he brings me pastries as a gift for our next date, I won't pass them up!

Ah, so there will be a next date. Maybe an Indian restaurant and simosas for dessert. :) Diabetes didn't come up last night. I imagine it will soon though. Indian food tends to be tricky for me to figure out, carbohydrate wise.

So I'll see how the next date goes. There wasn't any earth shattering chemistry or anything, but we certainly weren't repulsed by each other. And you don't need chemistry to have a nice time with a new person eating good food! Onward, to the pastries!

First Date

I'm going on a first date with the Pastry Chef tomorrow. We met through friends a while ago at a party and just recently have been emailing. So even though we have technically met before, there is still a lot we don't know about each other.

We are meeting at a low-key bar that's described as 'cozy' and has lots of nice beer and board games to play. Sounds perfect to me. I actually am glad we aren't going out to dinner first (although I will eat before hand, a Newcastle on an empty stomach is a BAD idea!). Without dinner I won't have to take several trips to the bathroom to check my blood sugar, program my pump etc. There's always the other option of doing that all at the table, which I normally do. But I don't want to bring all that diabetes talk to the first date. I'd rather get to know the fun stuff about each other on the first date. I'd rather him discover my sarcastic sense of humor as opposed to the fact that my body is attacking itself. And if I have it my way, on this first date, he won't. (don't read that as "he won't learn of it because I'll just ignore my diabetes for the night", read it as "he won't learn of it because I'll be able to be more discrete having just drinks.")

That precious part of myself will come out soon though, if there is a second or third date. It's not something I like to hide, or am accustom to hiding. It also makes me worry a little more if the person I'm with doesn't know.

Now I just have to figure out what to wear. :)

Willpower?

I've met a nice guy that I'm just in the beginning stages of getting to know. He's tall and lean, has big hair, a few years older than I am, finished with college.

Wow! This guy sounds great huh? Guess what he does for a living? He is a pastry chef. Yes, a pastry chef in a big fancy hotel downtown. A little over a year ago this would be fantastic! A Pastry Chef!

I just have to laugh. I'm really going to have to work on my willpower.

Crazy old Greek Neighbors

This morning, while drinking my coffee on my porch, I look down into my neighbors yard to see a string hanging down from another string (it's in the garden, used to grow peas and vine plants) with something moving at the bottom. I look closer and see that there is a bird, tied at the feet, hanging upside down trying to stand on one of the horizontal strings. Occationally it got tired and just hung there, upside down. I yell for my roommate to come see this, to make sure I'm not crazy. Yep, she sees it too.

I go back inside and get all my stuff for work together, grab my lunch, brush my teeth, and head out the back door. I walk across the lawn to the fence. I see the old Greek neighbor (I've had encounters with the lady before, but never the man). He is sitting in a chair, staring at the bird. I ask him what he's doing to the bird. He replies that the birds eat the flowers off his cucumber plants. He catches them and hangs them upside down for a half hour, then lets them go.

First off, what in the hell is this man talking about? Torturing a bird keeps it away from your garden? Secondly, if this bird actually does stay away for a time, what's to keep all the other birds away? You have a huge garden that attracts birds. It's an endless battle.

Okay. So I tell him that I don't think that it's humane and he should probably untie the bird. He said that the bird was fine. I become a little more assertive and tell him that he's basically torturing the bird and it's disgusting and if I see him hanging birds upside down on strings anymore I may have to call someone about it. (um, who will I call? This may be an empty threat.) He gets up and unties the bird. I leave with a kurt 'have a good morning'. and walk to my bus.

This whole experience was just bizarre.

Focusing on the pump

I arrived at the focus group yesterday to realize that it was a one on one interview, as opposed to a group. So I sat down with this man who obviously does focus groups for a living and doesn't have a very firm grip on diabetes and insulin pumps. Be he started explaining (reading from the script) that he would be showing me a new insulin pump, asking me how I felt about it and showing me how to use it.

It's very similar to the pump that Amy talked about on diabetesmine.com. It's small pump that holds the insulin and connects right on your skin (no tubing). It is controlled by a handheld BG monitor/pump computer. I think that was my favorite part. Everything was very interesting and impressive, but it was hard for me to imagine wearing something that size (even though it is small) on my body. I guess people getting on the pump have that issue with the tubing as well. I just imagine myself having a lot of annoyance with finding shirts to wear and making it comfortable.

I finished up the interview in 90 minutes and gave all my worldly opinions and then he gave me $100. Yes, thank you, I'll do your focus groups anytime! One thing that annoyed me was that I couldn't figure out what brand it was. I know they do that on purpose, but I tried to find it online today and haven't found it yet. It's not the exact same one that Amy has linked to. Pretty cool stuff they are creating though. I can't imagine I'll be buying a new pump anytime soon though. I need to pay this one off first...

New Site

Since starting on the pump I've only used my abdomen. I rotate and move it around each time I switch sites, but I started worrying about scars. So the other day I decided (with some encouragement from Kerri) to try my thigh as a site.

While I usually don't have any pain with my stomach, I had NO pain inserting the infusion set in my leg. I've worn it for three days at that spot and it's worked out fine. I think I'll like this site better in the summer. I think it will work much better with my summer clothes. :)

I go to my focus group tonight. I'll have to report about it tomorrow. Not quite sure yet what I'll be 'focusing' on.

Update on my garden: I have two tiny tomato plants that look like little bushes. They produce the cutest little cherry tomatoes and I ate a few the other day. Fabulous! For some reason produce that comes from your own garden just tastes so much better!