Hooked up

I’m hooked up. This morning I braved the fierce rain and wind and made it to my endocrinologist’s office by 8:00 a.m. My diabetes educator, Sue, brought me back to her office. For about 20 minutes she showed me the apparatus in all its pieces. I quickly learned how to insert the $40 sensor (carefully!) and after an hour, with instructions on how to calibrate it in 2 hours and 20 minutes, I was off.

For the next 6 days I’ll be wearing/using a Guardian.



My initial reaction is: cool! I’m so excited to see what my blood sugar is doing during the night when I’m asleep or what it does after I eat a cookie compared to a whole grain bowl of cereal. My second reaction is: damn, my stomach sure is crowded now. Seriously. My pump is currently on the right side and the sensor and transmitter is on my left. I feel like I need a utility belt today to carry my pump and this meter. But I don’t care!

So this week will involve a lot of fasting to check my night, evening, morning and day time basal rates. It will also involve a lot more record keeping than normal. (Normal being none at all). I’ll record every bit of food and insulin I take. I’ll record when I exercise and for how long. I’ll even record when I eat those frowned upon foods, because I eat those normally, so I want to know what my body is doing during that two hours afterwards.

I feel like a kid with a new toy. Want to know what my blood sugar is right now? 113! Before that? 110. And before THAT? 107, 104, 102 (in five minute increments).

Stay tuned…