First Low

Well, I had my first certified hypoglycemia event today.

I should have known it was coming on when I went into the break room and saw some sugar someone had spilled on the counter and stared at it just a little too long...

I went back to my desk and felt a little faint.  I tested and...67.

I could tell I was dropping, too.  I was slurring, and having a hard time completing sentences.  I grabbed some lifesavers (I always keep some handy) and ate half a roll.

Then followed a brief walk to a meeting with a friend of mine...I remember he mentioned a movie, mathematics, and some other things but no real details.  I remember he said the movie was Friday, and I remember asking, "What day is it again?"

I started my watch timer when I took the lifesavers.  Just after 15 minutes post-lifesavers, I tested again, but I knew I'd be OK - I felt something almost like a pop at about 10 minutes and I felt normal again.

Strange thing, this disease.

After lunch (which was large, and carb-loaded, but I think I bolused correctly) - 328.

Ketone test - negative.

10 units of insulin - check.

After an hour, I was back down to 107.  And munching on lifesavers again to prevent another low.

It's a good thing I enjoy rollercoasters. :)

Veterans' Day

We had a special event today at work, to honor Veterans' Day.  Usually all the stops come out for veterans here, and this was no exception.

We had Marcus Luttrell, the author of Lone Survivor and the only survivor of Operation Redwing in Afghanistan, to tell his story.

Words do not do this story justice.  It's one thing to read the Wikipedia article, it's another to hear him tell of his BUD/S experiences, and his promise to his friends to keep their memories alive.  I think he's done an incredible job of that.  I'll read the book and post a mini-review here.

In line afterwards, waiting to get our books signed, I struck up a conversation with my previous director.  I knew he'd been in the Air Force, and that he'd flown on B-52's.  That was 20 years ago.  I joked with him that his plane was probably still flying.  Turns out the guy three further back in line had worked on the same B-52 as a mechanic (tail number 277) in 1975.  That airframe has certainly served this country well.

To all veterans:  Those of us who have never served will never fully understand the sacrifices you have made on our behalf - the things you've done, and seen.  I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for all the things I know and all of them that I don't.  Thank you for your service and your dedication.

Back to Sonic

I went back to Sonic today, and it was all I hoped it would be.  I got the Cheddar Peppers because they were lower carb...than the fries.

I can't remember ever actually ordering a drink from Sonic...I've always gotten the Strawberry Fresh Fruit slush.  That's not really an option for me now.  (By the book, the Route 44 strawberry slush is 188g carbs - that would be about 24 units of Novolog at my current dosage, without counting anything else.)  It's always taken me about 90 minutes to finish a Route 44, too, which would be very tricky to dose for.  Not impossible, but more of a challenge than I really want to undertake.  Well, I had a Blizzard very early in my journey, but I only took 8 units for it...should have taken at least twice that much.  I had a record high of 328 after that, which is the highest I've tested since I started insulin.  One of the key indicators my ratio was way off.

So because I'd never ordered one, and because Sonic recently changed their menu structure, I couldn't find the drink list...I asked if they had Diet Dr. Pepper, and they did.  Score!  (I can drink Diet Coke too, but prefer Dr. Pepper and Mt. Dew, because I'm a technology professional and we have to support the smaller colas, especially Dr. Pepper.)

The Cheddar Peppers were by far the tastiest I've ever had...maybe it's just me, but the food tastes better when you have to count carbs and stick yourself three times to eat it.  (Testing before and after, plus the insulin dose.)  I certainly appreciate such things more than I used to.

D-Blogger Day: Perspectives on Ability

I spent the day sick today, which wasn't an especially pleasant experience.  Still, it could have been a lot worse.  I was higher than I wanted to be but stayed more or less under control.

While resting, I watched two movies I've been meaning to see for a while:  Expelled and Murderball.

One minor point made in Expelled is that "civilized" humanity is distinguished by its care and concern for the weak and infirm.  That we care enough, for, say, people who don't have a working pancreas to make synthetic insulin for them to use, so they can live.  (Well, Expelled didn't mention us diabetics, specifically, but the idea certainly holds.)  It is something that affected me, because it says a lot about what kind of society we are and we want to be.

On the other side, we have the...fascinating young men of Murderball.  "Murderball" is the documentary of Quadriplegic Rugby, a cross between hockey, basketball, and rubgy played at the Olympic level as an official Paralympic game.  They called the game "Murderball" and found a hard time getting corporate sponsorships.

Murderball is a different sort of film.  Not at all your standard sports documentary.  The men of Murderball are completely unapologetic.  They're playing for a gold medal, not hugs, as one of them says during the film.  They neither ask nor give quarter while they're playing.  It's terrifying to watch, as collisions are common and brutal.  Getting knocked over is not a foul.

These men understand the risks they're taking, but they do it willingly as a way of reclaiming their lives post-injury.  Many of them were strong and athletic before the incidents that rendered them quadriplegic, and quad rugby is the way they can have as much of that back as their situations allow.

My favorite scene from Murderball is the one where Keith, a young man who had broken his neck in a motorcycle accident less than a year previous gets to see a rugby chair, demonstrated by the captain of the USA quad rugby team.  He gets to sit in it, to the obvious dismay of the hospital staff, and tap a little against the "everyday" chair the team captain also brought.  The possibility of doing, of competing, brings him a new lease on life.

I've looked online, but there's no indication whether Keith ever got to try out for the USA quad rugby team.  I hope he did, and I hope he made it.

To those who want to see Murderball:  it is surprisingly frank in parts, quite possibly too frank for many.  The profanity quotient is also pretty high.  I wouldn't recommend it for 5th graders, but it was definitely worth the watch for me.

Got Something for sure

Well, now I know for sure I've got something.  I'll spare my loyal readers the gory details, but I'm quite sure I'm sick this time.

I'm pushing fluids and keeping food coming in.  Fortunately I had a big lunch before the bug set in, so I've got a fair amount of stuff in my system.

I've suspected I have something waiting to descend on me because of some wonky numbers the last couple of days.  Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

Reports!

I've been running a little high the last couple days.  Flu's been running through here, so that may be it.  I've been behaving diet-wise, honest. :)  My numbers are high, but not outrageous.  Averaging closer to 150 than 130, which is what I'm shooting for.  I had a false alarm last weekend, that I think was brought on by eating too many nuts for snacks.  This time, I haven't been snacking, and everyone around me is coughing.

So...I've been making progress in the software.

Any software project is all about compromises, and this is no different.  One approach in uncharted waters is to throw something quick together, and see how you like it.  Keep the parts you like, fix the parts you don't.  Of course, you may wind up having to do that several times.

For most applications, the thing that will control everything is the way you store your data.  I'm using PostgreSQL, which is an incredibly powerful free database system.  For the moment, I'm using a Perl CGI interface to insert data via Web forms.  One nice thing about Postgres is that it is easy to get data out of it with just about any programming language, so when I get to the graphing part, it may be in Perl or Python or even something like R.  (Since those can all interface with the data fairly easily.)

Over the next few days, I'll post some of the data I'm tracking, why I'm tracking it, etc.  (Most of them are straightforward and obvious.)  I'm looking for input about what's important to people, so if you have strong opinions, feel free to leave a comment.

Normalcy? What's that again?

So today was running great.  My 7-day and 14-day averages were creeping below 140 (and man, am I glad about that).  I was hovering in the 85-100 range all morning.

Had lunch with some friends at a local Asian restaurant - things still feeling good, I guessed 95 but clocked in at 109.  Dosed for 64g carbs (I like my rice, what can I say?), which has been successful with that place and approximate dish in the past.

Got involved in a conversation with a vendor, and didn't check my post-prandial on time.  Had grabbed some cocoa-roasted almonds, about two handfuls - should be like 6g.  Finally got to checking my glucose 3 hours after eating abd I was 254.

Yeah, 254.

Sigh.

It was a stressful conversation, a bit.  Not horribly.  I shrug, take some extra insulin, and go on from there.
Ick.

I checked again at hour intervals and last time was still over 200.  Well, I'll get back to where I need to be soon enough.  It's about supper time; I've delayed a bit so I can be a little more aggressive with my insulin.  I always feel more comfortable taking more insulin with food.