Reviewing The Numbers

I’m due to see my endo next week, and have a long overdue hba1c test.

I don’t feel that my diabetes management has been too great over these last six months. It’s just so much hard work to stick with a consistent regime that seems to produce those good results on Multiple Daily Injections. I’ve been waking myself up almost every night over these past few months to make sure that I won’t wake up out of range in the morning. There’s also been times where I’ve felt like a complete failure because my hard work doesn’t produce the results that I expect.

I’ve purposely avoided opportunities to get my a1c tested over the past six months, because I knew the result would be disappointing. “I know that my a1c has gone up. It’s gotta be half a point higher, at least,” I’ve told myself over and over. 

I’ve been working extra hard at my diabetes since the turn of the new year. Partly because this upcoming appointment has been on my mind, and partly because I am genuinely aiming for long term stability in 2016.

One handy tool I’ve been using is my FreeStyle Insulinx Meter. Gwen gave me this meter in November when I talked to her about insulin pumping. Apparently all newbies in clinics get one these days. It replaces a logbook, meaning that frantically filling in empty pages before an appointment is no more. There’s also no way to forge the numbers, either… If you know how to carb count, it can calculate your insulin dose,mtaking into account any active insulin still on board and corrections. I also love that the test strips are capped, rather than individually wrapped, allowing for quicker access and less mess. The blood sample is heaps smaller, too.

By far, my favourite thing about this meter is it’s reporting function. Every week I’ve been plugging it into my computer and reviewing the numbers, and the trends. There’s about 6 or 7 different reports you can create, taking into account a week, a month or any other custom range of data. And week by week, I do feel as though I am seeing improvements.

This is my last 7 days of data. The blue bar is my target threshold, set to 4.0-7.9 mmol/L, and the black line is my average glucose levels throughout the day from morning (left) to evening (right).

I’ve never really been one to sit and review my numbers. I’ve never owned a piece of diabetes technology, and I could never be bothered to write my levels down before that. But numbers are in my head all the time. I deal with them 24/7. They consume me, sometimes. But taking a good, hard look at these numbers lately, I realise that they aren’t as bad as I work them up to be in my head.

I’m waking up in range, which is what I’ve been striving for. Hypos are happening 2-4 times a week which I’m pretty happy with, considering they were quite consuming a year ago. There’s a rise in the afternoon and a surge in the evening, but that’s mostly because I’m home and have more time to pedantically test after meals! And my average is 8.4 mmol/L, without having too many hypos.

Sure, I still have a long way to go in my goal of keeping this effort up in the long run and further improving. But looking at these numbers, I realise that I’m off to a decent start for 2016. I’m ready for whatever hba1c result faces me on Wednesday.