Author: Frank

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

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My entire workplace is pretty lousy where the staff room kitchen is concerned.

If you were to come down for morning tea, you’ll often find styrofoam cups, paper towels and clean cutlery in short supply. The microwave is often splattered with food stains, and the sink is frequently piled with dirty dishes. The fridge smells of food that people have a tendency to leave in there. There was a leftover Pavlova still sitting there last week from Christmas Lunch, for heaven’s sake!

Over time, I’ve learned to gather my own stash of things. I have paper plates to save me from washing up. I keep my own plastic cutlery, because our kitchen seems to have more knives than it does forks and spoons. I was furious last time we ran out of styrofoam cups and I couldn’t have my morning coffee. So I now have my own stash of those as well.

Last Friday, I went to prepare my coffee at morning tea time. I noticed that the sugar container was empty. I began opening the cupboards, rummaging around for the big packet that’s normally kept there. But there was nothing to be found.

I never used to be much of a coffee drinker before I had diabetes. Yet these days, it’s one of the first things that I look forward to when I wake up in the morning. No, I’m not talking about the crappy stuff out of the tin. I mean a proper shot of Italian Espresso from the capsule machine, topped generously with heated milk. I’ve become a bit of a snob…

Coffee helps me to recover after a rough night of dealing with diabetes. It gets me through my early starts. I look forward to it at morning tea time at work. It accompanies me outside in the afternoons after work. I also appreciate that coffee is a relatively low carb beverage to enjoy in lieu of a snack. But I’ve never been able to drink it without two sugars, or in my case, equal tablets. 

Over the past year, I’ve been making a conscious effort to cut back. First I cut back to one and a half sugars, and got used to the taste. Then to one. Then to half a teaspoon. I left it there, because hey, half a teaspoon wasn’t much. That was, until we ran out of sugar in the kitchen last Friday at work.

Deciding that a coffee without sugar was better than no coffee, I made myself one. And there actually wasn’t much of a difference in the taste. 

 Today, I’m proud to say that I am able to drink my coffee with no sugar.

All because of diabetes, nonetheless.

(And one very messy kitchen). 

Tennis, With a Serve of Diabetes

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By far, my favourite thing about January is the tennis.

Two weeks ago I went to the Hopman Cup in Perth, one of the tennis tournaments traditionally held in the lead up to the Australian Open this week.

Having seen Andy Murray last year, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind as to who I wanted to see this year – Serena Williams. I was so damn excited to see her play. She is just such an entertaining player to watch. I love her expression and her attitude, which she doesn’t try to hide. I love seeing her come onto the court with a bandage on her leg, seemingly injured, and yet still thrash her opponent. And I love watching her talk down her performance after a killer win.

Needless to say, I was so damn excited to see her play that night.

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When I arrived home after work that day, my blood sugar was 10.4. Which was okay, considering I’d only had my lunch 2 hours ago.

I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I knew I’d be hungry later. Wanting to avoid junk food after all of my festive eating, I packed myself a Burgen Bread sandwich of leftover cutlets from the night before. Even though the Arena had a strict no food policy, I was pretty confident I’d be able to sneak it in. But hey, I could always milk my diabetes for all it was worth, if I had to.

I was still 10.4 as we were getting ready to leave, and I gave myself a generous correction of 2 units.

When we parked the car at the Arena, I dialled up my Lantus dose. It was a little earlier than normal, and I knew that I’d have an hour or so of overlapping insulin. But it would save me the hassle of doing it while I was in there. I knew that the game would be a long one, and I’d likely be eating less than I would at home. I dialled up 10 units, rather than the 11 or 12 that I gave the night prior, and left my pen in the glovebox.

Going past security was a piece of cake. I managed to sneak my sandwich and water bottle through, hidden safely underneath the pile of jackets. Apparently water must be uncapped, in case we decide to launch the cap (rather than the empty bottle) at the court.

Serena came onto court, and it was so damn exciting to see her. She had pulled out of her match the previous day as a precaution, and I was so worried that I wouldn’t get to see her play.

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Unfortunately after the first set, she had to forfeit the match as a precaution for her inflamed knee. It was disappointing, but an hour was still better than no Serena at all.

I was ready to eat that sandwich, and tested my blood sugar. 5.7. I finished it, and quickly went off to the bathroom to bolus 5 units before Lleyton Hewitt came out to play in the Men’s match.

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That night, I was trying so hard to be good. I turned down lollies. I turned down hot chips. I turned down more lollies. Until 8.32pm, when I went hypo.

Not exactly my ideal, carb counted hypo treatment, I really had to give it my best guess. I measured out a handful of lollies into my palm, and began to chew them down. Still feeling shaky and in doubt a few minutes later, I grabbed another handful.

When I headed back to the car at the end of a great night, I was a lovely 19.0. Insert your swear word of choice here.

I had tried so hard to be good that night, and yet one small error with the bolus for my sandwich mucked it up. Yeah, I was bloody annoyed with myself. But it happens. It’s always going to happen, because I’m only human.

But at the end of the day, it’s not the hypo that I’m going to remember about that night.

I’m going to remember one awesome night of tennis that I got to watch.

Defining Healthy In My Own Way

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Have you ever felt a little uncomfortable around sports growing up? That they are too much about winning, rather than having fun? You’re not alone.

Not a big fitness person? Well, neither am I…

Throw a diabetes diagnosis into the mix, and there’s a decent story to tell.

Today’s blog post is over at Beyond Type 1. Just follow the link here, and let me know what you think.

http://beyondtype1.org/defining-healthy-in-my-own-way/

Happy Monday!

Wake Up Call

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Last week, the confirmation letter for my upcoming endo appointment arrived in the mail.

All of a sudden, I’m no longer eating junk food in the afternoons. I’m turning down offers of lollies and chips at the tennis. I’ve pulled my Insulinx meter out of it’s drawer, and I’m suddenly counting carbs more meticulously, logging my insulin doses and downloading my blood glucose reports on my laptop. I’m thinking more carefully about what I’m eating, and the insulin doses I’m giving. I’m working furiously hard towards getting those overnight levels stable once again.

As usual, it’s that wake up call to get my blood sugar levels back into the best possible position ahead of my hba1c result in 6 weeks time.

So why, oh why, does it take a confirmation letter for me to better manage my diabetes?

If I’m being honest here, my diabetes has been lacking that dedicated effort since my last endo appointment in August. My last appointment went very well and I pulled out a good hba1c result. As soon as I came home, it was very easy to breathe a sigh of relief and take my foot off the pedal. It was easy to justify this to myself, with my next appointment being 6 months away. The longer I kept coasting along, the easier it was to keep coasting.

This sentiment probably echoes true for the better part of the last five years with diabetes.

While I wouldn’t say that my management is terrible, I simply lack that dedicated effort that will give me the results that I would like to see. I still test regularly, but I don’t think carefully enough about the choices I make and the insulin doses I give. I know that I struggle to sustain my hba1c results after endo appointments. I’ve been avoiding every opportunity for a hba1c test in the last few months for this very reason. I know that if I went for one today, it would likely be half a point higher.

I’m resolving to make more of a consistent effort in 2016. I’ve set myself a more specific goal of stable overnight numbers, rather than all round improvement that never works. I’m striving to bring my mysteriously unknown hba1c result down by half a point. I’m going to have my hba1c level tested more than twice a year. I’m going to review my progress throughout the year here at Type 1 Writes.

I’m also going to see how well I can manage with Multiple Daily Injections before coming to a final decision on the pump next month (which will be left until the very last minute, in usual Frank fashion).

Diabetes Game Plan: 2016 Edition

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New year, new me.

Kidding! Don’t even get me started on those Facebook statuses…

Ever since I’ve had diabetes, my New Year’s resolution has obviously centred around (wait for it) diabetes. Eat well, get my blood sugar levels down, maintain a good hba1c result without too many hypos and exercise. Scrap that last one, who the hell am I kidding here!

If I’m being honest here, I feel that for the better part of the last five years, my diabetes management has sort of stayed the same. I’ve chalked up good hba1c results, but they’re extremely difficult to sustain inbetween endo visits. Making a dedicated effort that delivers those sustained results is also hard, especially when there are a million other things going on in life.

But I want to do better than okay with my diabetes. I’ve already been at it for five, going on six years. That fraction of my life with diabetes is slowly, but surely growing. I want to look after myself. I want to minimise my risk of future complications. I want to remain hypo aware. I want to remain independent, and in control of my diabetes. I want to live a long, and healthy life.

So instead of that overall improvement this year, I’m going to strive for stable overnight glucose levels.

Night times over the past few months have never been such hard work. I can’t remember the last night where I didn’t have to wake up at 1am, test and give a correction shot. My last full night’s sleep seems like a lifetime ago. And mornings where I have woken up in range without minimal effort overnight have been rare occurrences.

I also know that it’s been a long time since I’ve had a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep. It’s been a long time since I’ve woken up feeling refreshed. It’s been a long time since I’ve woken up feeling pleased with my morning number, and have that sentiment echo positively throughout my day.

So, perhaps this is an argument in favour of switching to the pump. However, until that decision is made next month, I still need to manage with Multiple Daily Injections.

So, in 2016, I’m making a resolution to focus on the back end of the day. Say, from 4pm to 10pm – the 6 hour window before I go to sleep for the night. In these 6 hours, I will focus on doing as much as I can to not spoil my overnight glucose levels. Staying away from high fat foods. Satisfying my desire to graze on junk food with something healthy. Being patient when testing and correcting after dinner.

I know that I can do this.

I hope that I will eventually return to a point where I have some confidence that my overnight glucose levels will remain stable.

I hope that I will be able to return to a point of getting a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep more often.

I hope that if I can get those overnight levels within range, I will have one third of a stellar a1c result up my sleeve and a lot more enthusiasm in my mornings.