Category Archives: Diabetes

I’m In Jail!

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

Well, okay, I’m in Facebook Jail — can’t post or comment or like/react for 24 hours.

I’m not sure which is worse — having power outages and can’t access anything online, or being able to read Facebook and not being able to respond or react at all. A lot of my Facebook activity is ‘in the moment’, instant gratification and participation. When I read something there, I can interact with others, or I can share something to my own page and others can react to me. Very much ‘in the moment’ that way. I don’t know if anyone even reads my blog here, and hardly anyone ever actually comments or leaves other indication they’ve visited.

I suppose it is good for me to have a little restraint from time to time on Facebook.

Today we’re starting a long weekend of rain, which doesn’t do me much good emotionally, so I know I have to pay attention and do the things that keep me uplifted and moving forward. Too many dark, wet, dreary days are definitely NOT good for me.

One thing I noticed recently was my blood sugar moving up and down. Not dangerously high, except one day last week I had two small pieces of dark chocolate and caramel, and my glucose went up over 250, which is really really not good. So I followed the endo’s guidelines and used a larger-than-normal amount of the fast-acting insulin. That resulted in a major drop a few hours later and I had to chew a couple glucose tablets. I was really shaky, sweaty, and awful for about 20 minutes until the glucose tablets got into my system.

Many months ago, I would start my day with the long-acting insulin and eat 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 dates, and a container of yogurt for breakfast. That would carry me fairly well until lunch time and my glucose would be within limits at noon so I wouldn’t need the fast-acting insulin but maybe 3-4 times a week instead of twice a day. A couple months ago I got out of that habit. I started doing this morning routine again yesterday. I also took a brief walk (15 minutes) but fairly brisk pace, and my lunchtime finger-stick was 80. I took another shorter walk to the corner market in late afternoon, and my finger-stick was 91 just before supper. I want to keep my glucose around 80-100, although I can avoid the fast-acting insulin if I’m within the 70-130 range. My personal goal is to keep my A1C under 6.0 (last time it was 6.8, if I remember correctly).

One of my disheartening realities is my body seems to be changing at a more rapid pace. Or maybe just more noticeable these days. My right eye is not focusing at any distance, far or close, so I need to get that checked. Also, my fingers are doing strange things so it is uncomfortable to knit or crochet very long at all, almost to the point where I’m not interested at all in even trying. This isn’t good for me, given what I do for money these days. 🙂

Plus there are other creative things I want to pursue but I don’t have the space or the money. I’ve made my space work for dyeing yarn, but there’s no space for painting or using the loom or the knitting machines or setting up a quilting space. So many things I want to do, so many things I am prevented from doing. Grrrrr. Rather frustrating.

What a Year!

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Today marks One Year for the new aorta!

Yes, my new aorta is a year old today. They told me it could take up to a year to really be 100% and I can pretty much agree. In many ways I’m better than I was a year ago. I was only just learning to manage my diabetes when I learned I had an aneurysm on the aorta and would need surgery.

And then in the fall I discovered I was coming after at the seams, with a hernia (actually two hernias) erupting right along the incision scar from the aorta surgery. So I had another surgery to repair that on Nov. 11.

So, yeah — it’s been an interesting year. But I’m better now, and I’ve begun doing modified push-ups (MPUs) to help strengthen my core and upper body. Full-plank push-ups are astonishingly difficult, but yesterday I managed to pump out 30 MPUs across 3 sets of 10 at a time. The last set of the day was a struggle but I did it. My goal is to be able to do 50 MPUs a day, and then I’ll start including some full-plank push-ups into the mix.

I still haven’t walked all the way to Kroger yet, but I am happy with doing my leg and hip exercises and some dancing. And I am able to dye a full load of yarns in a day. In the summer I was struggling to do even that — I could do 3 or 4 and then have to sit and rest, with the physical labor involved in both the dyeing as well as the reskeining and photographing steps.

In most ways I am nearly 100%, like the doctor predicted, even considering the set back of the hernia surgery. The puncture wounds for the robotic laparoscopy are pretty much clearing up, but still visible. Not worth an update picture, plus the fact it is just now 3:00 and I’m not in the mood for taking a decent picture just now. Maybe over the weekend. 🙂

Yesterday we inaugurated President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump is gone to Florida, and I hope he stays out of sight forever, but he’ll likely make a spectacle of himself thanks to all the potential legal troubles he now faces. I’m not going to get into all that right now, since our national political scene is will enough known already.

I’m going to finish my wee-hours coffee and go back to bed shortly. Only one or twice in recent months have I actually managed to sleep more than a few hours at a time at night, supplemented by naps during the day. But since I was awake I wanted to be sure I marked the first anniversary of my Big Surgery. 🙂

Post-Op Day 7

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I’ve made it a week since the hernia repair surgery in my abdomen.

This is definitely not as bad as last time; I didn’t even come home from the hospital last time until Post-Op Day 9 (if I remember correctly). My sleeps have not been well-regulated this time; most nights sleeping a couple hours at a time, then being awake a few hours. I’ve tried a couple times to go to bed, but it was hurting too much to try to sleep on the bed, so I’ve been mostly napping here on the couch. I think tonight I will try to start out on the bed and see how long I can make it.

The only physical activity today was taking the trash to the street for collection, and I used the hand truck for that, not carrying the trash can to the street. It’s been difficult for me to just be still and do practically nothing. I don’t like this.

Even with messed up sleeping and eating I have tried to stay mostly on schedule for my meds and insulin. I had a late start this morning, so my mid-day meal was around 1:30, and my blood glucose was only 72! No wonder I was feeling so blaahhh. So I had a couple whole-wheat tortillas with peanut butter and strawberry preserves. Usually I skip the sweet stuff, but I figured I could have it today to get my sugar up a little.

Not much else to report, this has been such a nothing day.

The Good and the Bad, I guess

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So, it’s 1:30a.m. I went to bed just after 10:15, and I was thinking “Please let me sleep until 6:30.” Nope, that didn’t work. I woke even earlier than my normal early waking. Bummer.

Oh well, might as well make use of the time.

Part of the doctor visit on Tuesday was getting the pneumococcal vaccine. Besides hurting more than a normal flu shot, that may also be why I was feeling ragged yesterday and couldn’t finish even the simplest dye job without a lot of ‘exhaustion pain’. It’s okay, I can finish the job later this morning (during “normal business hours”, right?), it just felt weird since I’ve made pretty good progress getting back my strength and stamina from the surgery. I just didn’t connect the vaccine on Tuesday with how I was feeling yesterday.

Last night just before bed, I got a message saying my test results were back for the A1C test. In March my A1C was 5.8. My test yesterday came back as 6.4. The note from the doctor said, “Your results showed A1c has increased slightly- but diabetes is still well controlled.” The standard range is 4.8 – 5.6 so I have some work to do. I am pretty sure I know the culprits that I need to further eliminate from my daily diet.

Per the doctor’s order, I scheduled an ultrasound for my abdominal scar and the underlying issues that feel like a hernia. It doesn’t hurt, but he wants to get a better look at what is happening in that area to make sure it doesn’t get worse and to get it fixed is possible. That will happen next Wednesday, and I can call ahead to get a regular flu shot. They were out of stock when I was there on Tuesday, and offered to hold one back for me when they got more in stock, so I’ll call later today and see if that offer holds. I really don’t want to skip the flu vaccine this year, especially.

Speaking of vaccines and stuff…. No, I don’t believe there will be a viable vaccine for COVID-19 before the election. That’s a stupid idea proposed by the Ignoramus-in-Chief who has no clue what’s involved in creating a safe vaccine. And now this week, thanks to Bob Woodward’s latest book, we are learning that Trump knew way back before the first case appeared in the U.S. that this was a deadly airborne virus, far worse than a normal influenza, and he deliberately chose not to reveal what he knew, and further worked to prevent anyone else from adequately informing the public. How fucked up is that? Now that this revelation has come out, he is claiming he wanted to downplay the virus to “avoid a panic.” Bullshit. He doesn’t care about the public health. He was only worried what the news would do to the stock market and his personal pocketbook.

A true leader doesn’t “avoid a panic” by blatantly lying to the public. He will be honest about the risks and dangers involved, but will also inform the public what sort of plan is in place for controlling a pandemic. The previous administration left a playbook for handling pandemics, and had personnel in place to watch for such things and to be prepared for it. Trump ignored the playbook and fired the people who were qualified to deal with something like this. Fuck Trump.

Public health should not be a partisan issue, but Trump is using it for political purposes. There’s no question he has failed the American people in soooooo many ways, and this is one of the worst things he’s done, in my opinion. Fuck Trump.

Anyway, I suppose I should try to wind down again and try to get back to sleep eventually.

Back from the Clinic

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Okay, so I went to my clinic visit this morning. Got up, showered, shaved, ate breakfast and got myself ready to go … and then got a message in the clinic message system saying it would help if I could fast first, but not a big deal if I can’t. I had asked about fasting last Thursday, but I guess he didn’t see that message until this morning. No matter.

Besides the hernia thing in the abdomen, it seems the neuropathy is spreading in my back, which may explain the weird pains and tingling behind the shoulder blade. 🙁

Anyway, my numbers are pretty good — bp 124/70, my weight is up to about 160-ish (my scales say 155, the dr. office says 166, but I’m naked at home and fully dressed at the dr. office). I’ll have to wait the results of the A1C for my blood sugar results, although my daily finger sticks are within pretty good range most of the time. I finally figured out what the A1C is for — to test how my hemoglobin is ‘sugar coated’. Last time it was 5.8, but I am assuming it will be higher this time. Last test was just a short time after my surgery when I hadn’t been eating much and was losing so much weight.

I also got a pneumococcal vaccine.

Until today, the clinic has been arranging rides to/from my clinic visits, but today I scheduled a Lyft on my own just to see what it would cost. Holy Shit! Almost $20 in each direction!

Riding to/from today allowed road vibrations to ride up into my knee and hip, so I’ve got some pain this afternoon. I won’t try to stand around dyeing today, but I can finish pulling the yarns for custom dye jobs to be done as the week progresses; I can pull yarns a few at a time and get them all bundled and ready to go, and sit to rest in between.

In other news, there’s not much to say. The weather is supposed to be cooling later in the week, so I can think about taking my walks again.

Mea Culpa!

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Okay, so I’ve been mildly chastised for my failure to continue posting here. As I explained to my friend, with my surgery recovery reaching a sort of plateau, and other life going on blandly, I just didn’t feel compelled to post just to be posting.

First off, this is my Facebook profile picture I put up just a few days ago.

See? Still here, still smiling. Or smirking. Or whatever. 🙂

Anyway, my recovery seems to be continuing, although due to the heat around here I stopped taking my daily walks and my body suffered for that. I’m grateful the weather is supposed to cool off this coming week and I can resume taking my little walks. Also, since I had begun trying to work, I counted any motion or action as “exercise”, and the days I was standing up working I didn’t feel compelled to also go take a walk. For the last couple of weeks I’ve had to deal with some incredible nerve pain, usually running from the inguinal crease, down my inner thigh and into my calf area. It’s weird (to me) that I’ve learned to mostly distinguish joint pain, muscle pain, and nerve pain.

The pain was really acting up when I was at my daughter’s a couple weeks ago for Hurricane Laura. At first it looked like it would be no threat at all, but then it kept moving more and more toward the Houston area, and I didn’t want to hunker down in a mobile home during a massive storm overhead, so I went to my daughter’s place out in Crosby. We sat on the back porch sucking beer and waiting for the storm to hit. Then we got the alert that it had made landfall near Cameron, LA, and we barely got a breeze and no rain to speak of at all. I could have stayed home and been just fine, but you never know where a storm’s going to actually hit, and I enjoyed being with my daughter and her family.

Today things are feeling mostly okay – a bit of joint pain but I can work with that and the celecoxib is helping manage that. I’m seeing the doctor tomorrow about a different (new) problem, and might ask about increasing the dose, but maybe not since I’ve read that doubling the dose isn’t particularly more effective. I’m pretty sure I need to focus on mobility and exercise before leaning too much on drugs.

One thing I am particularly sort of grateful for, as far as my health recovery goes, is that I have landed upon a breakfast that I enjoy AND allows me to skip the fast-acting mid-day shot of insulin. I start the day with Lantus anyway, but if my blood sugar is below 130 at lunch and dinner I can skip the Novolog insulin. So for breakfast I have been having a small container of yogurt, 2 hard boiled eggs, and 2 Medjool dates. I’m not sure what the combination does, but my numbers are usually pretty good, and I rarely feel hungry like I need a snack before lunch I’ve also seriously limited grain-based carbs like pasta and rice and so forth during the day. I still have some, but not a lot, and I do occasionally have to get a shot of the Novolog. Oh well…. learning as I go. And I’m free to explore other foods for lunch, snack, and dinner, so it’s all good.

A friend recently sent me a Brother sewing machine that she never used, so I can start tackling the bundles of fat quarters I got last month. I saw them and couldn’t resist buying them (almost $300 worth of fat quarters), so now I have to use them into a quilt or two or three. I’m also building up a Quilting Wish List on Amazon so I can start buying the various tools and templates I will need, since there are a few particular designs I want to try, and the easiest way to do them is to use specific templates for easy cutting.

Not a lot else happening at the moment. I’ll give a report back after I see the doctor tomorrow, since I’m pretty sure there will be some new adventures in my future. UGH!

Rain, Rain, go away…

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Okay, so it is raining, and looks like it will continue to rain through the day. Terrific. 🙁

I’ve begun the wash/rinse process for yesterday’s dyes. Learning how to use the cycles of this new machine is interesting. And time consuming.

Got about 6 hours last night, and my numbers this morning are pretty good. I’m still unsure why my body behaves differently one day to the next, even when I do the exact same things each day. I’m trying very much to figure out what works best for keeping my glucose down most of all. I want to stay under 100 if I can, but that’s a rare treat for me so far, apparently unattainable most days. I’ve also noticed that I start to hesitate just before plunging the insulin needle into my belly. I don’t know why. Sometimes it hurts a teensy bit and sometimes the little needle just slips right in. But I have been self-injecting since November, so I don’t understand the hesitation. Hmmmm….

Oh yeah, and this wet raining weather is apparently contributing to my hip/knee joint pains. There’s little I can do about it. The pain meds work sometimes, but only sometimes. 🙁

Going to pause this and come back later.

Not sure what to make of it.

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

Didn’t get my best night’s sleep (<6 hours), but I caught a couple brief naps during the day today. My numbers today were surprisingly low, especially this evening. Glucose at 100, and bp at 125/67 on the left arm but 111/60 on the right arm, within minutes of each other. I normally just do the left arm, but the first time I did it it was 115/60-something so I did the left arm again, and then the right. At mid-day the glucose was 124, which pleased me, since I don’t have to do the Novolog insulin injection unless it is over 130. I still have to do the Lantus in the morning, regardless the number, although it was only 105 first thing this morning.

I was surprised this evening because I had a fairly large (for me) lunch, and then had a pint of Budweiser at mid-afternoon while I was working. I’ve always assumed all the carbs in beer would not be a good thing for my numbers, but apparently the lunch and beer didn’t hurt my glucose or my bp. Weird.

I did the custom dye job today, so maybe that amount of exercise countered any carbs….? Hell, I don’t know. I’ve been hurting a lot lately with the hip and knee, but once I got into the dyeing process I didn’t notice the pain too much but after the work was done and I sat to rest a spell, the pain returned. I’ll do the wash, rinse and dry stuff tomorrow — testing the washer to see how the rinse-&-spin cycle works. I have new mesh bags to hold each skein separately, so I hope it isn’t a disaster.

This bit of news is troubling: Record increases of new Covid-19 cases in 3 US states with the most population. Here is the Harris County numbers for today:

That is discouraging, and I think most of this was preventable. The state pushed to reopen far too soon, plus too many people choosing not to mask or follow social distancing guidelines.

And it doesn’t help at all that Trump is trying to reduce testing, because more testing means more cases, and more cases make him look bad. Ignorant fucker. Hiding the numbers just gives people a false sense of security. We Are Not Okay right now. I would not openly advocate for his soon demise, but …

New Bed Blues?

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In my life there have been times I had to sleep on floors, couches, overstuffed armchairs, back seats of cars, and even in a bathtub one time (long story, don’t ask). Basically, I’ve learned to fall asleep in whatever situation I find myself in. Sure, a luscious bed is glorious, but I’ve never had the privilege of becoming a bed snob. And yes, there are people who actually require certain types of beds for legitimate health seasons, and I don’t begrudge them their necessities. There are also those princess wannabes who will bitch and moan over the slightest inconvenience. Fuck them. Or not.

So anyway, when I moved to Houston I brought with me a queen size folding futon frame, and purchased a new futon to fit the frame fairly quickly. It was usually folded into a couch position. I had also brought a full-size bed with frame, but soon after moving here I gave it to my son because his kids needed more bedding. So my futon became my bed for sleeping.

Fast forward to 2020. Over 13 years, that futon had become lumpy and bumpy, and had developed a significant valley down the middle. I had purchased the best I could afford at the time, and I certainly got my money’s worth out of it. Last fall I decided I would take my time and shop around to find a suitable basic queen size mattress that would fit squarely on the futon platform. I had no interest in gimmicky beds — adjustable air-chambers, memory foam, water beds, etc. I just wanted a basic innerspring mattress.

But then I got sick from uncontrolled diabetes. Then I was restricted due to the aortic aneurysm, followed by surgery and recovery. And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and there was no way to get to a bedding store even if I had wanted to go to one or another of the many bedding stores.

Recently I’ve been seeing ads during the evening news for a place called Texas Mattress Makers, saying they were still open for business and they were having a 35% off sale. They are a local small business and all they do is mattresses and bedding. I went online, found a queen size medium-firm mattress and box spring set at a ridiculously low price (with their 35% off deal) compared to what I’d seen at the national mattress stores. I got on the phone and made the deal on Thursday. The mattress I wanted is normally over $800, but I got the mattress with box spring and delivery for just over $500, and they agreed to haul away my futon.

An aside, in praise of the company. They called Friday and told me the delivery window would be 9:00 to 11:00 on Saturday morning. On Saturday morning, a driver called at 7:43 (I had it marked on my phone log) and said he would arrive in 20-25 minutes. They showed up at 8:10 and were gone by 8:20. WOW!!! Excellent service, and I’m helping a local company stay in business during these hard times.

Anyway, so this is the before and after:

The box spring alone is taller than my old futon! I happen to have a tiny stool that is perfect for climbing onto the bed; thank goodness for that.

So, anyway, on to the ‘blues’ part. I went to bed around 10:30 and got about four hours of sleep. The entire time, though, I was aware of the arthritis in my hip. I mean, I could not find a single position that didn’t hurt. And shifting about was worse since moving actively involved the joint. Damn it! Did I choose the wrong sort of bed? Was I a fool to purchase a bed without trying it out first? I slid down off the bed and went to the kitchen. Yeah, this bed is so high I have to slide down until my feet touch the floor!

Wait! What’s that?? I walked to the kitchen without a stitch of pain, without a limp, without anything hindering me. How can that be? Painful to lie on and try to sleep, but nearly free motion when I’m upright and awake? Hmmmmm….

Obviously, the first night on a new bed isn’t enough to know for sure. I will give it a while and see how my body responds over time. I may end up having to change out some other furniture as well to see if such other changes can also improve my physical experience. I already know I need new bed pillows; it’s been a few years since I bought new ones.

It was very difficult to make up the bed — stretching a new mattress pad over it, and then stretching the fitted sheet took a LOT of exertion to get things all tucked underneath the mattress. That sucker is heavy and I definitely did more than I should have — I spent much of the rest of the day with abdominal pain. When I went back later to put on the top sheet and blanket, I knelt on the floor to shove the sheet and blanket under the mattress using my upper arms instead of the usual lift-and-tuck method I’ve always used for making a bed. I got it done, but golly gee it wasn’t comfortable. At all.

At one point yesterday, the weather was terrific and I decided to take an exercise walk. I figured I would use my regular cane instead of the walker. Mistake! I got only halfway between Nancy Rose and Manor and simply had to turn around and come home. I suspect it will be a while yet before I can leave the house without my walker. I will keep trying — I can’t stop trying — but I will absolutely pay more attention to exertion levels and other factors.

P.S. – went back to bed and got a few more hours of sleep. And the pain is back in my hip. Not so bad, and I think I can slog through the day, but I did too much yesterday so I have to go slow and easy today. Most of what I need to do can be done sitting down, which is good. Tomorrow is a work day, so today I need to just focus on what my body needs – food, meds, blood sugar, blood pressure, low-exertion exercise.

Wiped Out

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Okay, so I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday, just pulling hanks to dye so it wasn’t a lot of work. And I worked on Thursday and Friday to get a full batch of Blog Reader Specials done. That took a lot out of me. When I slept last night, I slept well and hard, but there was a 3-hour period when I was awake; got back to sleep around 4:00 or 4:30 and slept until almost 7:30.

I fed the boys and took the trash out, and now, as I sit here sucking my first morning coffee I feel sooooo wiped out. Not sore or particularly hurting in any new ways, just feeling super drained. I’m going to sit on my ass today, I suspect, and just veg out and try to replenish myself.

A Facebook friend made me a few face masks to wear in the even I need to actually go anywhere. They aren’t quite as wide across my face, but they will do for my purposes. There are three different fabric designs, and they are different insides as well.

I’ll come back later and see how I feel.

OOOPS!!! I waddled off to bed and realized I didn’t finish or post this.

Anyway, so there was a 4-hour sleep, then a 3-hour sleep in the night. And during today I had another several hours of assorted naps throughout the day. Yeah, I was pretty wiped out from the work of the previous few days. I’m still feeling exhausted and not walking at all well. Grateful for the walkers and cane, all available and close at hand as I need them.

I keep reminding myself I’m not all done getting better, but it doesn’t help me all the time. My body reminds me I’m not there yet and it pisses me off. Probably more than I should let it, but it does.

And even though I’m taking the celecoxib and the gabapentin as prescribed, I continue to have assorted pains in my right leg. Sometimes I can tell if it is the actual hip and knee joints, but sometimes it feels like muscles or nerve pains. But it just hurts most of the time, although less after the meds for a while. It also doesn’t help that I have a wonky sort of couch and I was hoping to replace my 13-year old mattress this spring. But with everything shut down, it doesn’t look like that will happen. It is nearly impossible to find a position that doesn’t hurt when I lie down. Or sit. Or stand. Or walk. Half the time when I do actually find a pain-free position, within minutes my bladder is screaming as if I’d not peed all week. Go figure.

Yeah, I know — I’m whining and bitching and moaning about shit. I went to bed at 10:00 and it’s now 10:45 and I’m awake and hurting. Oh well…..

Today was a mostly down day (although I did send out notices for the Blog Reader Specials), and tomorrow is Sunday and I’m taking an extra down day to get ready for the week ahead. I have work projects to pursue, and they won’t get done if I don’t do them.

Lemme see if some classical music will help me relax enough to get to bed.