Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Day 135

8:30 a.m.
Going to test my breakfast number today. I have also decided that since most of my breakfasts (other than an apple and some cheese slices) send my sugar to above 150 I am going to give cereal another try. I think I'm going to look at Fiber-One. Hopefully it actually has enough fiber to negate some of the carbs. We'll see.


I have really got to get back to my normal routine. With doctors, dentist, outpatient procedures and a host of other things going on these past 10 days or so I have neglected my exercise - not good! Maybe I can get todays in to get me started again. But tomorrow I have an appointment to get my highlights retouched - so then it will be back to Thursday. I scheduled my hair appointment for a Wednesday intentionally so it would not interfere with exercise day. If I had only known life in general was going to interfere I could have already had my retouch done.

Day 134

Sat here yesterday early evening and thought about what I was going to post and then Distraction found me. You know Distraction? That naughty child who lives with me who never grows up and moves out . . . always here and always getting in my way. So the Monday missed post is Distractions fault.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Day 133

8:00 p.m.
It's been a good day - haven't checked BG yet though - had ribs, baked beans and corn on the cob for lunch - should have tested after lunch but we had plans for swimming and needle sticks just didn't fit into that plan. Not hungry enough to eat anything for supper, but I may eat some more of the Strawberry Trifle my daughter brought for dessert today and test after that - she made it diabetic friendly, so that should be a clean test (is that cheating?).

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Day 132

10:45 p.m.
BG was good today. I need to go out and buy me some protein bars for the times when it's mealtime but I'm not hungry. I hate to eat when I'm not hungry, but I know I need to be sure my sugar stays an on even keel.  Kinda odd not being hungry. I have to attribute it to eating breakfast and then lunchtime arrives and I'm not hungry from breakfast, but I eat, then supper-time gets here and I'm not over lunch yet, but I eat because it is supper-time. Yep, need me some protein bars.


Almost missed today - spent a lot of my day hopping from card-maker blog to card-maker blog ont he Operation Write Home Blog Hop. My crafting blog, Perpetual Playtime, is part of the hop so I have to do my part to support all the other card-makers.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Day 131

10:45 p.m.
Another day that I barely made her in time for a "today" post. All's well except for me forgetting to check my numbers after any meal today. I guess today's reading will be called a bedtime reading - 85, hmmm . . . maybe I need a bedtime snack. I see some cheese and an apple in my [very] near future. Goodnight all..

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Day 130

2:30 p.m.
Well, nothing new to report. BG is about the same. Diet is about the same. Exercise has been missed all week due to doctors visits, dentist visit, medical procedures. I'll pick back up Monday when life gets back to normal.


Hubby and I went out for our belated anniversary lunch today. Fajita salad and a margarita :D Didn't test my BG post lunch since I checked fasting today. It will be okay. Carbs are okay but calories were shot real quick today - LOL. I'm going to have Jello and some peaches or apple slices for supper. It all comes out okay in the end.


Faced a real challenge though - there was a basket of World's Finest Chocolate candy bars on the counter by the cash register. I LOVE those things! But I just gave them a longing look and left them there.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Day 129

4:30 p.m.
I guess life is normal again, or as normal as my life can be. Finished the colonoscopy thing and survived the clear liquids diet process. I stopped the Metformin the day before prep day and did not resume it until last night's dose, but my BG stayed okay. Of course, with little to no food in me my greater risk was going hypo, but I kept a glucose tablet handy just in case. 


Today I have had my normal (theres that word again) meals and my BG has been about where I expected it to be.

Day 128

This was suppose to be Tuesday, May 24, 2011, but, besides being my 32nd wedding anniversary, it was my colonoscopy day so when I wasn't distracted with getting there I was drugged and sleeping it off.


But, on the upside, the colonoscopy was good and I should not need another screening for 10 years :D

Day 127

This was suppose to be Monday, May 23, 2011 but I was distracted by many things - not the least of which was this was my colonoscopy prep day - yuck.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Day 126

4:15 p.m.
Today I tested my fasting BG as my random. It was 116 - wish I hadn't tested it today :/ I may not test fasting but once a week since it is always higher than I want and I'm suppose to work on not obsessing over it. 


So far the day has been about normal. Same breakfast as usual. Fried chicken for lunch but only 1/2 cup of corn - so I kept the carbs and starches minimized. I also had green beans and carrots, So a good meal overall. Of course in the past that meal would have been fried chicken, creamed potatoes with gravy, corn, green beans and some type of bread for sopping up some gravy. But, alas, those are days gone for good. But, honestly, I would rather have the modified diet and live longer than to have the old diet and have medical issues.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Day 125

11:45 p.m.
Woooo, barely getting in here before the clock changes and I have another missed day posting. 
Sometimes it's all about the timing! :D


Good day today. I treated myself to some "real" chocolate milk tonight. My BG after supper was only 99 so I felt I was deserving of some naughty carbs. The real stuff - not the barely acceptable sugar-free chocolate syrup in almond milk. And it tasted soooo good! 


And if I had known my BG was going to come in so low I would have had half a baked potato with supper. But, not knowing I had broccoli rather than baked potato since I was also having corn. It's all good, like I said - I treated myself to some good chocolate milk. I do still miss some of my old favorites like real chocolate milk. I use to drink a lot of chocolate milk - and regular hot chocolate. I haven't been able to acquire a taste for the sugar-free hot chocolate. It just seems to turn kinda gummy - liquid, but a gummy kinda liquid. Hard to explain really.


Well, okay, bedtime now - just had to pop in long enough to get my post made. :D

Friday, May 20, 2011

Day 124

4:30 p.m.
Had someone ask how I got my BG in control so well and what I found to eat being that I am such a picky eater so I thought I would share my response:



Because I am a slow starter I had to keep breakfast quick & easy so I eat Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls - one has eggs, sausage, potatoes and cheese the other has eggs, bacon, potatoes and cheese. I have also worked on adding oatmeal, so it is the instant variety (but that has been put on hold because it started making me gag just trying to eat it.) I tried Special K cereal but I have found that pasta and cereals are two of my greatest enemies. This may not be the case for everyone since Diabetes is almost as individual as our fingerprints. What hits my BG hard may not hit the next diabteics as hard.


Salads are either: 
(1) Spinach Strawberry Salad
2-3 c. Baby Spinach leaves -I remove the stems as much as possible so that I get more leaf in my dish. Depending on how hungry I feel I go with either 2 cups or 3 cups
1 c. fresh strawberries
.25 cup pecan halves
.5 cup Manchego Cheese (shredded) 
(about) 3 Tbls. Light Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing
*and . . . when I have real bacon left-over from BLT sandwiches I will crumble it up and save it to add to this salad - usually about the equivalent of 1.5 strips of bacon per salad)


(2) Basic Iceberg Salad
2 c. shredded iceberg lettuce
3 slices of sandwich ham (chopped up small)
.5 c. shredded cheese (four cheese blend)
1 Tbls. sliced olives (black or green - whaichever is open in my fridge)
(about) 2 Tbls Light Sweet & Spicy French dressing
*and . . . if I have pineapple tidbits already open in the fridge I will throw in .33 c for more flavor.


The other meal (because some days salad is my lunch and some days salad is my supper so whichever meal my salad falls to the other meals is referred to here) will vary. Sometimes BLT sandwiches (I found Arnolds Premium Italian Bread to be good and it is a denser texture so it is more filling), sometimes grilled steak or grilled chicken with a couple of side items. Maybe: 
- Sweet Niblet Corn 
- Carrots (I cook my carrots in a skillet - I slice them in rounds and add half an onion (chopped large so I can get carrots without the onion on my plate) sprinkle with 1 tsp. Truvia and about 1 cup water - bring to a boil and reduce to med-low and cook about 30 minutes. Makes really great tasting carrots)
- Broccoli with Cheese Sauce (frozen stuff)
- Green Beans (I cook these with a Beef Bouillon cube and some Garlic flakes for better flavor) 
- sometimes I will treat myself to half a baked potato with a little Smart Choice butter and some Manchego Cheese (shredded)
- Baked Beans


The best thing to do is to track what you eat and keep tabs on which foods spike your sugar and which are BG friendly. I started tracking everything I eat for two reasons (1) easier to identify what spiked my sugar (2) to keep track of calorie and carb intake (it's too easy to forget you ate a handful of cashews if you don't note it. You can log it in a notebook or log it online - but it is a great check-double check habit to develop. 

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Day 123

5:30 p.m.
Went to the doctor today and had a very good report. My A1c is down from 12.46 in January to 5.78 this week. My triglycerides are also down - down far enough that my doctor took me off the $100/month medicine that had no generic. WooHoo!


We discussed my fasting number and he said they are okay. he said I should not be concerned about them as long as they are below 120. So I will work on not obsessing over them for a while.


But there is also a down side. My LDL is slightly higher than it's suppose to be so he put me on a statin. But it comes in a (cheaper) generic. My overall was slightly high, but my HDL was pretty good. I don't see the highs as significantly high - just slightly. Hopefully the new med will help get that in check. So, my numbers were:
HDL 61 (40 or above is good)
LDL 114 (100 or below is preferred)
Total is 207 (200 or below is preferred)
Triglycerides 87 (90 or below is preferred - but I may have that "preferred" wrong since I didn't write down what he said for that number.)


And, back to good report. My weight is down a little. Well, more than a little if you factor in weight loss from October. I had not realized I was down from October when I was diagnosed back in January. Actually 19 pounds. It's a shame you can't see it when you look at me. Oh well, the scales say it so it is so! :D

Day 122

Naughty naughty me - played all day yesterday and failed to post.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Day 121

9:30 a.m.
Fasting BG was 97. I hate to even begin to analyze what contributed to a better reading today. I did sleep until 8, but that one factor isn't to be credited as has been evidenced by prior days. I did have a midnight snack (and I DO mean midnight! I was actually craving something about 12:15 while watching TV last night!) so I ate some sugar free cookies.


Went yesterday and had the blood draw. Still have to wait until after lunch Thursday to have more info on that as well as some of my questions. Patience has never been my strongest virtue, but I will survive this wait.

Day 120

Well, I missed Monday and it wasn't Bloggers fault this time.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Day 119

7:00 p.m.
Fasting was back up to 112 and I slept till 8 so thats another theory shot right out of the sky. 


Taco lunch and tested good after but hubby didn't. It could be that he ate twice as much as I did or it could be that he is not taking Metformin or it could be the combination of both.  


I go first thing in the morning to have blood drawn for my 3 month follow-up. Nothing after midnight for me. I am anxious to know what my A1c is now, but I don't actually see the doctor until Thursday, so I won't know until then.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Day 118

7:00 p.m.
Fasting BG has been below 100 for two mornings now. I also slept later these two mornings so I have to wonder if there is a connection. Of course, sometimes when you wake up it's hard to make yourself go back to sleep, so . . . I think i will test a theory of not checking my BG until l8:00 a.m. regardless of what time I wake up. We'll see how that works.


Other numbers were good also. 

Day 117

Blogger was still down :(

Day 116

Blogger was down :(

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Day 115

8:15 p.m.
Fasting BG was okay. Had BLT's for lunch and that tested 145, so that was good. I had to eat a more conscientious supper to make up for the excesses of the BLT lunch, but BLT's are so good it was worth it. :D

Day 114

Well, there we go - another day missed. And to be honest, i really don't know what my distraction was yesterday. Oh well - onward we go. 

Monday, May 9, 2011

Day 113

1:30 p.m.
Fasting BG was about the same - not below 100. I had Special K cereal for breakfast because there was a little white milk in the fridge. We don't generally keep white milk here, but when my 6 y.o. granddaughter is coming over for the weekend we will buy the little pint bottle so she can have cereal. I usually ad chocolate syrup to whats left after Sunday morning breakfast and give her that just before lunch, but yesterday she went home early so there was white milk left. 


Well, I wish I hadn't decided a bowl of cereal would be a good break from my usual because it shot my sugar up above 200! That is higher than even the oatmeal sends it! When I saw my post-breakfast number I took the rest of the cereal outside and threw it out for the critters to snack on. 
Breakfast is such a hard meal to work out.


Post lunch was only 127. :)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Day 112

9:30 p.m.
Fasting BG was 99. Tested after supper of PB&J (well, actually that would be a PB&P - Peanut Butter & Preserves). Seems it made my sugar higher as a supper food than it did yesterday as a lunch food. Odd.


Mother's Day - it was a good day. We took my MIL to a gathering at her SIL and there was a lot of family there. I didn't find much to eat that fit my diet plan, but I made do. I did have one small spoon of what I thought was a hash-brown casserole, but it turned out to be a crust-less coconut pie. I knew as soon as I ate one bite of that small amount that it was a big no-no. It was sooo good! I got the recipe and I think I'm going to try making it with Splenda.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Day 111

8:00 p.m.
Fasting BG about the same. I am even more curious about what my fasting BG should be now. We got the card in the mail with my hubby's blood-work results. it didn't give the A1c but it gave his fasting BG and that was 111 and the note said "Slightly elevated". So, is that considered slightly elevated for a non-diabetic or would that apply to a diabetic also. Not sure.


BG after lunch was only 106. I had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. I haven't had one of those in forever. Of course it was sugar-free jelly. And actually, it wasn't jelly either, it was Sugar-Free Strawberry Preserves. They were okay, but to be honest, I wouldn't even eat that jelly if it weren't for diabetes. Oh well, I think when this jar is gone I will try a different flavor so I can actually try "jelly".

Friday, May 6, 2011

Day 110

8:00 p.m.
Fasting was 102. Today is test post supper - that will be about 8:40. I did a mid-day test to see what effect a Caramel latte from Starbucks would do. Pre-latte was 101 post-latte was 142 - roughly 41 point increase. Not anything to get stressed over as long as I don't add a snack with it. And I needed a good latte. I have only had one since my dx and that was a Skinny latte and just was not the same. Some things just do NOT need to be served "skinny".

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Day 109

4:00 p.m.
Fasting BG was 108, Took yesterdays post-breakfast so I took post lunch today. I did some damage with lunch today, but I won't beat myself up over it. And I knew I was going to have a high number when I decided what I wanted for lunch. I have not had a Milo's burger and fries since before I was diagnosed back in January and I love Milo's, I love that there burger patties are thin and always done through and through. I love that they lightly toast the top of the bun. I love that they always make the burger with a patty and a chunk of another patty. I love the orange salty powder they coat the fries in. But most of all I LOVE their sauce! So today I had a cheeseburger, a small order of fries (the most fries I have eaten at one time since my dx) and an extra Milo sauce for dipping my fries in. It was YUMMY!! My treat for all my hard work yesterday & today working on my entertainment unit clean-up project.


And, hubby finally (after several prompts from me) called the doctor to find out about his A1c test from last week. They said he is pre-diabetic and that they will be keeping an eye on it. They said he needs to watch his carb intake and that he can reverse it at this point. He has decided he will switch from regular beer to light beer. Oooo-Kaaay! That may well be the bulk of his problem, but then again, he does like potatoes an awful lot. I can't impose rules and diet on him, he is a big boy & needs to take responsibility for his choices and actions. He can choose to eat what I choose to eat and be okay or he can wing it and see how it progresses. But at least he knows his A1c was slightly elevated and that he needs to be more conscious of his carb intake. We'll just wait and see how this goes.

Day 108

Another missed day. Bad habit, but again I have my excuse - after breakfast I turned on the TV & Wii to exercise and my Wii would not turn on. 


Now, this is not the first time that has happened to me. It seems that both times it happened it was after a power outage. Even though neither were outages of more than 5-10 seconds both issues have that one common factor. Now, we have had other power outages for longer periods of time that did not cause this problem. 


Last time it happened I complained that the power strip. We have an old house and no outlets are really conveniently located. The room I use for a den is a bedroom that my son occupied growing up. I have an entertainment unit that is 6" long by 82" tall that covers most of one wall. My computer armoire covers a good bit of the second wall. The love-seat recliner takes up the third wall. And the fourth is a space between the door and the closet and that wall has no electric outlet. With everything in place the outlets are blocked from easy access so I have power strips positioned within easier reach. Problem is the strip coming from behind the entertainment unit was not only filled to capacity (don't worry, everything plugged in does not all run at the same time), it was also not exactly convenient for the bulkier plugs that have the box type plugs. To remedy that I had a second power strip running from that one. Well, after plugging & unplugging we figured out that some of the outlets of the second strip were no longer working so hubby bought me a new power strip - at Lowes - it was a manly power strip. It is brown metal and very heavy (my others came from Wal-Mart - putty gray plastic & very light weight). Well, the new power strip also had about a 8" cord on it. A lot of cord with no place to go but to puddle in the floor in front of the little 3-drawer chest that takes up the corner at the end of the entertainment unit. 


So, there was a brief power flicker and the Wii refused to work again. I disconnected everything and carried it to the kids room and hooked it up and it worked fine - eliminates the problem being with the Wii. 


I again cast a  suspicious eye at the fire-hazard puddled in front of the 3-drawer chest and declared my hatred of the stupid mess - not to mention the fire hazard of it. So I sent hubby off to the local liquor store to get a bundle of their empty boxes and proceeded to empty everything out of the entertainment unit. And, believe me when I say that was major. That unit was full. A complete set of encyclopedia and several years of the Year Book and Science Year, five photo albums, a reasonable assortment of books, about two dozen VHS, five or six dozen DVD's pictures of kids and grand-kids, all the odd lot stuff that was waiting to be moved to it's respective place but just never made it there and the oversize stack of junk & junk mail that needed to be put away. Heck, I even found an old pay stub from 2006 in that pile of junk. Of course, with the entertainment unit being empty for the first time in sixteen years I had to take advantage of the opportunity to wash it down with Pine-Sol from top to bottom.


We then pulled it out from the wall and re-ran the power strip arrangement. Before there was one plug used by the TV and the other plug had my series of power strips that also included one standard extension cord. We re-positioned the components in the entertainment unit so the TV shares a power strip with the RF Converter, DVD player, GameCube & Wii. It is okay that all those components are on one strip since the DVD player, GameCube & Wii would never be playing at the same time since there is only one TV anyway. The other power strip is now positioned between the entertainment unit & the 3-drawer chest and has a piggybacked smaller strip that runs through the back of the right side of the top shelf of the entertainment unit to allow a power for my Frebreze Scent Story machine and my iPod speaker station. The other outlets on the second strip are now accessible for the occasional use of a Kindle or laptop recharge. So everything is now plugged in in a better configuration and the best part is the puddle of cords no longer exists in from of the 3 drawer chest.


Of course, once the electronics were all lined up and in position I still had to put everything back in place and I dusted and washed everything off as it went back. I was so tired yesterday that I didn't even finish putting it all back. I have also worked on more today and I am down to one box left and it is all odds & ends and stuff hat will not go back in those shelves. But for today I am done. That box will wait until tomorrow . . . or the next day, or the next.  


The only thing I know is certain is that I will take three large green garbage bags of teddy bears that I removed from the top and move them to the basement as well as the four little doll chairs that some of them were sitting on. The four chairs and the four dozen teddy bears were originally all across the top of the entertainment unit. But I guess I am over the need to see my teddy bears displayed there for now.


So, there is my excuse for missing yesterday. (:

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Day 107

7:35 p.m.
Fasting was 104 but that promptly shot up to 164 after I ate oatmeal for breakfast. I then went on an internet search for why oatmeal, something that is suppose to be good for me, is doing that to my BG and found an article that says instant oatmeal is not good for the BG. They recommend "Old fashioned rolled oats, Irish oats, or steel cut oats". Hmmm, I know what Old fashioned rolled oats are (I think - I know what it is IF it is just the old fashioned oatmeal that you had to actually cook on the stove), but I really don't want to have to go through all that rig-a-ma-role just for nasty ole' oatmeal that I hate anyway. Not to mention the extra mess to clean up from that. And my bet is irish oats or steel cut oats are of the same nature and would require the mess of the old fashioned cooking. drat and double drat. 


Might just have to accept a high breakfast number and work extra hard to keep the other meals BG checks lower.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Day 106

7:15 p.m.
Fasting BG 110. I see my doctor later this month and I want to talk to him about what I should and should not be happy with in regards to my fasting numbers. I go on just the fact that they were originally high and got below 100 as I got better control of my numbers overall but in the last month or two they have been above 100 more than below 100. I may be worrying myself over perfectly fine numbers.


Of course if they are "perfectly fine" then breakfast will forever be an issue since everything for breakfast seems to run my numbers up.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Day 105

11:00 p.m.
Almost missed another day. I sure am getting good at that. fasting BG was 105. Day was good. Post supper was 139. 


In other news, Alabama is still digging out from the tornadoes of April 27 and Bin Laden's death was announced.  A small amount of closure for so many who were impacted on 09/11/01.