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. (:

Day 92

6:15 p.m.

Fasting BG was good - 95. Hopefully changing the time I take my nighttime dose of Metformin is the solution. I have had more lower numbers since changing the time. Not tons more, but 3 of 5 have been below 100, 1 of 5 was exactly 100 and the last was 105, which is better than the ones that were coming in at 115- 117.

Woke up dreading that it was Monday and exercise day again, but I got over that pretty fast when I got on the Wii Fit board and found I had dropped almost 2 lbs since last Thursday. Every little bit helps! :)

So far I can honestly say that the only things I have cut out of my diet completely are regular soda, regular hot chocolate and "added sugar". The diet sodas I switched too are very satisfying in regards to my infrequent desire for a carbonated soda. I have no problem using Splenda or Truvia for the "added sugars". But the sugar-free hot chocolate leaves a lot to be desired. And it's not the fact that it is not as sweet as the regular version because I could easily remedy that with some Truvia. No, it's the fact that it doesn't mix up as smooth and creamy as the regular and if I don't drink it quick enough it seems to kinda start congealing or something. I'm not sure whats up with that, but I don't care for it at all.

Day 43

1:15 p.m.

Fasting BG was good. I felt okay with my breakfast and my lunch food selections so I did not do finger-sticks for those. I will catch the supper check tonight. 

I also went ahead and added that fifth 10-minute session to my exercises this morning. I decided to try to trick my body & my mind by doing the 10-minute session and then two 20-minute sessions for a total of 50 minutes today. It probably helped some, but Oh Em Gee, I was really struggling in the last fifteen minutes or so. But . . . I persevered and finished so I'm glad for that and I'm glad I went ahead and added it. Once added it can't be taken back out you see, so now I'm committed to it! :D My philosophy, but it works for me!

And, my little Wii board tells me I have lost some weight - not enough to be bragging about yet, but some loss at a slow rate is good progress, so I'm happy about it!

Day 29

12:00

BG is still looking good. Slightly higher readings than last week, but still in the acceptable ranges - and this with only half the insulin I was taking last week. Hope this keeps up! :)

Added my fourth 10-minute Free Step on the Wii this morning. My legs protested a little, but not enough for me to listen to them. They (whoever "they" are) always say No Pain - No gain. Well, maybe the leg complaints meant I made a small amount of gain today. 

I think my next wellness investment will be a pulse monitor so I can see what my heart rate is doing and determine if I am even getting into a cadio rate. My doctor said walking was fine, but he wants me to get to where I am doing an aerobic type workout. If he could smell me right now he would have to agree I had my heart rate up there - LOL! And, I even had to turn on the ceiling fan today because I was getting so hot & sweaty!

I am also taking advantage of the change in BG reading times to track the effect of some of my foods to see which ones affect my sugar more and which affect it less. That project is affecting my menu planning since I want to test after certain foods. So like today I tested after my cereal - good reading - my cereal will be a  keeper. We are going to have grilled Reuben sandwiches one day this week, but since I tested after breakfast I couldn't have grilled Reuben for lunch today. Maybe tomorrow. :D I do love a good grilled Reuben!

Day 24

5:30 p.m.

BG still looking good! :)

Let the whole day get away from me without updating my blog. But, trust me, I have been busy. Not physically busy, but busy. Had a hair appointment at 9:30 and didn't get back home until after 11. Lunch. Then started downloading & setting up an iTunes application. For the last three weeks as I exercised I either listened to the Wii voice count to four over & over or I played a CD in my old Sony Discman. I had to resort to the Discman because the mini-shelf system in my den stopped playing CD's a couple of years ago and I just never really worried about it too much until I started doing the Wii Fit and wishing I had something more entertaining to listen to. And the Discman is okay, for what it is and for what I bought it for years ago - a portable means of playing CD's. I actually used it a lot back when I would spend weeks at a time in Atlanta in training classes. But for listening to music from it in my den at home . . . it leaves a lot to be desired! 

I tried putting the TV on a different channel, since the Wii said I could do that while using the "Free Walk" exercise. But the screen had diagonal lines scrolling across it the whole time and I gave that up pretty quick.

Well, I looked for me a new mini-shelf system this week, but the only ones I found that would let me load more than 1 CD at a time were way overpriced, especially knowing that they don't seem to have a long shelf life. What I did find in my hunt was that docking stations for iPods are all over the place and really rather inexpensive. So I ordered one of those from Amazon and an iPod Nano from Apple. 

And that led to me downloading the iTunes application and setting that up . . . immediately followed by downloading some of my favorite CD's to the computer and pulling out favorite songs to an exercise play list. Yep, pretty much killed an afternoon. 

But at least when my iPod and docking station get here I will be ready. :)

Day 23

4:00

BG still looking good. 

I am up to three10 minute walking sessions on my Wii Fit.  I don't play the games much anymore (I'll bet my penguin is hungry). It just seems that my days get gone before I even realize they are over and as I add more walking to my exercise routine I just have less time to play the games. Maybe I will play games on my exercise off days. I take Wednesdays and weekends off from the exercises. My doctor said he wanted me to work in 45 minutes of exercise 4 days a week so I chose Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday. And yes, I know I can get healthier and lose more weight if I added exercise to every day, but heck, I already have so much added to my everyday life, what with clockwork finger sticks and injections, that I just can't have exercise as another "every" day something. Not right now anyway. maybe some day in the future, but then again, maybe not. We'll see.

Day 16

1:00

Another morning slipped by soo quickly. My how time flies.

BG is still looking good. And I increased my walking with the Wii Fit yesterday. Last week I was doing two sets of the Basic Step, one Free walk, which is a 10 minute walk - no less than 800 steps) and then playing some of the games. Yesterday I switched to two sets of the Basic Step, one Free walk, [repeat] two sets of the Basic Step, one Free walk. That gives me 20 minutes of walking plus the little bonus of the basic Step as my warm ups. I also started bumping the pace of the Free Walk - after 30 seconds I increase by one click and after 30 more seconds I increase to the second click. Then I reverse that when I get down to 1 minute left of the 10 minutes - I click one step back down and when it gets to 30 seconds I drop it back to the pace the systems set by default. That gives me more than the 800 steps and also gives me a little faster pace, which, oddly enough, keeps me from stumbling over my own feet stepping on and off the Wii board. Next week I will add a third set of both.

Had a most delicious sandwich for lunch today. I make these Ham Balls with ground ham and ground pork, bead crumbs, egg & milk. There were some leftovers  from the other day so we sliced them in halves, warmed them in the toaster oven and put them on toasted bread. Terry used mayo (actually, it is Miracle Whip Dressing, but it is what we use for mayo since I do not like real mayo) & honey mustard on his, but I used mayo, lettuce & fresh pineapple! YumYum!! :D Of course we used the Arnolds Italian bread that I found has a bit less carbs than any other bread at Wal-Mart. Even less carbs than the multi-grain or whole wheat options, and I like Italian bread where I don't like multi-grain or whole wheat bread.

Day 13

10:30

Blood Glucose is good. In fact it is good enough that when I emailed my weekly log to my doctor yesterday afternoon he actually replied and said I could reduce the nighttime injection from 30 units to 20 units. It's a shame I didn't check email until after I had already done the (;)0 injection last night. But, yay me, 10 units less tonight! :)

And who would have thought a doctor would be checking his email late on a Friday afternoon? I was impressed with that!

So, this morning I thought it would be good to get my 5 y.o. granddaughter to do a bit on the Wii Fit. Wow, what a wimpy kid she is! First issue was she was very impatient during the set-up where the little Wii Board guy (or maybe gal) calculated her BMI (which was really great! 15 point something) and weighed her. And once we actually got in the program she was ready to quit after 1 round of soccer and 1 free run, which came with a whole other issue and that being that she has a hard time running in place. I had to back her up half a dozen times because she had crossed the span of 4 feet and was nose-to-nose with he TV. We moved on to the Penguin game and she was okay with that, but still, she was ready to quit after just 3 tries with the Penguins. Maybe if I can get her to try a few more times she will build up some strength, willingness, whatever it is that takes away the wimpy!

Day 11

10:00

BG is still good but my close vision (as in reading my monitor) is somewhat blurred again. Not sure why that happened but I am hoping there is a link between exercise or not. My doctor told me he wanted me to add 45 minutes a day for four days a week so I decided those four days would be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday therefor I did not Wii my little Mii yesterday. Today is Thursday so I will exercise around 1:30 this afternoon and see if the vision improves. If the exercise helps to burn up excess glucose than maybe that will help with the blurred vision. And there could be a connection between two of yesterday's BG readings since my 11:00 was back up to 150 and my 4:00 was up to 178. However, my 9:00 was back down to 101. And this morning at 8:00 it was back down to 96. Of course I would have thought excess glucose would affect my BG readings more than that amount of increase before it would have any affect on my vision, but then again, what do I really know? I'm still learning this Disease.

7:00
Numbers are still good,but if I don't find some more things to add to my (short) list of foods that I will eat that also fit into the "high protein - low carb" family I will become a lot harder to live with! I am already so tired of chicken cooked int he oven. I have tried it baked with Panko and just marinated and baked, but it is all still just chicken. 


On the brighter side, my Wii fit told me I was down 1.3 pounds from when it weighed me on Monday. Not that losing weight is a focus, but I'll accept it as a side effect.

Day 9

8:00

Another good BG check, but my 9:00 last night was 124 so while I still have a streak of 11 in a row below 200, my streak for 120 or below is reset to . . . 1. But I'm still very happy with below 200's for the injection factor :D

Wasn't happy with my breakfast today though. In an attempt to reduce fats (as well as carbs) I decided to try alternating my pre-made breakfast bowls with some cereal. I spent a lot of time in the store yesterday reading dozens of cereal nutrition labels and since Lucky Charms doesn't seem to be a good option, even though it is my lifetime favorite cereal, I settled on Special K Blueberry. It was okay. Not really filling and not really satisfying. And I had to eat 2 servings because the stupid stuff calls 3/4 cup a serving. 3/4 of a cup?? Seriously? I mean, pour that 3/4 of a cup in a bowl and that's what my 5 y.o. granddaughter would eat, and probably ask for something else to eat!  And, while I like fresh blueberries, these blueberries weren't even blueberries! They were little dark speckles all over the flakes, kinda like the flakes had some dread disease. You could hardly taste blueberry! Well, I think I may try Honey Nut Cheerio's next round since it also suppose to be good for the cholesterol.

As for yesterday's Wii exercises, so far no muscles calling me names, so I obviously did not push myself too far, I just hope I pushed far enough. This afternoon I will add more time to my free walk session . . . and try harder to feed my penguins in the balance game. I will save my game sessions till the last so I can reward myself for walking up and down on and off the Wii board. Oh, and I failed to mention yesterday that when I set up the program the Wii board weighed me and calculated my BMI! And as if that wasn't bad enough it actually had the audacity to alter my little mii character and make her fat! Fortunately the little mii character was a slim trim cute little mii again by the time we got to the exercise routines.

6:00
BG is still good :)
Found a couple of recipes I'm going to try - hope they turn out good. One is for a snack - all it will be is cheese cooked in the oven into little crunchy wafers. I need to find a hard Parmesan cheese - think I will check the Publix deli. I really need some crunchy and salty or crunchy and spicy snacks. Sweet is not so much an issue, I find I prefer salty.


And my little Wii penguins got a few more fishes today. And I still only did the 10 minute walk, but I did increase  the pace slightly so I did 920 steps in stead of 800. If I had just increased the walk time I would have had to go from 10 minutes to 20 minutes and I know I'm not up to a 20 minute non-stop. I guess if I were at a mall and looking at people and windows at  the same time I could do the 20 minutes okay, but not just walking in my den.

Day 8

9:30

Well, this afternoon will mark one week since my diagnosis and I feel that I am doing pretty good so far. This morning my BG was 104, which is a very good number. In fact, my last seven readings have all been below 200, so I have not had to inject any supplemental insulin and the last four of those seven were actually 121 or below.

At this point I'm feeling that the diet is my greatest obstacle. I still need to find a good collection of recipes that

do NOT contain any of the following:
1) seafood (no seafood - nothing - not even tuna fish or fish sticks)
2) onion (including scallions and other such noxious critters)
3) peppers (bell, banana - doesn't matter. However I am okay with ground peppers for spice)
4) mushrooms
5) celery
6) stewed tomato (pizza sauce is okay in moderation, but not in excess such as with spaghetti or lasagna)
7) beans or peas (I can tolerate green beans and if I add a lot of spice & seasoning I can tolerate baked beans made from pork-n-beans)
7) greens (as in spinach, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens. Cabbage is okay either raw or cooked)
8) wild game (no rabbits, deer, quail etc - Basically I only eat white meat chicken, beef, boneless pork options and turkey breast)
9) yogurt, cottage cheese or sour cream (it would be okay mixed in something cooked, but not as it comes straight from the carton)
10) squash
11) asparagus
12) something that someone will suggest that I did not think to add to my list yet

Yep, long list - and hard to work with for someone who has been pretty much meat and potatoes with some bread and gravy thrown in for a side and as dessert :D And I have always preferred the meats fried.But I still hold out hope!

1:00
Well, I know for certain that there is still a lot to learn about this disease. So what did I learn today? Well, I learned that if go to the grocery store just before lunchtime and miss my regular time for my BG check & my lunch that my sugar will drop - a lot. Went to Wal-mart to buy a Wii Fit and a few groceries and spent so much time reading nutritional labels and such at the store that I was an hour late. My 11:00 check taken at 12:00 was a 78. Of course that was before lunch, which, by the way, I was not really hungry for a lunch but made myself eat some salad with cheese and some "salad fixin's" type stuff that had cranberries & nuts in it. Half an hour after my salad I was back up to 98. 


I know I am suppose to adhere to the clock for BG checks and meals, but I really didn't think an hour would make that much of a difference in the sugar level. I am just going to have to be better about the clock. 


So, I bought the Wii Fit Plus. I haven't had a chance to get it set up yet, but I plan to do that this afternoon so I can start working myself up to the 45 minute workout my doctor wants me to do. Right now I doubt I can handle a good 5 minute workout - heck, I can get winded just doing housework. And before anyone says i should have saved the cost of the Wii program and just do more housework, umm . . . . no, I probably dislike housework more than exercise. I do what housework I have to do when I have to do it, but I certainly don't intend to do more and call it exercise! 

3:45

Okay, well, I got my Wii Fit Plus connected. It is 67 degrees in my house and it made me work up a sweat. Of course I am overweight & sedentary so really most any exertion could cause me to work up a sweat, but this did it without me realizing it or hating the devil out of it. I did several rounds of basic step and one round of free step (that was 800 steps in 10 minutes) and then played the balance game of the penguin catching fish - although my penguin was doing more swimming that catching of fish. All in all I'm liking it simply because I did these things without hating it and wishing it was over. I stopped because I was sweating & I  also know that if I overdo it on day 1 that day 2 will be harder to face. Baby steps, baby steps.