School, Work, Family, Diabetes

My life has been so crazy busy lately. I've barely had time to test 12 times per day, log my blood sugars faithfully, and change my pump sites, let along post. I'm looking forward to a substantial slow down soon!

School

My thesis is (almost) done! At this point I hesitate to say I'm finished because my thesis chair keeps making small changes each time he reviews it. However, he told me a couple weeks ago that he only wanted to see one more draft, which I'm giving him this afternoon! If he indeed just skims it, I should be turning it in officially by the end of the month!! I don't know what I'm going to do with myself once this is done... but I'll think of something :)

Work

I work for a CPA firm, and yesterday was the tax deadline. Thus, we've been working overtime, Saturdays, etc. for the last month. To make things even crazier, not only have I been helping with tax return processing, but my group, the auditor's, have had tons of financial statements to finalize. When it rains, it pours, right?! We celebrated with a Hawaiian themed lunch yesterday and a happy hour at Karl Strauss brewery in the evening. I over bolused for the jasmine rice (apparently it doesn't have as many carbs as sticky white rice?!) and chased a low most of the afternoon. Then I indulged in two pints of Amber Lager, yum! A nice end to a hectic time.

Family

My sister's bridal shower is Saturday!! I'm flying to the bay area Thursday night to meet my sister and my best friend. The three of us will drive to Humboldt that night. I'm so excited for some quality "girl time" and a road trip! I've got some last minute planning items to take care of, since my mom and I are throwing the shin-dig. If anyone knows of some fun bridal shower games, please let me know! We've got some ideas, but I'd love to hear of others. My sister's finance is also from our hometown area, so this shower is going to be large... we invited 65 people and are expecting 50 plus. It should be fun!

In other "family" news... Dennis and I are working on adding to our own :) We were unsuccessful the first month, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for this month! My A-type personality wants to plan this whole thing to death, which I know is impossible, so I'm letting go and praying that everything happens in the right time. But man, I'm hoping it's soon!!

Diabetes

Things are going fine on this front. I doubt I've maintained the 5.6 A1c result from February, but all in all, things are good. Now that I'm not on birth control, I'm noticing much more dramatic changes to my basal and bolus needs during different times of my cycle. It's all new to me and very odd. However, having a CDE and a doc check all my blood sugars and rates weekly sure helps! Sometimes I just flat out disagree with them... like when my doc suggested giving myself 2 EXTRA units at meals if I'm over 130 mg/dl! I knew this would result in many lows since my typical meal bolus is between 3 and 4 units! At the end of the day, we know our bodies, we live in them.

Fun story... On Saturday afternoon, Dennis and I were at Starbucks reading and working on my thesis. After we'd been there a couple hours, Dennis looks out the window and exclaims, "Look a dog!" This is very typical because he loves dogs and wants one desperately (we just can't do it in our 6th floor, downtown apartment). I glanced out the window, sort of annoyed it be interrupted from my work. Then he says, "Hey, isn't that that Doctor?" I look up to see that the dog's owner is Dr. Steven Edelman. Dennis recognized him from the TCOYD conference we attended in November. After we discussed who it was and watched the doc stroll around outside with his pup, Dennis encouraged me to go out and say "hi." I hesitated and we stayed put for awhile.

When we left, Dr. Edelman was sitting out front, so Dennis went by to pet his dog and I introduced myself. I felt kinda awkward bothering him when he's obviously enjoying a day off, but he was really nice and engaging. We actually watched his dog, Luke for a few minutes while he ran in to Starbucks for some coffee :) Then we had a 15 minute chat about diabetes, continuous glucose monitoring, my last A1c, getting pregnant, etc. Of particular interest in our conversation was his encouragement to me about getting a Dexcom. Turns out, one of Dennis's coworkers also has type 1 and is a patient of Dr. Edelman's. She successfully got her insurance (which is the same as ours) to cover the Dexcom! He suggested I talk to her about it, since I'd have a good chance because of trying to get pregnant. He also said he has a letter template to share with me that outlines the need for continuous glucose monitoring!

So, now that life is finally settling down a bit, I know I should seriously look into the Dexcom. The only way I'd get one is if I can get my insurance to cover it, so I have to at least try, right? I'm still relatively new to pumping (7 months now) and I really can't imagine having another thing on my body all the time! But I know it would be so good for the tight control I need while pregnant. I'm a little torn, but I'll start the process of gathering information when I return from the shower weekend.

As I'm looking at all the things going on in my life lately, I recognize how overwhelming it's been, but more importantly, how extremely blessed I am. Blessed to be healthy, happy, achieving my goals, and being with my family and friends. Things like this tragic event at Virginia Tech make me realize, more than ever, how fragile life is and how senseless, random things happen to people.

I hope everyone has a fun, relaxing, and safe weekend!