No, I’m not preggo. While I absolutely adore kiddos, I shouldn’t be allowed to have any of my own for quite some time. I don’t want to share my toys, donuts, or Nestle Quik with anyone else, yet. No way. Anyway, what I’m speaking of refers to my week—okay, 3.5 days—as a diabetic. I’m interning at Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center this month, and had the opportunity to wear an insulin pump this week to learn how it works and to understand the planning and organization it takes for someone to rely on one of these things for their daily dosages of insulin. Obviously mine was not filled with insulin, but saline instead, which got my thinking about how I might be able to use this thing for electrolyte placement during a run. Unfortunately, there are many reasons that would not be feasible. 1—you don’t get very much fluid from one of these things and would need more of a backpack-sized pump than a pager-sized pump. 2—apparently my super sensitive skin was especially irritated while sweating by the adhesive around the cannula that was inserted into my belly. Which is even more evident now that the thing is out of my belly (thank goodness!) and has left a really attractive red rash behind as a souvenir. As someone who already gets a bit woozy when thinking about anything being in my body that doesn’t really belong there, the fact that this thing burned after each run until I was able to wash off in the shower gave me anxiety-induced appetite loss on occasion. It’s not good when this girl loses her appetite. That’s when we know something is seriously amiss.
So this week has taught me that there are a lot of people out there who are much, much tougher than I am. I am proud to say that I can now give myself a finger stick to do a blood glucose reading without even flinching, which is a huge improvement over a few years ago when I couldn’t even manage to stay conscious during a simple finger stick. However, do not think that I did not complain once or 12 times about my bruised fingertips or how annoying it was to find somewhere to stick my pump (it fell out of my skirt once or twice yesterday, which not only pulled on the thing stuck in my stomach, but also resulted in my having to put my hand down my skirt multiple times in public). As somewhat of a perfectionist who might not have the most patience for those who don’t do what they know they should, I have been extremely humbled by this experience. On multiple occasions, I would forget to check my blood sugar before I ate. Last night, I suspended my pump when I went to the track to do my workout, then went for pizza afterwards, then took a shower and then finally put my pump back on—because I didn’t want to be inconvenienced. Diabetics don’t get to do any of that. And so now, when a patient comes in to the clinic, and maybe they didn’t check their blood sugar quite as often as they should have, or maybe they counted carbs wrong or forgot to take their insulin, I completely understand how that is possible. However, it is extremely unfortunate for them that doing those things has an actual significant effect on their health, unlike when I do those things. I feel for them. I really do.
Testing my blood glucose at different times during the day was really interesting. One day, after a 10 mile easy run, my blood sugar was 76 mg/dl. The next day, after a harder 10 mile progression run, my blood sugar was just above 100 mg/dl. I talked to my preceptor about this and she thinks this may be showing my liver’s response to my muscles needing fuel right after finishing that harder run. So interesting! Testing my blood sugars also proved that when I get really hungry and start to get cranky, I really am hypoglycemic. So don’t judge me when I’m cranky; instead, give me some sugar, please. J
How about a brief life update? Clearly I haven’t been blogging, so just what in the world have I been up to? Well, every weekend has been a whirlwind these past few months, and I don’t feel like I own any part of any of my week days. This community rotation for my internship has been awesome so far, so I don’t mind so much that between commuting and putting in my required hours, 11 hours of my day are gone. Add to that approximately 2 hours of exercise per day, an hour of running around getting ready in the morning, ample time to consume the amount of calories I do, and some super long showers, and I barely have enough time to get my 8 hours of beauty sleep. However, I’m loving life. A few weekends ago, I got back into the racing game with a nice, conservatively-run half-marathon in Dallas. The following weekend, my wonderful parents visited from WI. Last weekend, wedding season kicked off with the Pyle/Dankbar nuptials in Tulsa. This weekend, I’m being whisked away to the exciting city of McCalester, OK to assist with some on-going research at Harold Hamm. There’s also been some talk of some possible kayaking this weekend, which I’m super excited about. And in just a few short weeks, I will embark on a much needed New Mexico vacay. Can’t. Wait.
Running and my fitness are really coming around, and despite a few pesky foot flare-ups in the form of excessive swelling and a crazy day-to-day schedule, I’ve been able to consistently hit decent mileage and hope to level off somewhere in the 70-80 mpw range for the next few months. While not close to the 90-100 mile weeks I put in last summer, I’ve decided to let those go until I can comfortably fit mileage AND ample recovery time into my schedule. I’ve come to terms with the reality of my hectic schedule for now, and have accepted that since I’m only nearly-26 years old, there will be plenty of time for higher mileage when I’m older and in my running prime--and working just 1 real job.
Speaking of recovery, I best actually use some of this precious lunch hour to refuel my body. I’m so happy I don’t have to bolus. I think I will celebrate by eating even more carbs than usual. J
