Monthly Archives: April 2011
Sweet and Salty.
One of my favorite things in life is to enjoy a really good meal or snack. And as we all know, having diabetes can put a damper on that at times. Having to count and calculate insluin required for every single carb that is ingested into my body, I try to be conscious about what I eat. Most of the time. (see also: cupcakes)
With that in mind, when I do snack I try to find lower carb, health(ier) options. I have more of a salt tooth than a sweet tooth. Unfortunately most of the foods I crave are high in sodium. But recently I found the best snack ever which satisfies my salt craving as well as having a touch of sweetness too. I introduce chocoloatey pretzel cereal bars by Special K.
(picture also courtesy of Special K)
These are absolutely delicious! One of the girls on my team at work told me about these and I couldn’t thank her enough! They are only 90 calories, 17g of carbs and have some fiber too. I’m so in love with these that I keep picking up some at every store I see selling them, afraid that I will run out one day. Target, CVS, Waldbaums, etc. My only complaint, Special K if you’re listening, is that they are pretty small. They are so good that eating one just leaves me wanting more. But I haven’t actually eaten two at a time. Yet.
Another Loss.
While Joe and I were in Mexico last week, we left our furry kids at the vet. We don’t normally do this when we go away but Linkin was on daily doses of Prednisone so we thought it easier to have someone with him every day to give him his meds. A few months back he was diagnosed with insulinoma. Ironically, he had a condition that affected his blood sugar, only in his case it was too low. Unfortunately this is something that is very common among these pets. He was doing well on the daily meds until a week or so before we left for vacation. He had lost some weight and wasn’t eating normally. A call to the vet resulted in an increased dose of the steroid for him. When we dropped him and Dakota off the day before we left, we pointed out that he should be looked at by the vet while boarding there.
Fast forward to our third day of vacation when we got a message from the vet that Linkin had a seizure. When I spoke to her, she told me that his blood sugar dropped overnight to 20 mg/dL causing him to seize and that he was still unconscious. She wasn’t sure of his prognosis but there was a chance he wouldn’t make it. A few hours later when I called back we found out he had just passed away. I cannot tell you how hard this was being so far away from home. It definitely put a damper on our time away. And we didn’t get the chance to say a real goodbye to our little old man 😦 It’s crazy how attached we get to our pets. On the one night we had without them at home before we left, it was so quiet. Too quiet. We laid him to rest when we got home and the only comfort we have is that he is now playing again with his brother Elvis, who we lost only 13 months ago.
We miss you Linkin!! ❤
Vacation.
Is is bad that we just got back from vacation Friday night and I am already wishing we were still there? Joe and I were very fortunate to enjoy time away in Mexico, at a luxurious, adults only, all-inclusive resort between Cancun and Isla Mujeres. It. Was. Heaven.
We did a lot of nothing while we were there. And by nothing I mean laying by the pool, swimming in the pool, wading in the pool, drinking in the pool. Well you get my drift. And the food there was just delicious. We enjoyed French, Japanese/Thai, Spanish Tapas, Indian and Mediterranean cuisine for dinner. Lunch included some buffet and some sit down meals. And all of it was very, very good.
The weather was absolutely perfect every day. 80’s, sunny and breezy. The accommodations were wonderful … extremely clean room and every other part of the resort. The staff was friendly. It wasn’t a party scene but the entertainment at night worked well in getting guests to enjoy themselves.
And of course since diabetes wasn’t part of what we were getting away from …… walking along the beach one day, I stepped on something and cut my foot. Not a huge wound (it was actually pretty small) but enough to want to take care of it on the foot of a PWD. I found band-aids in the gift shop and some peroxide. That was keeping it clean and disinfected for a while but I still wished I had some antibacterial ointment. Well one day we went to the hotel zone in Cancun to do some shopping and I decided to search for some. I finally found some Neosporin type medicated stuff at the farmacia that cost me $18!!! A small price to pay I suppose for not getting an infection.
There were two things that I had with me that I was very thankful for and appreciated having with me. The first was my Kindle. I did a lot of reading while we were away. And I have to say it was such a pleasure reading on the Kindle not worrying about keeping pages down in the breeze while the screen was completely clear and glare free. It was light enough to hold for long periods of time while turning the pages at the touch of a button. (And no I do not have any association with Amazon!)
The second was my Animas Ping pump. Kerri blogged about this recently as well and I have to agree how great it was to not have to worry about disconnecting for the pool. When we were away last year, I was hesitant about keeping the pump on in the water. Even knowing it is waterproof, part of me was a little skeptical. This time I kept it clipped toward the top of my bathing suit top that way it would get wet in those moments when I actually went fully under water, but was not always submerged the whole time in the pool. It was great. I got lots of stares from people wondering what on earth I had clipped to me but I didn’t care. One guy even asked me what it was and I didn’t mind telling him. (I think he thought it was a pager + that I was a doctor!) They probably looked strangely at the Dexcom sensor on my outer thigh too. But all of that was okay with me. I was enjoying my time in the sun, at the pool, just like them. Just with a few technology devices making sure I could do that.
We’ve been slowly getting back to reality the past two days and going back to work tomorrow is going to be very, very hard! So for now, until our next get-a-way, I will have these images to remember. And keep me sane 🙂
The Girl with the Portable Pancreas 