Sunday, April 22, 2018

BIT OF THIS AND THAT, AND A WEE VIDEO TOO

I made another Soup Bowl Cosy yesterday afternoon, using some fabric I'd had for probably 20 years!
All was going well... till I tried to iron it!
It fucking melted!!!
So, I patched the melted bit, finished it off and threw it to Bex and said:

"Here ya go, you get the 2nds!"


ABOVE:  It's such a pretty bowl, she's going to use it to hold her skein of wool. 
The rest of that lilac fabric got thrown in the bin... it must be some sort of acrylic or nylon mix.  Ikkkky.



ABOVE:   A little video of the kids playing with the dogs yesterday.

Bex, Brylee and the kids will be leaving for Auckland around lunchtime.  After they leave, Stew and I will be doing the grocery shopping.
I also need to pop into Spotlight for more batting.

So the day is pretty much mapped out till mid afternoon.

ONWARD...

Observation:

If 'normal' blood sugar levels during the day are say 4-7.... mine used to always be around 6-8, with the odd high around 11-12.

I took my reading after lunch yesterday, having eaten a banana and SMALL handful of grapes for breakfast, a scotch egg and coleslaw for lunch and another small handful of grapes around 1pm. 

The reading was 16.6,  I freaked out!  Considering I'd not eaten any processed carbs or sugar AT ALL in three days, I expected it to be low.

So, I took another test late afternoon and to my extreme relief it was down to 7.8... and I took it again after dinner and it was down to 6.8.

PHEW!  Perhaps the lack of carbs/sugars AND the increase in metformin will work?

And perhaps I shouldn't be eating bananas and grapes either?   

I think I will be testing myself for a while to see what I react to.  The pricking of the finger is horrible, I cringe every time Stew goes to stab me, but I know it has to be done to make sure I'm on the right track.

SECONDARY ONWARD...

I took my 'fasting' test this morning.  Well Stew did the pricky thing!
And it was 11.5.  So not that good.
Then I had some No Sugar Greek Yougurt with some frozen berries for breakfast and had my Metformin.

I'm going to have lunch then test again.

I must have lost some weight already... my rings are spinning around on my fingers!

Well the family have left for home, and Stew and I are going to do the grocery shopping.  Griffin is staying home ... grocery shopping is not his thing.  NOT mine either, but some bugger has to do it.

I will be getting more steak, something I usually don't like at all.  But, we had rump steak last night and it was just so delicious!  Stew only cooked it for 2 minutes each side in a very hot pan... PERFECT!

4.35 pm:  SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!
Stew just took my readings again (that prick hurt!), and after breakfast, lunch and doing the grocery shopping (exercise), my level went down to 6.4.
THAT means my pancreas IS working!  I am so bloody relieved.
THAT means I can control this with exercise and diet... I just have to be very, very careful what I eat from now on.

OMG I can't wait for my next HbA1c test in 3 months.  Maybe it will actually be GOOD?

I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself... there is still that big niggle there.

LYNDA:  With the 'number result' I got from my last blood test, the doctor said there was a GOOD CHANCE my pancreas had already totally given up, and was no longer working to produce insulin.

That is why I freaked out... because if I couldn't get my blood sugar levels to go down with diet and exercise, it meant INSULIN injections or a pump was unavoidable for me.

And that is why I am so thankful my recent daily testing is showing a drop, it means my pancreas IS still working.

Well... it's been a good day on a whole... lovely to see family... Russell and Ange called in late in the day too.
Signing off... catch ya tomorrow.

19 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:36 AM

    Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When you prick your finger, make sure you do it on the side of the tip of the finger, fewer nerves. Apparently different finger prickers are gentler than others, our T1 D son has always used the ones coming with Abbot readers. However, if you want to minimise that and get a full picture of what your bloods are doing all day, e.g. to check out what foods drive you high, you could trial the Freestyle Libre (mediray.co.nz). I would not recommend it f/t for you, just to try it out for one fortnight so you get an idea of what happens when y eat certain foods. However, it's no funded so it's just under $100 for the fortnight for the sensor, and you would either need a reader (ask the D nurse they sometimes have some to loan). Our boy has been using it for about 3y now, but as I said, he is T1, so for him it replaces finger pricks permanently.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning :) Here is a fantastic website that has everything you will ever need to know ie, best place to draw blood, how to test blood, what your blood should measure, what you should etc etc etc. There is just so much information here so take some time and have a good read. Basically your diabetes bible!! Bananas and grapes are very high sugar - perhaps have half a banana and swap out grapes for some berries which are low sugar. Google is your friend and you can search the sugar/carb content of almost anything! Testing your reaction to food is the best way though. You should see how my blood sugar goes after having KFC coleslaw... scary.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did I forget to link the site? Here it is. http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php

    ReplyDelete
  5. Both fruits high in sugar unfortunately. Stick to berries which is hard at this time of the year but very small amounts . Sucks huh!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:58 AM

    A lot of fruits are high in natural sugar

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am so so SO proud of you for checking your sugars! I actually got a bit teary reading it! LOL!
    Surprising things increased my reading. I can have a bit of coconut sugar in my coffee, makes no difference. Bananas, watermelon, grapes and send it mental. Diet drinks didn't make it move BUT I have the most uncontrollable urge to eat sugar after one which I why I let it go. When DH has a diet drink, he gets a huge spike. It's all about learning about how your own body reacts xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous11:12 AM

    Hi

    Are you keeping a food diary and recording the readings to take to your appointment ? then based on that you and the dietitian can work out a food plan that suits you etc. good your sugars came down so well...I am not diabetic but feel my blood sugar is too high as well...might get a checker myself..my fasting sugar was 6...the dr didn't say anything....I bet a few people reading your blog are thinking the same and looking at their diets based on everyone's input.

    Peta

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No not really. I don't think I could bear to take prick tests all day, every day! The past couple of days I have been doing it, to see if what I'm doing it making a difference. I think it is. A fasting of 6 sounds really good to me!

      Delete
  9. Anonymous12:28 PM

    In proud of you testing yourself Chris, well done. I read that long fermented sour dough bread helps keep readings down and it seems to help mine a little. I don’t mean the super market rubbish either, I have been making my own, not that I am suggesting you do that.
    It takes time finding what works for each individual.
    Dee

    ReplyDelete
  10. great effort re your readings Chris

    ReplyDelete
  11. The trouble with T2 diabetes isn't that the pancreas isn't working... it's that it has to work too hard due to insulin resistance. Metformin helps with that but the entire aim of low carb eating is to reduce the need for so much insulin. When you eat less carbs you body does not need to respond with so much insulin. T1 diabetes on the other hand is there the pancreas produces no insulin at all. If you keep up what you are doing and you will not only get great HbA1c results but everything will improve. You might even become a convert like me :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for explaining - I don't know whether to kick you for allowing it to get that bad or hug you for finally taking it seriously :) My sister now relies on insulin after ignoring her diabetes for too long. If you take this really, really seriously then you will be fine.

      Delete
  12. That's awesome news and trial and error in foods I bet onward and downward with those numbers. And you never with increased walking you will be leaping and bounding over skyscrapers. The kids are getting so tall.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What great news that your pancreas is still working!
    You will get those numbers down and get off ALL medication, I know it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. amazing you are having positive results already, keep up the good work!! Christy xxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. You sure use a lot of big words I don't know the meaning for in this post! Cozy? I've heard of it, like a tea cozy, but don't know what it means! Skein? Never heard that one!

    My secret for getting pricked and shots is this: If you don't look, it won't hurt. If you look, it will. Tested and true by me. You still feel it, but it's not bad.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Glad you explained that! I didn't know there was a possibility your pancreas quit. Yikes. I guess that might be truly great inspiration to watch what you eat. Interesting. I don't know much about a diet to control diabetes. I thought it was all sugar related, but you are talking bread, and carbs. Well, I hope you can truly control it. Something for us all to think about!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Bananas and grapes have a lot of natural sugar in them. Berries are better for low sugar.

    ReplyDelete

Comments will be published once approved by a blog admin. Thank You.