Since I last wrote, I’ve had my first ‘official’ appointment with my Diabetes Specialist. This was at the beginning of December – roughly 2months after I first started on insulin (HumulinM3). From my own testing regime I was expecting my HbA1c to have dropped from the 14.2 that it was at my ’emergency appointment’ to about 9 point something, so I was surprised (and pleased) when he told me it was down to 8.3. From my current testing regime, I’m expecting it to be around the lower 7s at my next appointment in April, so I’m pleased with my progress so far.
I must also say that the support that I’ve had from the North Lincolnshire Health Trust and my doctor’s surgery has been superb. Weekly phone calls from my Diabetic Nurse, bi-monthly check-ups at the surgery and no arguments about how many test-strips I can have per month has resulted in me feeling really confident about managing my diabetes. In fact, just before Christmas my local chemist (and the suppliers) had run out of my 4mm needles and the surgery actually rang around the other chemists to reserve some for me – how good was that?!!!
Actually, one of my check-ups at the surgery has left the nurse baffled and bemused. Whilst doing a neuropathy check on my feet, she commented on how good a condition my feet were in considering I was a 45yr old bloke (well she didn’t really say that, but I’m sure that’s what she meant when she said “You have lovely feet”). (One of the problems that society has nowadays is that we all tend to shower rather than bath. This means that our feet don’t always get the attention they deserve – hence the increase in people getting fungal infections and pedicures!)
Anyway, I mentioned that I have a foot spa that I use every three or four weeks to deal with hard skin. It’s a wonderful gadget and I really don’t know why I don’t use it more often. One of the features – apart from making more bubbles than a foam machine at a children’s party – is a wonderful ‘massage’ function. And here’s where it gets weird – every time I use it, I get a hypo later in the evening. The only thing I can put it down to is the vibration of the foot massage, you see, it doesn’t just vibrate the foot, it seems to vibrate your legs too. When you turn it off, you literally feel like you have jelly legs! We went through my exercise and food diary and could find no obvious reason why I should hypo. Whilst it’s slightly annoying, that 30 minutes of heaven in a bowl is worth it! LOL
It also gives me a chance to have a thorough check of my feet – which of course, is something that we should all be doing on a regular basis, especially at this time of the year when our feet are often numb from the cold weather, and we might not be as aware of any problems as we might be during warmer weather!