Diabetes, life and all that - personal diary

[pavlosn]

Inspiring thread and wonderful photos - what a beautiful place to be.

One of the reasons I love photography is that it allows us to highlight the beauty that is around us ( while conveniently leaving the less slightly parts out of shot).
With cameras on phones steadily improving in quality it is very easy to take photographs on the spur of the moment.
I take daily morning walks and make a point of keeping my eyes open for anything that I can photograph and share. Especially this time of the year with things coming alive again after winter one does not have to look to hard. So my walks are part physical exercise part relation therapy - taking a pair of of headphones and some good music help with this.

Of course we are blessed with some wonderfully mild weather here in Cyprus and spring which is rapidly approaching is when the island looks at its best



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[pavlosn]

This morning's walk took in the garden and orchard of a local Greek Orthodox monastery. The grounds are open to the public during the day and are a great place to walk or take the kids for a bike ride away from road traffic. There is even a collection of birds there.



Citrus tree orchard


Mandarin oranges on tree


Water fountain and mosaic






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[Beshlie]

What beautiful photos, Pavlos, thank you. And thank you for this thread too .

 

[pavlosn]

Hi and thank you for posting.
You are right 85mg/dl is low for one hour after dinner. As it turns out at 2 hours I was at 116 mg/dl which is quite normal for me. As I am only on metformin I am not usually at a risk of hypos. I do not want to tempt fate but I do not believe I have had one yet - liver usually comes to the rescue if I am running low!


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I really should have kept my mouth shut, never a good idea to tempt faith. I just had a 65mg (3,7 mmol).

Why? Because, having already taken my lunchtime metformin, I then had to skip lunch because of a small medical emergency involving my dad, who unfortunately is currently in a care home following one stroke too many. Luckily the emergency proved not to be serious.

If it was a hypo I do not think it was a big one. I just felt anxious, finding it difficult to concentrate and with a slightly impaired sense of balance. Emphasis on "slightly".

So as I write this I have just enjoyed a sandwich and a kit kat - my first one for months. Guess they are right about every cloud having a silver lining.

I have to drive so I will first take it easy for a bid more . I will check my level before I set off. If I am still low then there was this mighty fine mars bar I will force myself to consume for medicinal reasons !





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[pavlosn]

Just tested again - a nice safe 102mg/dl (5,7 mmol). I guess that Mars bar will have to wait


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[pavlosn]

Just called my doctor to tell him that I believe I can manage on less metformin( not because of today's low but because of the general pattern of the last few days' counts).

He agreed, So from tomorrow no lunchtime pill, just one 850 mg pill in the morning and one in the evening


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[pavlosn]

Is there a YouTube link whereby we could view it... I bet it was lovely would have been nice to have seen it

We all need to find something to motivate us to keep fighting to control this disease of ours, no matter how difficult it may be and what sacrifices it may require of us. Personally, I need not look further than my 10-year old son for my own inspiration.

Prelude no 1 by Johan Sebastian Bach as played on the piano by my son at his music school concert last night.

Pavlos

 

[DiamondAsh]

We all need to find something to motivate us to keep fighting to control this disease of ours, no matter how difficult it may be and what sacrifices it may require of us. Personally, I need not look further than my 10-year old son for my own inspiration.

Prelude no 1 by Johan Sebastian Bach as played on the piano by my son at his music school concert last night.

Absolutely wonderful. Such talent. I can imagine why you feel so proud.

 

[pavlosn]

Absolutely wonderful. Such talent. I can imagine why you feel so proud.

Just a kid learning to play the piano but as he is my kid I do think he is wonderful! Now, as I keep reminding him, if he was not a lazy so and so and actually practiced a bid more, he would be considerably better!

He is taking part in the Cyprus Youth Chess Championship over the weekend in Ayia Napa, so all I will be doing this weekend is to wait OUTSIDE the hall where it will be taking place ( parents are not allowed in the hall) to try to console him if he loses


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[DiamondAsh]

Just a kid learning to play the piano but as he is my kid I do think he is wonderful! Now, as I keep reminding him, if he was not a lazy so and so and actually practiced a bid more, he would be considerably better!

He is taking part in the Cyprus Youth Chess Championship over the weekend in Ayia Napa, so all I will be doing this weekend is to wait OUTSIDE the hall where it will be taking place ( parents are not allowed in the hall) to try to console him if he loses

Excellent. Chess too! All good lessons. I do hope he does well and I'm glad you'll be there waiting for him. It's nice when parents do that.

 

[pavlosn]

Ok yesterday was a very interesting day with regards to glucose levels as it included my lowest ever reading. I ended up taking an unusual number of counts as a result over the last 24 hours . Here they are:

Yesterday 21/2/2014
- 7:23 am: 88 mg/dl fasting, then went for a 6km 1h10 minute walk
- 10:59am: 136 mg/dl, 2 hours after breakfast of two eggs a piece of toast and cup of tea with semi skimmed milk and after taking morning 850mg of metformin.
- 11:40am: 105 mg/dl, three hours after breakfast, had a snack of a handful of pistachio nuts
- 3:21pm: 65mg/dl, after taking 850mg of metformin at 1:00pm and then forced to skip lunch in order to deal with unexpected emergency. I had a small kit kat chocolate bar, feeling somewhat off balance and finding it difficult to concentrate
- 4:39pm: 102mg/dl after having a large brown whole grain roll sandwich with ham and haloumi cheese and a big box of strawberries, say 400g
- 5:36pm: 124mg/dl one hour after sandwich
- 6:46pm: 137mg/dl two hours after sandwich
- 8:40pm: 85mg/dl before going. Out to dinner
- 11:41pm: 126mg/dl about an hour after dinner with friends at favorite Syrian restaurant - had some grilled chicken, fattoush and tambouleh salads and some very nice wafer thin bread they prepare on site, which I asked them to cook extra crispy as I find that it does not spike me then

Today 22/2/2014
- 4:50am: 98mg/dl on waking up
- 7:25am: 106 mg/dl fasting level before breakfast of one whole meal toast and one small piece each of cheese and ham

I would not normally test anywhere near so much, but I was concerned after the afternoon low and after being asked by my doctor not to take my nighttime metformin pill last night.

Pavlos


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[pavlosn]

Where I will be this weekend

Let's hope it does not go too badly for my son.


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[pavlosn]

Lot's of free time in my hands today while waiting for my son to complete his chess games - at the half point in the championship he has won two and lost one of the first three games. All to play for tomorrow!

Here's some photos of the rocky beach by the hotel

And here are some miniature irises blooming in the hotel's lawn. Can you spot the little frog? I did not realize he was there until I saw the photo.

As for glucose levels: 85mg/dl (4,6 mmol/l) before lunch and 106 mg/dl (5,3 mmol/l) two hours later. Lunch was a salad bar buffet

Pavlos


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[NotSoSweet2]

Today's lunch tomato soup with one small brown roll ( could only finish about half the soup)View attachment 3294 and salmon sashimiView attachment 3295. Somewhat weird combination I know but that is what I felt like ordering


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It looks nice!

 

[pavlosn]

Good morning from Protaras, Cyprus

The plan was I would go walking in the nearby Cavo Greko park but the light in the beach near our house was so magical, I got stuck here shooting photo after photo.


Step count still 1300

Fasting level 118mg/dl


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[pavlosn]

Our garden in Protaras, the yardage may be restricted but the pleasure it brings us is not.



Sometimes size really is not everything!


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[pavlosn]

Managed to go for short walk in Cavo Greco National park which looks very attractive this time of the year

Korakas natural bridge


Wild Asphodels in bloom



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[DiamondAsh]

Wow, you live in such a beautiful place....

 

[pavlosn]

A couple of very short videos from our stay yesterday in Protaras, for you to hopefully enjoy:

First as very tranquil early morning at the beach closest to our summer house

Followed by the sea breaking on the rocks at the entrance of the Ayioi Anargiroi cave, a religious site, in the Cavo Greko National Park, which we visited on our way from Protaras to nearby Ayia Napa for the chess championship.

My son ended up in fourth place with four points (wins) out of six. The boy who finished in third, my son's classmate and friend, finished with the same number of points as my son but was awarded the third place prize because his opponents scored half a point more than my son.

So that was a bit of bad luck but a very satisfactory performance nonetheless.

 

[pavlosn]

We had an excellent lunch of fresh fish at the Potamos Liopetriou fishing boat shelter, where the colorful boats made for plenty of camera shooting practice:














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