"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

[Riva_Roxaban]

I hope it works for your leg wound, what an inventive GP you have, how nice to hear of one who thinks outside the box.

Great news about the free appointment next time too.

She is very good as a palliative care doctor, she calls a spade a spade with no sugar coating with me.

I hope the Metronidazole works good as it will save me a fair bit of money each month, the price of a script $6.80 against $104.00 for 2x10 boxes of Carboflex.

She has come up with some good ideas since I have been seeing her, it's mostly about pain management though.

Normally phone consultations are billed as are home visits, and not bulk billed with Medicare. So a bit more money in my pocket thankfully.

 

[Annb]

Not a good day today. It was the day for my first iron infusion (2pm today for 2 hours) and, BG being pretty reasonable (8.9) this morning, I decided to have my crouton cereal with yoghurt and a couple of strawberries. Then thought I'd better have some lunch before I went. Made cauliflower curry - should have been with coconut milk but found I didn't have any in the cupboard, so I used yoghurt. I also decided to put a sweet potato in. It was a bit too sharp, so I finished it with double cream and it tasted fine. So far, so good.

However, I miscalculated and thought I'd better have the full amount of insulin because of the carbs in the sweet potato. Mistake. BG dropped to 2.9 in the car - full hypo - sweating, shaking, slow, heavy pulse, weak when I stood up. I'd already had a packet of crisps and a couple of sweets to try to bring BG up, but it was too late. As soon as I got into the hospital, they realised that all was not well, so I told them what the problem was and they sat me down and started plying me with tea, chocolate, biscuits, milk, toast. Eventually BG started to climb but I was still feeling awful - shaky and aching muscles. They took my blood pressure (low for me at 149/45), pulse (slow for me at 63) and kept checking BG until it had risen to 5.4 - took about an hour. BP and pulse stayed pretty low but they were reasonably comfortable with that. Then, of course, they wouldn't give me the infusion.

So it was a wasted 2 hours out of my life, 2 hours out of Neil's life and nothing to show for it except aching muscles and shaky legs. And I'm freezing. And it was my own fault. Edited to add: And I am having a fairly persistent nosebleed. Not the greatest day ever.

I have to try again on Monday.

 

[AndBreathe]

Not a good day today. It was the day for my first iron infusion (2pm today for 2 hours) and, BG being pretty reasonable (8.9) this morning, I decided to have my crouton cereal with yoghurt and a couple of strawberries. Then thought I'd better have some lunch before I went. Made cauliflower curry - should have been with coconut milk but found I didn't have any in the cupboard, so I used yoghurt. I also decided to put a sweet potato in. It was a bit too sharp, so I finished it with double cream and it tasted fine. So far, so good.

However, I miscalculated and thought I'd better have the full amount of insulin because of the carbs in the sweet potato. Mistake. BG dropped to 2.9 in the car - full hypo - sweating, shaking, slow, heavy pulse, weak when I stood up. I'd already had a packet of crisps and a couple of sweets to try to bring BG up, but it was too late. As soon as I got into the hospital, they realised that all was not well, so I told them what the problem was and they sat me down and started plying me with tea, chocolate, biscuits, milk, toast. Eventually BG started to climb but I was still feeling awful - shaky and aching muscles. They took my blood pressure (low for me at 149/45), pulse (slow for me at 63) and kept checking BG until it had risen to 5.4 - took about an hour. BP and pulse stayed pretty low but they were reasonably comfortable with that. Then, of course, they wouldn't give me the infusion.

So it was a wasted 2 hours out of my life, 2 hours out of Neil's life and nothing to show for it except aching muscles and shaky legs. And I'm freezing. And it was my own fault. Edited to add: And I am having a fairly persistent nosebleed. Not the greatest day ever.

I have to try again on Monday.

Oh, Ann, you are in the wars.

I was about to post to comment that I too have a misshapen boobie, after some slice and dice. I look upon it as my war wound.

I do hope you perk up pronto. Hopefully Monday will go well for you.

I have been decaf with coffee for some time now. These days, if I'm out and order a coffee somewhere and forget to specify decaf, I know all about it. It's more an agitation than anything else, but I wonder if your black coffee on an empty stomach, then physical effort could have been just a bit much.

 

[Antje77]

Mistake. BG dropped to 2.9 in the car - full hypo - sweating, shaking, slow, heavy pulse, weak when I stood up. I'd already had a packet of crisps and a couple of sweets to try to bring BG up

I'm so sorry, Annb, a hypo is never fun, but this was a truly ill timed one too!

If you have another real hypo like that, please remember to treat with quick acting glucose ONLY (sweets, coke, dextrose tablets, juice) at first, until you're up above 4 again.
The crisps delay the action of the glucose, so it takes longer to come out of the hypo.
It's only after you've got out of the danger zone that it's recommended to have something longer lasting, like crisps, chocolate, banana, sandwich, to keep you from dropping again.

I hope you'll feel better tomorrow, and I hope you'll get the iron infusion soon!

 

[Annb]

Thanks for the good wishes @AndBreathe and @Antje77. I hadn't realised that crisps would delay the action of glucose. I'm learning all the time. Sadly, sweets of any sort usually upset my stomach, as does glucose, either in tablet form or as a gel. I really ought to keep some of those little cartons of orange or apple juice in hand. Right enough - it was a bad one this time - only recovered after having a good long sleep in the kitchen chair.

I suppose I have to be a bit more careful about adjusting the insulin levels - I'm up to 56u of the basal dose and that seems to be getting the BG under a bit better control but it's the bolus that I need to get better organised. I should have realised last night that BG was a bit lower than usual and taken account of that.

 

[Antje77]

I suppose I have to be a bit more careful about adjusting the insulin levels - I'm up to 56u of the basal dose and that seems to be getting the BG under a bit better control but it's the bolus that I need to get better organised. I should have realised last night that BG was a bit lower than usual and taken account of that.

Looks like you're well aware of how to proceed!
Another thing which might have worked against you is the unusual activity and anxiety of your appointment. This may well have burnt more glucose than your usual activities, so you needed even less insulin than you already did because you started out on the low side.
On days I go swimming I take less insulin for breakfast, because the exercise drops me.

 

[Annb]

I have to say that, due to my poor mobility, I don't regard myself as ever doing what I would call exercise but what little movement I do make, takes a lot of effort and energy, so the same thing applies, I suppose.

Just to think, I used to walk miles and used to do fair bit of rock climbing and hill walking - all of which used energy though it never made me lose weight and doesn't seem to have stopped diabetes in its tracks. Of course, the whole thing got out of control when I developed pretty bad arthritis and couldn't do those things any more.

 

[Antje77]

Just to think, I used to walk miles and used to do fair bit of rock climbing and hill walking - all of which used energy though it never made me lose weight and doesn't seem to have stopped diabetes in its tracks.

Rock climbing sounds so cool!
No such thing around here, everything's flat where I live.

Exercise doesn't prevent diabetes in any way, but it does lower bg while you're at it (and sometimes for a bit after too).
Exercise is everything that makes your feel you are doing something - higher heartrate, quicker breathing, getting warm.
With your current health issues, I expect getting up, walking to the bathroom, wrestle with clothes before and after peeing, and walking back to your chair is exercise. Getting everything ready before your cleaner comes is heavy exercise.
Don't discount how much hard exercise you do to be able to live independently, despite a body which doesn't play fair!

 

[Annb]

Rock climbing sounds so cool!
No such thing around here, everything's flat where I live.

Exercise doesn't prevent diabetes in any way, but it does lower bg while you're at it (and sometimes for a bit after too).
Exercise is everything that makes your feel you are doing something - higher heartrate, quicker breathing, getting warm.
With your current health issues, I expect getting up, walking to the bathroom, wrestle with clothes before and after peeing, and walking back to your chair is exercise. Getting everything ready before your cleaner comes is heavy exercise.
Don't discount how much hard exercise you do to be able to live independently, despite a body which doesn't play fair!

Here there are few rocks to climb, other than those overhanging the sea as cliffs - never learned to swim so not comfortable for me. Where we lived before this, we were at the foot of the Scottish Highlands and our favourite place to climb was a quarry (well drained). To get to it we had to hike a couple of miles uphill, then we reached the not-quite-vertical quarry face. At the top we would set up camp and sit and have a little picnic, surveying all the country around. Then we would camp overnight and come home next day. The boys loved it up there as much as we did. Neil was an enthusiastic climber but Alistair was too young so had to be carried on my back (husband carried the rucksack with camping gear and food). We had to give up on that when Alistair got too heavy to carry, but still too young to use his own legs. He was a very big baby and toddler. Hill walking and cross country walking continued for a while after that - few hills here, but uphill to get to the open moorland and plenty of space for walking there.

I was already diabetic then (undiagnosed) but pretty fit until my knees started to give way on me (some comical stories there) and it became harder to walk on uneven ground. The boys took off on their own then and had their own adventures (more stories there). Plenty to remember, which is good, but it doesn't help with the current level of un-fitness.

 

[Antje77]

Plenty to remember, which is good

I love hearing your stories from earlier times!

 

[Annb]

I keep saying I will write them all down for Em, but haven't got around to it yet. Must do that sometime soon, or it will be too late. At least that way my fingers will get exercise (on the keyboard).

My brother has been committing his memories to electronic "paper". He was born during the 2nd world war and caught polio in 1948, so his memories are of excitement, taking shelter during bombing raids under the big Victorian table in our grandparents' house (grandad had built a bomb shelter in the back garden but mum didn't like it and preferred the safety of the table), being carted away in an ambulance and being in an iron lung, rough kids in the convalescent home (he was fairly delicate) and so on. My childhood was pretty bland compared to his.

 

[Antje77]

I keep saying I will write them all down for Em, but haven't got around to it yet.

Please start!
It doesn't have to be organised, you can just write them as they pop up. You can start today by copy and pasting the above story to a document, and if you do some searching you'll find more of your own stories on this thread which are worth remembering.

My childhood was pretty bland compared to his.

But it was yours, and therefore interesting!
Besides, it's the small day to day things which are most interesting. Bombs and iron lungs are so alien, even for people 40 years older than Em, it's hard to relate to.
But a story on how the weekly laundry was done in your childhood, or about the pig which was kept next to the house for a year before it was butchered in the barn, or a story on how your mum put the cat outside of an evening, but it always snuck back in through your bedroom window to sleep on your bed, those are the real stories!
(No idea if you had a pig or a cat of course, but every bland childhood holds stories like this.

 

[Annb]

Please start!
It doesn't have to be organised, you can just write them as they pop up. You can start today by copy and pasting the above story to a document, and if you do some searching you'll find more of your own stories on this thread which are worth remembering.

But it was yours, and therefore interesting!
Besides, it's the small day to day things which are most interesting. Bombs and iron lungs are so alien, even for people 40 years older than Em, it's hard to relate to.
But a story on how the weekly laundry was done in your childhood, or about the pig which was kept next to the house for a year before it was butchered in the barn, or a story on how your mum put the cat outside of an evening, but it always snuck back in through your bedroom window to sleep on your bed, those are the real stories!
(No idea if you had a pig or a cat of course, but every bland childhood holds stories like this.

Might just do that. I have realised how alien things from my childhood and youth are to Em and have had to explain a few things of which she has absolutely no knowledge (things like before TV or early TV, old-fashioned telephones and telephone boxes, the joy of real books).

 

[Annb]

Going by my condition today, I've come to the conclusion that, when I go back for my iron infusion on Monday, I will have to ask Neil to take me in with the wheelchair. It's not a long walk, not even really for me, but today my legs feel as though they are broken at the knees - that usually implies too much on my feet the day before.

 

[AndBreathe]

Going by my condition today, I've come to the conclusion that, when I go back for my iron infusion on Monday, I will have to ask Neil to take me in with the wheelchair. It's not a long walk, not even really for me, but today my legs feel as though they are broken at the knees - that usually implies too much on my feet the day before.

Annb, when my father was unwell ( he had an aggressive form of a progressive condition), when the time came, he embraced a wheelchair as his means of remaining part of an active and sociable world. He was the same with his Blue Badge.

My mother on the other hand had to be near (possibly even actually - ahem) bullied into using a wheelchair. She detested the prospect with every fibre of her body and felt folks would be looking at her. The reality was folks were just pleased to see her out and about and doing things outside her four walls.

If utilising the wheelchair means you get your infusion and may have some energy for the remainder of the day, so be it, I say.

 

[Annb]

Annb, when my father was unwell ( he had an aggressive form of a progressive condition), when the time came, he embraced a wheelchair as his means of remaining part of an active and sociable world. He was the same with his Blue Badge.

My mother on the other hand had to be near (possibly even actually - ahem) bullied into using a wheelchair. She detested the prospect with every fibre of her body and felt folks would be looking at her. The reality was folks were just pleased to see her out and about and doing things outside her four walls.

If utilising the wheelchair means you get your infusion and may have some energy for the remainder of the day, so be it, I say.

You're quite right, of course and I remember how unwilling Tom was to use a wheelchair. In fact, he was told he would be in a wheelchair by the time he was 40 but managed to fend it off until he was 73. But eventually, and bit by bit, we persuaded him. I understood his feelings then but eventually he realised that it was essential. Now I am in the same boat, for different reasons, and just feel that I am a bit of a pain for poor Neil who has to do all the pushing around. Not that he ever complains or indicates unwillingness in any way. It's just me feeling that I should do as much as I am capable of. Not much, but it's becoming less and less.

It takes a lot to come to terms with that.

 

[Annb]

Getting the balance right between my basal and bolus doses is being a bit of a problem. I've put my Tresiba (basal dose) up to 56u and that does seem to keep BG down to the 8's in the morning, even if I eat a slice of wholemeal bread. That's all to the good. But then it starts to go wrong because it's dropping down too low in the afternoon, even if I take an extra amount of carbs around lunchtime. Then again, if I take a sufficient dose of my bolus insulin (Humalog) before eating my 2nd meal, it will keep control for a few hours and then drop away to the 3's or even 2's.

So today I am going to take a reduced bolus dose and let it drift a bit high this afternoon and hope it will stay around 4 or 5 tonight. Just an experiment. If it was during the week, I would have called the diabetes centre for advice, but they are no longer working at the weekends. Might have to be ready to take a correction dose. It doesn't help that my last sensor, which I put on yesterday, just isn't working and I'll have to wait to get another to replace it, so no alarms when it drops too low and I'll just have to keep on finger pricking to keep an eye on it.

At the moment, BG is dropping fairly quickly through the 5's. Had a sweet (liquorice allsort) to try to stop it and will see what results.

Sometimes life gets TEE-DEE-OUS!

 

[Annb]

The sweet stopped the drop. It's settled around 8 and I'm hoping it will stay that way.

 

[Annb]

5.9 this morning.

Went to get my iron infusion at the hospital but, as discussed, I got Neil to push me in with the wheelchair. It's an elderly and rather shabby one - first belonged to DIL when she broke a bone in her back some years ago. She passed it on to Tom and it served him well until he was given a new, well padded, specially-designed-for-his-needs one. DIL had it back when she was heavily pregnant with Em and having mobility problems as a result. Now it is mine.

Even shuffling around to get into and out of the wheelchair had me puffing and panting and struggling to get a breath. Same on the way back. While I was at the hospital they were anxious that I told them if I felt any pain or ill in any way (lots of people react to the iron) but I was OK. By the time I got home, I wasn't! Had to fall into the chair and sleep for a couple of hours, feeling really very ill and really struggling to breathe. However, that seems to have pretty well passed now so all's well. I will tell them about it when I go for a further infusion next Monday.

One good thing - I seem to have got the insulin right today. BG in 5's and 6's today so far.

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

We just did a online shop at Woolies and stuff is starting to get back to normal, where we had a couple of shopping list pages full of out of stock items there is only a few items unavailable now. It's mostly the cheaper generic store brand label thta's short.

Plenty of delivery slots available now as well, but we will be keeping the new Thursday delivery time between 09:00 - 12:00 slot as it's handier for me.

Starting to get some of my blood test results back, hba1c is ok at 5.7% / 39 mmol / mol I'm happy with that. Digoxin levels have already been sent to my cardiologist at the Friendlies but she said they look ok. All the minor tests including lft and psa were good so it looks like the polyp has not gone forth and multiplied yet. (I read that last bit in book once)

Waiting for the blood count test result, that's the one I want as it could mean a trip to the oncology dept for a nice sandwich or three and black coffee and a bit of friendly banter with the nurses and other patients in there getting chemo etc.