I am using my Dexcom along with MDI, so I feel a lot more comfortable on MDI this time around then I did 8 years ago…. I was also only diagnosed 9 months before that, so everything about diabetes was weird and uncomfortable at that time.  Going into the gym, my Dexcom was telling me I was about 135 and the One Touch Mini was giving me a 150, not too far off, at least for me.  Being at 150, I felt comfortable not needing to eat a granola bar or any other type of snack before I hit the gym, because I knew that I had my glucose tabs with me…… or at least I thought I did.

I always keep an emergency tube of glucose tabs in my car, but I forgot that I took them out because they were looking, well not so good, after sitting in a car for months in the south Florida heat.  I knew I was going to be staring at my Dexcom and putting my faith in it’s accuracy while I was working out.

Dexcom read above 120-130 the entire time and I didn’t “feel” like I was getting low, so I felt pretty uncomfortable continuing my workout.

First day at gym without the pump was a lot more fun than with the pump.  That’s a win for the MDI.

The MDI adventure will continue on.

I wanted to be 30 pounds lighter, but 30 pounds in 30 days is not going to happen. I’m sure I can buy one of those pills or those books that promise me that I can lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but I’m not sure if I will be alive on that 31st day.

This is going to be a stressful 30 days, so I’m sure the gym will be a relief from the days leading up to the wedding.

As I’ve mentioned recently, I am going off of the pump for a few weeks, possibly longer, and will be using Apidra and Levemir pens. I cannot get in to my endo’s office for at least another week, but I want to start now.

I figured, no matter what basal dosage we come up with initially, there is going to need to be testing that is done, so I figured I might as well try and calculate an approximate basal dosage, but damn it sure came out to a lot of insulin.

I honestly don’t remember where I heard this, but I swear I heard somewhere that most people use 25% less basal when using fast-acting insulin in a pump as opposed to an insulin like Levemir.

So, based on that assumption, which like I said, is totally an assumption because I THINK I heard that somewhere, here is what my calculations would be like:

Total Daily Dosage for Basal = 56.25
Additional Insulin needed = 25%
Total Daily Levemir Dose = 70 units

I plan on splitting my Levemir half in the morning and half at night. However, 70 units sounds like a lot, but until I can somehow continue to lower my insulin dosages by losing a little bit more weight, I don’t care if it’s a lot of insulin, as long as it is keeping my sugars in check.

I haven’t started on this plan yet, but I’ve sent an e-mail to my doc to have her confirm this dosage to at least begin testing out the right basal.

Once again, do not try this at home. Consult with your doctor on any changes to your insulin intake.

If you could please leave a comment or e-mail me any lists that you may have or contacts for this person, please do so.

I have already provided them information on the Children with Diabetes forums and the DRI’s P.E.P group.

Let’s help show the family of a newly diagnosed child that we are here for them.

I have decided to take part in this adventure, but with a little type of adventure, Powering Through Diabetes as an Entrepreneur.

I have written here before a little bit about the struggles that come along with being an entrepreneur with diabetes, so I will be writing a few more blogs this month about getting through certain struggles and hurdles in my daily life of running a business.

**Disclosure: By agreeing to participate in this program Duracell will provide me with batteries and Accu-Chek will provide me with test strips for a month. In return, I will post several times in the month of June about powering through several stressful moments.

These were the main reasons for wanting to head off the pump for a little bit.  It was also the fact that corrections with my pump are not working as well as when I use a syringe or a pen and take a correction bolus.  The final reason is something that may not be true, but I definitely feel it has some thing to do with each other.

Since I have been on the pump, I have gained nearly 50 pounds.  I’m not blaming it on the pump, but I don’t think it’s just a coincidence.  When I was taking MDI’s, I counted carbs better because I only wanted to take one shot.  On the pump, if I mis-calculated, no problem, I just hit a few more buttons.  When I was on MDI’s I didn’t eat a second portion because then I had to dial up another shot, but on the pump, I went ahead and had that second plate, or random bag of chips or snack here and there, because all I had to do was hit a few buttons on the pump.

Just hitting a few buttons on the pump is also one of the reasons why I loved the insulin pump.

After many discussions with family and my doctor, and with the help of now having a Dexcom to better track my BG, I have decided to switch back to MDI.  I will be using Apidra pens and Levemir pens.  When I was using MDI back in the day, I used Lantus and not Levemir, but I’m giving it a shot.

So, here goes to being back on MDI.

I have been to weddings where the funds that would have spent on wedding favors was donated to charity, so it’s not like we are re-inventing the wheel.  I think that I’ve heard of others doing this also.

So, my question is, what ways have you taken something that is not really a fundraiser, but donated the funds from it to charity?

Today is Day Two of Diabetes Blog Week.  Today’s blog prompt is:

Recently various petitions have been circulating the Diabetes Online Community, so today let’s pretend to write our own. Tell us who you would write the petition to – a person, an organization, even an object (animate or inanimate) – get creative!! What are you trying to change and what have you experienced that makes you want this change? (Thanks to Briley of inDpendence for this topic suggestion.)

I am writing a petition to all diabetes technology companies.  As with anything that I write, it’s going to be short and to the point.  There are a lot of us PWD’s that only use Mac products.  I converted several years ago, and I cringe at the site of a Windows based machine.  However, I have to turn on the dinosaur that I call my old Windows laptop in order to export some of my diabetes data from all of my diabetes gadgets.

So, to all of you out there that are decision makers behind diabetes technology, please, I am begging you, that any software that you develop, please make it Mac compatible.

Sincerely,

Mac Users

If you haven’t heard of Diabetes Blog Week, then click the link and read all about it.  Today’s prompt is:

Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one’s daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don’t see?  (Thanks to Melissa Lee of Sweetly Voiced for this topic suggestion.)

I have blogged before that I am very lucky to have the medical team that I have. My previous endo was type 1 herself and wore a pump and knew the daily struggles that I was going through, so I never had to feel like I was making excuses for things.  She totally understood, but would push me to be better.

That endo left the office, but the person that I see now, actually reads my blog from time to time, is just as amazing.  What I want to say to her and want her to see is, me saying thank you.  Thank you for not judging me or looking at me as just a patient ID number and giving me your time even when you are busy.  I don’t mind waiting in the waiting room for an extra 15 minutes because I know that you are spending an extra 15 minutes with another patient and know that you will do the same for me if it is needed during this visit.

I share with my endo personal items about my life and my job and reasons for highs and lows, and what I am doing wrong and how I am trying to improve that.  Like I said, from the horror stories that I hear, I am lucky to have a medical team like this.  I am lucky that I really don’t need to write this post to let them know these things because they take the time to ask these questions and learn more about my life other than just my numbers.

To my medical team, thank you.

Please check out more of the blog posts for day one here.

I am excited to be joining Blogabetes on dLife as one of their new Diabetes Technology Blogger.

Look out for the first blog post shortly.