PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION; my best swim yet: FRIDAY, the day AFTER Thanksgiving:
i’ll be brief and just post the numbers. but i would like to say that this was a true Dare Devel experience for me. but, mission accomplished.
2pm BG 116 took 1.5 Gtabs
2:30 BG 97 took 1 Tab
3pm BG 78 took 1 Tab
3:30 BG 91
4pm BG 75 got out of the pool and took 1.7 units bolus
4:30 BG 85 bolused 1.6 units for replenishment shakes and walked home.
a solid 2 hours of hard core swimming.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE; I HOPE YOU STUFFED YOURSELVES SILLY!!
have a great weekend. i’ll be carbing up and refueling.
i wasnt feeling shaky at all. i think, though, that it is much harder to judge my BG level while i am swimming in the cold water. but i wasnt blind sighted by the level. i pretty much anticipated it and was ready with my glucose tablets.
also, i knew that it was past the hour that i plateau and my BGs become stable without dropping much anymore.
i spent most of last night awake trying to bring down stubborn high BGs. it was awful. i was so tired when i woke up that i didnt think i had it in me to make it to the pool today. and, if that werent enough, i crashed down to 30 right after breakfast and had to juice-up. then my BGs went high, and i was on that all-too-familiar roller coaster. ugh.
but i refused to call it quits!
i gave myself a small correction bolus, turned off my pump, and prepped as usual for my swim. my BGs went up and up and up while i waited the 2 1/2 hours at 0% basal before i could jump into the pool. when i left the house my BG was 170. what a PITA !
now eric had nudged me to go back to the beginning of this thread, back to last year when i started swimming and read it to see how far i have come. he’s crazy, but he’s a genius all the same . but as i read each post, i was amazed that today i would be upset with a starting swim of 170. (that used to feel low for me as a starting point. i wouldnt have felt safe getting into the pool with anything under 200.)
anyway, i swam for 1 hour and 45 minutes. i turned out to be a fantastic swim. felt great. and my BGs are now back in tune (114). so glad i re-read those earlier posts. i really need to put things into perspective sometimes!
here are the stats anyway.
1:50 BG 173
2:30 BG 149
3pm BG 122
3:30 BG 113
3:45 BG 109 got out and bolused 1.7 units
4pm BG 114 bolused 1.6 units for replenishment.
UGH. WHAT A DAY. (but at least i did it. yay for me.)
If you recall, there is a “crazy” thing I told you long ago. As long as you go swimming, you beat diabetes and win. You only lose if it keeps you from swimming.
today was the opposite; i started out low, but gave myself one Gtab and hopped right in. just 6 months ago i would never have gotten into the pool under a BG of 100. now i feel much more confident. it amazes me. so much of this i learned from you, but the building of my own experiences have taught me to trust that i will be just fine. i know how to navigate what i want to accomplish with either insulin or carbs. i am much more flexible and it is much more natural feeling than it used to be.
TRUST THE FORCE AND THE 0% BASAL!!! (this really works )
GETTING USE TO UNPREDICTABLE BGs DESPITE MY BEST INTENTIONS:
although i keep my Bgs in great target range most of the time (my latest A1c last week was 5.5% ) D doesnt always want to cooperate with my life. i have had to learn how to fiddle with this and with that; more insulin, more carbs, a little less of this and more of that…
but its been a year now that i have been swimming as a pumper. all of it was so new. every day that i woke up a new situation would present itself and it has taken me a long time to learn how to instinctively go with the flow (LOL).
sometimes my BGs would seem too high to begin exercise, sometimes too low. at least that was how i felt and i would panic. no longer.
todays swim was another one of those days. i started out a bit low this morning, but i didnt think “oh, i’ve got to bag my swim, because my BG is too low for exercising”. i got rid of all IOB and right before my swim, i took 1 Glucose Tablet and jumped into the pool.
after taking the Gtab, my BG went up to 136. so i was able to swim with confidence and power. i love that kind of painful swim. it challenges me. here are the stats:
2pm BG 136
2:30 BG 128
3pm BG 110
3:30 BG 106
a nice, relatively flat line. feels really good. no panic, no fear, just unlimited!
hi everyone! its DM here. i want to thank those of you who have known about my recent surgery for all of your well wishes, and to let those of you who dont know that i have recently had surgery. (thus, the lack of my posts)
the good news is that the surgery went well. i had it last wednesday, november 29th. i have been home bound and it is going to be a long haul till i am going to get back into the pool doing my usual DM Swimming Experiments. i was told to expect to be out of the pool for about 4 months. lots of healing time.
although i wont be posting swimming experiments, i will keep everyone up to date on how i’m healing. so, keep on reading; there are so many D related things during a surgery/illness/healing process thing goes. (for example, i was up to a 175% Temp Basal Rate on my insuin pump last week. now i am at 130% TB ; diet changes, BG control…oh, BTW, 2 weeks ago i had blood work done, and my A1c was 5.5% )
i am certain that there will be many interesting educational things i will be experiencing and learning as the days pass. so, stay tuned
it astounds me that my surgeon didnt bother to ask me how my D management and my BGs were going since the surgery. she had made such a big deal about it when i tried explaining how my pump worked prior to asking me to count backwards from 100. but then a lot of medical things astound me: neither my eye doctor (retinopathy specialist) nor my podiatrist, ever ask me about my D or my A1cs.
yet, every single time i go to these doctors, they make me fill out elaborate forms of questions, many of which are specifically related to a D issue. do they even look at these forms i have filled out? or are they just for some bogus legal protection issue should i decide to sue them in the future?
(food for thought, guys , food for thought. )
in any event, my appointment went well. i am coming along fine. i was told that i was “over-doing it” and that i must rest my body more (" you’re only one week out of surgery" said the doctor. “now is not the time to go canoeing.” )
“all i did this week was go for a walk.” i told her. “well,” she said, “how fast were you walking?” (this was more of a statement than a question. but i knew that .)
the hardest thing for me so far has been to change my diet. i am used to burning a lot of calories each day that i swim; so, i am used to not having to think about counting calories or weight gain. i have also gotten used to eating tons of carbs (swimmer’s fuel), and now the only thing that carbs seem to do is require more insulin and put on the pounds.
so, my new diet consists of high protein and fat. (i used to do this diet before i was a regular swimmer and it kept my weight and BGs in check)
this is what i am eating: turkey, chicken, tuna, cheeses, peanut butter, almonds, salads and veggies, yogurt, decaf with cream, milk, and lots of water. (and of course, i cannot leave behind, my all time favorite: chocolate . )
i know that when i begin to be able to do some moderate exercise again, i will reevaluate my diet and add some more tasty delights (pizza, burgers, fries…pie). but for now, being rather immobile, i am limiting my food intake. just want to keep my adorable girlish figure
i get a call twice a day, every day, from my surgeons assistant. she is very thorough and very kind and considerate.
i let them know that i am bored silly and very frustrated that i am home bound; they know that i am typically a very active person. they continue to reinforce the necessity of taking things V E R Y S L O W L Y. ( I hate “slow” )
nothing else to report today. just grateful for my amazing husband and my lap cat, Oscar Wilde (a champagne Burmese with Wilde Green eyes) they are the best of the best. and if any of you have a pet or many pets, you will totally understand the value of my appreciation for Oscar. (well, my husband, too )
signing off, DM
PS: please dont be shy about replying to my posts. i need new reading material and wish to hear from any and all of you!!!
Hi @daisymae, just popping in to say hope you get better soon and get back to swimming as soon as you can. It’s tough when you’re homebound and can’t exercise like you’re used to.
Glad you are on the mend. I am assuming from your recovery horizon that you had a very invasive procedure. Please mind the minders, and take it easy. It is no small feat to recover from major surgery. My very active mother couldn’t believe that it took 6 months to get back to pre-surgery normal, but is now happy she took it easy, even though there were some extra pounds put on, and girlish figure that needed to be regained.
What kind of stuff are you reading to keep your mind from wandering? Perhaps the hive can steer you to some good stuff.
not really reading anything, as the meds have kept me kind of loopy; but, i am binge watching British TV shows and other Netflix marathons. all suggestions welcome!!! my attention span is very short and i find myself dozing off through many an episode only to wake up and not know what the heck i have just seen.
. but as i read each post, i was amazed that today i would be upset with a starting swim of 170. (that used to feel low for me as a starting point. i wouldnt have felt safe getting into the pool with anything under 200.)
