sad news and a sigh of relief

i found out today that the Dr that saved my life passed away yesterday.  Dr Wulwik was our family doctor when i was a child.  he was the dr that diagnosed my Diabetes.  the first dr my mother consulted sent us away saying i was just skinny.  then we saw Dr Wulwik and he took my mother's concerns seriously enough to send me for bloodwork.  he hunted us down, the day the results came back and sent us directly to the hospital.  he saved my life.  yesterday his life was cut short. a massive heart attack.  he left behind his wife and two grown children.  he left behind a large busy practice.  he left behind a lot of people that were lucky to have known him.  he will me missed dearly.  God bless him, may he rest in peace.


today i had an appointment with a new specialist.  Dr Hanson, Nephrology

i had all the lab work done 3 weeks ago.  the tubes of blood, the peeing in a cup first thing in the morning.  i already new that my A1c had gone up by .7.  i knew that my LDL was slightly elevated.  and i also knew that there was protein in my urine.  what i didn't know was what that actually meant.

so the first thing they did was take my blood pressure.  not once, but 6 times.  i sat in a little cubicle with a  curtain, hooked up to the monitor and it just kept inflating the cuff and doing its thing 6 times!

then i was asked to sit in the waiting room.  i didn't wait long before the Dr. called me in.
first thing i noticed was his smile.  yup, that's right, i said smile.  he smiled, introduced himself, shook my hand and said it was nice to meet me!

he started by stating that he was going to ask me a load of questions.  and he did.

he asked about all the surgeries i've had.  he asked about my eyes, my hands and feet, he asked if felt tired, if i ever fell asleep mid-sentence or at stopsigns while driving.  he asked if i got up at night to pee or if i've ever peed myself!  i must admit that i laughed at that one!  so many questions.

then he went on to tell me how the kidney's work. pretty sure it was the Readers Digest version.  how they filter blood, and sometimes the filters open a little too much and they let proteins through.  if they open even more they will let blood through.   he said that right now i have twice as much protein in my urine as a "normal" person.  there were numbers mentioned but since i cant remember exactly what they were i won't try.  all i know is that he did say that they would have to be 10X higher than they are before he would really worry.

according to him, this is not something that i need to "worry" about.  i just have to continue to take my blood pressure medication, try to stay away from salt as much as possible, exercise a little more, and continue to do my best to keep my BG's in the normal range.

upon leaving his office, he told me that he understands how Diabetes is a full time job, and he congratulated me on a great job in doing my best to stay healthy.

i liked this Dr.  he made me feel comfortable and he made me feel as if i was working hard, and as if
i did know what i was doing.  and he didn't make me feel stupid or like i wasn't trying hard enough.

so i will have an ultrasound of my kidneys done in the near future and i will see him in 6 months.

i will keep doing what i do,  and be thankful for all the good doctors i've had on my side over the years.

i think i'm a little depressed. or maybe i'm just mad at myself.

today was my Endo appointment. 

i am not feeling great about it.  i mean, i really like him.  and i like his nurse.  but the results were not
stellar.  and so i think i am feeling a little depressed by my results. 
the hard part about this is that i don't think Diabetes has ever made me feel depressed before.  seriously. 
i think the reason for that is simply because i never really gave a shit before.
wait, wait, just listen for a minute.

since i started really caring about my Diabetes probably about 2 years ago (after years of neglect and denial and ignorance), things have been getting progressively better.  my A1c's have been steadily dropping.  my kidney function was iffy(just found that out today too), but had improved steadily since last year.  my cholesterol and blood pressure were awful, but since i started seeing Dr. P and he told me to think of those meds as my kitchen tools, both were coming down to a good level.

today, my BP was good, but my LDL had crept up again.  i blame it on being lazy about taking my pills lately.  oh and i have rekindled my love of eggs.  and cheese.  my HDL was still good.   my liver function is good, but my A1c had crept up to 7.7  I seem to have had quite a few high morning #'s and that makes him think of lows between 2am and 5am.  i am unaware of lows most of the time, but i am seriously such a deep sleeper i rarely hear my pump alarm reminder.  so i have to set mine and my husbands alarm and get up and test!  

i am seeing a Kidney doctor at the end of this month, so i know that whatever may be going on there will be well looked into and i will be in good hands. 

it's the damn A1c that has me all in a kerfuffle.  i am not happy.  i am trying to push it to the back of my mind, but it keeps sneaking up.

Dr P. was okay with it.  he was not angry or aggressive (like some other Endo's i've seen have been).  he told me i was doing great and we just needed to do some tweaking.  he told me not to stress, i was doing fine.  

so i have decided to lower my carb intake.  give eggs a break (haha!), and cut the cheese(oh brother!) out of my diet.  i am going to increase my level of activity, and start eating more almonds again. 

i figure that if i do these things, even if i just do it a little at a time over the next couple weeks, then i should notice a difference.

he suggested doing a few middle of the night tests a couple days a week for the the next 3 weeks till i see my DEC ladies.   then with my pump download in hand, we will look at things and see if there are some areas that need a little work. 

hopefully, if i follow through with my plan, i will have a better A1c, lower cholesterol, and maybe even weigh a little less when i go back in 4 months. 

any suggestions for some yummy low carb foods/snacks (i love my chips) would be greatly appreciated!

HAWMC2012 and other stuff

 Hey everyone - I just wanted to tell you about a new activity I'll be doing this April. The Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge hosted by WEGO Health. I will be writing a post a day for all 30 days. I hope you'll join me in writing every day about health. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'd love to see what you have to say about each of the topics, too. All you have to do to join is sign up here: http://info.wegohealth.com/HAWMC2012 and you'll be able to start posting once April rolls around. Looking forward to writing with you!


and other stuff..............


so tomorrow i am going for some lab work.  some for my Endo,whom i see next Thurs,  and some for a kidney specialist i am seeing at the end of March. 
my last A1c was 7.0   that made me very happy and seemed to please my Endo and his nurse.  it has taken about a year to bring that down from well over 9.  i believe that most of the credit must go to my pump (and me i suppose for doing what i thought was impossible!).  
i will admit that i am a little nervous about this next one though.  i'm not sure why, but i have a feeling it may have gone up.  my BG's have been a little higher, and i haven't had as many lows since my last visit.  higher because of several colds(or perhaps it's the same one and it just won't go away!) and a wicked flu that thankfully didn't last very long.  less lows because of  some tweaking of the basals throughout the daytime hours and overnight.
oh well, i guess i will just deal with whatever it is when i find out.

the visit to the kidney specialist was a by-product of my last appointment with my cardiologist.  she said that with all of my "conditions" (diabetes and heart disease) it only made sense to get a Nephrologist on board.  not that there is anything wrong with my kidneys per say, but with the 3 of  them (cardiologist, endo, and nephrologist) working together they can keep it that way! 

in other news,  well, there isn't really any other news.  i am still painting, but we have not had a formal class these last 2 wednesdays.  just going to one of the girls houses and re-doing paintings we have already done.  practicing techniques and such.  next week we are going to a wonderful art store (which was supposed to be last night but it didn't work out for all involved), and i have a list of things i want to buy!  i am looking forward to that.  i am hoping to do some painting over the weekend so if i like what i do i will post a picture! LOL!

oh and i have 2 of my kids looking for employment.  what i need is to start a business of some kind that can employ them and pay me for managing it.  any suggestions?? 

flying mushrooms and other things

i'm sure i have mentioned that i work in a grocery store.  usually i enjoy going to work.  lately the hours have increased and part of me enjoys that.  but part of me is exhausted.  i work mon-fri babysitting my 2 grandkids as well as my friends granddaughter.  that is about 40+hrs a week.  then i work another 20-26hrs at the store. 

we have a self check out there, and you will frequently find me manning that post.

i don't mind this at all.  we have 6 units and they are usually fairly busy.  some evenings, though, they can be slow.  i sometimes feel as though i am just standing looking around.  i have occasisionally grabbed a magazine and started copying out recipes! 

the other night, i was working the self checkout, when one of our managers came by.  he had earlier cracked his head open and ended up spending 3hrs in ER.  i was joking around with him about that when a customer (the only one at the time), had an issue.  he suddenly shouted "are you the attendant here?"  to which i replied "no, she went home about an hour ago, but perhaps i can help you", all the while i am smiling at this man, and walking towards him.

all of a sudden he is throwing mushrooms at me!!

i somehow managed to catch them, but i was certainly surprised to say the least! by now other customers had arrived to use the other machines.    i kept on smiling and said "now what did these poor mushrooms do to you?"  and he angrily states  he "is not in a joking mood".

i quickly scanned the mushrooms (he had 2 packs), finished his order and got him out of there.

i noticed that my manager had disappeared rather quickly once the man let go with the mushrooms!
he came walking back over after the angry man left and says to me "he was a little unpleasant wasn't he?"

at that moment if i had still had the mushrooms i would have thrown them at him!! 

why do some people think it is within their right to be rude and ignorant to others?  i just don't get it.
i may be having a bad day, my dog may have just died, perhaps i was in the middle of making homemade cream of mushroom soup and realized i didn't have any mushrooms!!  but that doesn't give me the right to take out my frustrations on the innocent people around me. 

i really hope he arrived home and realized what and ass he was.  i hope he was embarrased.
i doubt that that is what happened, but i can hope can't i?

and now on to other things~~~~

i am continuing with my painting classes.  i really look forward to wednesday nights. 
here are the last few wednesdays paintings. 

week 4

week 5

week 6

this week there is no class, but we are going to a wonderful art store to browse and see what interesting things we can find.  i will be buying a couple more brushes and a few other handy little tools.  i will be doing some paintings on my own at home.

 if i like them, i will share them with you!