Mr. Sandman bring me a......bottle of eyedrops

i've been doing a little research here, and i have a question to pose. 

do any of you notice that your eyes get dry and itchy, almost like there is dust or sand in them, when your BG is going up or even just a little higher than "normal"?

i've been told by my opthamologist that i have very dry eyes.  not alot of tear production apparently.  i find this kind of funny because some days it seems that my eyes water ALOT.  this does seem to happen when i get a little tickly sensation in my throat from the dry air at work.

but then there are times when my eyes are so dry they drive me crazy!  sometimes in the morning, other times it seems to happen for no reason.

i decided to do some research of my own, as well as some blood tests.  i was noticing that when i wake up in the morning and have that dry, itchy feeling, my BG's are usually a little on the high side.  heading towards or upwards of 10mmols. 

sometimes when it happens during the day, i test and again the BG is creeping up.  it may be right after eating a meal, or sometimes it seems to be hours after. 

there are quite a few sites online that state that people with diabetes do suffer from dry eyes and this is related to blood glucose control.  those with "less control" (i loved this way of putting it!) tend to have dry itchy eyes.  those with "better control" don't seem to suffer as much. 

i figure that i have about as much "control" as a person with diabetes can have.  i eat sensibly, test more than 6 times a day (some days upwards of 12X), i bolus for each meal and snack according to the carbs and glucose levels that my pump calculates for me.  my A1c has been decending for the last year (hopefully this one will be less than my previous 7.2).

and still, sometimes i feel as though i've walked through the Sahara Desert! 

funny enough, there are some sites that state that as women near the age of menopause or are going through it, there will be more episodes of Dry Eye Syndrome.  they also mention that a number of autoimmune disorders, including Diabetes, cause "dry, itchy, gritty eyes".

so i guess in my case, it's a little of both perhaps.  i will continue to test my BG's when my eyes feel this way, and see what kind of pattern develops. it seems my eyes are my own little CGM for high blood sugars!  please let me know if this itchy, gritty, sandy eye thing happens to you when your blood sugars are high. 

in the meantime, i will continue to hum this little tune, while dropping the lovely eye drops given me into my sandy eyes!

a mom's a mom, no matter....

this weekend past was our Canada Day Long Weekend. 
it was also my son's 29th birthday weekend and my mother's 70th birthday weekend.

we had already had a huge surprise party for my mother the weekend of the 23rd in her home town.
it was an awesome time.  family and friends joining to celebrate her 70 years.  the party was held in her home town.  one of my cousins owns the only pub in town (it's a small town!), so that is where we all gathered.  the meal was great, there were tons of laughs and a karaoke was set up later in the evening for anyone with the nerve to get up and sing.  my family has a lot of singers in it!!! 

prior to the party, as a way of keeping it a secret, we told my mom that we were having a bbq and pool party at my house on the 2nd of July. we told her that although Canada Day is the first and her birthday is the 3rd, this worked for everyone because of the holiday monday.  we always get together to celebrate her birthday and my son's (his is the 30th of june) on the long weekend. 

after the surprise party we decided that we would still get together the following weekend as "planned".

i worked all weekend (thur, fri, sat and sun), but managed to go see Jimmy Rankin with my son and his fiance for his birthday on Saturday night.  it was a great time.

we did the bbq on Monday.  my sister and her family were camping at a trailer nearby so they arrived around noon.  my parent got here just shortly before them.  my kids all tricked in and the afternoon began.

kids in the pool, music playing and the rest of us enjoying the lovely weather. 

dinner was greek. pork souvlaki, tzatziki sauce, lemon potatoes, spanakopita, greek salad.  delicious!!

for dessert, my mom made angel food cake(from a box) with strawberries and whipped cream.  it's a tradition that has been going on since my son was a little boy. 

this year while she was assembling the cake, she turns to me and says, "according to the box, there are 11 grams of carbs per serving."

even though she's 70 and i'm going to be 50, and Diabetes has been part of our life for 37 years, i haven't lived at home for 30 years! 

i guess a mom's a mom no matter how old her children get!

Happy Birthday!

credit ~ google.ca

              HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Today is Canada's 145th Birthday.  There will be much celebrating in my wonderful country today.  Parades, bbq's, beach parties.  Later there will be fireworks.  I hope everyone has a fabulous day!