Living with Diabetes: Getting back on track

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these posts. 

It should also come as no surprise, then, that I’ve gone a bit off track. If I don’t hold myself accountable, then I tend to start veering down the wrong road. 

So let me kind of go backward and then move forward again. 

So at one point (October 2018), I hit a point where my numbers were all out of whack. For my first two A1C tests in 2018, things were improving and going down. Then in October, it ballooned. 

Like a lot. 

So it was time to figure things out a bit more. I worked on getting a Freestyle Libre. I actually used this before then, I believe, For those who don’t know what a Libre is, it’s an item you put in your arm (it’s a mini needle attached to a sensor that is about the size of a quarter, though thicker) and you use a reader against the sensor to get your numbers. 

For me, it was nice because I could check myself a whole heap more, and not have to worry about pricking my fingers. It also went to my phone, so I could see the history a lot easier. 

Alas, there were issues with the Libre. It wouldn’t always stay in my arm. It would get off readings. When it was working, it seemed legit. Any time I matched those readings with the old fashioned way, it worked well. 

But for the price (my insurance didn’t cover it fully), it was tough. 

Then Freestyle switched the Libre from 1o days (on your arm) to 14 days and it really got bad. The sensors wouldn’t stay on, and the readings seemed a lot more wonky. 

During this whole time, mind you, I wasn’t as diligent about checking the old fashioned way. And because the arm was sensitive after a sensor came off, I would wait a day or three to put a new one on. That wasn’t smart. Why? Because I *thought* I knew what everything did to me. 

I didn’t. 

The story of my life with this diabetic journey seems to fall in the same way and I have to figure out how to change the narrative. 

So in January, things seemed to be pointed in the right direction. In May, my A1C went up, but not fully alarming – but enough to say “hey, get back on track.” And with the whole Libre thing really got me off track as well as … I don’t know. Not to make excuses but I thought I had it under control to, at least, keep it status quo. 

It wasn’t and my A1C again went up. 

Obviously, it’s frustrating. But at the same time, I only have myself to blame. So, back to the drawing board I went. 

How to replicate things was my biggest quandary. The old-fashioned checker I use is supposed to hook up to my phone, but for whatever reason it hooks up via bluetooth and then doesn’t get any readings. So, instead, I made a Google sheet to keep track of things. I’ve color-coded things so I can see when I’ve gone high, am in the right zone and all that. 

It’s my hope this will really start keeping me on track. 

That comes down to what I am doing with things, though. I’ve made sure I’ve kept walking, but I think incorporating a second walk daily is probably a good idea. That helps things quite a bit it seems, so it’s just making sure I can do it most days. The other day I even got in a three-mile bike ride, which was also nice, As the fall is upon us, I’ll be more apt to do these as well as the weather is nice for it. 

I’m also going to get back into writing about this whole thing on the blog once a month. I find when I get my thoughts out there, it helps. 

Some things I need to work on: 

– Portion control for meals

– Check my blood better

– Figure out the whole morning thing (numbers OK, then go up and all…I have some things I’ve tried)

– Think about the long-term

When I was at my last doctor’s appointment, he said  – sometimes you can do everything right and it still doesn’t improve. As we age, the body is different. If things don’t show enough improvement, he wants me to think about other options. I am not into the “I” word as I think it can be avoided. But something like a Trulicity might be something I have to think about. 

Hopefully, I can really start losing a bit more weight, stay active, and do what I need to do so it won’t matter. But only time will tell. 

My next appointment is the week of Thanksgiving, so I have about six weeks before my next blood test. Hopefully when those come back, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!