Wasted

Thursday, about 12:30 a.m. my pdm went off. I knew I was due for a pod change, so I'd taken it into the bedroom with me.

"Change pod now. 8 units remaining." (Or something like that. Hey, I was half asleep!)

I hit the "OK" button and went back to sleep. 8 units would get me a few more hours.

4 a.m. it went off again. This time it was flashing "LOW" at me, without a specific number.

Huge sigh.

Roll off bed. Grab glasses. Shove them on my face. Stumble to living room. No extra lights needed, kitchen light over the sink is enough.

Yank open drawer of the dresser where I keep all my supplies. Grab replacement pod. Three attempts to shove drawer back in, make a mental note to rub a bar of soap on the drawers. Later.

Sit on couch, push buttons, yank old pod off of my right arm. Fill new pod with insulin. Push more buttons. Wait. Rub left arm with alcohol swab. Beep from machine. Smack on new pod. More button pushing.

Wait again.

Click.

Click.

Click. THWACK! Check site. Clear, good. Push button. Stumble back to bed.

Remind my body not to turn over onto my left side. Snuggle up on my right side for the first time in 3 nights.

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Fast forward to about 8 p.m. Thursday night. Our little Yoshi is running around the living room. He has so much energy. Of course, being 9 (10???) weeks old, that's kind of expected. I'm trying to eat something because I'm starving and my sugar was 46. How does THAT even happen??

I felt it a little, but NOT like normal. Juicy juice to the rescue. Commence eating pizza quesadilla.

Yoshi keeps attempting to scale Sophie's cat perch. She's getting fed up with him, so I'm attempting to allow him to run around, while diverting his fast-as-lightning attempts to get to her. This entails me standing guard in front of it, swooping down to catch him and turn him around. He's running so fast and I catch him so fast that his little feet keep running in the air as I turn him.

Unfortunately, one of those times, I hit my left arm--exactly where my pod is stationed--on the corner of one of the perches. Sophie laughs.

Ok, she didn't, but I assume she would've. She's mean like that sometimes.

"CRAP!" At first I think I just hit it straight on, but after turning around to look, I can see that the adhesive has pulled up at the top and I can see down underneath the pod. I can fit my index finger in it and feel the cannula has pulled out.

Loud sigh. Replace. More beeping, pushing buttons, click, click, click, THWACK! Use the needle to suck the insulin out of the old pod, shoot it back into the vial for use another day.

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Another fast forward to about 10 p.m. I'm about to go to bed, standing in the bathroom making faces in the mirror...yes, that's kind of normal for me. All of a sudden.....

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...."

You get the idea.

"RAWER!!!" (Yes, I say RAWER. I channel baby dinosaurs when I get mad) Now I'm really frustrated. The new pod, number 2 of the day, is malfunctioning.

BACK out to the living room. Nothing on the pdm. How is the pod alarming and there's no helpful information on the pdm?

I make J shine the flashlight on his phone down onto the pod to see if he can see the cannula. "Yeah, I see it. It's in your skin."

Phooey on you, pod! I hit the ok on the machine and it tells me: "Pod deactivated."

WHAT?? Whyyyyyyyy?? Whiney voice. I pull it off and then I can see it's majorly kinked. Like, almost in half.

Third pod. Buttons. Beeping. I think I'll try my stomach again. Left side, lower than normal. Clicks. Done. BED.

Mental note....no rolling over onto my left side tonight.

So, an accomplished day. I wasted 2 pods. Woo-hoo.

What did YOU do on your Thursday??

On a better note, I'm finally going to get to trial the Dex. I go to my CDE on the 7th to have her put it on me (I'd like to attempt that myself, but whatevs), then back to the doc on the 14th to have her go over my results with me. Hopefully (and I can't believe I'm saying this) I'll have some lows that I can catch before them become Lows or even LOWS. But I'm more excited about catching the spikes. I hate spikes.

I have a feeling my week is going to look like this:

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

That wouldn't be so bad if it were the stitching I wanted to do on my sewing machine....instead of my sugar levels....

Projects

I have sooo many projects in the mix that I'm not sure where to start.

Ok, I've started a few, but I've been lazy. The beginning of the week really wipes me out and I feel like I have no time to do the things I want to do. Having a 9 week old kitten that just wants to play and looks up at me with those adorable little blue-green eyes and mews so sweetly at me also makes me want to sit and do nothing but play with him. Teensy, dagger-like claws and everything.
Hopefully this Saturday I will be energized and motivated and be able to get stuff done.

aka: Little Man, Big Guy or Cutie Bootie

*I cleaned the chair and light fixture that I found in PA. It was gross. I think it'd been kept in a barn or mudroom. I need to sand the chair a little bit, then paint. I also need to pick up a new chain, wiring kit, and paint for the light. Glossy red. It'll be smashing.

before cleaning

Little Miss Inspector

close up of the grime

*I have three small pallets (about 3'x2') that my f-i-l got from work. They're currently another perch for the cat to sit on. They need to be sanded, painted (or stained, I'm not sure yet), nailed/screwed together and then I need to get some casters to add to the bottom. Then I'll have an awesome table for the porch. . . and I'll just need chairs.

*Speaking of cat perches, it seems we might be in the market for a second one. I have a table that J brought home from work. I'm not sure if I want to use it in the living room or transform it into a cat tree for our second baby, Yoshi.  

*I picked up a silver-colored candlestick, a medium sized silver-plated (I think) oval wire bowl, and a small pot at Value Village for under $5. They'll be glued together, painted white, and used for storage on our bathroom counter. We don't have much horizontal counter space, but we can go vertical. So far I've only managed to clean all of these. I need a hot glue gun...

*I also picked up a brass candlestick and small plate that will be glued together and used beside my sink to hold a few odds & ends.

(Can you tell I'm putting Pinterest ideas to work??)

*In the same shopping trip to Value Village, I found chocolate-colored tabbed window panels that are 80" long. After a quick ironing, they look great in our master bedroom and I can finally take down the bright pink sheet we've been using to cover the french doors with for 11 months (wow, it's been almost a year!!!).

*I also scored what I thought was a single rose printed curtain panel by Waverly. I thought it would be pretty fabric for a pillow or two. I need more pops of red in my living room. Turns out it was a valance and just what I needed above my kitchen sink! Happy surprise.

I know I won't like it forever, but it's pretty for now

That was a good Value Village haul. All for about $23.

*I'm still working on ideas for a headboard for our room. I found a picture on Pinterest the other day of one that was made with pallet wood of random sizes, topped with essentially a 2x4 turned flat to be like a small shelf. I really like that idea. And the pallet wood would be free (wood would--ha!). With the chocolate brown window panels that perfectly match some art that I'd made from OTHER curtain panels that I'd bought from Value Village, I think I want to pull out the rest of the colors in that floral pattern to make a bedroom that's not too matchy-matchy, not too modern, not too vintage, but a nice mix. I need to add in some golden yellow somewhere.

Original creation & picture by Lovely Crafty Home

*I also seriously want to paint my craft room. I think I've decided on a color...maybe. Or not. But I know once I head to the store to actually BUY the paint, I'll be able to decide. The guest room needs paint too, but until it's done being used as a kitten isolation chamber, I can't even plan.

*I've been keeping an eye on this GREAT mirror at my favorite antique store. Yesterday I noticed that it was finally marked down to $30. I pondered for quite a while. It's probably 4 feet long and a good 4 feet high, with a really thick wood frame. The mirror is held in with screws on the back and I think I could take it out. But it wouldn't have been quite wide enough for a headboard (it would have worked, but it would have bugged me since it would have been 6" short on each side) and I couldn't think of what else I'd want to use it for. I couldn't justify it, so it stayed in it's little corner and I went back to work.

*J has a cute little wooden nightstand that I noticed needs paint. It'll be going in the guest room, so I need to wait until I decide what to paint in there before I can get it painted. But I really really want to start on it.

And all this stuff is just the "make up" of our little home. None of it even touches the major stuff that needs done (new deck off the master, master bathroom overhaul, guest bathroom mostly-overhauled, new flooring throughout the house, kitchen cabinets refinished, kitchen counters replaced, front yard landscaped--and that's just off the top of my head). Home ownership. . . yay.

But I wouldn't trade our little house for anything!

First step is prioritizing my projects by time and money needed to complete. A glue gun is cheap. I'll start there.

"That's some patch!"

Traveling to Pennsylvania the other day, we stopped for lunch at a fast-food restaurant connected to a gas station. While I was standing at the end of the line, a man and what seemed to be his grandkids came up behind me.
I could see him out of the corner of my eye and I could tell what was coming. The conversation went something like this.

He craned his neck towards me and his eyes bugged out as he ogled my pod, currently located on my right arm.

"I've seen patches before, but that's some patch!"

So I nicely explained (yes, I was nicer than I wanted to be) that it was my insulin pump.

"Is that right?!?" He was astounded.

I knew what was coming next.

"You know, my wife and I both have diabeatus. Type 2. She's worried about this one getting it," and he indicated his grandson next to him who looked to be about 12.

I tried to nod politely as the line moved forward.

"I have the peripheral neuropathy in my legs. They just ache all the time, especially when I sit a long time. I just can't go [places] as much as I used to."

He kept talking and I made the appropriate noises as I studied the menu, trying to figure out what I wanted before it was my turn in line. (Don't you dislike those people who stand in front of a menu for 5 minutes, but can't seem to start their decision making process until they're at the register??)

"Well good luck with your pump. I hope it keeps working for you."

I said, "Thank you," and to the grandson, "You be careful too, keep your carbohydrate intake down and stay active."

I'm not very good at talking to strangers, especially when I'm boarderline low and food is within reach. But I hope that kid remembers and takes care of himself.

New Developments

It's been a busy week since my last post. We enjoyed a somewhat relaxing 4th of July and ate dinner at my parent's house. The next day a few of us left on a girl's trip to PA. We stayed with my aunt and cousin and had a great time. We could only stay two days, then had to head back.

Farmland in Amish Country

My cousins' pup Charlie who's never known a stranger. Sweetie pie!

Taken from the car, I ended up with powerline poles in every shot.

Gettysburg as we passed through

Pre-dawn over the Susquehanna as we were leaving on Sunday

While we were there, I wanted to stop into the Habitat ReStore. We have one here in our town, but I haven't been able to find anything good there. And not good as in "perfect condition, needs no work," but good as in, "surely I can do something with this." So I was ecstatic when we walked in and I realized it was the size of a warehouse. I probably could have spent the rest of the day in there poking around, but there was no a/c and even though they had a good many fans blowing, it was still pretty stuffy. BUT I found this great light that I'm going to paint red and hang in my kitchen. I think it needs rewiring, but "my electrician the brother" (as my husband said one night) can handle that if I decide I can't. Then my mom found a great little wooden chair that just had to come home with me. It's kind of sad looking because it needs SERIOUS cleaning, but once I do that and give it a nice paint job with some distressing, it's going to look great in our bedroom.
Here's a fairly dark pic of both that I took this morning as I ran out the door. They're being stored in the garage until I can get around to cleaning them.

At $8 each, they were a steal

And FINALLY for the most recent and cutest item of business....meet our new furbaby Yoshi.

We rubbed that purple towel on his momma before we left, so he was pretty calm during the car ride.

His big sister isn't quite sure what to make of him yet, but her curiosity will win out and I have a feeling they'll get along just fine.

While his siblings were busy trying to claw their way up my jeans (and succeeding!), he snuggled right up in my hand and started to lick me, then fell asleep.

So far he likes to be around us and likes to hear us talk to him. I think his eyes are still changing - they're a pretty blue/green mix right now. His momma had green eyes, so we'll see how his end up. Today is his first day all by himself, and I'm going to pop home over my lunch break and check on him.

I think it might be hard to give both cats equal attention for a while. Yoshi is just so cute and playful and Sophie will allow you to play with her on HER terms, which is typical. Someone  needs to stop trying to win her love with tuna fish and lunch meat though. . . ahemahemhusbandahemahem. She's gaining a few pounds.

On the diabetes front, the trip to PA was my first trip with my OmniPod system. I was anticipating some issues, but really didn't have any.

The only minor issue I had was that, when I went to the pharmacy three days before we left to stock up on Apidra, I was told my insurance wouldn't allow me to have any more until Sunday--the day we were returning from the trip (also the day the pharmacy is closed...but whatever). I called my doctor's office and left a message, but wasn't able to get in touch with them until we were already on the road. I had borrowed a Humulog pen from my brother and took some Lantus that I had. I really only ended up being one day short. It was kind of nice being able to take a pod break, if only for a day. I took the same amount of Lantus that I had been taking before I started on OmniPod and was anticipating some lows, but had none. I didn't want to take Lantus too long before my pod expired, so I took it about 8:30 a.m. I allowed myself to run a little high while traveling and wasn't sure exactly how long all of the Lantus would take to work it's way out of my system. By the time I got to the pharmacy yesterday morning and got a new pod on I had decided to reduce my basel rates by 30% for the next 8 hours. Total SWAG, but it seemed to work. My numbers have been pretty steady since and I suspect there's still some Lantus working in the background.

I'm not one for all kinds of funky calculations and tweaking of my rates....it seems like a good idea, but I just cannot put that much brain power into it. My diabetes has to fit my schedule sometimes, not the other way around. That's why I love how the OmniPod system does all the bolus calculations for me and keeps track of how much is already in my system, etc.

The worst part of traveling is coming home and having to unpack!