The Life of a Diabetic » Living Normally with Diabetes

Working at Home with Diabetes

Chris — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:37:19 +0000

You may remember last week I write about how I left my job at an interactive marketing agency to go back to running my own company full time. There are a lot of risks that I have taken in doing so, but all risks that I am willing to deal with in order to reap the rewards. One of the positive outcomes that I am already starting to see is better control of my diabetes. Working at home with diabetes has become a lot easier for me than working away from home in an office.

First, all my supplies are right here. There were plenty of times in the past when an infusion set fell out, and I forgot to pack a few extras in my bag and had to drive all the way back home. Now, everything is either in the room I am working in or the next room over. If an infusion set is bad or has fell out, no big deal, I have more right here with me.

The next diabetes related item that has improved is my eating habits. I have been very strict with keeping a tight schedule while working at home and continue to have a lunch break from 12-1. There is no more eating out because I “forgot my lunch at home.” If there were no left overs from the night before, than I can simply spend the time to make a nice, healthy lunch as opposed to going out and grabbing a slice of pizza or a sub. That is only lunch, dinner is an even better story. Before, I wasn’t getting up until after 7 p.m. and I was always so tired to make a nice dinner. Well, I typically end my day at 5:30 in order to start cooking dinner for when Amanda gets home from work. We have been done eating and cleaning by 7 in the first week of doing this.

Next on the list of things that have been going better since I began working at home is the increase in exercise. My exercise bike is 10 feet from my desk. I have found myself just getting on the bike and riding for 30-45 minutes once a day. There is no more excuses that I don’t have time to do it and that I am too tired to do it after I get home from work. Starting tomorrow, I am actually going to begin riding the bike in the morning and get a good hour workout in before the day even gets started.

Finally, my blood sugars have been better because I am testing more, and honestly, I am just not as stressed out. My blood sugars would get high throughout the day because I was so stressed at work. Then, I would come home, and still have about another 4-6 hours worth of work to do and I wasn’t getting to bed until about 3 a.m. This just was not good on my blood sugars at all. I am also sleeping a lot better too. I have gone to sleep by 11, almost everyday in this past week. That is most likely due to change tonight, since I have a few deadlines for tomorrow.

Looks like the health reasons for going back to working from home and running my own company again are slowly taking shape. The financial reasons, well, let’s just hope they stay on track as well.

Have a great night everybody.

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Blogging Taking a Back Seat

Chris — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:16:36 +0000

Obviously one of my main goals for 2012 has not been accomplished. I wanted to try and post something every day for the entire year. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t think it was going to be this hard. I also didn’t expect as many distractions as I have had over the last couple of weeks. There’s been carnivals, fairs, festivals, sporting events, work, and just about anything else other than time to sit down and write. A lot of my time lately has been spent planning. My home office now has 4 whiteboards that are completely filled and each one is filled with ideas for it’s own project. I have a bad habit of jumping into things without planning them out properly, so I wanted to make sure that I plan my moves a little better in 2012, so that’s what I have been doing.

I haven’t been very active on Twitter or blog reading either, so I feel so damn out of it. It’s almost impossible to get through my Google reader anymore, but hey I am trying. I am back to reading books again, so that takes away most of my time for reading blog posts. I am trying to stay up to date with everybody, so if you receive an e-mail from me trying to catch up, it’s because I just want to be able to catch up with you and have not really had a chance to read every blog post.

Unfortunately, my diabetes has been taking a back seat to my business life and financial life. I have not been blogging and tweeting about diabetes, but have been financial planning, business planning, and life planning. It has also led me to not test as much and not put on a new Dexcom. Ya know, because it takes a whole 30 seconds to do it!

I am about to go through a total life changing event, so I have been stressed the hell out, which is one of the reasons for the massive planning, but I am beginning to feel comfortable enough with the change and am getting back to this blogging stuff.

I hope every one else has been having a great time.

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Still Sick, Just like 2 years ago

Chris — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

It’s official, my ears are totally clogged and I can barely hear out of them. I am tired, I am exhausted, and I just want to sleep.

This blog post is not very interesting, sorry.

I used to always laugh at my dad when he got sick, because he never did, but when he did, he acted like a little child. Reason I am telling you this, is because Amanda says that I am the same exact way.

Going to bed.

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Diabetes Sick Days Suck

Chris — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I have been sick lately, and it sucks. It makes it even worse that my blood sugars are all over the place the last 48 hours because of me being sicks. Diabetes sick days suck! As soon as I start feeling sick, I automatically start thinking of the diabetes sick day check list from the Diabetes for Dummies book that I read in one day after my diagnosis. I never remember all of the items on the checklist, but there are a few things that stick out to me. The number one thing being that my blood sugar can stay high during the whole time that I am sick.

That’s exactly how it’s been the last few days. My throat started to get sore and then my ear started to hurt a little bit. Not good, because this is exactly what happened a couple of ears ago when I had the blocked eustachian tube and had clogged ears for a few weeks.

Anyway, back to this diabetes sick day stuff. I am not wearing my Dexcom right now because I wanted to relax in a nice warm bath when I started to feel sick, so I took the Dexcom off. I have been testing my sugar more often though, and I haven’t been able to get it below 200 since I started feeling sick.

I have also been extremely tired lately. And since I write most of my blog posts at night, I am getting extremely tired in the middle of this post. More later on being sick.

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2012 Goals – Not Resolutions

Chris — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:55:41 +0000

2012 is here. I can’t believe it, but it is here. I have not set any sort of resolutions in several years, but I do set goals. No, they are not the same thing. My resolutions always tended to be things that I am going to change about myself. My goals are all about making myself better and reaching a new level. So there are a few goals that I have for the entire year, but mainly the goals I have will be weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.

First goal…. 2 weeks of a vegetarian diet. I was going to do 2 weeks Vegan, but I do not think that I can do it. I do not want to set unrealistic goals either. If I can get through the 2 weeks of a vegetarian diet, then I will attempt the vegan at another point.

My second goal is to post every single day this year. That’s right, from January 1 – December 31. It will be tough, but I am going to do it.

My next goal will be a quarterly one (even though it involves day to day management), but I want to lower my A1C each of the 4 times I get it done this year.

There are multiple other goals that I have, that involve weight, exercise, work, financial and advocating, but there are too many to list out here.

I hope everyone has a great 2012.

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Driving with a Low Blood Sugar

Chris — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:17:00 +0000

Tonight when I was driving home from work, my blood sugar started to feel a little low. I was on Interstate 95, so there was no way that I could just stop and test. About 45 minutes before I left work, I tested and I was at 105. First, you may be asking, why are you testing, don’t you have a Dexcom? Yes, I do. I finished my first Seven days with the Dexcom and it was starting to peel off because of a lot of exercising and moving around I was doing, so I didn’t extend it. Anyway, back to the drive home.

Before I left work, I stopped at the soda machine and bought a pink lemonade that was high in sugar and took a swig of it. I didn’t start to feel a little low until about halfway through the drive home. I drank a little more of the lemonade and I felt fine. But then I thought, what if I didn’t test right before I went home and didn’t buy the lemonade? I didn’t have any candy with me like I usually do.

As soon as I came home tonight, I made sure to put more candy in my bag that is always with me. It made me nervous thinking that I didn’t have any candy in there, and I don’t know when I actually ate the candy that was previously in the bag. Do you keep sugar tablets or candy or something sugary in your car with you at all times? I used to have sugar tablets, but the ants in south Florida are crazy good at sniffing out that sugar.

So, tell me about your scary driving experience with a low blood sugar. I try to test before I drive home from work, but I don’t always test before every single time that I drive, even though that I know you should.

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My Life Before Diabetes

Chris — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

This blog is obviously titled The Life of a Diabetic because I have a life and I just so happened to be diabetic. But what about that life I had before diabetes. I always hear people ask, are you glad you were diagnosed at 19 or would you rather have been diagnosed as a young child and not know anything different? Well, I don’t have an answer to that because I’ve only lived through one situation. But I will be the first to tell you, it is one hell of a reality check and a complete shock and change of lifestyle. If you have ever heard me speak or talk about my diagnosis, you would have heard the story of me being a freshman in college and being rushed to the ER with a blood sugar level of 858. And then life changed. Let’s take an adventure into Chris before diabetes (kinda like Behind the Music).

Growing up, I was just like any other child. I was very athletic so I played every sport possible, football, basketball, baseball, track. I was always an outgoing person that just wanted to do something to make myself better at a sport to try and get a scholarship one day, that was my whole goal. I was a fit, in shape kid. Hit 6’0″ in 8th grade and stayed that height through high school. I weighed about 180 going into high school and got up to about 215 before graduation. My life was starting to take shape. I was all about football and basketball, constantly practicing to get better. My parents supported me in anything that I wanted to do for sports. Camps, clinics, late night practice sessions, driving me from place to place. My dad always told me that I didn’t need to work through high school because my job was sports.

Towards the end of high school I started to see my life path and where I wanted to be in several years. I had a scholarship offer to play QB at the University of Maryland during my junior year of high school. I suffered a knee injury that required ACL, MCL, LCL, and cartilage removal (more on this later about how a doctor said this could have triggered my diagnosis). After that knee surgery, Maryland ripped up the scholarship. I was knocked down, but I picked myself back up and worked hard through rehab to get a full ride offer from Rutgers. Well, there was the next step of my life, I was going to play QB at Rutgers and pursue my dream of the NFL. And then a tweak to my ACL happened again, and my scholarship got taken away, because it was too much of a risk (kinda sounds like a pre-existing condition clause to an insurance company). Once again, dealt another bad hand, but got back up and kept moving.

Finally, I decided that instead of going to a junior college that Rutgers suggested, I would go to King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA for a year and get better. Second week of practice another knee injury set me back, once again. These knee injuries are like high blood sugars it seems like. I made it through the season successfully though. After the season was over, I began working out right away to put myself in a good position. Then I started to get tired, and even more tired everyday. I started to lose weight because I was working out. And then I started drinking a lot of water because my body was dehydrated. Then I kept urinating a lot because I was drinking so much water. Then I started losing an appetite because my body was getting worn out, so I decided to stop working out. I couldn’t keep up with the workouts anymore so I had to quit something for the first time in my life, I had to hang up the cleats. Fast forward to that night in college throwing up all day and night and being rushed to the ER.

That is a general summary of my life before diabetes. My whole life was sports, so I wanted to relate the sporting events to diabetes. So who knows if I would have had those opportunities to play division 1 football if I had diabetes. Knowing what I know now, and seeing Jay Cutler, of course I could. There were some obvious changes from my life before diabetes and my life now, but I am happy where this life sent me. I would have never moved to Florida, which means I would have never met Amanda. If it weren’t for diabetes, I would not own my own company right now. I would not be blogging. I would not have the opportunities now that I have.

That was my life and it made me the person I am today. However, today, I am the person I am….today.

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Living Normal with Diabetes

Chris — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

If you have been reading my blog frequently over the last 3-4 years or have spoken to me in person, then you will know that I speak frequently about “living normal with diabetes.” What does “normal” mean? I don’t know, but on the opposite end, what does not normal mean? Normal to me is the average. So, the average person does not have to worry about diabetes. So, when I say that I live normal with diabetes this is what I mean.

If I want to eat a piece of cheesecake, I will. It’s still normal because I just hit a few buttons on my “pager” and next thing ya know my body is receiving insulin just like a normal person. Now that I wear a Dexcom CGM, it makes me feel even more normal, but I had to check my blood sugar multiple times a day. That may seem un-normal, which is fair to say. But, I only did that in order to maintain my normalcy.

I exercise like a normal person. I eat like a normal person. I have ups and downs like a normal person. I do everything that a normal person does. I just have a few additional things that I have to do. Because of this, I get upset and happy over “normal people” things. I don’t get upset about diabetes. I get upset about my Philadelphia Eagles having a horrible season, like a normal person would (although some would say my state of depression from a 4-8 season is not normal).

There is one main thing that does not make me normal. And that is the fact that I have 1,000 friends that I’ve never met before. I have the DOC, and normal people can’t say that!

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What Diabetes Games Do You Play?

Chris — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:45:29 +0000

This Saturday I will be going to the Phillies and Marlins game in south Florida because it is the last time that the Phillies come down here. I will be watching the Virginia Tech game in the early afternoon and head down to the game directly afterwards. I am so happy that football is back, college this week and NFL next week. Anyway, on to what I’m trying to get to. I will be going down to the game a little earlier to tailgate. It is great to tailgate at Phillies and Eagles away games because there are so many Philly fans no matter where you go. When deciding to do the tailgating, we obviously had to plan which games we would be bringing with us. Beer pong table, cornhole, washers and of course a football. But then this got my thinking. What if it was a diabetes tailgate?

So, this post is going to end pretty fast, with a simple question.

What type of diabetes games do you play, and please explain how you play them? I am interested in learning some d-games.

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Keeping it Real with Diabetes

Chris — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:30:22 +0000

How many times have you all come to this blog and read that I was going to make changes in my life and lose weight and create a lifestyle change and stop eating unhealthy, and begin exercising and get healthy again? I recently looked back and did some site searches to try to find those kinds of posts and I was able to find about 20 different times that I said I was going to do this. Well, guess what I am going to be writing about in this post? You guessed it, I am going to be making lifestyle changes.

What makes me think that this time it is going to work? Because I have had some harsh realties lately, and I am not afraid to talk about them. The more I deny and hide them the longer this is going to happen. So, here is my confessional post.

I have blood sugars that are consistently high. When I test my sugar and it is under 200, I am happy. I count my carbs in my food and take a true bolus only about 30% of the time. I guess the other 70%. I have gained 60 pounds since I was diagnosed 7 years ago. At the time of diagnosis I was a size 34-36 waist for pants and shorts. I have recently been buying size 42 waist pants and shorts…. this weekend, none of those fit, I had to wear my size 46 shorts that I wear to golf in. When I walk up one flight of stairs, yes just one flight of stairs, I am out of breathe. Let’s remember, I used to be play college football (Quarterback).

I spend way too much money on fast food because I am too lazy to cook and clean up the kitchen after I get home from work. I make excuses not to walk the garbage down to the dumpster because I am too lazy, so sometimes I put it on the hood of my car and drive it to the dumpster. When I have a stressful day I eat Pei Wei, plus Amanda’s leftovers. Then usually follow that up with some ice cream.

Who is this hurting? This is hurting myself. Me being lazy is not doing me any good at all. I am making myself live a shorter life by doing all of this stuff or lack of doing these things if you want to look at it this way. And you know what? I am tired of it! I am tired of not fitting into clothes. I am tired of spending hundreds of dollars a month on fast food. I am tired of buying coffee in the morning instead of making it, and then eating a breakfast sandwich along with it. I am tired of eating a huge, carb filled lunch with fatty foods and then drinking 4 cups of coffee in the afternoon to keep myself awake.

Starting tomorrow, there will be a new me. I will be motivated. I will be driven for success. Things are not going to stop me. I will lose weight. I will stop spending dumb money. I will get more done in the diabetes world.

This is me, keeping it real!

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