Hello!
Today I got GOOD news... finally...
Rewind. A couple weeks ago we finally found a family doctor for my husband and I (first success, yes!). We went to see her for our meet and greet and shared our frustrations with conceiving. She told us she'd like to send us for a couple blood tests and a semen analysis before sending in our referral. SO, 3 weeks or so later, we've done 3 blood tests and 1 semen analysis and we're ready for our referral. Uncertain of the steps involved in all of this (save the bloodwork and referral) I call the fertility clinic to ask a couple questions. To my GRAND surprise, they had a file started for me and my doctor (thank you for being amazing!!) had sent in my referral and all our blood results on Friday. I was shocked to see the journey had already started and was ready to hang up and wait for a follow-up call when the girl on the other line asked if I wanted to book an appointment. Of course I said yes right away and within minutes... we had an appointment.
Weeks ago, when I first called the clinic to find out about all the steps they had said the wait was approx. 6 weeks which I found to be quite short given the information I had got online and from others who had gone through the process.
Well, we got an appointment... and it's ONE WEEK AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe this is actually happening.... it's like all my dreams are coming true and I cannot WAIT for the next step.
I'm SO excited... I have butterflies in my stomach.
Test results:
So far, all my test results are normal and positive, so we'll see what the doctors have to say. *fingers crossed*
Monday, July 16, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
A1C!
Hello to all!
I just wanted to announce that last Thursday I went to the dietician to talk about smart foods to eat to reduce spikes and to talk about my A1C results.
IT IS 6.8%!!!!!!!!!!! My husband and I are so beyond happy! My A1C 6 months ago was 8.4, then 3 months ago it was 7.6 and now... it's 6.8! I can't believe it :) That happened because I've been working like a crazy person to reduce it... now.. the doc said we're good to go for baby making! For some reason... it seems more real now. Before, when we were already trying, I kept worrying that if I did become pregnant, the docs would be worried and I would feel judged. But now, I feel like it's time... for real.
To say the least, we're REALLY happy.
TTC update:
I seem to have ovulated on day27, which would make me 4DPO (4 days post ovulation)... if I can make it past 7 I'll be happy!
A.
I just wanted to announce that last Thursday I went to the dietician to talk about smart foods to eat to reduce spikes and to talk about my A1C results.
IT IS 6.8%!!!!!!!!!!! My husband and I are so beyond happy! My A1C 6 months ago was 8.4, then 3 months ago it was 7.6 and now... it's 6.8! I can't believe it :) That happened because I've been working like a crazy person to reduce it... now.. the doc said we're good to go for baby making! For some reason... it seems more real now. Before, when we were already trying, I kept worrying that if I did become pregnant, the docs would be worried and I would feel judged. But now, I feel like it's time... for real.
To say the least, we're REALLY happy.
TTC update:
I seem to have ovulated on day27, which would make me 4DPO (4 days post ovulation)... if I can make it past 7 I'll be happy!
A.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Liver, thanks but no thanks!
This post is a little overdue but I opened my blog to write a post this morning and saw the draft sitting there... thought I would go back to this original thought...
To be honest, it's not the first time or the last time it happens so it's pretty timely anyway.
Last week, at 5AM, during a nighttime/early morning test, I woke up at a staggering 26.0. WHAT! Yes... 26. I know right? Scary... how did I feel? Terrible, sick, tired, nauseous...thirsty. Man, was I ever thirsty. I decided that I would sleep an extra hour and go in to work later...
I couldn't remember exactly what had happened to cause this high until later on that day I went through my night time readings in my trusty meter. I had been woken up at 2AM by my husband and was at 10.3 so I had decided to bolus to lower it to a normal range. Little did I know that the meeting between bolus and early morning basal would be so tragic and turn into such a BAD morning (pardon my reference to a bad date).
It turns out, my bolus made me crash and my liver decided to give me a boost of sugar which sent me soaring into the high 20s. HOW the HELL did this all happen within 3 hours? I don't know.
It seems that this COULD be helpful if you're comatosed and your liver is trying to save you but because I DID wake up... I wasn't so happy with the outcome. Of course, I wasn't wearing my new CGM which could have caught this problem. At the same time though, last time this happened (going low in the night), my CGM shut off for 3 hours and I woke up at 19... so I'm not sure I would have been better off had I had it plugged in.
Liver, thanks...but no thanks!
A
PS. You'll see some creative posts on this blog starting soon too. I've decided that instead of having a D blog, a sewing blog, a knitting blog and a whatever else blog, I'll have ONE... and it'll be here.
To be honest, it's not the first time or the last time it happens so it's pretty timely anyway.
Last week, at 5AM, during a nighttime/early morning test, I woke up at a staggering 26.0. WHAT! Yes... 26. I know right? Scary... how did I feel? Terrible, sick, tired, nauseous...thirsty. Man, was I ever thirsty. I decided that I would sleep an extra hour and go in to work later...
I couldn't remember exactly what had happened to cause this high until later on that day I went through my night time readings in my trusty meter. I had been woken up at 2AM by my husband and was at 10.3 so I had decided to bolus to lower it to a normal range. Little did I know that the meeting between bolus and early morning basal would be so tragic and turn into such a BAD morning (pardon my reference to a bad date).
It turns out, my bolus made me crash and my liver decided to give me a boost of sugar which sent me soaring into the high 20s. HOW the HELL did this all happen within 3 hours? I don't know.
It seems that this COULD be helpful if you're comatosed and your liver is trying to save you but because I DID wake up... I wasn't so happy with the outcome. Of course, I wasn't wearing my new CGM which could have caught this problem. At the same time though, last time this happened (going low in the night), my CGM shut off for 3 hours and I woke up at 19... so I'm not sure I would have been better off had I had it plugged in.
Liver, thanks...but no thanks!
A
PS. You'll see some creative posts on this blog starting soon too. I've decided that instead of having a D blog, a sewing blog, a knitting blog and a whatever else blog, I'll have ONE... and it'll be here.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Charting and fertility
Haven't posted in a while but thought today would be a good day to get back into it. To be honest, the last couple of days have been pretty rough. Hubby and I have been trying to religiously chart this past cycle to make sure we maximized the chances of conceiving our first baby. It worked - we were able to chart a WHOLE month BUT of course, we were unsuccessful.
Charting is not easy work either...you have to wake up every morning and take your temperature, notice symptoms and signs that could be your imagination playing tricks on you (did I just feel my ovum drop) and stick your fingers in your va-j-j to see what your cervical mucus looks like (it's true, AND I was really excited when it measured 5in long and was like egg whites (which means you're really fertile) & pee on many ovulation sticks to properly time intercourse. When you've done all that and it seems you've done beautifully, you wait. Not just a couple days... but 14 in fact! For me, it seems my cycle and my body hates me because my period started on day 7. What does that mean? WELL, it could mean lots of things... mainly that my body is not giving itself enough time to actually make a baby... lack of progesterone and such. Progesterone is the hormone that enables a pregnancy to happen and to create an environment for your baby to grow. If you have a low level of progesterone (which I think I have) your body sheds its lining too early hence not allowing conception. (boo.) Of course, this could all be a fluke month, so we'll continue charting and see if next month is different. Meanwhile, I will start taking B6 supplements, which has been known to lengthen the luteal phase (time after ovulation) and I have purchased Pre-Seed to help keep my hubby's swimmers alive in case things work out with my cycle. In any case, I will be getting a referral to a OB/GYN so I can have my levels of progesterone tested.
Long story short, I'm frustrated.
Am I the only one who finds it awfully coincidental that when you're ready to conceive you can't?? When you're a teenager, you work SO hard at trying to avoid pregnancy and when you're an adult with a steady income, you're married & you own a house, it seems to be the most impossible task ever! I guess it's proof that life is not always easy and you have to expect the unexpected which in our case is crappy crappy disappointment.
Better luck next time I guess!
A
Charting is not easy work either...you have to wake up every morning and take your temperature, notice symptoms and signs that could be your imagination playing tricks on you (did I just feel my ovum drop) and stick your fingers in your va-j-j to see what your cervical mucus looks like (it's true, AND I was really excited when it measured 5in long and was like egg whites (which means you're really fertile) & pee on many ovulation sticks to properly time intercourse. When you've done all that and it seems you've done beautifully, you wait. Not just a couple days... but 14 in fact! For me, it seems my cycle and my body hates me because my period started on day 7. What does that mean? WELL, it could mean lots of things... mainly that my body is not giving itself enough time to actually make a baby... lack of progesterone and such. Progesterone is the hormone that enables a pregnancy to happen and to create an environment for your baby to grow. If you have a low level of progesterone (which I think I have) your body sheds its lining too early hence not allowing conception. (boo.) Of course, this could all be a fluke month, so we'll continue charting and see if next month is different. Meanwhile, I will start taking B6 supplements, which has been known to lengthen the luteal phase (time after ovulation) and I have purchased Pre-Seed to help keep my hubby's swimmers alive in case things work out with my cycle. In any case, I will be getting a referral to a OB/GYN so I can have my levels of progesterone tested.
Long story short, I'm frustrated.
Am I the only one who finds it awfully coincidental that when you're ready to conceive you can't?? When you're a teenager, you work SO hard at trying to avoid pregnancy and when you're an adult with a steady income, you're married & you own a house, it seems to be the most impossible task ever! I guess it's proof that life is not always easy and you have to expect the unexpected which in our case is crappy crappy disappointment.
Better luck next time I guess!
A
Friday, May 11, 2012
New pump & CGM
Yesterday I was hooked up to my new Paradign Veo pump by Medtronic. The Veo is Canada's only pump with the ability to monitor blood glucose levels using a continuous glucose monitoring system.
Let's rewind a bit... In 2009, I received my first pump - the Animas Ping. I LOVED my Animas Ping and it's been my diabetes buddy since I started pumping almost 3 years ago now. I loved the fact that my meter would remote to my pump and I didn't need to touch it in order to bolus... I loved that it was 100% waterproof and I LOVED that it was my favourite shade of green.
Bottom-line is that we want a baby and we want a healthy one. How will we get there? Well... I need to lower my A1C by .6% and then maintain these blood sugars throughout the pregnancy.
SO, we decided that starting the CGM would be the smartest choice for a healthy conception, pregnancy and thereafter.
Which brings me back to yesterday, my start day. Amber (the diabetes nurse/educator) came to our house for my training and we got right into it. I trained on the pump (easy because it's very similar to the Animas) and then I was ready for the CGM. We decided that instead of being completely overwhelmed with the alarms of the CGM, I would start it but without alarms until next Wednesday at her CGM info session. Then, she would check out my charts and turn on all the alarms for me.
After my first day, I've calibrated 4 times; had the CGM display low MOST of the time and been on target only 2 or three times. I think it's been a good day, haha. They say it may take 2 days for the CGM to be calibrated and so I'm hoping that tomorrow it shows some more 'real' numbers. As far as lows go, I've been having tons recently and I'm not really sure what's causing them but I hope they too adjust themselves soon. Tonight I turned on all the alarms and set my range so it wouldn't be TOO distracting. Already I've had far too many alarms but only because of my frequent lows.
We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Let's rewind a bit... In 2009, I received my first pump - the Animas Ping. I LOVED my Animas Ping and it's been my diabetes buddy since I started pumping almost 3 years ago now. I loved the fact that my meter would remote to my pump and I didn't need to touch it in order to bolus... I loved that it was 100% waterproof and I LOVED that it was my favourite shade of green.
Bottom-line is that we want a baby and we want a healthy one. How will we get there? Well... I need to lower my A1C by .6% and then maintain these blood sugars throughout the pregnancy.
SO, we decided that starting the CGM would be the smartest choice for a healthy conception, pregnancy and thereafter.
Which brings me back to yesterday, my start day. Amber (the diabetes nurse/educator) came to our house for my training and we got right into it. I trained on the pump (easy because it's very similar to the Animas) and then I was ready for the CGM. We decided that instead of being completely overwhelmed with the alarms of the CGM, I would start it but without alarms until next Wednesday at her CGM info session. Then, she would check out my charts and turn on all the alarms for me.
After my first day, I've calibrated 4 times; had the CGM display low MOST of the time and been on target only 2 or three times. I think it's been a good day, haha. They say it may take 2 days for the CGM to be calibrated and so I'm hoping that tomorrow it shows some more 'real' numbers. As far as lows go, I've been having tons recently and I'm not really sure what's causing them but I hope they too adjust themselves soon. Tonight I turned on all the alarms and set my range so it wouldn't be TOO distracting. Already I've had far too many alarms but only because of my frequent lows.
We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Could Isagenix be helping??
My mother has been using Isagenix for the last couple months and she SWEARS by it. Since she started, she lost 25lbs and feels amazing. She works out twice a day because she has a ton of energy and is now making some profit from her business. Long story short, last week I caved and decided to try it out. She gave me a box of shakes for 7 days until I ordered my 30 day system and I went all in.
Since my start date last Wednesday, my blood sugars have NEVER been better. I have NO idea if I should be thanking Isagenix but all I know is that my bloodsugars have been over 10 only once in the past week. It's ok to be completely SHOCKED at that information. I sure am.
My husband thinks my next A1C will be under 5. (haha) Is it wrong that I keep thinking that my body will catch on and my blood sugars will go back to normal? (of course, I wish this was normal all the time)
Enough about Isagenix....I START MY NEW PUMP TOMORROW!
For our baby making adventure, we decided that we would take advantage of ADP and upgrade to the Medtronic Veo pump with CGMs :) I'm excited about it and can't wait to know what my BGs are doing at all times of the day. Only issue is that my insurance doesn't cover it and I expect it will be VERY pricey.
Will update tomorrow on how it goes :)
Goodnight!
Andrée
Since my start date last Wednesday, my blood sugars have NEVER been better. I have NO idea if I should be thanking Isagenix but all I know is that my bloodsugars have been over 10 only once in the past week. It's ok to be completely SHOCKED at that information. I sure am.
My husband thinks my next A1C will be under 5. (haha) Is it wrong that I keep thinking that my body will catch on and my blood sugars will go back to normal? (of course, I wish this was normal all the time)
Enough about Isagenix....I START MY NEW PUMP TOMORROW!
For our baby making adventure, we decided that we would take advantage of ADP and upgrade to the Medtronic Veo pump with CGMs :) I'm excited about it and can't wait to know what my BGs are doing at all times of the day. Only issue is that my insurance doesn't cover it and I expect it will be VERY pricey.
Will update tomorrow on how it goes :)
Goodnight!
Andrée
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
In the fives? What the F!
In the fives is simply what all diabetics which they were. Let's
write a little list...I'm thinking it will only have 2 items of
importance on it.
"In the fives" is about life with type 1 diabetes and how it often becomes very much like that friend you secretly hate but can't live without. Except in this case, I could life without it and would prefer it... but unfortunately, due to that being impossible, we can't be separated. Damn.
This blog's purpose is to document my struggles, realizations, excitement (not all that many), amazement and any other random things I want to share about my special relationship with my inactive and probably dead pancreas.
Pity party aside, diabetes has been a part of my life for over 7 years now and it has allowed me to experience some pretty awe-inspiring things and has introduced me to some amazing people.
In the next couple months, I'll focus on my husband and I's adventure in trying to conceive (TTC) with type 1 diabetes. Hope you stick around for the ride!
Project 1: A1C under 7%
Status: 7.6%
(as of May 3, 2012 - next A1C test: July 1, 2012)
- A1C target = under 7 but my DREAM would be 'in the fives'
- If my meter was intelligent and knew how to please me it would read 'in the fives' every time. (Ok, it doesn't actually say 'in the fives' but you get my drift).
"In the fives" is about life with type 1 diabetes and how it often becomes very much like that friend you secretly hate but can't live without. Except in this case, I could life without it and would prefer it... but unfortunately, due to that being impossible, we can't be separated. Damn.
This blog's purpose is to document my struggles, realizations, excitement (not all that many), amazement and any other random things I want to share about my special relationship with my inactive and probably dead pancreas.
Pity party aside, diabetes has been a part of my life for over 7 years now and it has allowed me to experience some pretty awe-inspiring things and has introduced me to some amazing people.
In the next couple months, I'll focus on my husband and I's adventure in trying to conceive (TTC) with type 1 diabetes. Hope you stick around for the ride!
Project 1: A1C under 7%
Status: 7.6%
(as of May 3, 2012 - next A1C test: July 1, 2012)
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