A few weeks ago, I was out to lunch with some friends and I had my very first encounter with another person wearing an insulin pump. When my food came I immediately started calculating on my pump. The woman sitting next to us asked me if I was diabetic. I said I was, and she excitedly told me that her young son (maybe 8 years old) sitting at their table was also a pump-wearing diabetic and would love to see mine. I jumped out of my seat so we could trade pumps--with tubing stretched across the table. He was so cute! It was the weirdest thing to see someone else in my situation. I don't come across very many diabetics, so when I do, it's always a good experience.

I'm Back

Since I have neglected my blog for the past four months or so, I felt today was as good as any to jump back in. I hope to post more steadily this year—otherwise, what’s the point, right?!

The biggest update I can give in the past four months would have to be the fact that I bought a new townhouse, which I’m in love with and can’t wait to move into! It should be ready hopefully by March, as long as the snow this winter does not delay the construction too much. Fingers crossed!

The other thing is that I finally started on the continuous glucose meter. I have to say, I find it very annoying. I thought I was going to love it, but it’s not worth it to me to use. I know the point is to monitor blood sugar trends. I feel like that would be helpful if it was ever accurate! It is constantly alarming that I’m low, when I never am. There was one night it was alarming every 10 minutes in the middle of the night, when I was actually fine the entire time. After a while I would stop believing it and never check my blood sugar.

And I was calibrating it when I supposed to.

That’s the other thing.

Calibrating is incredibly annoying to me. I feel like my eating schedule is based on when I calibrate since it can’t be done too close after eating. It also can’t be done when your sugar is too high. I felt like there was never a good time to do it.

I don’t know---I’m sure there’s a good chance I’m doing something wrong, but I gave up and stopped wearing it. I’m sure I’ll give it another go one of these days, but for now, I’m just too frustrated.

Long Time No Post!

Wow, it's been almost a month since I've posted--I believe it's time to jump back in! Since my brain is tired, I'm just going to fill out this list I stole from Six Until Me:

What type of diabetes do you have: Type 1

When were you diagnosed: Sometime in October 2005

What's your current blood sugar: 156--hopefully that goes down a little more

What kind of meter do you use: Freestyle flash. Although, those one touch ultra minis look pretty cool. I kind of want the pink one.

How many times a day do you test your blood sugar: Lately I've been pretty lazy, but anywhere between 4 and 10--depending on the day and how I'm feeling

What's a "high" number for you: Depends on the time of day...anything over 140 (which is often), I get a little annoyed. I'm obviously too hard on myself

What's do you consider "low": Anything under 80

What's your favorite low blood sugar reaction treater: starburst! That's what I carry in my purse instead of juice boxes now. Much more fun.

Describe your dream endo: Helpful, extremely knowledgeable and can answer any and all questions, supportive, understands exactly what I need and what I'm going through, has great bedside manner---I know that's asking a bit much, but it did say my "dream" endo. Side note: I love my current endo, but I live too far away now. I'm starting with a new one in three weeks. Fingers crossed that he's some of things on this list!

What's your biggest diabetes achievement: Starting on the pump!

What's your biggest diabetes-related fear: My greatest fear is that I will eventually experience all the complications I read about every day. Very scary.

Who's on your support team: My husband, family, friends, etc. I consider everyone I interact with part of my support team

Do you think there will be a cure in your lifetime: Hmmm I don't want to risk sounding like a Debbi Downer, but honestly, I don't think so. Scientists are making great advancements, and I'm grateful for everything they do, but I'll believe it when I see it.

What is a "cure" to you: A cure would be living my life how I was between the years of 1983 to 2004 when I didn't have diabetes and it wasn't even something I thought about (except for that day when I was 13 and my friend told me I probably had diabetes because I was so thirsty. Interesting how eight years later I became diabetic--talk about jinxing someone haha)

The most annoying thing people say to you about your diabetes is: "how is your diabetes doing?" Never really know what to say---I always just say "it's doing well" whatever that means haha.

What is the most common misconception about diabetes: that type 1 and 2 are the same. Diet and exercise will not cure me.

If you could say one thing to your pancreas, what would it be: Why would you be working fine and then all of a sudden stop? Was it something I said?

Leg Cuff!

I just purchased my custom made insulin pump leg cuff from T&J Design

I haven't officially worn it yet, but after wearing it for a little while around my apartment, I'm very happy with it! It's so comfortable and doesn't slip at all. I'm planning on wearing it with a bridesmaid dress, so that will be the real test. I'm sure it will be fine though. I definitely recommend this company--they are very friendly and have great products! I found them through Karen's Bitter-Sweet Diabetes Blog---so thanks Karen!

This past Sunday my husband and I went over to his parents' house for dinner and my niece (also Megan) is up visiting for the week. It's always great to see her! She's the cutest and smartest 5 year old I know. I love that she'll always run up and jump into my arms, it's so cute. It didn't exactly happen that way on Sunday, though. I walked in expecting her to be excited to see me, but she literally ignored me. Even when I walked up to her to give her a hug, she pretty much ran to Brian instead. Talk about getting your feelings hurt. It was finally explained to me that she was scared of my pump! My sister-in-law must have explained to her that I don't give myself shots anymore and now use the pump. I would be scared too if I was a 5 year-old trying to picture this thing with a tube going into my stomach. She was afraid it was hurting me. I couldn't blame her for being a little freaked out. As the night went on, she started to warm up to me again (she made sure to sit next to me at the dinner table---I felt better after that haha). Just before we were about to leave, she finally had the courage to at least look at it. I'm sure she'll become completely used to it, but I understand how she felt! I felt the same way the first time I tried to understand what this thing was!

P.S- That house I mentioned in my last post was horrible. It's not even worth talking about. It was in good shape, but every single room needed to be completely updated. It was like walking into the year, 1950. That's just too much for us to handle right now. The perfect (and affordable) house is still out there!

I just read a great guest post on DiabetesMine about the Continuous Glucose Monitor. Mine is still in the box, but hopefully I’ll be using it soon!

On a non-diabetes note, it looks like I’m back on the home buyer wagon. I fell off of it about a month or so ago when my husband and I were in the attorney review process for a townhouse we had just put an offer on. Long story short, the deal fell through, which actually ended up being a good thing for us. After that situation, we decided to take a break from all the hassles of house hunting. As of yesterday, it looks like we’re back to looking! A house just came on the market for a great price and in a good location. It needs updating inside, but judging from the pictures, nothing that has to get done right away. Who knows what could happen after seeing it person though. I try not to get excited too soon anymore—I learned that anything could happen. I’m not going to talk anymore about it because I don’t want to jinx it, but we’ll see!

I have to be a nerd for a few minutes and post about the awesome time I had at a Hanson concert two days ago with my good friend, Jackie. I realize how silly that sounds, but they are still my favorite band and I have the best time at their shows! I’m not nearly as “obsessed” as I used to be in high school. There was a time when I would happily stand outside a venue for 12 hours waiting to get into a concert in order to be as close to the stage as possible. Nowadays, the thought of waiting on a line more than an hour completely turns me off. So instead, Jackie and I managed to cut almost the entire line at the last minute and somehow bypassed everybody. Not sure how we managed to do that without getting into fights—but we did! The show itself was obviously amazing! For whatever reason, I was nervous security was going to ask me about my pump at the door. I was afraid they were going to wonder what exactly I was trying to bring inside. Nobody cared. In fact, they didn’t care about anything. You could have brought in a video camera and it really didn’t matter!

Our little adventure before the show was so much fun. For a few years now, Hanson has been doing this charity to help fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. A few hours before each concert, they go on a one mile walk with their fans barefoot to honor those who are less fortunate in Africa. For every person that “takes the walk” with them, they donate a dollar to health care, clean water, etc. So that’s all very sweet and I love a good cause—but let’s be honest—it really didn’t matter to me why were walking, the fact that I could stand next to them for half an hour was reason enough haha. I was not barefoot. If I’m technically not supposed to be barefoot on the beach (even though I break that rule every time), I’m surely not going to walk around a dirty concert venue with rocks and nails on the ground, barefoot! Even with shoes on, the walk was awesome! I ended up getting a picture with Isaac, the oldest brother. =)

All and all, the day was great and luckily, I didn’t have to worry about any highs or lows during any of it. My blood sugar stayed level and I was able to focus on more important things!