The Most Magical Place on Earth (for my blood sugars).

This past Thursday my family and I went to Disney World for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It was a great way to celebrate being done with exams and the fall semester.

Me and my brother on the Tea Cups

The evening started out great with a trip to Downtown Disney to eat at Earl of Sandwich where I had a BG of 118 at around 5 o'clock. From there we headed to the Magic Kingdom and made it into the park before 7.  Right away we headed to the Buzz Lightyear ride and then hit up Space Mountain, the Motor Speedway, the Tea Cups and Dumbo within an hour.

Under the Sea!

We then decided to get hot chocolate and cookies and waited in line for about 15 minutes - our longest line of the night. Before getting this delicious snack my blood sugar was 154.  We then went on It's a Small World and then headed to the new part of Fantasyland. Under the Sea was a pretty cool ride that easily summarized the story of the Little Mermaid in an aesthetically pleasing way. We then got more hot chocolate and cookies (BG  122!) and found a good place to watch the fireworks.


After the fireworks show we headed to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. There was absolutely no wait to ride Splash Mountain because it was a bit cold outside so we got right on the ride.  My brother, Bobby, and I were the only ones from my family to ride and, of course, we got a little soaked on the way down. However, it was well worth it. We then went to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad, only to find out that it was closed and they did not know when it would be fixed and back up.

The Parade!

So, we went down the path a little to watch the parade that was to be happening soon. We then got more hot chocolate because this was the one night of the week that it was actually cold. This time I forgot to test and just bolussed. Soon after we headed out of the park and back home. It was really great night. I then decided to check my blood sugar and found out it was at 100! I could not believe that after all of the walking and the hot chocolate and cookies that could have thrown me either way I ended up exactly where I should be. You just never know what is going to happen I guess. Diabetes sometimes has nice surprises too.

-Keep flying steady

Finals Stress

So I have one final left and then I am done for this semester. I just got out of my physical chemistry final on which I don't think I did very well. Before the exam I checked my blood sugar and it was 143. However, in the middle of the exam I could tell it was dropping and I was losing my focus. Luckily, I had a Level glucose gel in my pocket. I was able to focus better on the exam within a few minutes of  consuming the delicious Strawberry-Banana glucose gel. This may have affected my test-taking for a few minutes, but my blood sugar was back up in no time at all.

I'm now preparing for my last final, Anatomy. After that I am free and get to go home to my family on Wednesday and then on Thursday we are going to Disney! I'm sure I'll have something to post about that.

Also, it seems that my primary doctor is currently sitting on my referral to DexCom for my next shipment of sensors, so I am currently without my CGM. I have, however, been testing my BG levels a lot more during this time, which is good because up until this test, my BG levels have been a lot higher than normal, including an inexplicable 400 earlier today!

-Keep flying steady

A busy fall.

So, again it's been a while since I've posted on here. This fall has been one of the busiest semesters for me.  Trying to study and keep up with classes this semester has been a little difficult. However, I am now on Thanksgiving break and can finally make an update!

The quidditch matches that I talked about in my last post ended up not really happen due to a thunderstorm. We were supposed to play several games at FGCU, but after our first game the rest of the day was canceled due to the thunderstorms. It was kind of a bummer, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. My diabetes didn't act up during that game and my BG levels stayed pretty good.

Our next meet wasn't going to be until the first weekend in November so we had more time to practice. Due to school I missed many of these practices and was not on the team for this meet. However, I went in order to play on a mercenary team and to become IQA referee certified.

Despite losing all of our games, I think the team grew well throughout the day, and we ended up playing really well in our last game, almost pulling out a win. Here's the team, The McGonagalls:

Since this tournament was not very far from where I live, the night before I drove home and had dinner with my mom before heading over for the Referee Training Test. There were many errors with the grammar and spelling and diagrams on the test, which made it difficult for all of us, but I found out the next day that I got the highest score in our group, which most likely one of the highest scores ever on the test.

After having a good night's sleep at home, I arrived back at USF the next day ready for the tournament.  I started out the day refereeing one of the first games. Since I hadn't refereed in a while I started out a little shaky, but got back into the swing of it pretty quickly. Up next for the day was The McGonagalls's first game of the day versus USF. This was our first game all playing together so we had troubles with communication and working as a cohesive force. We ended up losing 150 - 0. 

I was now off to referee the FSU-UM game. This was to be the game that I would be given my field test for referee certification. This game was a clear win for UM and there were very few calls that I had to make, but given that I knew it was my certification test and that on another field they decided to start the game in which I was supposed to be playing, I was not on the top of my reffing game and did not pass the field test due to a lack of confidence and assertiveness when making calls on the field. Of course, with my luck, this ended up being the only game that I refereed that day that I had this problem. Nevertheless, it was a really fun day and I enjoyed every bit of it. I ended up playing a total of three games and refereeing five or six.

Contrarily, my diabetes equipment was not behaving that day. Not one, but two of my pods fell off that day and I'm pretty sure the second one happened when I was receiving a hug. Despite that, my BG levels stayed relatively normal even into the night about two hours later. 

-Keep flying steady

(Despite starting this post over break, I got caught back up in studying and homework and didn't finish until now. However, Thanksgiving was delicious and for some reason my BG levels were much higher all week then when I'm at school.)

College vs. the Omnipod

Hey everybody!

Sorry for the long delay between posts. College has started back up again and I have been so busy. It has been far too long since I posted though so I figured it was time.

I think I have finally found the right way to keep my Omnipod attached during any Quidditch practice. I have been using clear medical tape and my sleeve from Bands4Life. During the last several practices I have not had a single problem with it falling off.

To continue with the Quidditch update, we had a match against FSU a week ago and we beat them in 2 out of 3 games and we all had a lot of fun. This coming weekend we will be traveling to FGCU to play against all of the teams in the FQC. We have had a lot of new and excited people come and join our team and I think the team is going to have a good year this Quidditch season.

Also, at our matches against FSU, this cuteness called Kidditch broke out.

So far my classes haven't been all too terrible, but the year is still young and I haven't had tests in several of my classes. I think my hardest class so far is Physical Chemistry and it is supposed to be the hardest class.

NEW TECHNOLOGY! Yes, I now have a DexCom CGM! I was so happy to get it in the mail the other day. So far it has been working really well. It helps to catch some lows and highs I otherwise would not have noticed.

My beautiful DexCom

I will hopefully be able to update again after my upcoming matches. Until then,

-Keep flying steady

Level: The future of evening out lows

So the other night right when I was getting ready to go to bed I had a blood sugar of 64. Of course, they always seem to happen at the most inconvenient times. Anyway, when I was at the SWD National Conference I got to meet Ethan, the creator of Level Foods and a really cool T1 diabetic, who gave us samples of his new glucose gels. So I decided to use one the other night and it was a great decision. The gels are 15g of carbohydrates and have the same kind of fast working glucose other gels and tablets have. A half hour later I was sitting nicely at 116 and I could rest easy knowing that I would be fine throughout the night. My morning blood sugar was 88 so everything worked out really well. It brought my BG levels back up without a bad spike. It just kind of leveled them out like the name suggests.

I would really recommend these glucose gels to anyone. The best part is they even taste really good. There are four flavors, which I have finally gotten to taste them all. These flavors are vanilla, strawberry banana, caramel, and mandarin orange. Right now you can only get them on levelfoods.com, but sometime in the near future they will be at stores. I'll be putting in an order for going back to college so that I'll have some good tasting glucose gels to save me from any lows I might get this year.

- Keep flying steady

(Additionally, I had an endo appointment today and my a1c was a 6.6! This is my first a1c since diagnosis 11.5 years ago below 7.0. Also, my endo was impressed with how I was handling all of this new technology (the omnipod and the iBGStar) and gave me the green light for a dexcom! I can't wait to have this new bit of technology to help further control my blood sugars.)

Brooms (and BG levels) Up at Ascendio!

Brooms down before the second game.

This past weekend I went to Orlando to take place in some demo Quidditch matches at Ascendio, a Harry Potter Convention at the Portofino Bay Hotel by Universal. It was another scorcher of a day in Florida, but we were all excited to show these Harry Potter fans how muggles play Quidditch.

Before playing the matches I checked my BG level and it came up with 301. I have recently been having problems with going high after lunch so this wasn't too bad. (I've since been fixing these problems). I did a temp basal of -50% knowing that my BG would be heading down soon after I started playing. However, after 1 game my it was up to 341. I thought this was because of the temp basal and decide to not set one for the next game. After playing that game I tested again and realized I was 565. I think that was the highest BG reading I had ever had, including right after my diagnosis. As I had been instructed by my doctor I checked for ketones next. They registered with a reading of 0.9! Trying to remain calm I gathered all of my supplies and then proceeded to first give myself a shot of fast-acitng insulin and then replace my pod. Within 45 minutes I had dropped over 100 and was headed in the right direction again.

Cruising down the field with Bridget, the ref,
giving me a weird look.

Since it was now 3 o'clock and I hadn't eaten lunch yet I went with a group to Citywalk to get some food. In order to bolus the food and the high blood sugar I was still experiencing I had to go over my bolus limit. This was one of the scariest experiences I've had with an out of whack blood sugar. I know now I must be more careful and pay closer attention to my pods when I'm playing quidditch.

To get away from all of the bad parts of the day I really enjoyed the rest of my day at Ascendio especially a part of the winning team for both games! I also bought myself a Hufflepuff sweater that is designed like the ones worn by the Quidditch players in the Harry Potter movies and an awesome bumper sticker that says "I'd rather be playing Quidditch." So overall it was a fantastic day with a bit of a hiccup thanks to the beetus, but one that I will certainly learn from.

-Keep flying steady

(I think I flew a tad too high...)

Freedom!

For almost a week now I have been released from the chains of the endo and set free into the wild with my new pump, "The Doctor." If you're a Doctor Who fan you'll probably get right away why I've named it such. When I'm changing pods it's as if it's "regenerating." Yeah, I'm a nerd, I know. But it also has the double meaning of it being like a doctor in helping me along with the beetus.

So far this has been very successful. I have had very few numbers above 200 since I've been on the pump and I used to get numbers above 200 more than I would like to admit. I have also not had too many "bad" lows either.

On Saturday I'll be going to Orlando to play Quidditch at Ascendio, which is a Harry Potter convention. I participated in a similar event at LeakyCon last summer so I cannot wait to do it again this year!

-Keep flying steady