August 25, 2008 – 3:29 pm
I think this will be very helpful for those who suspect they may have diabetes. I stole it from my Continuous Glucose Monitor class:
Target values from the American Diabetes Association (ADA)/American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)
Fasting/before-meal glucose: 90 mg/dL to 130 mg/dL (5.0 mmol/L to 7.2 mmol/L) (ADA);
<110 mg/dL (6.1 mmol/L) (AACE)
2-hour after-meal glucose: <180 mg/dL (<10 mmol/L) (ADA); <140 mg/dL (AACE) (<7.7 mmol/L) (AACE)
A1C: ?7.0%(ADA);?6.5%
The chart below provides the ADA recommendations for glucose levels in children. This year the A1C recommendation for adolescents and young adults has been lowered from 8.0 last year to 7.5
Glucose goals vary by age group because children have a higher rate of “hypoglycemia unawareness” than adults.
| Age (years) |
0-6 |
6-12 |
13-19 |
| A1C level |
<8.5,>7.5 |
<8.0 |
<7.5 |
| Fasting Glucose |
100-180 |
90-180 |
90-130 |
Bedtime Glucose
(mg/dl) |
110-200 |
100-180 |
90-150 |
| Rationale |
High risk and vulnerability to hypoglycemia |
Risks of hypoglycemia and relatively low risk of complications |
A lower goal (<7.0%) is reasonable if it can be achieved without excessive hypoglycemia |
Benefits of Improved Diabetes Control
- Reduced risk of high or low blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia/hypoglycamia)
- Improved sense of well-being
- Lower risk of complications
Having near-normal blood glucose reduces your long-term risk of:
- Retinal eye disease by 76%
- Nerve disease by 60%
- Kidney disease by 56%
- Heart disease by 42%
August 20, 2008 – 12:11 pm
Update: Family would like to keep their privacy about my nephew, thanks to my psychotic ex-step-mother (she has been disowned by the family and don’t want her knocking on the door again).
Now, about me…
Change. That’s the word of the week. :) I have been offered an awesome job where I will be working as a database coordinator dealing with research and Cystic Fibrosis!!!! How perfect is that?! I am going to have to move back to Denver, which I am overly excited about. I miss home. But I have no idea where I am going to live which has me a bit freaked out for the moment. The unknown always stresses me out. I’ll be ok, just a little edgy and sleep deprived for the next few weeks.
For all who helped me out with my medical bills, I can’t thank you enough!! For the first time since I was diagnosed with diabetes (like 7 years ago) I am FINALLY in control of my blood glucose numbers!!! My A1c level is 6.0, down from 8.3 a few months ago. This means I am no longer in the super high risk category for horrible complications. I am feeling a TON better too. Three things that have really helped me get control was my new insulin pump (Medtronic Minimed 522), a Blackberry (where I can look up food carb counts when out and about), and the almost complete elimination of high fructose corn syrup from my diet. I want to write a post about each of them, how I did it, how it helped and such, so stay tuned! 
The results of my latest A1c level, the test that shows the average blood glucose level over the past 2-3 months, has come in. Back in March my level was 8.3, which is baaaaad. At any level above 6.5 complications arise. I have been working a little harder to count my carb intake, and with my new insulin pump life has been sooooo much easier trying to control this wild disease.
My new level is….
……..drum roll please………
6.0!!!!
Holy smoke!!! I owe most all the credit to my little pump. For those who have helped me get it I thank you thank you thank you!!! 
August 2, 2008 – 11:50 pm
I have been counting my chickens before the eggs hatch. I really hope to bring you some good news, no, not good, extremely awesome news very soon, but I don’t want to jinx it. So I will keep it hush hush for now. I have been really busy in hopes that I may need to relocate very soon. Looking for a new place for me and Brodie to live, with a garage since my lungs hate scraping ice off the truck in the icky winter, and a little outhouse (tiny fenced yard) for the puppy. I think I found something online tonight, and I will go look at it tomorrow (just the outside most likely).
Now I am awaiting an official piece of paper so I can make my next move! It looks VERY promising. I am already getting congratulations from folks I have not told a thing to, so…. if the bureaucracy paperwork would hurry up…. I can’t wait to tell you!!!
If the washing machine is a knockin’, make sure the laundry soap is not on top of it.
Horrible lesson I learned late this evening is that laundry soap bottles can easily fall off of the top of the washing machine when it is running, especially when you aren’t home! This evening I had the lovely surprise of an entire gallon of laundry soap flung all over the little laundry room. I can’t even begin to describe the ugly, sticky mess. The bottle fell and some how it’s lid broke off during the catastrophy which allowed the gooey contents to get all over the clothes/towels/and such on the floor. The puddle that formed on the floor creeped under the washer and under the vacuum and all over my old shakey vest…. After hours of soping up the mess, the floor is still sticky. But I did discover, while rinsing out the towels in the bathtub, that laundry soap makes amazing bubble bath bubbles! One foot of water and two feet of bubbles! I should have taken a picture!
Since I was laid off, I have had time to slow down, relax, and reflect on my life some. I have been able to realize I want a career when I can really help people. I am considering the healthcare/medical field. When I first started college I wanted to become a Social Worker or work in Social Psychology. Listening to others who had influence over me, I thought I would never make enough money to survive and that people who wanted to go into that field only were attracted to it because they needed help themselves. Those people’s opinions really shaped who I became. I feel like I have strayed from what I really wanted to do,,, make a difference in people’s lives (and make money at it).
I have always been more of a social person than one who would be happy sitting behind a computer for 9 hours straight, in a tiny little cubicle with bad air and fifty million dust bunnies. I love working with people, talking to people, helping people.
A few of my friends started The Aspen Fund, in order to help me out with my current medical bills. It turned into a one time event before we all went our separate ways. I had a dream of turning this fund into an actual non-profit org to help others with their medical bills, where insurance fails. But from what I have found, it takes a lot of work and help from others to run a successful non-profit. I am not sure if I am quite cut out for that sort of thing, plus the mystery of where I would get health insurance is a bigger issue.
This leaves me with the ponderance of what am I going to do next for a paycheck. I have considered going back to school for nursing, but I really don’t want to go back to school. Also, nursing probably isn’t the best field for someone so susceptable to spreading and receiving nasty germs. This is kind of where I am at a loss. I need ideas. What sort of jobs out there would fulfil my desire to make a difference in this world by helping others?
Yesterday I had an awesome doctor’s visit. My lungs are in decent shape (any time there is no decline it is awesome news!), my blood sugars look great (I owe it to my new insulin pump), I found out my insurance paid their part of my continuous glucose monitor…… wait… what???? Yep! I noticed online that FINALLY, after seven months of fighting, they finally paid their part. I have three months of supplies, and hopefully when I go to refill I won’t have the same problem all over again, but I will worry about that later. Excuse me while I do my victory dance AGAIN!!!!
Yesterday was a great day. I had such a good visit with the docs, they almost didn’t know what to do with me since I had such a rough go for the past 8 months. Doc thinks I should be good for a while now, especially since I have been so good with my treatments.
I stopped by mom’s after my appointment to spread the happiness and we had a great dinner and did a little grocery shopping where both of our bills ended up the exact same amount, but we got totally different things. That was a little erie. When we left, we saw the most beautiful rainbows. My camera phone didn’t do it any justice.
I can’t believe I just spent 6 hours filling out a job application. Geez!
It is amazing how many details there are in a website design! It is taking me a lot longer to get this page up and running, or maybe it is the control freak side of me that is going crazy with the details of it. Either way, tinkering with this page has been a lot of fun!
Changes. As you can see, I now have some advertisements over on the far right. I added those to hopefully bring in a few bucks while I am “unemployed” and trying to figure out what next to do with my life. Also, for some strange reason there are no longer comments allowed on the pages (links found on the top of the page). I’ll see what I can do about that. Hmmmmm… there is a new email subscription link over on the right as well. This will only subscribe you to the new blog, as the last one is just going to sit in cyberspace for as long as WordPress will allow it.
I really need to make some updates regarding my insulin pump (have been using it since June 10th and ABSOLUTELY love it!!!). And my fight for the continuous glucose monitor (which is sitting wrapped in it’s box, in my living room, waiting to make sure insurance is going to pay).
Hmmmm…. what else…. shoot! It’s time to leave! Today is pop’s birthday! Happy birthday poppa! I can’t believe how time (minutes, hours, years?!) flies!!
Over the next few days I will be moving my blog over to my own host and cleaning things up a little (on the back side). So reception may be spotty at best.
Take care!
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