A New Course

October first was a strange day, one I'll remember for a long time. I had a cortisone shot in my left knee. No big deal, I thought at the time, but that needle changed my life. At first, I thought, for the worst. My blood sugar went through the roof. My eye sight went fuzzy, feet ached, I got very fatigued, my energy was gone. Gloom and despair ensued. I called the diabetes nurse and got hooked up with some Novolog insulin. It worked well in getting my glucose down in a few days. As soon as I stopped using it, my glucose went sky high. So I'm on it full time.

Most people would probably react to this differently than I have. A lot of my friends and family seemed to say things like "sorry to hear that" or "bummer". From my point of view, it's the best thing that could have happened. I've had up and down control since I was diagnosed. Every bite of food was an uncertain adventure in futility. Any amount of carbs, unless followed by intense exercise, was a trigger for an unpleasant experience in many ways. I got guilty over even taking a glance at anything tasty. Pasta. Potatoes. Rice. Bread. All banned from my plate. I was causing problems with my home life. The mood swings and anger were ruining my social life. Something had to give.

Taking the insulin changed all of that. I can actually eat most anything in moderation without severe blood sugar spikes. Just estimate the amount of carbs I plan on eating, inject the proper amount of insulin, and go. So far, my readings are below 100 most of the time upon waking up in the morning, and stay steady all day. It will be really great as soon as I get the Omni Pod pump. I wont have to carry around the Flex pen and needles any more. The Byetta had quit working, so that's gone. Two less shots a day doesn't bother me at all. Plus, my digestive system will go back to working as designed, instead of being artificially restricted. This all is adding up to putting a smile back on my face and living a much more normal life. Cool.

Me And My Big Mouth

In my last post, I made the bold statement that things were looking up. One thing "up" in a non-positive way is my blood sugar. Seems the cortisone shot cried havoc and unleashed the dogs of war on my system. It has been known to happen. It happened last time I got one, but not to this extant. Last time it raised my fasting glucose about 50 points for a couple of days. This time, over 300. I called the diabetes nurse who is handling my case, and she put me on Novolog, a fast acting insulin that is normally take by type 1 diabetics. It works by taking it before meals to cut the rapid rise in glucose levels after eating. It sure is working. Small doses throughout the day and night brought it down to 170 this morning. Still much higher than normal, but at least well below the ketosis range of 242 and up. That ketosis is no fun. You get tired and loose all energy. You just want to sleep. Exercise is not recommended until glucose levels drop below 242, so you have to rely on drugs to get it down. Tough on the kidneys, too.

I've read several reports that cortisone shots can worsen type 2 diabetes to type 1 symptoms to the point that one has to inject before meals and be ever more diligent with monitoring and treatment. Hopefully, it won't happen to me. One thing I do know is that this episode has heightened my awareness of my problem. Diabetes is relentless. No days off. Everything one does revolves around it. So many systems can be effected by uncontrolled blood sugar. And so many terrible consequences. But, if I do end up having to take several shots a day, I won't be devastated. Look at team Type 1, bike racing on the international level with several type 1 diabetics on board. They make it work, looking at diabetes as just part of life, not something to mope about.

Taking The Needle

Visited the orthopedic surgeon yesterday for a cortisone injection in my ailing knee. It wasn't bad, pain speaking. He said it would be very painful, but it was just a little uncomfortable, at worse. The result was an @ 80% improvement almost instantly. It seemed to tighten up the joint considerably. So after work, I took the MTB out for a leisurely ride around the neighborhood. The knee held up just fine, and feels even better today.

This weekend, I plan on finishing one of my side projects, then I can get back to regular riding. I hate missing the fall colors being stuck inside dry walling. I'm finally going to order a compact crank form my road big, and have started a slush fund for a good cross/commuter rig. Things are looking up on all front, so it's nice to be able to get back on track.

Drywall & Teeth

No, that's not the name of some alternative band, but what I've been up to lately. I'm doing a drywall project to raise some extra cash and have been having some dental work done. No of it what you'd call fun, but necessary evils of life. I'd never do drywall work for a living. Too tedious and tough on the shoulders and back. On the bright side, I haven't experienced any shoulder, back, or knee pain so far. Let's hope it stays that way. The dental stuff, now that's another matter. Root planing and antibiotic treatments are not comfortable, nor is tooth extraction. Diabetics have a distinct disadvantage as far as gum disease goes, so you have to stay ahead of things. I haven't, and now I'm paying the price. I learned my lesson the hard way, unfortunately. The damage was limited to one lost tooth, so it's not all bad, as I'd lost the one directly above it previously. It comes out next week.

I haven't been riding much due to all the extra work, but should get out several time this week. Time will tell. My blood sugar is still up and down, but should stabilize after the abscessed tooth is pulled. The infection plays hell with glucose levels, so once it's gone things should level out. I hope.

How High's The Water Mama ?

We headed down the camp ground Sunday to do a little clean-up and check things out after a long winter. Our camper fared well, and as a '07 model, it should have. No rodent or bug remnants or anything. Several folks have custom covers over theirs, and a lot of those got torn up in the winds and heavy, wet snow we had this winter. I like it down there in the summer, good people, kids have a lot of fun, and it makes a good base to ride from. Good, quiet roads, I can ride the state trail from home, and lots of nice MTB riding. Hopefully, the weather improves so it's worth spending some time there soon. The Moosehorn River is way up, so the trails are probably still pretty muddy. We shall wait and see.

On the diabetes front, my high, erratic numbers all of a sudden came back down. I'm sure this is due to my careful monitoring of food intake. I use Fitday.com to track food and exercise, but that is only good if you are honest with yourself. I found that I was eating more than I thought, so I really practise portion control, and it shows. My morning numbers are lower now than they ever have been. It dropped too low last night, but some Cherrios and milk took care of that, so this AM was a bit high, but still ok. My knee flared up again, so no riding, but a little walking yesterday for exercise. May 22nd is set for the scope job, so hopefully just a clean out will do the trick. I just hope they don't find anything major.

What A Pain

Had an MRI on the ailing knee, but haven't gotten the results back yet. So, no riding for me for a while. I tell ya', it's not getting any better. But the cortisone in the shoulder did help a bunch, I can move pretty much pain free. Not so with the knee. It pops when getting up out of my chair, which I do several times an hour, making work really suck. I'm getting crabby, I want to get this thing fixed so I can get on with riding, but it looks like the MRI results won't be ready until Tuesday. It's raining, so at least working today isn't to bad. We're heading for Rochester tomorrow for the daughter's appointment at the Mayo Clinic (routine checkup) on Monday morning. Oh well, I'll just have to play the waiting game for a while....

On a brighter note, I had the Body Mass Index test done on Thursday. 26.5, much lower than I expected. According to the nurse, it should have been 37 for an average guy my height and weight. So instead of trying to get down to 170, my new target is 195. I should be able to get there by summer's end. My blood sugar is still all over the place, especially after the cortisone shot. This effect is only supposed to last a few days. Let's hope so.

I joined the Fitday.com site in order to track food intake and exercise in a consistent manner. I sure does remind you how much just a little of this and a little of that add up to. It should help to maintain the discipline needed to lose more weight and control the blood sugar.

Shouldering The Burden

Sunday was beautiful. Spring is here. It's temps in the high 50's for a while. Great riding weather. But for me, no. You see, last Thursday, I rolled out of bed in the morning, and something in my left knee popped a couple of times. No big deal, happens once in a while, just a little twinge of pain, and then goes away. My left knee always seems a little weaker than my right, has for a few years, but not noticeable on the bike. It didn't go away, but has gotten progressively worse, to the point of pain all the time.

Yesterday, I met with an ortho surgeon about my shoulder, which at this point seemed a minor annoyance compared to this stupid knee. So, he had the knee x-rayed, poked around the shoulders, and showed my wife how to press on my knee to inflict maximum pain. Nice, but all in fun as she works in the operating room with him from time to time. When the x-rays came back, he said it looks like cartilage and ligament damage. A scope job is in order. This afternoon I get to have an MRI, then plot out the surgery.

Next up was a big needle injecting cortisone into my right shoulder. That's just a fun procedure, I recommend it if you want some cheap thrills. Not!! So, it looks like I won't be riding much for the next couple of week. Why don't you all ride a few extra miles and put it in my base mileage bank, so I won't have as much work to do when I'm back.