Just a headache?

I had a really bad headache the other night, and I couldn’t figure out why. I kept testing my BS, convinced that I was either high or low since I had this unexplained pain in my head. Finally, after a few normal tests, I arrived at a simple explanation—it was just a headache. As a PWD (person with diabetes), I find myself constantly patrolling my own body for any sign of something being amiss with my blood sugar, and sometimes I forget that other forces besides diabetes can also impact how I’m feeling. It’s hard to turn that line thinking off, and I’ve started wondering about how this mindset will impact a pregnancy.

I’ve spent so much time thinking about and preparing for how my diabetes is going to impact my pregnancy, that I have forgotten to take the time to really consider how the pregnancy will impact me (yes, I am separate from my diabetes, although sometimes its hard to remember that). I didn’t think, for example, that I may be sick to my stomach, regardless of what my blood sugar is. I may get hot/uncomfortable at night without being high or low. I may be utterly exhausted, even if my numbers are and have been within a perfectly healthy range. I may have food cravings that are completely independent of a low blood sugar.

In some strange way, it’s exhilarating to think that my body will be communicating with me in a whole new way that is not necessarily driven by the fact that I have this thing called diabetes. I’m excited that I’ll have the opportunity to listen to my body and evaluate what is going on without my very first thought automatically turning to the numbers on my meter (although, who am I kidding, that will still often be at least in the top 2). It will be like finally, something in my body will be stronger than the diabetes, and while pregnancy won’t always produce the most welcome symptoms, it will be nice to know that diabetes doesn’t have absolute control all the time.

Here we go!

We’re back from Italy, and I will post some pics soon, but I’m getting extremely excited because now that I’ve been off BC for a few months (and have the skin to prove it), taking prenatals, and now that my husband has finally started work after just graduating from business school, we are ready to officially start TTC! I have another endo appointment on July 16th to get my A1C tested again, but with the tight control I’ve had over the last nine months or so, I’m confident that my body is up for the challenge. I’ve also cheated by taking one of the at home A1C tests, and it was right on target (those at home tests are such a wonderful diabetes innovation!).

I know it sounds extremely bratty, but with all the work that I’ve already done for this pregnancy, I feel like I deserve to get pregnant quickly (all I can hear is Veruca from Willy Wonka… I want the golden goose, and I want it now). I feel like I’ve earned it, and I honestly don’t know how well I’ll handle it if it takes a long time. On top of the emotional strain it would cause, I am also scared that I’m going get burnt out from the extremely tight control I’ve had over my numbers if I have to keep it up for a long time before I even get pregnant. Even though I’m not pregnant yet, it feels like I’ve already been living with this pregnancy for a long time.

I know its common even for “normal/healthy” couples to take up to a year to get pregnant, but I’m just praying that it won’t take that long. This is such an exciting time for us, and I can’t wait for this “pre-pregnancy phase” to be over with!

Hello from Rome!

I just wanted to say a quick hello from Rome! We just did a quick bus tour which gave us a good overview of the city. We are excited to do the Vatican tomorrow, it was really impressive even from the bus.

Venice was great, we really liked it there as a city on water is like nothing we've seen before. I loved all the flower boxes in the windows and got a real kick out of the pubic transportation system being on water.

I enjoyed Florence too, although my favorite part of our stay there was our day trip in the Tuscan countryside to a couple of wineries and lunch at an olive oil farm. The countryside was absolutely stunning!

My husband is doing a greet job navigating the cities and we feel like we're seeing a lot! So far, all on the diabetes front has been pretty good-I have been low a fair amount, but I'm pretty sure that is due to all the waking we've been doing.

Ok, well, we're off to do some night walking in Rome. It's supposed to be a great time to see the city. Ciao!

Away we go!

Ok, we leave in a few hours for our trip so I don't have much time to write, but I thought I'd post this pic of all my supplies.  Feels like I'm traveling with an entire pharmacy, but I do feel confident that I'll have everything I need. I even took the advice to get a loaner pump, so I should be all set.

I'm going to try to upload some photos during our trip, so stay tuned for scenes from Venice, Florence, Rome and Positano!  Cioa!

Italy, here we come!

I'm getting very exited to leave next week for a two week trip to Italy!!! Neither my husband or I have been, and since we haven't really been away just the two of us since our honeymoon, we can't wait to get away for such a long time together. Plus, neither of us have been to Italy, so we've got a lot to do and see. We're starting in Venice, then Florence, Rome and finally, Positano.

I casually mentioned to my CDE that I'm going away so won't be able to send in my logs to her for a little while, and she asked me if I needed any tips on traveling in terms of my diabetes care which I really hadn't thought about. Whoops! She offered to write me a letter saying I need to travel with my insulin and pump, and is going to give me some tips on adjusting my basals over the time change. I know some people get spare pumps to bring with them when traveling internationally, but I haven't done that--I'll have shots with me if I need them.

I do have plenty of extra insulin, needles, test strips, glucose tabs and pump supplies so I think I'm all set as far as that goes (no wonder I'm such a bad packer!). I'm kind of excited to go to a pharmacy, or Farmacia, in Italy just to see what it's like there (lame, I know, but such is the mind of a diabetic). I wonder if they have all the same diabetes goodies that we have here.

So, if anyone has any more travel tips, I'd love to hear them! I don't leave for another week, so I've still got a little time to get anything else I need, but not much...

Ciao!