Post by Coral
First, I would thank all of you for your encouragement and support of my goals for 2010. I totally love the potluck ideas, and I am totally going to take you up on your offers to have cooking parties with me. I know who you are. Your name in your comment :) And it is comforting to know that I am not the only one who was ever afraid of blowing up the kitchen when trying to boil water.
It was has been one week. I have made some progress, but had some set backs as well.
Progress: I am trying out my CGM!
On Thursday, I went in for training and I have been wearing it ever since… all 48 hours. It is really pretty interesting. As many of you know, I decided to go with the Dexcom Seven Plus. It is surprisingly very simple to use and the screen is super easy to read. I got one error message in which the CGM was not calibrating correctly, but it fixed itself after an hour. The insertion of the senor was a little tricky. After watching two demonstrations and reading over the How To Guide twice, I still had a little trouble putting mine in, but I am sure it will get easier with practice. It has been really interesting watching what happens to my BG level after eating certain foods and being able to see when the insulin kicks in. I am trying to be good and not react too quickly to BG decreases or increases. I’ve also found that I test with my meter more often now that before I had the CGM because I want to be sure that the reading is “accurate.” (Pretty funny concept since every devise has its own margin of error). So far so good!
Progress: I cooked pasta!
I think it was Tuesday that I finally decided I had to cook something. I couldn’t wait until Sunday. So I cooked an entire box of plain whole wheat pasta, and each day I tried making a different topping with different veggies and proteins. The pasta by itself tastes like cardboard, but when I added enough sauce and toppings, it was pretty darn good. It lasted me all week. In fact, I had some today for lunch. Success!
Set back: Ingrown toe nail = no gym
I had a great time at spin class on Monday and Wednesday. Friday morning, I managed to get myself out of bed, but as soon as I put my foot on the ground – OWWWWWWWWWW! I knew exactly what it was… or so I thought. I used to get too aggressive when giving myself pedicures and accidently cut my big toe, well that inevitably turned into a skin infection. Every 6 months or so, the infection would flare up and sometimes more often if my BG levels were really out of whack. I went to inspect my toe, but I couldn’t see an infection. There was still an incredible pain in my right big toe. I immediately called the foot doctor. (It seems like whenever I remind them that I am a T1 diabetic, a same day opening magically appears.) I went in thinking they were going to give me some antibiotics and send me on my way like they usually do. Not this time! The podiatrist took one look and said, “oh yeah, that’s a textbook ingrown toenail. We have to remove it.”
“WHHAAAAAAATTTT????”
After two huge shots of novacane and about 20 minutes of cutting and pulling, a quarter of my toenail was removed. Needless to say, I don’t think I will be making it to the gym for at least another week. In fact, I am trying to find a pair of shoes big enough to fit my fat toe now that it has all of this bandaging wrapped around it.
Ugh.
Poor thing! I hope your toe gets better soon. And way to go with the Dex and pasta! You are making great strides. I was so inspired by you getting yours (the Dex) I have begun the paperwork to see if I can get one too (since insurance wouldn’t cover the MM one)… Keep us posted on your progress!
So sorry about your toenail!! That sounds awful. Congratulations on your cooking progress so far, that is wonderful. Pasta is a very good way to begin.
Some suggestions about pasta: the regular kind tastes better than whole wheat. And as for toppings, one really delicious topping is simple, just extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and freshly ground romano or parmesan cheese. You can find a triangular wedge of it in almost any grocery store. It just takes one or two minutes to grate the cheese beforehand.
Oh no! Sorry about your toe
But that is awesome about dex & pasta! You’re making progress on your resolutions so quickly, very impressive. In terms of gym, I can’t do much gym exercise still bc of my knees, so swimming (which I need to do more often) has been a really helpful replacement. If it would work with your toes, you’re always welcome to my Y guest passes!
Ive had quite a few ingrown toenails removed and it’s no fun. But believe it or not, it’s much better than the alternative so I’m glad you got it taken care of! I hope it starts to feel better soon. Yay on getting started on the Dexcom! Fear not, the insertion will get easier as you do it more often. Just like the cooking will too
Pasta tip: Try Barilla Plus – comes in a yellow box. It tastes much better than most whole wheat pastas and is fortified with all sorts of good stuff.
Sorry to hear about your toenail!
Thanks everyone for feeling sorry for me and my toe
and for the great pasta tips 
Will definitely try all of those!
Ouch, I hope your toe improves quickly! As for the pasta, how are you doing that? I have not yet been able to figure out when to expect the BS spike after eating it. I tried Dreamfields, but would always end up having a sucky low and then a crazy high. I tried eating a little pasta with my spaghetti squash last night and ended up waking up high. How do the rest of you shot-takers handle pasta? (I know it’s different for each person, but I’m still curious.)
Congrats on the dexcom and making pasta! I just started dexcom myself and still trying to figure out how accurate it is.
Sorry about the toe nail, hope you feel better soon!
I hope the toe is feeling better. We missed you yesterday
I am proud of you for making the pasta and trying out all the different sauces. By 2011 you will be throwing dinner parties, I just know it. The Dexcom will get easier, and it’s great that it’s making you more aggresive about testing.