I wish I could be writing in the blog more, but to say life has been crazy lately is a bit of an understatement! Which is funny because people saying “life has been crazy” as an excuse for X, Y, or Z is kind of a pet peeve of mine. Maybe it’s just me and my circle of friends and family, but when is life ever not “crazy”? Just once I’d like to hear someone say, “Life has been really slow lately; I actually have way more free time than I know what to do with!” :)
Two of the issues that have occupied the most of my time and energy (emotional and physical) lately have been my fluctuating blood sugar and increasing body weakness (I'll discuss this in my next post), both of which are direct results of the steroid I’ve been taking since my transplant.
Soon after starting the steroid, my body stopped producing its own insulin, resulting in my temporarily developing the equivalent of Type 1 diabetes. I’ve had friends diagnosed with diabetes and seen how completely and drastically their lives were affected, but I’ve now been able to understand the hardship of their experience in a whole new way, giving me a great respect and compassion for people with diabetes. For the past two months, I’ve been required to check my blood sugar (prick my finger to draw blood) five times a day, including at 2 am for several weeks, give myself five shots a day, learn how many carbohydrates are in every single thing that I eat or drink, document everything that I eat or drink, severely limit my carbohydrate intake between meals, and call endocrinology almost daily to discuss my blood sugar and adjust my insulin dose.
It’s been exhausting. By the time I complete all the necessary steps before eating, my food is always cold! Now I know why my mom doesn’t care much about the temperature of her food; she’s so used to years of getting everyone else everything they need for dinner that by the time she sits down to eat, her food is lukewarm. To all the moms out there, I feel your pain! I’ve also developed calluses on all of my fingers from pricking them so frequently. I guess it’s not normal to talk to your finger as you gently massage it, pleading with it to give you just a little more blood so you won’t have to prick yourself again, but then again, when have I ever been normal? ;) My mom suggested using my toes instead, but I think my fingers would have to become rock solid before I’d resort to that idea!
The good news is that as I’ve slowly been tapering the steroids, my body has gradually been starting to produce its own insulin again, resulting in my blood sugar beginning to stabilize and return to normal! I almost started dancing a couple days ago when, for the first time in almost two months, I didn’t have to give myself a shot before eating breakfast! Yesterday the endocrinologist gave the okay for me to not give myself a shot at breakfast OR lunch today, and you’d have thought I won the lottery for how excited I was :). It’s the (not so) little changes like these that remind me of how far God has brought me and that, as difficult as some of my present circumstances may be, this whole experience will be worth it and I have so much to be grateful for.
Two of the issues that have occupied the most of my time and energy (emotional and physical) lately have been my fluctuating blood sugar and increasing body weakness (I'll discuss this in my next post), both of which are direct results of the steroid I’ve been taking since my transplant.
Soon after starting the steroid, my body stopped producing its own insulin, resulting in my temporarily developing the equivalent of Type 1 diabetes. I’ve had friends diagnosed with diabetes and seen how completely and drastically their lives were affected, but I’ve now been able to understand the hardship of their experience in a whole new way, giving me a great respect and compassion for people with diabetes. For the past two months, I’ve been required to check my blood sugar (prick my finger to draw blood) five times a day, including at 2 am for several weeks, give myself five shots a day, learn how many carbohydrates are in every single thing that I eat or drink, document everything that I eat or drink, severely limit my carbohydrate intake between meals, and call endocrinology almost daily to discuss my blood sugar and adjust my insulin dose.
It’s been exhausting. By the time I complete all the necessary steps before eating, my food is always cold! Now I know why my mom doesn’t care much about the temperature of her food; she’s so used to years of getting everyone else everything they need for dinner that by the time she sits down to eat, her food is lukewarm. To all the moms out there, I feel your pain! I’ve also developed calluses on all of my fingers from pricking them so frequently. I guess it’s not normal to talk to your finger as you gently massage it, pleading with it to give you just a little more blood so you won’t have to prick yourself again, but then again, when have I ever been normal? ;) My mom suggested using my toes instead, but I think my fingers would have to become rock solid before I’d resort to that idea!
The good news is that as I’ve slowly been tapering the steroids, my body has gradually been starting to produce its own insulin again, resulting in my blood sugar beginning to stabilize and return to normal! I almost started dancing a couple days ago when, for the first time in almost two months, I didn’t have to give myself a shot before eating breakfast! Yesterday the endocrinologist gave the okay for me to not give myself a shot at breakfast OR lunch today, and you’d have thought I won the lottery for how excited I was :). It’s the (not so) little changes like these that remind me of how far God has brought me and that, as difficult as some of my present circumstances may be, this whole experience will be worth it and I have so much to be grateful for.
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