Back up and Running

Is there ever a way to be back to normal? What is normal anyway?

I have been dealing with an infection on one of my toes. It started out as a hangnail that I just pulled off.
A week later it got infected and then I had to go through two rounds of Antibiotics and putting antibiotic cream on it twice a day. The doctor also ordered X-rays to rule out an infection in the bone. That kind of scared me because who knew how soon it would heal if the infection was there. He said I was doing the right things but the bacteria were just hanging on. 100.00 worth of X-rays later and I found out that day that my bones are clean and there is no infection.

I had almost given up hope that it would ever heal because I have to keep it covered to keep the germs and dirt away and every night, I would look at it and despair of it ever having that completely healed look. Thanks heaven I am almost out of the woods on this one.

It has now been two months, and a lost toenail later that I think it has finally healed. There is no more pain and that is all I can hope for. At least I can still feel my feet.

Since I have been going through this, I haven't been able to wear my normal shoe: a Saucony Running Shoe because they are the most comfortable shoes on the planet in my opinion.

I signed up to run a 5K on Thanksgiving morning and then found out just yesterday that I haven't completed the sign up process. So I can back out if I want to: but I won't because my goal is to run a marathon. I think a 5K is a good start but I am a little nervous because all the time I could have been spending on training has been spent on healing. I will go out tomorrow on my long run and see if I can run 3 miles. I can't actually run more than a few blocks in a row right now but I am going to be working on building my endurance and using Jeff Galloway's Walk-Run routine seems like the best way to run without injury.

I just finished reading Jeff Galloway's Book on Running and he saved the injury section for last. I think it was because the description of them, not to mention the pain involved would talk me out of running in an instant. He spends the entire book educating you how to run so you don't get injured and encouraging you that it is within your reach and then gives the bad news at the end.

I wasn't fazed -That Much-- I really want control of my diabetes and I feel this is the way to get it and get all of the benefits of running combined. Plus I don't like taking insulin and I would love if I could reduce my habit to almost zero. That is control in my book.

I also want to live to see my kids grow up and graduate, go to college, get married, go on missions, etc. I won't be able to do that if I don't get a handle on this Diabetes thing.

I am just working out how I will control my blood sugars in a marathon or any other race for that matter. I tend to use all of my sugar and am more sensitive to the insulin than when I am not exercising. I wouldn't want that to happen while I am running. I don't think I have seen a drunk sailor running and that is what I would look like with low blood sugars if I don't collapse altogether.

Hallelujah Monday

I got a call from my supplier of Pump Supplies. When I called back, I got the whole rundown on upgrading my pump. The person also said they, meaning the Company, had already sent the necessary paperwork to my Doctor to start the approval process. I asked about the CGMS (AKA: Continuous Glucose Monitoring System) and said supplier said they had run the CODES and they had come back approved.

This is really cool because I had a conversation with my DOCTOR last week and he said he hadn't been able to get any approval on this item. This says to me that my insurance company is going to pay for CGMS!!!!

I am only so excited because the actual cost for this option and the necessary supplies run in the ballpark of:(don't let the air suck itself out of the room please, which would sound like a sharp intake of breath)

1500-3000 for the Sensor and 250-350 per month for the supplies. This is so I can have the A!C of a normal person which is currently 4-6% ( this is a whole math problem of the amount of sugar divided by the total amount of blood)

I don't know about you but that is a prohibitively expensive (do you think I could have used a bigger word?) amount of money each and every month.

Just so you know, I really do talk this way in real life and I am very excited about this because I think all of my efforts to keep my blood sugar levels under control will not go wasted on the whim of whatever is happening to me at any particular time during the day.

It's not Over till it's OVER.......

I have finally started and I know it is very early in the morning but I had to do this. Tomorrow I will start adding raw data about what I am doing to take care of myself.

I will do this every day so that I will have a record of what I did.

I don't know if this will include what I ate (do I really want to give that information?) or if I exercised; I think it might because it does fall into the scope of things here so bring it on.

(My Significant Other says: Bring it on and bring some caffeine!! Anyone who knows me will know: I don't drink that stuff and I would be a hypocrite if I did because I spend so much time telling everyone that it is bad for you and not to do it; and maybe I shouldn't blog what he says...)

I wonder what the Doc will say. Oh I know; he will just laugh and chalk it up to: that is Wife of Ski. Yes that is what I am calling myself (you didn't really think I would leave my real name here did you?)

I just have to say: I hate Diabetes.

There. That being said: I will never give up fighting to have a better life in spite of it; and I mean that, not because I think anyone will read this (which I don't) but because I want a better life, even if I throw my hands in the air, some days, and say, "I give up today because I can't handle the stress"; or something along those lines.

So now begins my JOURNAL; what a horrible word; of my struggles and triumphs with Diabetes. And maybe sometime, I will post something that happened in the past.

This is a work in progress, as is all life and it just isn't over until it is over.....