Diabetes

type 1, insulin pump, blood glucose

Halloween humbug

Diabetes, Running

Ahh, Halloween, the bane of my existence … or at least it used to be. It’s days like today that had me cursing my disease or just all out rebelling against it. I don’t know which gods were in charge of diagnosing me with T-1, and I don’t know how the hell I managed to piss them off so increduously, but I’m thinking it was pretty darn nasty of them to diagnose me at 9 years old – to give me 9 bloody years, 5 of which I could clearly remember eating sweets, before putting a lock with no key on my beloved candy store. Before diabetes, I loved sugar, oh man, did I ever. Hot lips, jujubes, pop rocks, tootsie rolls, strawberry bon bons, banana marshmallows, lifesavers, fizz, fun dip, pixie sticks, nibs, sweetarts, green apple lollipops, and don’t even get me started on chocolate bars. Oh Henry, oh yes […]

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Travel woes

Diabetes

I love traveling. I’ve driven across Canada twice, visited several states in the America, have fallen in love with the likes of France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Germany, and nearly every day I am dreaming of new places to discover. However, traveling doesn’t always love me. Clockwise from top: Florence 2009; Bruge 2010; Paris 2007; Barcelona 2009. As a Type 1 diabetic, I need to know carb counts for everything I eat in order to figure out how much insulin to take. At home, it’s fairly easy. I have product bags and boxes and containers with pertinent nutritional information posted. I also have a carb-counting scale that calculates carbs for a whole range of things, fruit, beans, ice cream, pasta, etc. But on the road, those tools are not readily at my fingertips. Evening dessert: 1 apple = 23.35 carbs, which is rounded down to 23 carbs. At 1 unit

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Not the boss of me

Diabetes, Running

When power gels and energy drinks fail you, there’s really only one thing left to do: Dig into your chocolate drawer 😀 Four months ago I gave up on gels as a source of fuel for my runs, not letting one drop of that nasty goop pass through my lips ever since my last marathon. Those suckers were evil, torturing my insides, cramping my stomach up so bad, I spent the majority of my runs with a vomit-filled feeling creeping all the way up into the back of my throat. Not cool. I then tried the Hammer Perpetuem drink as a fuel replacement. It started out promising, not wreaking havoc on my belly, not wreaking havoc on my blood sugars. However, once my mileage started increasing beyond 13 km, so did my blood sugars. My last long run ended with an 18.something BG. Not cool. So yesterday, my first long

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One-fingered salute

Diabetes, Training

It is truly amazing how unfocused or just plain ignorant drivers, cyclists and walkers can be. Mario and I went out for a bike ride around UBC, Stanley Park and Spanish Banks yesterday, which proved to be a rather busy, traffic-congested day. Wasn’t really much of a surprise given  that it was the unofficial second last day of summer. Not only were there eager students moving into residence, there were tons of families, couples and singles crowding the areas, wanting to get as much beach and sight-seeing time in as they possibly could before school starts up again. We were keen to catch the last rays of summer too. Mario and I were on high alert. Had we not been, had we been riding in la-la-land like so many of the other leisurely cyclists and others on the road, we more than likely would have been ending the ride on

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Silver lining

Diabetes, Running, Training

Thirty four days. Thirty four hard, longing, obsessive, mood-swinging, shaky days. That’s how long I lasted. No chocolate for 34 days, but after the week I’ve had, the no-chocolate streak came to an end. And let me just say, that first bite was the most heavenly thing I’ve ever experienced. The chocolate oozed over my tongue, melted on my teeth, it’s nutty, raisin, cocoaness filled my senses. My eyes widened, my nose perked, my skin tingled, and my tongue, oh man did it taste. Heaven. One of the best, most delectable decisions I’ve made. Dear chocolate, I promise never to desert you again. Despite this week being a struggle almost from start to finish with blood sugar dramas and running injuries and work stresses, it hasn’t all been bad. In fact, there have been a few spectacular moments squeezed in there. On Saturday, my niece finally had her baby shower

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