Living with Diabetes and Lapband

One of things I am working really hard on right now is reducing my TDD.  It seems the more insulin you use, the more you end up needing.  The result -- weight gain.

There are two things I do to reduce insulin dosage -- one is low carb it as much as possible. Friday, I stocked my refrigator with low carb snacks that I don't tend to binge on. 

The second thing I do is exercise more, especially after meals.  I try to walk after each meal, but haven't made it so far this weekend.  However, I have been increasing my frequency and duration -- I'm up to 15 minutes at a time on the treadmill as of today, so that does end up being better.

As a result of working on that over the past two weeks, I've gotten my average TDD drown to 89 from 120 two weeks ago.  I did tweak my bolus settings a bit today and I'll see how that goes next week at school.  It's better to go a tad high right now, then end up going low.  That does so ruin my day.

I LOVE the new software.  Got it yesterday -- had Fedex email when it arrived, left school during my planning period and installed it before I left for the shrink.

I really believe that the result is much more accurate than before.  Most of the time, I just have to do a minor adjustment when it comes time to enter my blood sugar, and sometimes none at all.

It's amazing how using an accurate meter makes a difference!

I'm ordering new sensors on September 1st -- using my flexible spending account.

I reported a week ago last Monday.  As always, during reporting week I had blood sugar problems.  It's such a drastic change from summer -- even though this summer was full of workshops. This time I kept going low, partly because they had separated the meetings into three places, and those three places were as far a part as possible.  And the restrooms were far too.  Plus my room. 

The worst part, is that I'd get settled in a meeting and the powers that be would decide that I needed to fix something.  Broke projector, broke notebook, broke connection etc. So I'd have to walk from one far place to another, fix the broke then, then walk back.  I was getting in over 10,000 steps a day.

This week has been interesting and I've been getting in about half the number of steps.  I like the calmer though.  Kids started back Monday, and they pulled the seniors out for 2 days, then the freshmen for two days.  Very odd.  And I found out that I'm practically a freshman teacher.

But I do have great news.  My insulin usage has gone from about 120 average to 90 average.  My weight has also dropped, at least 5 pounds, maybe 10.  I'm playing with a new Beta device -- I am not sure how much I can say about it, but it looks like a useful tool.

Next blog post is going to be the Dexcom and happen in a few minutes.

I report tomorrow.  We have two days of staff development, a convocation at American Airlines Center (getting there will be a PITA), and two teacher workdays.

This will be my 18th year of teaching computer science, and the 18th year in the same classroom.

I suspect I handle the beginning of a big uniquely, but it works for me.  I spent this weekend at a dog agility trial, and will do the same next weekend.  In fact, I'm scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which means I'll take one of our teacher workdays as a vacation -- that is IF I decide to go on Friday.

I'm actually pretty ready.  Office Depot had their teacher appreciation discount last week, so I went last Sunday and got supplies.  I spent half a day the week before working on putting my classroom together, and spent Friday afternoon.  (That equals the day I'm taking off, by the way).  Went I left Friday, all computers were up and talking to the teacher workstation, server, and the internet.  So I can teach there now, without doing anything else.

My next task is to build a new student image.  I want to put Microsoft One Note and Microsoft Expression web on the images.  I also want to set of the workstations so building JCreator projects are easy.

I spent the summer writing our curriculum for Computer Science I (Visual Basic), and Pre AP Computer Science I (Java), so right now I'm waiting for our district specialist to start setting that up.  I also have AP Computer Science I (A) set up -- but currently fu-barred and AP Computer Science II (AB) set up but don't have my lesson plans set up yet.  I'll work on that during the evenings next week, and probably quite a bit next weekend at the show site.

I'm pretty happy about next year, I have the schedule I want, and I'll find out which kids and how many by the end of the end.  So far, so good, and I'll use the agility trials to keep me from stressing out about school.

Got behind blogging on the trip.  In fact, didn't touch computer for last two days -- but did use smart phone.  So here's the trip recap:

 

We went everywhere between here and Las Vegas.
We went to a ton of Indian Trading posts including Fort Courage and Geromino. My favorite was Yellowhorse in New Mexico. Also make sure you stop at the scenic overlook at the Laguna Reservation on the other side of Albequerque. There are craftspeople there from the Reservation.
Went to a Stuckey's and bought candied fruit slices (very good)
We went to Meteor Creator - it was neat, and we should be very afraid (seriously, that is their theme).
We stayed in Williams Arizona, we rode the train to the Grand Canyon and took the bus tour.
We drove through Hoover Dam and stopped a bunch.
In Las Vegas, we went to MGM, saw the lions, went to the M&M store, and the coke store.
Saw the Fab Live show, at Planet Hollywood and saw a thunderstorm IN the Miracle Mile of Shops.
We went to Margaretteville and to the Venetian.
I like nickel poker slots, triple Play - Game King
We stayed at Circus Circus - DON'T but it was free.  Lots of screaming children, but we did finally find a parking space where we could avoid the casino.
We stayed at Winslow Arizona, and we went to the street corner (Eagles song).
We went to the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park
We stopped at all of the World Best stuff. It wasn't. Well, the salt water taffy at the World's Best Fudge wasn't bad.
I'm tired.

I did learn some interesting things about my husband. 

He is extremely impatient in traffic. In fact, he is a horrible driver in traffic.  I drove through Albequeque rush hour, which didn't bother me a bit.  My attitude in traffic is that there isn't anything you can do about it, just sit back, relax, and focus on staying in your own lane.  If you do that, everyone will get home.

He has no sense of direction. I don't get that, as I alwas know where I am at. However, I do everything left handed which confuses him.

He hates screaming children more than I do.  Well, actually I knew that.

We're both also kind of selfish and really need our own quiet space daily.  Which I never did get, he did.