Day Off

Last Saturday, I woke up to discover that the diabetes monsters had checked out for the day. I have no idea where they went but they were gone gone gone in a way that they have never been gone - not once in the 9 1/2 years since they set up camp in my pancreas.

I woke up in the morning after having slept soundly all night. I usually sleep soundly all night when I'm a) utterly exhausted or b) when my blood sugar is really high. I didn't feel utterly exhausted so I checked my blood sugar with more than a wee bit of trepidation.

It was 5.6.

That morning I had a rather unusual workout schedule. At 7am I was going for a 10k run. By 8:15am I would be stretching, by 8:45am I would be eating breakfast and by 9:30am we would be in the car heading to Welland for my first open water swim.

I had absolutely no idea how to adjust my insulin for that kind of schedule so I just SWAG'ed it (Scientific Wild Ass Guessing for those of you not in the know).

I did not adjust my basal rates at all. I had a gel and a handful of raisins before my run and did not test during.

After the run I was 6.0.

I stretched, ate a bowl of cereal with fruit and bolused 2.8 units instead of the recommended 4.0. I know from experience that swimming doesn't really lower my blood sugar but I've only ever been swimming first thing in the morning with no insulin in my system.

I tested my sugar before heading into the water and it was 12.8 which was fine because I had only eaten about 45 minutes prior.

I swam for 30 minutes and then checked again: 7.9. It dropped but no more than it would have if I hadn't been swimming.

We drove home, I showered and then we had lunch. I was 5.6 before we ate. Normally, when I run in the morning, I tend to have a low in the afternoon. I did not. I was 5.7 two hours after eating and miraculously did not drop below that.

Before dinner, I was 4.2.

Two things happened that day that don't often happen. And the fact that they happened on the same day may be a first.

I did not have to eat when I didn't want to eat

and

I was able to eat everything I wanted to eat when I wanted to eat it.

No highs to wait out and no lows to correct. No impending highs or lows to deal with either - you know, the ones where you're 7.0 but you know you're falling fast so you eat to avoid the low? Or the ones where you're 7.0 but you should be 5.0 and you're feeling thirstier by the minute?

Despite a double workout with a meal in the middle - nothing went wrong. I was able to just do my thing just like everyone else.

Insert big sigh of contentment here.