My Diabetes-Fighting Team

Dexter has been in my life now for 14 months. Rose has been around for 9 months.

Together, the three of us make a great diabetes team. Not that we do actual battle with diabetes but we sure do work together to keep him in his corner.

As soon as he starts acting up, Dexter takes notice and sends out a bat signal.

Rose spots it and starts vibrating to pass along the message and then I step in with my bag of tricks (insulin, emergency carbs, water, exercise and a voodoo doll) and together in our slapstick way we bring things back to the way we like them.

We slay the vampires so to speak.

 I like to pretend we're like this trio - only a little more 2015ish. I keep flip-flopping between whether I want to be Willow or Buffy. I'm leaning towards Willow. And Rose is totally Buffy in her fancy pink coat. 

Anyway, so the three of us make a great team. 

Which made it all the more disconcerting when things started to go wrong last week. I was at day 9 of my sensor and things were fine until I got out from the shower last Wednesday morning. Instead of seeing my blood glucose number on Rose's screen, I saw the dreaded ??? instead. 

I hooked her back up anyway and crossed my fingers. About two hours later, she buzzed to tell me that my blood sugar was 3.9 (which it was) but it took two hours for the ??? to go away. 

The next day, it happened again. Right after my shower. And about two hours later, everything was fine. That night, I changed my CGM sensor hoping that was the problem. 

The following morning the same thing happened. It happened on Wednesday and Thursday with my old sensor and it happened on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday with my new one. Each day was the same pattern. Something was happening in the shower that messed things up. 

Since not showering was not an option, I really needed to figure this out. 

So, on Monday, I called Animas Tech Support and found myself speaking to a nice guy in California. He walked me through some of the things that it could be and none of them seemed to fit. He explained that seeing ??? meant that the sensor was reading my blood glucose but could not make any sense of what it was reading. Which eliminated the possibility that it was a transmitter battery problem. 

He said that it could be a problem with the back of the transmitter getting wet during my shower but we both agreed that was odd considering it never happened before and now it was happening every single day. Plus, I added, when I go swimming for 90 minutes, I never experienced any problems with Dexter finding Rose again afterwards (I didn't actually use their names for the record). 

He finally concluded that I may have simply had two faulty sensors and he agreed to send me two new ones immediately. 

Hopefully he's right. 

I don't like it when Dexter sends a bat signal and Rose isn't able to read it. It kinda freaks me out. 

I spent the first 10 1/2 years with diabetes flying blind. Relying on finger pricks to keep my numbers in check and going to bed every night crossing my fingers that I would wake up if I had a problem. 

I've come to rely on my CMG and the feeling of security that it brings. Missing that for 2 hours every morning, particularly right after breakfast and a run, is really disconcerting. 

Dexaversary

I have been hooked up to a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) since late November 2013. November 26th if I remember correctly but I could be off by a day or two. 

Since the day I first started using Dexter, I have not been without him. Not for one day. The only time I don't have a steady stream of blood sugar data coming my way is when I have to insert a new sensor, or restart a zombie one, and must wait the two-hour start up time. Other than that, I am hooked up all day every day and receive blood glucose updates every 5 minutes. 

The difference that Dexter has made in my life is pretty significant. From giving me peace of mind to letting me track patterns to helping me fix problems before they start, Dexter is probably the most important tool in my diabetes arsenal. 

When I first received my CGM supplies in the mail, I was given a box of sensors and a transmitter. The sensors get replaced every 1-2 weeks, depending on how long I can stretch them out. The transmitter, I was told, would last anywhere from 6 to 9 months. Once it died, I would have to order a new one. 

I revved my first transmitter up on November 26th, 2013 and figured I was good to go until at least the end of May 2014. After that, who knew what would happen. 

The transmitter did a fine job until the 6-month mark and then kept humming along beautifully through June, July and August. We were now past the 9-month mark and fully into unknown territory. 

In August, I ordered a back up transmitter. I felt like I was now on borrowed time and I did not want the old one to kick the bucket on a Friday afternoon, leaving me hanging until the following Monday. 

When the new transmitter arrived it was tucked away in the diabetes cupboard for the rest of August, all of September and half of October. 

On Monday morning of this week, I was woken up by a vibrating pump. When I reached over to check whether I was high or low, I discovered a new message on the screen: 'CGM transmitter battery low, replace immediately'. 

No advanced warning. No two-week heads up. Just a vibration telling me that Dexter was running on fumes. 

After my shower I padded downstairs, pulled out the next transmitter, entered the serial number into Rose and revved it up. Two hours later I was back in the game again. 

I love my Dexcom. It works well 90% of the time and all of its parts last much longer than the product information tells me that they will. 

November 1st will be my 12-year diaversary. November 26th will be my one year Dexaversary. 

Dexter takes great care of me and we are a very good team. With him at my side, literally, it makes celebrating my 25 and 50-year daiversary look a heck of a lot easier. 

Here is to a long and happy life together. 

CoreFit Challenge

When to folks in the lab coats develop things to make living with diabetes a little easier - like pumps and continuous glucose monitors (also known as Roses and Dexters) - I'm pretty sure they have to run them through a whole barrage of tests.

Like how well the infusion sites stick.

Do they hold on after a shower? After two showers?

Does the CGM receiver receive a signal when the transmitter is on your stomach and you are sleeping face down under a mound of blankets?

How much pulling can the infusion site take before it rips off? Can it survive if you drop the pump and it's dangling at the end of the tubing? Can it survive if the tubing gets caught on a doorknob as you stroll by? As you run by?

How cold can it be before everything stops working right? How hot?

If someone sleeps on top of their insulin pump, while buried under a pile of blankets, for oh, say, 8 hours, is that hot enough to cook the insulin into uselessness?

So many things to test - no wonder it takes so long for new products to reach the consumers.

After the last few weeks, I'm working if I should contact Animas and Dexcom to let them know about a few more tests that I've been running on their products.

I like to call them the CoreFit Challenges.

The Pressure Test: Take a stability ball. Lie on it with all of your weight on your stomach. Ideally, directly on top of the Dexcom transmitter. Bend forward to put as much pressure on the transmitter as possible. Lift up using your back muscles. This will stretch out your stomach and pull the skin as tight as possible. Hope like hell the transmitter does not rip off. Repeat, oh, I don't don't, 10,000 times.

The Pump Clip Test: Clip your pump to your workout shorts. Begin class. Move pump around to the back in order to lie on your side. Then move pump back to the side in order to lie on your back. Move to stomach in order to lie on your side. Move from stomach to back in order to lie on your stomach. Hope clip is strong enough to handle 60 minutes of sweaty-palmed not-so-gentle manipulations. Repeat twice a week until pump clip disintegrates.

The Up and Down Test: I could probably get a job at Dexcom or Animas right now simply based on the knowledge I have re what happens to diabetes products during a long run. Running involves a lot of bouncing up and down but it's an up and down forward motion. I have never tested these things in a purely up and down fashion while waving my arms in various directions. As in while doing jumping jacks. Or while jumping up, spinning 180 degrees and landing. After each set I reach down to check if Dexter is still there because all the bouncing makes it feel like he's ripping off.

The Vibration Test: I dislike beeping noises so I have switched every pump alarm I can on my pump to vibrate. I never miss an alarm when I'm sitting at my desk. I rarely miss one while sleeping (although Doug may argue with that statement). Can the vibrations be felt while madly doing jumping jacks? While doing football runs? And, more importantly, will the vibrations cause me to lose my balance while in a side plank with one arm and one leg in the air?

Dexcom. Animas. If you have any questions about how your products performed during the CoreFit Challenge, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Introducing Rose

There is a new kid on the diabetes block. She recently arrived in Canada and, just last Friday, showed up on my doorstop.

Her name is Rose and she is a lovely pink Animas Vibe pump. She been riding around on my belt since Sunday evening. We're still getting used to each other but I think she will be a wonderful addition to my diabetes arsenal.

Let me explain how Rose came to arrive into my life.

Many of you probably know that I usually wear a green Animas Ping pump named Lucky. Lucky arrived on the scene a while ago now and, thanks to his waterproof nature, has made a huge difference to my swimming routine as well as on triathlon days. No longer having to remove my pump when I swim is pretty sweet and very helpful when it comes to blood sugar management.

Here is a picture of Rose (top) and Lucky (bottom). You'll notice from the tubing that Lucky was still attached when this photo was taken. 

Lucky is also pretty cool because he can be remote controlled using my One Touch Ping glucometer. Which means that on weekends like this past weekend when I wore two different dresses over two days, he can be hidden under the dress and there is no need to dig him out when I need to bolus.

Back in November the Dexcom was released. Dexcom is a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) that is separate from Lucky. Mine is named Dexter and, since the moment he arrived, we've been inseparable. He shows me what my blood sugar is doing, he alerts me if I'm high or low or when I'm climbing or dropping too quickly. He has made a huge difference in my diabetes management and, after only six months, I can hardly remember life without him.

Smile for the camera Dex!

So I have a waterproof insulin pump that I can remote control when I need to. I have a Dexcom that keeps me on top of my blood sugars. What more could I possibly need?

Not much, I thought, until the new Animas Vibe pump came out.

The Vibe is different than the Ping and there are pros and cons to each of them. Both of them are waterproof which is critical to my lifestyle. The Ping, or Lucky, has the remote control feature I mentioned which, when I first got it, didn't seem like that big a deal. After having it for a while, I realized how convenient it really is and what a difference it can make when you need to keep the pump tucked away under your clothes.

The Vibe, aka Rose, does not have the remote control feature. But she makes up for it by having the Continuous Glucose Monitor built right in. With her, there is no need for a separate Dexcom device. One touch of a button and you can see one of six different CGM screens. It's pretty sweet.

This is the 3-hour screen. I can also see what my BG is doing over 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 or 24 hours or I can just see the current BG reading, an arrow showing me where it's headed and the amount of insulin on board (IOB) 

So how did I end up with Lucky and Rose? Well, about six weeks ago now, you might remember that I did a presentation for Animas as a conference for diabetes educators. It went really well. One thing led to another, we exchanged a few phone calls and I ended up signing a contract with Animas. I agreed to do more presentations like the one I did, as well as attend local, and not so local, events. In exchange, I would be signed on to their Animas Heroes program and I would receive a new Animas Vibe pump. A pump that would make a big difference in my ability to stay on top of my blood sugars during sporting events. No need to leave Dexter tucked away during a swim because he is not waterproof. No need to add more weight to my running belt by bringing him with me. Now the CGM is build right into the pump and, at any point during a workout or race, I will be able to look down, see what's happening and make decisions as I go.

So Rose arrived on Friday and, after my weekend of fancy dresses, I revved her up and hooked her on. I have three weeks until the next wedding weekend when I'll need to wear Lucky again so I can remote bolus as needed. But, for the moment, Lucky's in the cupboard and Rose is hanging out.

What about Dexter you ask?

Well, I'm guessing I'll be wearing Lucky a lot during the summer months because of all the sundresses I'll be sporting. So he'll get to be my wing man as usual. When Rose takes the stage though, he'll end up in the cupboard with Lucky.

He's not particularly happy about that but I'm hoping he'll learn to see it as a much deserved vacation.

A Day in the Life

Here is what yesterday looked like between 7:30 and 19:00.

For those of you who aren't used to looking at a day's worth of blood sugar readings, this day actually wasn't too bad...other than that wee spike around noon. 

Let's walk through this so you can see what a day in my life looks like. 

When I got out of the pool after my swim, I was a little low. You can see that by the little red dots on the far left of the picture. 

I was hovering at 3.9 which isn't actually that low but I treated it anyway since I had just been swimming and I had to get in my car to drive home. 

I had two Dex 4s to help with the low, got home, bolused and had breakfast. 

After breakfast I headed to work and my blood sugar climbed the way it usually does after eating. It didn't spike too quickly or too high. 

By 10am, I was in a meeting. I glanced at Dexter every once in a while and he was slowly going down again but the drop wasn't too dramatic. I waited until I was 4.5 and, since I was still dropping, I decided to eat a Clif bar that I happened to have in my purse. 

The meeting was ending in a few minutes and I was heading into another meeting a few minutes later so I decided not to bolus for the Clif bar until the first meeting ended. I figured that would give the Clif bar a chance to kick in and give me a chance to see if the bar was enough to stop the blood sugar drop. 

I left the first meeting, stopped at the ladies room, refilled my water, walked downstairs to the other meeting room, went in, chatted with people, took my coat off, set up my stuff and got ready to start that meeting. 

I forgot to check how my blood sugar was doing and I forgot to bolus for the Clif bar. 

That would not normally have been a problem because I always put Dexter on the table beside me during meetings so he would have started vibrating as soon as my blood sugar started spiking. 

Except this time I left him in my coat pocket which was draped over the back of my chair. Which also wouldn't normally be a problem except I had just eaten a Clif bar that I didn't take insulin for. 

The gods were conspiring. 

I ran the meeting from 12pm until 1pm. I sat around chatting afterwards for a few minutes and then I gathered my stuff, put on my coat and headed to the car. Just as I sat down in the car my pocket started to vibrate. 

Arrgh!! 

As you can see from the graph, one Clif bar took me from 4.5 to 15.5. Think about that for a minute. Anyone with a functioning pancreas would have stayed steady as their body digested the 40 carbs worth of snack. Without a functioning pancreas, 40 grams of carb causes a huge spike in blood sugar that I am helpless to prevent without insulin. 

No wonder I was thirsty. 

I bolused for the high, headed back to my office, bolused for my later than usual lunch, waited 15 minutes and then ate. 

My blood sugar steadily dropped and I watched it like a hawk. When I got the sense that it might drop too low again, I ate my apple which I had not bolused for. That was enough to stop the drop and level me out for a bit. 

After work, the sun was shining so I drove home, grabbed a letter I had to mail and walked to the mailbox. I then walked for another 20 minutes just enjoying the spring evening. When I got home I was dropping a bit again so, as I started making dinner, I didn't worry too much about snacking on the ingredients. I figured the walk I just had needed about 15 carbs to keep me from dropping before dinner so a few pieces of pasta shouldn't be a problem. 

Apparently it was. 

Up 

Down

Up 

Down

Every day Dexter's graph looks different. Every day it tells a story. Every day reminds me that I live on a blood sugar teeter-totter where every little movement in one direction usually leads to a movement in the other. 

Up

Down

Up 

Down

(Almost) Naked Shower

Yesterday I just missed having my second naked shower since November. 

One in six months. That's just sad when I think about it.

Yesterday morning I went out for an 8k run in the cold spring rain. Dexter, who was already 10 days old and holding on by a combination of sheer determination, the fear of my wrath if he let go before day 10, and some well-placed tegaderm, didn't survive. My wet and heavy shirt kept rubbing on him and, by the end, he had come completely unglued. 

When I got home, I dug him out from under my wet layers, placed him on the counter to dry and headed up for my shower. 

After my shower, I noticed that my infusion site was also barely holding on after the rainy run. There was just enough insulin left in my pump to make it until dinner so I taped it in place, crossed my fingers and went to work. 

I fought highs all day. Not high enough to go home and change my site but high enough to make me think that I may have caused some structural damage to the site and not all the insulin was getting in. 

I changed it the minute I got home and that is when I realized that, if I had changed it in the morning when I was doing Dexter (that sounds worse that it should), I would have been able to have a naked shower. 

Dammit. 

Naked showers, for those of you who get to take one every day, are a luxury that I rarely get to enjoy anymore. 

The thought of not having to gingerly wash around my cyborg parts and just being able to enjoy the shower is, well, I can't even think of the right word for what it is but it's a damn nice thought. 

The thought of not having to think about where and how I stand in the shower so that the water doesn't directly hit one of my sites when the edges are already started to come unglued. 

How many of you actually know how to stand to make sure that some parts of your body get wet but never actually get directly sprayed by the water? How many of you care? I'm guessing it falls in the category of 'who the hell does that?'.

And imagine the whole post-shower drying off process. Dry arms vigourously. Dry legs vigourously. Dry abdomen...oh wait, dab, dab, carefully dab so as not to knock any cyborg parts off. 

Sigh. 

I missed my naked shower by a handful of hours. 

With pump site changes every 4-5 days (usually in the evenings) and with Dexter changes every 8-14 days, the odds of both sites coming off on the same day at the same time just before I need to shower are roughly the same as the odds of my taking up figure skating.

Or ballet.

Or anything else that requires a combination of grace and short skirts. 

Dexter and I Spending Quality Time Together

Sometimes I picture Dexter like a night in shining armour. He protects me. He keeps me safe from the diabetes monsters. He watches over me while I sleep and yells at any sign of danger.

Other times, Dexter is more like a puppy that has completely destroyed the living room couch and is sitting innocently in the kitchen when you discover the mess.

What?!? Me??

And the only reason he's still alive is because I somehow manage to hold on to the memory of the times when he has protected and cared for me.

On Friday, Doug and I went golfing with some friends. We walked all 18 holes, had dinner at the club and then drove home. My blood sugar during the game was pretty stellar. Thanks to a reduction in my basal rate and a well-timed Larabar, I hovered between 6 and 9 the entire time.

I ordered the curry chicken with basmati rice and naan bread for dinner. I bolused for most but not all the carbs because I figured those four hours of walking would catch up to me.

We enjoyed dinner, came home and settled on the couch for an hour of West Wing before bed. I bolused for six squares of chocolate to enjoy during the show and checked Dexter every five minutes to see when my blood sugar would start dropping so I could enjoy the chocolate.

Enter crazy puppy covered in couch stuffing.

My blood sugar when we got home at 8pm (we had a rather late dinner) was 10.0. By 8:30 it was 14 and by 8:45 it was 16. Dexter is set to alarm once I hit 10 and keep alarming every fifteen minutes until I drop below 10 again. He was having a fit on the table.

I bolused despite the fact that I still had a ton of insulin in my system from dinner. I also checked the site to make sure it wasn't leaking (it wasn't).

By the time the show ended at 9pm, I was 20 and still climbing. I was also feeling pretty awful. I put my chocolate squares back in the cupboard for another night. I checked the infusion site again (no problem), checked for air bubbles (none), and double-checked that I had indeed taken insulin for my dinner (I had). I also double checked my blood sugar on my glucometer in case Dexter was playing a joke on me. It matched up right to the decimal point.

Despite feeling exhausted from our golf game, I couldn't go to bed so I took another bolus, stretched out on the couch and tucked Dexter in beside me. I dozed off for fifteen minutes until he buzzed. I was still 20 but no longer climbing so I figured the insulin was kicking in. I dozed again for fifteen minutes until he buzzed me awake again. Still 20. Damn.

Doze, buzz, check, bolus, repeat until 11pm. I was still hovering between 19 and 20. No signs of a faulty site but no signs of any blood sugar drops either.

Fine!!

I bit the bullet and changed my infusion site and filled a new reservoir with fresh insulin just after 11pm. I took a full correction bolus for a blood sugar of 20. For me, that is 3.6 units. With the other 7 units that were supposedly coursing through my system, I now had enough insulin in my body to probably kill me twice.

I settled back on the couch knowing that Dexter would keep alarming every 15 minutes until I got back down to 10.0 again. No point in keeping Doug up too.

We settled into a routine where I dozed between alarms and woke up to check. After fifteen minutes I had already dropped to 18.5. Within 30 minutes I was down to 17. Every fifteen minutes I was at least one number lower. Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen.

When I hit 12.0 I headed upstairs. It was almost 1am and I figured there would only be one or two more alarms from Dexter before I dropped below 10.0. That was exactly correct and, thirty minutes later I drifted into a grateful, uninterrupted sleep. I woke up a few times on my own and saw that I had dropped from 20 to 6.5 and then settled there for more of the rest of the night.

My last correction bolus was the only one that seemed to work. I have no idea where those other 7 units went but I keep waiting for a rogue pocket of insulin to explode under my skin and send me plummeting into the blood sugar depths. It's been two days and I'm still leary of touching where the previous infusion site was in case there is a rogue pocket of insulin hiding there.

As for Dexter, he buzzed every fifteen minutes from 8:00pm on Friday night until almost 2am on Saturday morning. I was grateful he kept waking me up and yet I was ready to throttle him at the same time. He was minutes away from execution.

I'm guessing he was feeling roughly the same about me.

Would that woman just get her damn blood sugars under control so I can get some sleep!!

The next morning he was quiet and stoic with a lovely flat line on his screen. I looked like I had survived a rather rough night on the town.

And thus concludes anoother chapter in Céline and Dexter's diabetes adventures. Not one I ever want to read again.

Dexter's First Run

Unlike Lucky, my super pump, who come with me everywhere but the shower, Dexter sometimes gets left behind.

Not because he's been misbehaving. Not because I don't like him.

Unlike Lucky, Dexter is not waterproof. At all. And he's kinda pricey so I'm a little protective of his sensitive nature. That means that he stays in the locker when I swim and he stays on the counter when I head out for runs.

It's actually a little sad because the first thing I hear when I walk up to my locker after a swim is his sad little vibrations from inside.

"Hello?? Is anyone out there? Have you seen my mom?"

Saturday morning I woke up feeling well-rested after a lovely night of blood sugar steadiness. No midnight buzzing from Dexter meant a solid 8-hour sleep. My body was raring to go for its 16k run.

Then I heard the 40km/hour winds howling outside and decided that I would wait until Sunday for my long run. Sunday was supposed to be 10km/hour winds, sunny and heading up to 12 degrees by noon. So I cycled for a bit, stretched, iced and prepared for my Sunday long run.

Saturday night I went to bed with steady blood sugars. Unfortunately Dexter woke me up a few hours later with high numbers. I tested to be sure he was right and then took a correction bolus. Thus began a five hour ping pong match. Every fifteen minutes he buzzed and woke me up. Every 30 minutes I took more insulin unless I was dropping. Back and forth we went. Finally around 4am I took an extra large dose, dropped down to 7 and held steady until 8am when I stumbled bleary-eyed out of bed.

The sun was indeed shining. The wind was indeed calmer. But I was not feeling particularly frisky for a run.

Unfortunately I was running out of weekend so a long run was going to happen whether I was feeling it or not.

After that night of unexplained highs, I was a little worried about spiking up again during my run. I didn't want to have to lug my glucometer with me and test every half hour so I decided that Dexter was coming along for the ride.

He seemed excited about it to be honest.

I took him out of his protective case and tucked him into a ziplock bag. I filled my pockets with emergency carbs, tissues and lip balm.

Pre-run I was 5.5. I had a date and a gel and headed out.

At 5.5k I peeked at Dexter. He said I was 7.4 and holding steady.

Doug met me at 10k. Dexter told me I was 8.5 and a glucometer check told me I was 9.0. I drank some water and some Nuun and soldiered on. Doug met me again at 13k and Dexter said I was 7.5. I drank a bit more and headed home.

Once home, Dexter said I was 7.0. My glucometer said I was 5.5.

He survived his first run and did fairly well. I know that continuous glucose monitors are not as precise during rapid changes in blood sugar and during exercise. That being said, it was neat to see what my blood sugar does on a 16k run. I've never seen that before. And it was comforting to know what was happening, especially after the night I had.

And, despite a pretty rough night, I managed a decent 16k run. I finished it in 1:46 and, in case you didn't notice, my blood sugar was 5.5 when I started and 5.5 when I finished.

Can't complain about that.

Dexter versus the Crazy Rabbit

Most of you who frequent Running on Carbs with any regularity will know that Dexter is what I lovingly call my Dexcom...also known as my continuous glucose monitor.

Crazy Rabbit hasn't made his presence known recently but he is who I use to describe the unpredictable curveballs that diabetes likes to throw. Check this story out if you want a good example.

The last 36 hours have been a showdown between Dexter and the Crazy Rabbit. I have no idea who is winning but it sure as hell isn't me.

Tuesday morning is when it all began. I went for a lovely 8k run before work, enjoying one of the last crisp cool mornings before spring begins (I hope!). After breakfast and my shower I noticed that Dexter was barely hanging on. He was already 8 days old, had been zombified once and was covered in Tegaderm to keep him in place.

I carefully dried him off, asked Doug to hold him in position and secured him with a new Tegaderm. He seemed ok as I gingerly pulled on my coat.

I headed off to work and during my 75 second commute to the office, Dexter started buzzing. Three vibrations means I'm under 4.0. Four means I'm under 3.5. Four loud siren-type noises means I'm under 3.0. He was yelling at the top of his lungs as I walked into the office. I had just finished breakfast and felt fine. I checked my blood sugar and I was 7.5. I calibrated Dexter and put him on my desk where he sits during the day. Within fifteen minutes he was chirping that I was 17.5 and climbing.

My glucometer said I was 8.5.

Not good.

I told the ladies I was heading out for 15 minutes and drove back home. I took off the failing sensor and put on a new one. It takes two hours for a new sensor to be ready to go. New sensors always work well so I figured things would be back to normal once the two-hour sensor setup routine was over.

Two hours later, Dexter beeped telling me he was ready for me to calibrate him. To calibrate, I need to test my blood sugar twice and enter both numbers. Not having eaten in several hours, I was holding pretty steady. I entered my numbers (both in the mid 7s) and put him back on my desk.

A cold, dark and evil wind from the north blew in, bringing my old friend with it.

At 11:30am  I tested and I was 6.0. Dexter said I was 11. I re-calibrated, took insulin and ate my salad.

By 12:30pm he was alarming that I was dropping fast and already down to 3.9.

I was 7.5.

I re-calibrated.

All afternoon he told me one thing and my glucometer told me another. By dinner, I was apparently 17.5 again despite a blood test telling me I was 8.5.

By 6:30pm I had had enough and decided to shut down the sensor. I shut it down, lied to Dexter by telling him I had inserted a new one and started it back up again hoping things would settle down.

At 9:00pm the sensor was ready to go and the craziness started all over again.

By 10pm, I shut down the sensor a second time knowing it would wake me up at midnight to tell me it was ready to go.

At midnight, after hours without food and what should be a steady blood sugar, I re-calibrated him and went back to sleep. He had me up several times in the night telling me that I was several numbers lower or higher than I actually was.

By the morning, my fingers were bruised from all the testing and I was exhausted. No swim for me.

I could have changed Dexter again and put in a new sensor but I persevered. I was not sure what the problem was but I didn't want to lose an almost new sensor if I could help it. Those puppies are expensive!

After breakfast, Dexter told me I was 8.4. I tested to confirm and my glucometer said 4.2. Impossible. I just ate and felt fine. I retested on a different finger and this time my glucometer said I was 8.5.

4.2 on one finger and 8.5 on the other?

Now I'm starting to wonder - is Dexter having a bad day or is my glucometer on the fritz? Have I been trying to force Dex to calibrate using numbers that weren't accurate to begin with?

All day Wednesday I tested and calibrated every hour. By dinner, Dex was either bang on with every test or off by a bit.

I headed to bed early. Exhausted. With fingers that ached from all the testing.

Between all the sensor restarts, calibrations and double-checks, my fingers endured over 30 tests in 36 hours.

I'm not sure how things will look by the time this post is up on Thursday morning.

All I know is that, if this keeps up, I'm making rabbit stew. With a serial killer thrown in.

Confessions of a Serial Killer

Zombie Dexter bit the dust yesterday.

It's weird having a friend like him. He arrives and we instantly bond. We spend, literally, every moment together. He sees me at my most vulnerable and at my least ladylike. He sees everything.

Seven days later, he dies.

Without a second thought, I push a few buttons and I bring him back to life. Two hours later, he's back and in full form.

Then, somewhere between day 12 and day 14 of our relationship, he starts giving me wonky numbers. Says I'm low when I'm not. Says I'm dropping when I'm not. I have learned the signs and, after two bad numbers within a few hours, I end it.

Just like that.

No relationship therapy.

No 'let's work together to see if we can make things better' nonsense.

Two mistakes and he's tossed to the curb.

Then I pull out a fresh, new, still perfect Dexter, insert and go.

A new relationship forms. We bond, he spends the night.

A few weeks later I toss him out with the trash.

Does that make me a serial monogamist?

A serial technologist?

Or, since I'm the one who actually ends Dexter's life, a serial killer?

What goes around comes around eh Dex?

Tightening up a Bit.

When I first started using Dexter, I set the low alarm to go off at 4.0 mmol/l (72 mg/dl).

I also set the high alarm to go off at 13 mmol/l (234 mg/dl). The simplistic thinking behind that decision was that 13 is high and I wanted to know when I was high.

After a while, I decided that I needed to tighten things up a bit. Thirteen is high and I wanted to prevent highs. I don't want to wait until I'm 13 to find out that I'm high. I want to catch the high before it hits the high notes. If you know what I mean.

So I set the high alarm to go off at 11.0 mmol/l (198 mg/dl).

Two things happened:
- I caught highs and corrected them before they got too bad.
- I became even more diligent about bolusing and then waiting 15 minutes before eating in order to avoid setting off the alarms.

My bg became a little less roller-coaster looking. Not all the time mind you. But on those days when things go relatively well, I'm seeing straighter lines that hold pretty steady even after meals. And I'm learning that it's not just about avoiding highs and lows. It's also about minimizing the ups and downs. I can ping-pong between 4.1 and 10.9 all day and not set off any alarms. But I'm learning that having a flatline for hours on end feels much better.

So what did I do yesterday?

I tightened up the high alarm a little more and it's now set to alarm at 10.0 mmol/l (180 mg/dl).

This should be interesting. When Dexter was set to alarm at 11.0 there were many days when I never reached 11.0. I would, however, hover around 10 for a few hours. Not high enough to alarm but still high.

I really don't like being in the teens. I don't like being 11-12 either but it feels a little less bad somehow. Maybe because I can hang out at those numbers and not feel too awful. In fact sometimes I don't feel anything when I'm 11-12. Without the alarm to wake me up at night, I'd sleep right through.

But I know that numbers like 11 or 12 are still too high.

So I'm tightening up a bit tighter.

I'm sure that will mean a few more alarms in the middle the night and a few more alarms after big meals. I am also pretty sure it will help me make a few more changes in my blood sugar management to avoid the highs without getting the lows.

There isn't that much room between 4-10 when you really think about it.

Let's see if there is enough.

Dexter's Many Talents

There are a lot of things I love about Dexter.

The fact that, at a glance, I can see if I'm climbing or dropping and (try at least) to deal with small blood sugar changes before they become big ones.

The fact that he wakes me up when I'm in a wee spot of trouble before I end up in a big one.

The fact that he teaches me what is going on between finger pricks. Thanks to him I really do see the value of bolusing 20 minutes before I eat instead of waiting until we have put the dinner on the table. I also really do see the effect that sitting all day (in the car or in meetings) has on my blood sugar during the day and during the next night.

Thanks to Dexter, I have fewer lows that I used to have simply because I catch them at 4.5 instead of at 3.5. I also have fewer and less dramatic highs thanks, in part at least, to the fact that I've set him to alarm the minute my blood sugar hits 11.0. I wouldn't normally feel any different at 11.0. Those awful high blood sugar feelings don't usually kick in until I'm 13 or higher. Without Dex I could easily sleep 8 hours with blood sugar numbers in the 12s. Now he wakes me up, I bolus and drop down to a much safer 6-7 for the rest of the night.

All this to say that, after three months of living with him, I was pretty excited to see my latest A1C results.

Would the fact that I have had fewer and less dramatic highs and lows translate into a good looking A1C? Would my A1C go up because I had fewer lows?

Last week I headed to the Diabetes Centre to find out.

My last test came back with an A1C of 6.6 but I was still having too many lows according to the doctor.

Last week's test results?

6.5

And I could, without even a hint of dishonesty, say that I reached that number with fewer lows. Not no lows, but definitely fewer and, when they happened, I usually caught them when they were 3.9 rather than 3.0.

Yet another reason why I have a mighty big crush on Dexter.

He teaches me things, he keeps me safe AND he helps me get an A+ on my tests.

Three Lessons in One Day

Yesterday morning I was down to a handful of test strips. By a handful, I mean five.

I don't usually play it that close but I have Dexter now who tells me how I'm doing so I figured I'd be just fine with five test strips during an 8-hour workday and I'd head over to pick more up right after work.

I used the first one as soon as I woke up just to make sure Dex was on target. He was pretty close.

I did my cycling workout and then used my second one before breakfast just to make sure I was still calibrated after my workout. Again, Dex was pretty close to the target.

I watched Dex all morning but didn't do my midmorning calibration because I was rationing test strips.

I tested at lunch and he was off but not awful. I recalibrated him and had my lunch. If you do the math, we are not down to two test strips.

Two hours after lunch I was climbing quickly. Surprisingly quickly considering it was a pretty simple lunch that should have been easy to bolus for. Dexter told me I was 12 so I told my insulin pump I was 12 and took a correction bolus.

*set off first warning bell here*

At 3:30pm, Dex was still yelling at me that I was 12 so I took another correction. (Again with the warning bells please.) I left work and headed across town to pick up test strips and a few other prescriptions. Afterwards I headed to the grocery store and then I headed home. I checked Dex periodically and he assured me that I was coming down - steadily but not crazily.

I walked in the door of my kitchen at 5:15pm and he buzzed to tell me I was 3.9 and dropping fast. I dumped the groceries, tossed my coat down and told him to hold his horses while I rushed to the ladies room. I came out and he was buzzing again that I was 3.1 and dropping faster. So I grabbed a handful of glucose tablets and unloaded the groceries. He levelled out at 2.9 and began his slow climb back into the safety zone.

By the time dinner was ready, Dex said I was back up to 4.0. I used the second last test strip in the vial to double check. The first real blood test I had done since lunch. I was surprised to discover I was actually 9.4, not 4.0.

Uh oh.

Did I just treat a non-existent low?

Or was my low real but now Dex couldn't keep up with how quickly I was climbing and he thought I was 4 but I had spiked to 9?

I grabbed my new box of test strips from the bag figuring I'd double check. Imagine my horror to discover that, for the first time ever, the pharmacy gave me the wrong box. I found myself holding a box of strips for my old Verio glucometer that I haven't used in almost a year. Which meant that I had one test strip left and a very uncalibrated, and slightly cranky, Dexter as a backup.

I ate my dinner, called the pharmacy, explained the problem and headed back across town before they closed at 7pm. They apologized. I left cradling my precious test strips and added yet another handful of lessons learned to my diabetes collection of lessons learned.

Lesson One: Dexter is there to help but he can't be left in charge of the ship for too long or she heads off course.

Lesson Two: Test strips are precious. Don't run yourself too low or you end up sacrificing good numbers.

Lesson Three: And for heaven's sake, check your pharmacy order before driving out of the parking lot.

Relationship Issues

As with any new relationship, there will be growing pains.  

There will be days when you work in perfect harmony, as if you could read each other's every thought, almost before they even think it. 

There are days when you wonder how you ever got involved in the first place and are not sure if all the effort will be worth it in the end. 

And then there are days when you realize that being somewhere between those two extremes is the best place to be. Perfection isn't real and certainly doesn't last beyond the first fews dates...if that. And, while they can be frustrating at times, they really are wonderful. They really do make your life better and they really are worth the effort. 

Dexter and I are past the honeymoon phase. There are still entire days when I gaze at him and cannot believe how amazing he really is. Days when he reads every blood sugar and is bang on. Days when he responds to my ups and downs and charts every trend with precision. We work as one and, as a result, I can easily do what I need to do to stay in range with nothing but rolling hills on his little graph. 

Then there are days when he's off. By a lot. He tells me I'm climbing and have reached 15.0 and yet, when I check, I'm 10.2 and, when I check again, I'm 9.0. My rolling hills have transformed into mountain ranges with jagged peaks and drops as we try to calibrate. 

Those are the days when he wakes me up at 3am with a four buzz alarm to tell me that I'm 2.8 and, when I check, I'm 6.0. He won't believe me when I tell him that I'm find and keeps alarming until, out of frustration, I walk around for a few minutes to get my blood moving in the hopes that this will help. If it doesn't, I eat a fig newton, bring my blood sugar up to 9 so he thinks it's 5 and go back to sleep. My last thought as I drift off is that I will change him in the morning but, when I wake up, he's back to being perfect again and I sigh and let him hang out for another few days. 

I admit that relationships take two people to make it work. I know that I don't always help the situation. Like the other day when I changed him. When it came time to enter my blood sugar readings, I had just had a large, carb-loaded dinner. He tried to adjust based on what I told him but I was changing so quickly that he couldn't keep up. He buzzed that I was 14 but I was only 8. He buzzed that I was dropping quickly but I was now at 12 and climbing. He buzzed later that I was 2.8 but I was 6.0. It took hours for the two of us to get our act together. 

I'm sure he was just as annoyed with me as I was with him. 

And yes, there is a kind of perverted comfort in that. 

Don't Shoot the Messenger

I love Dexter. He takes great care of me and warns me of any variety of impending doom. He's my sidekick in more ways that I can count on one hand.

On the other hand however, he's good at what he does and he's not good at what he doesn't do. If that makes any sense at all.

Dexter warns me when bad weather is approaching but he has no skills whatsoever to guide me safely to shore. Or, for that matter, to even tell me what the cause of the bad weather might be, what direction it's coming from or where it's headed.

He just knows that it's not good.

The other day, I woke up with a blood sugar higher than normal (10.0) but not horrible. That's fine, I figured, I'm going for a run anyway and that will bring it back down. I ran 8k and came home to a blood sugar of 6.0.

Perfect.

I bolused, as I usually do, and had the breakfast that I usually have.

I showered and went to work. I kept checking Dexter and kept expecting to see a relatively flat line but, every time I checked, he had climbed another few notches. By 8:45am, I was 16 and climbing. Very odd.

I bolused and headed into a two-hour meeting.

During the meeting I kept checking like a hawk. I was high and still getting higher. I kept bolusing small doses (1-2) units every fifteen minutes, and finally got down to 12.0. By that point I was starving so I bolused twice the usual amount and then ate a Larabar.

I spiked to 20 within 30 minutes. I kept bolusing during the meeting and, by the time I was back in my office, I was down to 17.

I had 45 minutes until I had to head into yet another meeting. I did some math and decided to take a huge bolus (10 units) for lunch hoping it would knock me back into range. I entered that into my pump, hit go and listened to the sound of the insulin being delivered. As I listened, I began to smell the unmistakable smell of insulin.

Dammit!!

There was something wrong with my infusion site. Insulin wasn't getting in as it should. In fact, it was leaking all over my shirt! When I had been bolusing 1 unit at a time, it wasn't enough to notice, but a huge amount like 10 units was obvious. We had a faulty site and I was smelling rather gross.

Thankfully, I live two minutes from the office so I drove home, changed my site, replaced my insulin and headed back to work. I bolused a careful 4 units, not knowing how much from my original dose actually made it into my system, gulped down my lunch and headed to my next meeting.

Of course, I spiked again after having eaten but then began a slow but steady free fall over the course of three hours. No scary drops but a steady decline that had me going low just as I arrived home after work.

Dexter, who could do nothing about it, just beeped, buzzed and downright carried on for most of the afternoon.

Here's what the three hours after lunch looked like:

I almost went from one corner to the opposite corner. Pretty crazy. 

Even crazier, here is what the day looked like. I started off a little high, ran (notice the missing dots when I left Dex at home), had breakfast and then all hell broke loose. 

Worse thing of all was that this happened on the first day of my period. The day when I'm notoriously low all day. I arrived to a day of meetings armed with dates, Larabars and other snacks to keep me going. I left smelling of insulin, bleary-eyed and headachy from hours of high blood sugars. 

Thanks Dex, for letting me know what was going on. Too bad there wasn't a damn thing you could do about it.

Change in Focus

As diabetes-related paraphernalia evolves so do the things that I focus on in my diabetes care. 

When I started out down the diabetes road, I was armed with a glucometer that took 30 seconds to give me a blood sugar reading and two needles. One that I used twice a day to take long-acting insulin and one that I used up to 8 times a day to take insulin before meals and when my blood sugar was too high. 

My goal: avoid high blood sugar at all costs. By default that meant that I had a lot of lows. 

A few years later, I had a glucometer that took 5 seconds to give me a reading and I had an insulin pump that allowed me to fine tune my insulin doses and adjust for things like exercise and illness. 

My goal: avoid high blood sugar at all costs and try not to go low either. By default that meant that I would go high, bolus, go low, eat, go high, bolus and so on. Not always that up and down but I did go  through a lot of fast-acting carbs.

Today, my diabetes army includes a glucometer that tells me my result in 5 seconds and that I can use to remotely control my pump. I have a waterproof insulin pump that I wear every second of the day except when I shower (because even though it's waterproof, there is nothing to 'clip' it to when I'm in the shower). I also have Dexter who shows me a graph of what my blood sugar is doing minute by minute. He buzzes when I'm over 12.0. He buzzes when I'm under 4.0. He also buzzes when I'm climbing or dropping too quickly. 

My goal: avoid highs and lows but also, for the first time ever, try to keep a steady blood sugar as much as possible to avoid any unnecessary ups and downs. 

Avoiding high blood sugars at all costs doesn't mean that I never had them. Heck no, I had them all the time. 

Avoiding highs and lows was also impossible because I had those regularly too. 

The point was never to not have them - that is impossible and would only lead to insanity if I tried. 

There is no way I can avoid ups and downs. There is also no way I can keep a steady blood sugar for more than a few hours no matter how hard I work. Diabetes, by its very nature, makes that impossible. 

The difference is that, before Dexter, before my waterproof pump and my snazzy glucometer - it wasn't even an option. 

Now it is. Now I know by looking at Dexter that, if I wait fifteen minutes after bolusing before I eat, I actually can stop my blood sugar from spiking. Now I know that, by watching Dexter like a hawk, I can prevent a lot of highs or, if they do happen, I can deal with them much faster than I used to when I relied on blood sugar checks and 'how I felt'. And now I stop most lows before they happen because as soon as I start dipping below 5.0 or as soon as I start showing a fast drop, I deal with it. 

I don't feel any different than I did before Dexter came into my life. I can only guess that the more time I spend in a 'steady state' the easier it is on my body. I don't use any less insulin than I did before Dexter came to town but I don't go through nearly as many fast-acting carbs either. In fact I haven't restocked since he arrived. 

I am due to go for my A1C blood work in a few weeks. By then I will have been using Dexter for two months. I wonder if he will have made enough of a difference to affect my A1C. Even if nothing changes in that department, it just feels better to know that I'm a little less up and down that I used to be. 

Best Day Ever?

On Saturday morning I woke up to balmy temperatures. It was 8C by 9am for heaven's sake! I pulled on my running hat instead of my toque for the first time in over two months. I wore two thin shirts, no jacket, no gloves and I headed out for a 13k run.

Instead of the sound of snow crunching under my shoes, I got to listen to the sound of water rushing down the streets as the mounds of snow melted at an alarming rate.

I spotted all sorts of things that had been buried for weeks in snowbanks. A rusted dog collar. More than a few christmas ribbons. Mitts. Enough Tim Hortons mugs to start my own franchise. Probably a  dollar's worth of dimes, nickels and quarters. I didn't pick any of those up - I was holding out for a $100 bill that I was sure would emerge somewhere during the big melt. If it did, I wasn't the one to find it.

I also managed to pick a route that kept intersecting with city garbage trucks that were out picking up old, discarded Christmas trees. Every time I passed one, I was engulfed in the smell of crushed pine needles. If there is a better smell in the world, I couldn't name it.

So far, the day was going very well.

When I got home, I stretched and had my coffee. Instead of heading up to shower before lunch, I lingered around a bit and then had lunch before my shower. Nothing crazy I know but it's not my typical routine.

Trust me though, there was method to the madness.

I wanted to have lunch first so I could bolus the last few units of insulin and get my pump down to almost empty. Meaning that I would then remove the infusion site before my shower. At the same time, I also removed Dexter as it was getting beyond the time when he needed to be changed too.

And for the first time since the last week of November, guess what I got to do??

NAKED SHOWER!!!!

Best!

Dexter gets changed every 7-14 days. My pump gets changed every 4-5 days. When the stars align for them both to be changed at the same time, this girl does a happy dance. You have no idea how nice it is to shower without having to be aware of where all of your cyborg parts. To just be able to shower is a luxury that cyborgs like me sometimes dream about. I admit it, I may have stayed an extra few minutes in the steam just relishing the moment.

By 1pm on Saturday, I had run 13k, enjoyed a taste of spring, been engulfed in the smell of pine needles, and had my first naked shower in almost two months.

Did I mention that I had grilled cheese with Franks Hot Sauce for lunch?

How's that for the best day ever??

Painting 2013 by Number

On Monday I mentioned that I ran 888 kilometres in 2013.

Being a lover of numbers, I decided to look back on the year and see what else I might have tracked.

Turns out that I tracked quite a few things:

I ran 109 times last year. If you subtract the 8 weeks I was off due to injury it means that, during the rest of the year, I ran once every 2.8 days.

I try to run three times per week which, technically, means I run every 2.3 days so I managed to be pretty close to that during most of the year. Yay.

Four months last year I ran over 100km and December was the highest month - topping out at 111km. I figure that was partly due to my lack of swimming and partly due to the fact that I was on vacation and much more inclined to run a few extra kilometres since I had all sorts of free time. The other high months were the ones leading up to half marathons - which makes total sense.

The lowest mileage months were the summer months when I was busy doing triathlons and not putting in the long distance weekend mileage I would typically do. Again, makes sense.

The other number from my running spreadsheet was my weight. I wrote it down on January 1st 2013 and it was 155.5 pounds. I got on the scale on December 31st, 2013 and it read exactly 155.5 pounds. Apparently I'm in my happy place.

This time next year I will have a full twelve months of swims and bike rides logged as well thanks to my number workout log on Training Peaks. That should make for some fun number crunching.

I wrote 236 blog entries in 2013. The words poutine, crazy rabbit and Cabot Trail are the search terms that most often bring people to my blog.

In 2013, diabetes drugs and supplies cost me, my benefit provider and the government a total of $8,036.42. Pump supplies cost $2379.87. I receive $2400 every year from the government to cover those so that worked out nicely. I also spent $1840 to buy Dexter and one month worth of supplies. That entire cost was covered by my work benefits. The remaining prescriptions I needed in 2013 (test strips, insulin, cholesterol meds etc) were covered 80% by my benefits. The total cost for all those was $3816.55 of which I paid $763.31.

I have used four Dexcom sensors so far. The first lasted 14 days. The second lasted 13 days. The third gave me trouble from the start and I gave up after 7 days. The fourth is 7 days old and going strong. They are only supposed to last for 7 days so I'm already two weeks ahead. It will be interesting next year to figure out how much money I spent on sensors...and how much I saved by dragging each one out a few extra days.

I paid $674.16 in race entry fees last year. That was for two half marathons, four triathlons, two open water swim races and Boxing Day ten miler. I have four hats, three shirts and three medals to show for it. I also paid $576.25 for masters swim classes and $710 for running shoes, running clothes and swim supplies (bathing suits, goggles etc). I paid $700 in massage last year - and was reimbursed for $500. I did not track what I spent on chocolate milk, NUUN tablets, GU gels and Clif Builder bars but I'm sure it's close to another $200. That's a lot of money on athletic pursuits.

Interesting when it all gets put together isn't it?

Running on Carbs Returns

Hi folks! Happy New Year and welcome back after a two week hiatus.

It feels like a lot longer than that in some ways and yet, as vacations often do, it sped by much too quickly. Ready or not, it's Monday January 6th and I'm back to blogging, back to work and back to my pre-work, 5:30am swim workout. 

All after having stayed up way too late last night watching the first episode of Downton Abbey Season Four.

Actually, let's be honest. There is no way I'll be able to survive a 4:50am wakeup call after going to bed at 11pm. So my swimming career resumes on Wednesday. 

Even with a bit of a sleep-in, heading back to work on less than 8 hours sleep after two weeks off  should guarantee an interesting day full of misplaced pens, dropped books and forgotten details. Thank goodness for green tea.  

The last two weeks were a wonderful mishmash of quiet time with Doug, family gatherings, friends new and old, delicious meals, red wine, television shows, leisurely magazine reading, trying new recipes and, despite all odds, getting in almost daily workouts. 

For those of you who know what Coles Notes actually are, here are the Coles Notes version of the holidays.

In the Kitchen

We hosted my family for a pre-Christmas dinner and tried our hand at blue cheese scalloped potatoes, stuffed tomatoes and a ham. We rocked it all. Thankfully we had a lot of leftovers because they descended again the next evening after their power went out.

The ham bone was then transformed into a very delicious French Canadian split pea soup that kept us warm during the oh so cold days after Christmas.

On another cold night we attempted a shrimp jambalaya from my Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Cookbook which was tasty but a little too labour-intensive for my liking. Way too much standing by the stove and stirring to make sure the rice didn't stick.

We then made a homemade pasta sauce using an army of oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese and a wee bit of cream. The roasting tomatoes smelled fabulous and the sauce was assembled in minutes. It was delicious and went very well with the steak Doug made. The only problem was that Bubba Gump's idea of four servings looks a lot like our idea of eight servings so we ended up with a lot of pasta and sauce.

Keeping Fit

Over the holidays we started almost every day with a bike or a run. It was nice not to set the alarm and to get up whenever the sun started shining into the bedroom. We ran a lot - on warm days with clean streets, through snowstorms and on snow and ice-covered roads.

I also happily headed down to the basement several times to ride the bike and even managed to bend those crank arms twice. In those two workout alone I did 580 squats. Insane.

We ran the Boxing Day ten mile race in Hamilton. I went into it not expecting to do anything other than run the thing and have fun doing it. Little did I know what was about to happen. It turned out that changing up my running route back in November and adding a few hills to every run made a difference. I ran stronger than I have in a long time. As I approached the 9k mark of the race and easily ran to the top of the nastiest hill of the route, I began to think I could actually PB. I had run the race twice before and did it in 1:45:something and then last year I did it in 1:42:42. I did some quick math and figured that, if I did not stop at all AND if I managed to keep each of the last 7 kilometres under 6:20 min/k, I could finish the race in under 1:40:00. I pushed hard. I ran into the wind and refused to yield. I ran up and down the smaller hills and refused to slow. The closer I got to the finish,  and as each kilometre's time beeped on my watch, the more realistic my goal became and the more I refused to give in. I hated the thought of backing off and then seeing a 1:40:something on the clock at the finish.

As I ran the last kilometre up a gentle but tiring uphill, I spotted the finish line and then, as I got closer, I spotted the time clock. I saw it change to 1:39:00 and I picked it up a bit. I crossed the line at 1:39:25 and, for the first time in my life, knew what it felt like to dig deep and pull off a time that didn't even look like an option when the gun went off. It's been over a week and I'm still grinning about it!

I'm not exactly grinning here but I'm pretty happy and very proud! 

I also headed back to the pool twice last week after a month of dry land work. I swam 1700m the first day back and felt it in my arms, back and abs for two days afterwards. I rested up and then went back last Thursday and did 2000m, feeling stronger already. I signed up for the next Masters class on the way out, knowing full well that the first few sessions are going to be rough. I'm rested now and ready for another few months of tough workouts. Triathlon season is fast approaching and I want to be at my best. Which means sucking it up for a few weeks and finding my swimming fitness again.

Other Bits and Pieces

I had an appointment for a hair cut and colour a few days ago. I was looking through my magazines for a photo of a hair colour I liked. I found this one and brought it in with me.

The colourist and my hair dresser liked the photo so much they convinced me to try the cut as well as the colour. 

So for the first time since Grade Nine, I have bangs! And my hair turned out a lot redder than it looks in the photo. A tribute to my Irish 'roots'. 

I also took advantage of the Boxing Week sales and bought some boots that are pretty fun, a few sweaters...and may have splurged at the Coach Boxing Week sale. 

Dexter and I came through all the holiday feasts and are still friends. He kept me in line and helped me prevent highs and lows before they happened. In fact I am proud to say that I had several 'no hitters' during the holidays. No hitters are days when I don't hit the high or the low line on my Dexcom graph (high is set at 12.0 and low is set at 4.0). I've also figured out an overnight basal rate that seems to be working well. Once I settle in and my dinner insulin has left my system, I flatline until the morning (which sounds awful but, in blood sugar speak, it's not - trust me). 

Other than that, I have a bunch of goals set for 2014 and a few more in the works. 

Those, my friends, will have to wait until tomorrow. 

It's good to be back - I've missed you. 

Tough Little Dude

It's Thursday. 

That means yesterday was Wednesday. 

That means that yesterday, at 4:30pm, it has been exactly two weeks since I revved up Dexter for the first time.

Exactly one week since I brought him back from the dead as zombie Dex. 

Which means that yesterday at 4:30pm, zombie Dex was seven days old. 

At seven days old, ready or not, he dies. 

So my undead little buddy was dead again. 

I didn't miss a beat this time. He died. I immediately restarted him and, two hours later, he came back to life. 

Still accurate. Still hanging on (albeit a little less securely). Still willing to work to keep me alive. 

In just over two weeks Dex was 'woken up', he died, he was turned into a zombie, he died again and then came back to life a second time. 

Is there a term for that? Or is it once a zombie, always a zombie?