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Appointment and Weekend

The appointment on Friday was a bit of an anticlimax. They weighed me (5kg heavier than a month ago), and took my blood pressure (130 over something or other). Apart from that it was just a chat to the doctor and the nurse. Was concerned about them testing my levels at the clinic so didn't want to be high. Unfortunately, I overdid it and managed to have a hypo (3.0) in front of the nurse! How embarassing! She gave me a bag of crisps and I had some glucose tablets and felt better. The nurse and the doctor seemed to be pleased with my levels and didn't think anything needed to change. They don't do DAFNE at this hospital, but I have been put on the waiting list for a carb counting course. I also mentioned pumps. Basically, there is no chance of getting one any time soon. I knew that would be the case, but wanted to check. I have to go back in a month, having done a blood sample to be sent off for Hba1c testing.

The rest of the weekend was quite pleasant. Saturday was a lovely day, with several hours spent in the garden. Abby took me on a walk to the playground too! It is nearly a mile and she walked all the way. We got rained on, on the way home and got rather wet! Made sweet potato and red pepper soup on Sunday, to eat when we returned from church. The soup was excellent and far better than any that I have eaten out of packets. Even the fresh soups that you can buy from the supermarkets (Covent Garden Soups etc.) are really and taste of nothing in particular, especially not the ingredients that they are meant to include. How can an apricot, ginger and butternut squash soup have no heat, no sweetness and no punch from the butternut squash?

Sunday was a less good day. The church we are going to is just a bit evangelical for us and one particular speaker got to us a bit. There were two speakers. The first spoke about missionary work in Brazil and was excellent. (Better not say more....) The weather on Sunday was terrible and that meant for a difficult day as we couldn't go anywhere and Abby got a bit stir-crazy. I was really tired so wasn't in the mood for an active toddler. Eventually we all went to bed at 7pm and slept until Josh needed feeding at 11. Of course Abby was up at 06:00 this morning, so I lost some of the hours I had banked last night.

Finally, I had a call from my credit card company asking whether I had bought flights with Emirates and Singapore Airlines. Well, it would have been nice, but I don't think Abby or Josh would enjoy Saudi or Singapore very much! My card had been 'compromised' to the tune of £1,300. Luckily I am not liable, but can't think how they have got my details. A bit worrying really.

Cycled to work again! Maybe I'll keep this up.

Comments

Unknown said…
Great blog Nick. Very well written + interesting. All the diabetes stuff seems extremely complicated. Do you have to know exactly what's in each meal before eating it?

Cheers

Paul
NickC said…
Hi Paul,

Thanks for your kind comments.

I think you just have to be organised with diabetes, which is alright for me as I am sure you know.

As for the meals. It helps with your glucose levels to know how much carbohydrate is in your meal. I generally guess based on knowing roughly how much carbohydrate is in the normal foods that I eat. Meat has very little carbohydrate, it is just foods like bread and pasta and potatoes that you have to make allowances for. The consequence of not getting it right is either you hypo (low blood sugar, can be corrected by eating something, although in extreme cases results in unconciousness), or your level could be high. A high level has longer term consequences, but as long as it isn't high for long periods of time (more than a few hours every so often), it isn't too serious.

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