Hiatus

After much thought and consideration, I have decided to suspend the blog for the time being. I have just started work on my third novel and I want to be able to devote as much time as I can to that (which, at the moment, will still be very little, unfortunately). With a little luck and some time management practice, I anticipate rejoining the blogosphere later in the fall when the chaos of Summer is behind me.

See you then!

Insulin Binge Anyone?

Shortly after waking up on Sunday, I was overcome with the realization that I was getting sick. What? Now? After a beautiful 12 mile mountain climb? I should feel like a million bucks! I should be healthy as a horse! By Monday there was no denying it. A summer cold had made its home deep in the warm tissues of my lungs. (My lungs must be weak, because they are the only part of me that ever get sick!)

I am slowly recovering thanks to coconut water, vitamins, effervescing tablets, and all kinds of tinctures and teas. But my pancreas has been slow to respond.

Sickness = High blood sugars

I'm not convinced this phenomenon is limited to just diabetics either, we just have the means to find out about it (and we probably have the power to get way higher than those normal healthy folk!).

My week has been plagued with these unpredictable highs, even now, as I am starting to feel better.

So do I a.) accept this and raise my meal-insulin dose to compensate? or do I b.) rage bolus and see what happens?

The Long Trek

• 12:30 am
• Breakfast- egg and cheese bagel and chia kambucha drink--75g carb
• 2u of insulin (normally I would take 1u per every 30g of carb, but I wanted to set myself up to be a little high to start the trek)
• 2:25 am
• We hit the trail head--9,405 ft
• blood sugar = 240
• I the chalked up the high to nerves and excitement (a "fake-high") and didn't bolus for it
•  3:24 am
• Two miles in I start to lose my steam and feel the familiar symptoms of a low--sweaty, light headed, fat fingers (yes, very similar to the symptoms of hiking up a mountain...)
• blood sugar = 59
• I take 4 gluco tabs and try to slow my pace until the symptoms subside (stopping is never an option!)
• Fifteen minutes later I eat an energy bar--18g carbs and 23g protein (homemade, great recipe!)
• 4:25 am
•  Just above tree line--10,700 ft
• blood sugar = 86
• I eat another homemade protein bar (and start to worry that I may run out of food before this thing is over! Normally I would have cut my long term insulin in half the night before, but in all honesty, I totally forgot to do so).
• 5:30 am
• Start sipping on coconut water to keep my sugars up through the two miles of rock stairs
• 6:02 am
• 12,400 ft
• We hit the boulder field just after sunrise
• blood sugar = 129 (much closer to where I want it to be)
• I snack on some trail mix and a Laura Bar while I listen to my hiking partners discuss whether or not they can go on
• 7:00 am
• 13,000 ft
• I convince the others to at least make it to the keyhole before we turn back (this is what came out of my mouth after a lot of tongue biting and patience--I felt better than I have the last three times and was more than ready to make it to the summit)
• 8:36 am
• 11,300 ft
•  Back down by the Chasm Lake turn off
• blood sugar = 170 (probably that high from the rage I was feeling at having to get out of bed at midnight just to go on a little stroll)
• 11:16 am
• Back at the trail head

In the end, the trip took just under 7 hours and we traveled 12.9 miles. I was seriously disappointed that we didn't make it to the summit, but it was still a beautiful trip and I got some great pictures!

 

 

 

2 Days and Counting

Long's Peak: Round 4 is looming just around the corner. While I have already bested her three times before, I am not willing to get cocky about the task ahead of me. She is a crafty beast!

Tomorrow I plan to go to bed right when I get home from work. Even if I do manage to fall asleep (which I won't) I am still only looking at 6 hours of rest before I have to get up at midnight and jump in the car (there is something sick and wrong about starting your morning at midnight). the first time I made this journey four years ago, I got stopped at a DUI checkpoint on my way out of town ("No officer, I haven't been drinking, I just got out of bed!"). But once you get to that trail head and start marching in the cool, black forest, all that crabbiness about early mornings fade and the sense of adventure sets in. It is an amazing feeling.

And this is me packing light!