So here is goal #3 for 2009:

Have a blood glucose within range at least 3 times a week.

Since I am supposed to test 14 times a week, this seems quite reasonable. However, let me give you some background. Last year I managed to lose some weight and to get my blood glucose (BG) under control. In fact, I was even able to decrease the dosage on one of my medications. Unfortunately, this did not last long, and I started slowly gaining again. And slowly my BG started to creep up. *sigh* The last time I went to the doctor, I told him that my BG was starting to get too high in the mornings but was perfectly within range in the afternoons. My doctor thought that my BG might actually be going too low at night, and I was catching it on the "bounce" in the morning. So he suggested that I try cutting out one of my medications and seeing if that helped. It didn't. Instead, my BG skyrocketed. I stopped checking, but I could tell that I was really high. So I started taking the meds again on New Year's Day. That day my morning BG was 262, and the afternoon BG was 281. Today I have gotten my morning BG down to 214 and the afternoon to 144. This is much better, but my goal is to be between 70 and 140, so I have a way to go. I'm starting off with a goal of 3 times per week, but I hope to be able to raise this number sometime soon. I'll keep you posted.

OK, well, I just had to post a link to this story. It's silly, but it's diabetes and Star Wars in the same place. How could I resist?

So I did really well during my first week of 5 for 5. I earned 22 points, though I haven't given myself my reward yet. Nevertheless, I'm pretty happy with my progress. So this week I'm changed things up a little. Here are my 5:

1. Get out of bed before 8:30. This is almost the same as last week, except I pushed up the time 1/2 an hour. I'm try to get it to 7:00. Again, I know it makes me sound incredibly lazy, but, remember, the majority of my activity occurs at night time.

2. Drink 1.5L of water. My dietician made me add this, and she was right to do so. I have to admit that this was the thing I have been struggling with the most this week. And it's what I've always struggled with. As it nears my bedtime, I'm trying to figure out how to fit in another 1/2 L of water. *sigh*

3. Wear pedometer and walk at least 3000 steps. I increased my steps a little and will definitely increase them next week. I want to make it to 10,000 eventually.

4. Take medicine on time. OK, well, I replaced the snack item with this one. I still need to keep track of the snack thing, but I decided that the medicine thing is more important right now. And I'm doing pretty well with it. EXCEPT for the day that I didn't pick up my prescription from Target until mid-afternoon and then didn't get home until almost dinner. I guess I really need to order those refills a little earlier, don't I?

5. Walk the dog. No change here.

Diabetes sucks. I hate having it. I hate the finger sticks, the medication, the (many) highs and the (not so many but really annoying) lows, and the fact that most people just think that all I have to do is avoid dessert. But the one thing that is true is that I have found a lot of supporters and people who know exactly what I am going through. On the Dear Janis message boards, someone posted this link.

I'm posting the list here--noting again that the list is not mine. Please do check out the article.

• 10. Good with numbers.
• 9. Creative.
• 8. Technologically savvy.
• 7. Nutritionally in the know.
• 6. Supported by a built-in community.
• 5. Benefit more from exercise.
• 4. Quickly updated about lifestyle changes.
• 3. Healthier.
• 2. Well cared for.
• 1. Self-aware.

For those of you who are diabetic, I hope the article gives you a little bit of motivation today. For those of you who aren't, I hope this helped you learn something you didn't know. :)

I meant to mention this, but I totally forgot . . .

Friday when we were listening to evidence, I started feeling sleepy, REALLY sleepy. And I don't mean the kind of sleepy that you get when you are bored; I mean the kind when you are completely exhausted. This has happened to me before, and this time I knew exactly what it was--my blood sugar had dropped. I'm not even sure why it did--I had just eaten lunch about an hour before. Nevertheless, it happened. I was getting kind-of worried because we're not allowed to eat in the courtroom. Luckily, the judge let us have a break about 15 minutes later. I had a chocolate chunk cookie in my purse and bought some milk to go with it. I started feeling better and was able to get through the rest of the afternoon without incident.

I hate being diabetic! Honestly, most of the time I have to worry about my blood sugar being too high, and then all of a sudden I have a stupid low? People who think that having diabetes just means you can't have dessert would be surprised to know things like this.

*sigh*