Who Nurses the Nursing Student?

It's only the second day of nursing school and I've caught a cold! But that doesn't mean I can stay home and rest, so I loaded up on zinc lozenges and hand sanitizer and went to class.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I've made some new friends at school and it is inevitable that new friends ask questions about my diabetes. So I thought I would share how I answer some of the innocent questions that curious friends ask.

• "Is there anything I need to know, if you have an emergency?" 

Yes, there is a glucagon injection in my backpack. If I am unconscious or unable to take sugar by mouth, you should use it immediately, then call for help. However, I have had diabetes 27 years and never needed to use the glucagon injection. 

• "How does your pump work?" 

It is connected to me via a subcutaneous catheter, that I change about every 3 days. (I love talk to other nursing students, because they understand the terminology!) The pump delivers a base rate of insulin continuously and when I eat I program a bolus of insulin to cover the amount of carbohydrates in my meal. If I am being a compliant patient, I also wear a continuous glucose sensor, which transmits my blood glucose readings to the pump every 5 minutes. The sensor is a separate subcutaneous electrode and it's a really big needle to insert it, so I don't like to wear it. 

• "How can you tell if your blood sugar is off?"

I test my blood sugar frequently, like 6-10 times per day. If I am feeling weird, usually I will test to confirm my gut feelings. When I am low, I get really fatigued. And when I am high I feel sluggish and short of breath. I like to explain highs like this; think of your blood having the consistency of egg whites, when the blood sugar is high, the blood get polluted with sugar solutes and becomes more like elmer's glue. How would you feel with glue running through your veins? 

• "So you can eat whatever you want?"

Yep, although somethings I avoid or save for special occasions; like pizza.

• "Why pizza?"

Because of it's high fat content, pizza is problematic for most people with diabetes. The fat causes a delay in blood sugar spike, so I can pretty much go without a meal bolus for pizza for the first few hours, but around the 6-8 hour mark, my blood sugar will spike very quickly and take hours to come back down. But, there are ways to "plan" as much as possible for the spike, so I can still enjoy pizza.

• "Ugh! Why are you having pizza for lunch? Now, you're making me nervous!"

Because I am evil, no not really, just to prove that I can. (For the record 8 hours after my pizza, I was 54.)

I Can Do This!

• Today was my first day of Nursing school. 

• I woke up on time! (6:30am clinicals here I come!) 

• I bought a Venti Starbucks and drank it all!

• I sat through University Orientation, Fundamentals of Professional Nursing Orientation, Basic Skills and Assessment Orientation and didn't fall asleep!

• I ate vegetarian lasagna for lunch, which was left overs from last nights open house at the School of Nursing!

• My blood sugars were nice all day!

• My Clinical Nutrition professor (teacher?) has T1!

• I made new friends!

• I received 3 folders full of papers, that I have no idea how to organize!

• I bought 9 textbooks! (Technically I borrowed 3 of them, thank you Janet!)

• It was an intense day!

• But I am excited for Tomorrow!

I Need My D-Rents

First of all I want to say that I think D-Moms rock. Seriously. I'm so glad that the DOC is full of rockin' D-Moms and D-Dads too.

I think back to my childhood, and how well my Grandparents took care of my diabetes. They did all the amazing, selfless, difficult things that D-parent's do; the midnight finger-sticks, the algebraic-like insulin:food calculations, chasing a toddler with a syringe, force feeding a low, arguing with a high. Ya'll know the drill, not to mention this was the era of the Diabetic Exchange Diet and MDI. To some extent, I think my Grandparents had it more difficult than you current D-Moms, you see they aren't my parents. Whenever my mom decided that she wanted me around, they had no control of how she took care of me and my diabetes. They'd pack up the D-supplies along with my clothes and toys and pray that I'd come back alive.

Fortunately, I always did come back alive and usually in one piece and now I am grown and my grandparents are gone.  There is no D-mom for me to run to when diabetes get to be a little too much for me to handle. This isn't to say that Mr. Harer isn't supportive, because he is. But, there is nothing like running into your parents arms and spilling your problems into their lap. A husband doesn't love the way a parent does (and that is a good thing!)

Right now D is a little too much for me, and I wish Grandma and Grandpa were here to help carry the load. I just can't help being a little jealous of the kids with awesome D-Moms (and Dads.)

Dog Blog Day

Dog Blog Day was started back in May 2010 as a suggestion by Mr. Harer. 

Today, we are featuring Tatum.

Tatum is a senior pug who lives in Los Angeles, Ca with Grandma Harer and Auntie Karen. She enjoys long walks, eating socks, playing in the water and "dancing" on my leg. 

Tatum hates Schnauzers, belly scratches and squeakers. 

They say people begin to resemble their pets.

When she grows up, Tatum would like to be an actress, she finds the role of the Dancing Hippo in Disney's Fantasia particularly appealing.

Tatum's favorite treat is peanut butter.

Tatum was born in Palm Springs, Ca.

Tatum has purposely consumed; a diamond, a $100 bill (girl's got expensive tastes), several socks, one lens out of a pair of eyeglasses, and lots of used tissues.

Tatum and her pal Sheila 

*fun fact: Tatum's name was originally M&M.

If you would like to feature your dog on Dog Blog Day, please leave a comment.  

It's a New Year, New School, New-ish Job, I'm so Excited!

The countdown has begun, less than 6 days until my RN program begins. 

COUNTDOWN WIDGETS

Over the next few days I need to finish purchasing my textbooks, uniforms and equipment, but most importantly I need to make sure there is a plan in place for diabetes. So far my plan includes;

• Wearing the sensor 24/7 and responding to the data it provides.
• Carrying glucose tabs in my huge scrub pockets (Glucolift Orange Cream flavor preferably.)

I know I am not the first to walk this road, so I am open to advice. Actually I am begging for it....