Paris, Day 2 and 3

My sensor had come to an end midway through our first day of meetings. I took it out and dropped it in the trash. I did finger sticks the rest of the day. The ability to know instantly what your BG is without any hassle, can’t be beat. A quick look at the CGM before a meal, after a meal or between meals and I know instantly where my BG is. No kit to open up and no preparation of the BG tester and best of all, no finger stick.

It will be time to insert a new sensor tomorrow morning.

Before the second day of meetings I insert the new sensor.

Upon insertion the sensor, it doesn’t go all the way in. The inserter stopped about half way. I hate it when this happens. I squeeze my belly fat and push pushed the sensor needle down from the top. It slides in the rest of the way. I only felt a small amount of pain during this process. It was hard to tell, but it may have been a millimeter short of being all the way inserted. There was no blood, so now I will wait for the next message.

I head to my meetings and a little over two hours I get the message to BG NOW. So I do. I get a CAL ERROR about an hour later, followed by a BG NOW. I test again and enter the BG numbers. Fifteen minutes later, another CAL ERROR, so I stop the sensor and restart it. An hour later I have a BG NOW message. I test and enter the number, which is followed by a CAL ERROR message and a BAD SENSOR error message. After one more round of trying to resolve the issue, and my constant in and out of the meetings, I remove the sensor and decide to try it again tomorrow.

Finger sticks for the rest of the day.

Before the third day of meetings I insert a new sensor.

The sensor goes in all the way this time with only a small amount of blood. I get a good communication link and I wait for the message to test.

Two hours later I get the BG NOW message. The sensor is working and it looks like I am good to go. I should be able to get 3 to 6 days out of the sensor and I can use it while I am traveling back to the US.

Paris a quick tour

A new morning arrives after sleeping for 12 hours. Paris at 6:00AM is not very active. The morning cafes are just beginning to set up shop. The restaurant in my hotel doesn’t open until 7:00AM. I don’t have anything to do, this early, except to shower and get cleaned up for the day.

I go to the hotel restaurant to eat breakfast. I have a bowl of cereal, a croissant, a glass of orange juice, a yogurt and I grab an apple to carry with me. The charge is 23 euros. Wow, that is a $46 breakfast. I had forgotten how expensive Paris is. It didn’t take long to remember. I did 10 units of Symlin and 6 units of Humalin R.

I head out and walk the neighborhood to see what is around me. There is not much open, so I take the time to explore. You see more and find more when you walk the back streets.

I have a work peer that is traveling with me and we connect. It is his first trip to Paris, so he wanted the fast tour. We meet by my hotel it is across the street from the Arc de Triomphe. We spend a few minutes at the Arc and then we caught the Metro to the Eiffel tower.

It seemed to be warm today. I checked my BG and it was 253. You would think from the walking and the medication, that I would not be so high. I expected to be low, so I don’t know if it was the breakfast or time change or something else, but I was too high. I did a between meal adjustment injection. We then climbed the stair to the second level of the tower and took the elevator to the top. It was a great view, but we have more to see, so we wide the elevator all the way to ground level and head to Notre-Dame.

There wasn’t a Metro stop close by so we walked and found a restaurant for lunch. Ten more units of Symlin and seven units of Humalin R. The Metro took us close to Notre-Dame, but we weren’t sure which way to walk when we came above ground, so we walked completely around a big build until we found a sign, that directed us to the left. We went right when we came out of the Metro.

Notre-Dame was impressive as usual. Crowded inside, we walked around it and looked at the many small chapels inside. Enough looking around Notre-Dame and we stopped off at a small Café and had coffee on the street side. The time change was catching up with us, so we headed back to our hotels to rest before dinner.

We both decided we were too tired to get out, so we stayed in for dinner and made an early night of it. I had done Paris again, I had seen enough. I am ready to head home, but

I have three days of meetings to attend before I can head home.

Another flight and Another city

I am headed to the next city, Paris. This means twelve hours on a plain. I hope to sleep through most of the flight as the time change in Tokyo is starting to catch up with me.

I shut off the sensor on the CGM right before take off.

I am so tire and I fall asleep for about an hour during take off.

I wake up just in time to have some lunch. What a pain to do a finger stick to test my BG, so instead I turn on the sensor to get a BG reading instead. Oh, I forgot, I have to d a BG to reset the CGM calibration.

I watch a movie.

I read a magazine.

I go through about fifty e-mails.

I play four games of Spider.

I sleep for another hour.

I watched another movie.

I read another magazine.

I tossed and turned in the seat.

We are served another meal. I check my BG and it is doing good.

We land in Paris and I am tired. I didn’t sleep as much as I would have liked.

I arrive at the hotel around 6:00PM. I go to my room and I decide to take a quick nap before I go find some dinner. After all I am in Paris and nobody eats dinner before 8:00PM.

I drift off to sleep and when I awake the time is 6:30AM.

I was really tired. I look at the CGM to check my BG and all is well.

Two More days in Japan

Two more days in Tokyo will provide more opportunities to experience the culture and taste the cuisine.

The lunch meal provided through work, were absolutely awful. Mystery meat and yellow mayonnaise with a horse radish taste on white bread and no crust. So a few of us stepped out to see what we could find. We found an Italian restaurant on the second floor of a building down the street. We went inside and they did not speak English and we did not speak Japanese, so it all worked out. We had a small (very small) salad about three bites worth. The main course was Fettuccine with cauliflower and shrimp in a white cheese sauce.

We were more adventuresome with dinner. We headed up town to a restaurant suggested by a co worker who lived in Tokyo. We arrived only to be told that it would be an hour wait, because we didn’t have reservations. They suggested we wait in their bar. The bar was down the street and we needed a secret code to get in, so we were escorted to the bar where the Hostess put in the secret code and a mirrored wall slid open to reveal a dimly lit multi-level bar. Very James Bond looking. We had a few drinks and noticed there were only a few men in the bar and only one woman with an older gentlemen. After further discussion we decided we were in a Japanese dating bar. The restaurant called when our table was ready, so we walked over to eat.

Up examination of the menu we discovered we were eating in a French restaurant. Too funny, because in a couple of days we will be in France, so we decided we will find a Japanese restaurant, while we are in Paris.

The food was very good and the waiter suggested a Tequila bar further up the street for après dinner drinks. He told us to ask for a guy name Farrie and he would take care of us. I bet he would, was the joke about Farrie.

Why not, so we walked further down the street, past the AMPM store, past the Clover bar, turn down the street and enter the doorway that looks very run down and in need of repair. The waiter assured us the look of disrepair was a design point, to represent the conditions in Mexico. It turned out that Farrie had broken his foot and was not working, however we had good service. We tried a few Blue Agaves Tequilas and decided it was time to call it a night.

I was taken to lunch by one of the Japanese team. We walked in to small restaurant where we had Eel in a sweet sauce. We sat at a low table with a cut out under the table, so that we could extend our legs. It was a very good meal. The meal was served over rice followed by Japanese pickles.

That night we went to a Tempura restaurant for dinner. We had prawns, white fish, scallops, eel and some small bean bits. The fish was very fresh and the batter was very light. It was an excellent meal. The meal was followed by fresh melon and crackers.

Through all of these culinary adventures my BG was mostly normal. I thought the time change would have a bigger impact, but I didn’t have to many highs or lows. I had put in a new sensor when I arrive in Japan and I expected to get a full six days out of the sensor. It was extremely convenient to have the CGM. I didn’t have to do a finger stick before, after or in between meal. All I had to do was to look at the CGM and push the ESC button to see where my BG was sitting.

Eating Japanese

Eating at the Botan restaurant you are served Sukiyaki style food.

Sukiyaki is tender cuts of meat (chicken, beef, horse or fish) cooked at the table with vegetable, tofu and konnyaku noodles in a sweetened soy-sauce broth. As the food cooks you fish out the food and dip it into beaten raw egg.

Botan is a charming historic restaurant in a classic wooden building. There is only one thing on the menu and it is chicken. The food was served in old Japanese style. Our service was excellent with assistance from the matrons in kimonos and the little guy who kept the coals going. We took off our shoes as you enter the premise. Our shoes were put with many other shoes and we wondered if we would be able to find them after the meal.

We were then led upstairs to a large room where fifteen other folks were sitting. We sat on floor pillows and in front of a short table, that where only six inches tall. Our food was cooked on a small charcoal grill with an iron bowl on top of the coals, which was sat next to our short table.

Cooking our food was demonstrated for us, and then we were watched to make sure we understood what to do. We chose not to eat the raw egg. The egg was sat aside and after we had cooked our meal, the egg was added to the remaining juice and cooked. It was delicious.

Desert was served after the main meal. We had three pickled vegetables along with Green tea and oranges.

When we finished eating we walked down stairs to collect our shoes. As we approached the man watching the shoes, he grab our shoes and sat them down in front of us and handed us a shoe-horn.

We walked down the street and found a taxi to take us back to the hotel.

It was a great experience to eat traditional Japanese cosine.

Thirteen and a half hours on an Airplane

What to do you do for thirteen hours when you are sitting in a single spot. You can move a little bit. You can go to the bathroom, or wiggle in your chair. I played with the seat control buttons as there were 9 buttons to play with.

Three meals were served. Lunch, Lunch and Dinner. The meals were good, but I couldn’t really tell which was which.

The first meal was served at 11:00 in the morning. Would you like Wine with the meal. You bet, I might as well drink early so I can sleep later.

I read the newspaper and then watched a movie. I tried to select a movie that TRW would not want to watch. This way we will have some together movie viewing time and I won’t have to watch the same movie twice.

I listened to music, both on my MP3 player and from the Plane’s selection.

I read a couple of chapters in a book and then did about a 100 e-mails. I had two more glasses of wine, the French Bordeaux.

Finally I get tired. I recline my chair and sleep for two hours.

I wake up not really refreshed so I walk around the plane. This takes me about 2 minutes. I sit down, because another meal is about to be served. I think it is about 4 hours since the last meal. I opt for the fruit snack and not the meal. I check my BG and do an Symlin injection, followed by eating, followed by an Insulin injection.

I read a magazine and then watch another movie. I pull out the computer again and do more e-mail. I also write 3 Blog entries and play three games of Spider. I read from another book about Tokyo. I probably should know a little bit about the area I will be staying.

I listen to more music and read from a book.

I watch a third movie. Actually this time I multi-task and watch and listen to the movie playing in the headrest of my seat and watch a movie in the headrest of the seat next to me. The movie I am watching is moving pretty slow, so I don’t miss much while watching the movie next door.

I flip to the on board flight tracker and watch the plain approach Tokyo. I read a magazine. We are closer still, so I better start packing my bag. It seems I pulled most of my stuff from my carry-on bag. I have to put it all back before we land.

We have landed and now sit for 15 minutes before reaching the gate. I get to stand up now and walk. My legs are stiff, but loosen up quickly as I head toward the Immigration desk. Then I collect my checked bag and head toward customs.

I find the Limousine Bus counter and purchase a ticket for the Hotel. I grab a cup of coffee while waiting for the bus.

It feels good to move beyond the confines of seat 12D.

Graves’ disease

My youngest daughter, or my 2^nd daughter, or my number 2 Daughter, (N2D), has contracted Graves Disease. I was 25 when I was diagnosed with Graves. She is a few years younger then I was when I was diagnosed. N2D and her Doctor have been trying to manage her Graves through medication for over a year now. It does not appear to be getting any better, so the decision was made to give her a dose of radioactive iodine therapy.

Twenty five years earlier, I had the same treatment. It appears some things don’t change that much in medicine. I would assume the calculation for the dosage is probably more accurate. Medicine is still treating the symptoms and not the cause, to quote a line from Rocky Horror Picture Show. We have come such a long way with Diabetes treatments, Cancer treatments and most other treatments.

Not in the case of Graves’. Friday is the big day for N2D’s treatment. Take this pill, (the red one – Matrix), and stay away from everyone for 3 or 4 days. You will be emitting alpha, beta or gamma rays on everything around you. As you walk around or sit down, or sleep you will leave a radioactive signature that could last for a few years. It may possibly last a thousand years or maybe a million years. Saying; N2D was here.

I left my radioactive signature in Wichita Kansas. I am sure it has faded or been mixed with all the other radioactive signatures, that us Humans have managed to leave lying around.

Our expectation is that it will all go smoothly for N2D, followed by a normal period of activity for her Thyroid hormone. Some time in the future her Thyroid will shrink back to a normal size and then she will have to take thyroxin to increase the lower hormone levels.

Not much else to say, other then, Glow with Pride! :-)

Around the world in 11 days

I have another business trip to take. It be an extended 11 day travel. That means packing differently. Clothing is the easy part of packing. I wont carry clothing for 11 days, I will only carry clothing for 6 days, and then have laundry done somewhere along the way.

Medication takes more thought. I had another good 6 days on my Medtronic CGM. The last sensor ended the day before I start my travels. I have a 2 hour flight to Dallas followed by a 13.5 hour flight to Tokyo. I have to turn the CGM off while in the air, so it seems like a waste of time to put in a new sensor.

I might as well wait until I get to Tokyo to put in a sensor. I will be there for 4 days, before I board my next flight. Then I will shut the CGM off for 10 hours while I fly to Paris. This would put me changing sensors a day and a half after I get to Paris. I will be in Paris for 6 days. This will allow me to put in a new sensor in Paris before I Fly to Dallas. Paris to Dallas is a 10 hour flight with a two hour flight to Denver to complete an around the world journey.

I will carry more medication then the usual 1 or 2 day business trip. I need 2 sensors and possibly 1 extra, maybe 2 extras. Extra batteries will be required for charging. I can probably buy these in Tokyo or Paris, but with the language barrier, it is easier to carry my own.

I grab an entire box of syringes. Ten bags with ten syringes in each back should get me through the journey.

I have a full vial of Regular Insulin. I wont need any extra here.

I have a new vial of Lantus, so I should be good for two weeks.

I have a new pen of Humalog.

I am a few days into a vial of Symlin and this will require that I carry an extra vial of Symlin.

I have packed 14 days of pill medication.

Never knowing how I will be with meals or between meals, I have packed 3 boxes of nutrition bars. Each box is a different flavor, so I will have a little variety.

I have it all packed and it is split between my checked baggage and my carry on bag. I am taking some risk with this move. What if my baggage is lost? I will have to find a Doctor and see what I can work out.

As I contemplate the possibility for mishap, as it helps me to determine how much risk I take with the amount of medication and the packing of it all.

I hope nothing shuts down air travel that would delay my arrival back home.

If I don’t have lost luggage or days on end of impeded air travel, I should be just fine.

Denver to Dallas to Tokyo to Paris to Dallas to Denver.

Around the world in 11 days.

Cool

I Forgot

I forgot to take my insulin at lunch today. I walked to the cafeteria and picked up a sandwich and a diet coke. Or, I should say a "Coke Zero". I walked back to my desk and injected my Symlin dosage. I sat at my desk and did e-mail, while listening to an educational conference call and eating my sandwich. The next thing I know is that two hours have gone by and I didn’t do an insulin injection. I check my BG and it is 285, so I do 6 units of fast acting insulin.

Normally I would say this is no big deal, but it has been happening quite a bit lately. I had breakfast today and I did Symlin before the meal. Then headed out the door to work, only to realize while driving, that I didn’t give myself an insulin injection.

This could be due to the way I do my injections. I wait till after the meal to do an insulin injection, because I tend to go hypoglycemic after a meal if I do insulin at the same time as I eat.

My Doctor and I had discussed this problem and he changed my insulin from fast acting insulin to Regular Insulin. Regular has a delayed interaction time and it helps to keep me from going hypoglycemic.

Now, this would be an easy excuse, except that I have been on this routine for over a year, maybe two. I can't remember It is only lately, that I have had this memory issue.

I could blame it on my age. You know I recently turned 50 and I have come down with another age related health issue, CRS, Cant Remember Squat. It has invaded my life. CRS tends to affect me when I try to remeber longer term actions, e.g. Pick up milk on the way home.

Did I get around to writing that e-mail to the boss? I forgot.

Did I fill the car with gas? Only after the low fuel light came on to remind me. Good thing I have a low fuel light or I would have forgotten.

Did I take my pills this morning right before I ate breakfast? No. Run upstairs and take the pills after I ate breakfast.

Did I feed the dogs? Yes, because they kept reminding me, or I may have forgotten.

Do I have a good ending for this blog? Yes, but I can’t remember what it is.

Keep working to make it better

My Carbohydrate intake during the holidays was less then expected. My TRW (the right woman) worked very hard to minimize the holiday goodies around the house. It was easier this year as we stayed at home and the kids came to visit. We did most of the cooking and setting the menus.

There were a few temptations along the way. Cookies and a couple of gift tins sent from coworkers. I must admit I had a few bites of all of it. Well maybe a few more bites of the cookies. Those are my favorites. Especially when the cookies are baked by my daughters. They are very hard to resist.

The food poisoning helped me to eat, so I had ten days with little interest in food. I don't think I lost any weight, but I don't think I gained any either.

With the new year starting I need to exercise more. I had planned on taking advantage of my time off to increase my exercise activity, but again the food poisoning put a stop to this. Now I need to motivate for the new year. I did get three days of skiing in over the holidays.

Adding the gym into my already busy schedule is hard. There has also been some tragedy very close to home and I find myself not motivated and sleeping more then normal. Maybe some mild depression or sorrow.

Friends have lost their daughter in a very meaningless and pointless way and it makes you think about the terrible impact to them and their family. There are a ton of question, that you don't really want an answer too, but you think about the questions anyway. To reference the tragedy, simply search Google with "Missing Hiker Georgia" and you will understand better.

Anyway, I need to motivate to the gym. I have a ten day business trip coming up next week, and this will interfere with exercise time. I do plan on walking through airports and around in airports and in the travel cities. I am traveling to Tokyo and Paris, so walking is a must. I should be able to get an hour of walking during most days. If my internal clock is not to messed up, I maybe able to hit the exercise rooms at the Hotels as well.

Not such a good start to the new year. I will have to work at more exercise time and making the New Year better. It seems to always be this way. You have to work at it.

Convenience or Inconvenience

Good News, I am running on my third sensor, without issue.

Each sensor lasted 6 days. So, three sensors for eighteen days.

I have been inserting the sensors on Monday and taking them out on Saturday.

No excess bleeding. Minimal pain putting the sensor in.

I think to myself, that it is nice to not have to carry the CGM around when I take a sensor out. At least that is what I use to think to myself. I have gone the other direction and now I think, that I really miss pulling the CGM out of my pocket, or off my belt to look at and check my BG. If I don't have a sensor in or on. I have to stick my finger. It is a lot of work to get everything out and ready to do a finger stick, not to mention the actual finger stick itself.

How easy it is to become spoiled by conveniences. The CGM is a great convenience, once you get past the initial twenty four hours calibrations. Running a sensor out for six days makes the initial twenty four hours only a minor inconvenience.

Food Poisoning

I went to Chilis restaurant for a salad. I had the Southwest Chicken Cobb salad. About a half hour after eating I was not feeling very good. I was thinking to myself that if I could just get sick, I would probably feel a lot better. Two hours later, I got my wish.

I was hunched over the bathroom toilet and eliminating the Cobb salad from my system. The problem was that I didn't feel any better. I drank a small amount of water and tried to go to sleep.

The water came back up, and then my CGM alarm went off telling me that my BG was low. This is a first for me. I can't eat or drink, so how am I suppose to get my BG up?

I had a little help from Nature on this one. I did try some cranberry juice. An hour after I drank it, I got to revisit it again. This time my blood glucose (BG) was starting to rise. It has been 5 hours an I still feel bad and I can't keep anything down.

Another hour goes by and I am dry heaving to the porcelain god. And this continued every hour until 3:30 AM. Nothing going down and my body is trying to eliminate as much as it can from my stomach. It all stopped at 3:30 and I noticed my BG had continued to rise, but I didn't really care. I just wanted to sleep.

The next morning my BG was very high. Around 250. Before I begin to contemplate why this is occurring I think I should have something to drink. I feel very dehydrated and I have a growing headache. Coffee, I can't stand the smell. Juice is just as bad. I settle on water and force myself to drink a full glass of water.

When I get a cold my BG tends to rise and I have to use more insulin to keep myself within my prescribe tolerances. I am guessing this is what is going on here. I have an infection, which entered my system through the bad food, and my body is dumping glucose into my system to give the white blood cells energy to fight it off.

This first day I eat one slice of toast and 4 whole wheat ritz crackers. I drank one Gatoraid Rain and one Vitamin Water "Revive". My BG has run around 180 most of the day. I slept most of the day.

The second day was not much better from the eating perspective. I did sleep quite a bit, but managed to get in a few calls for work. I could work about 2 hours and then I needed to sleep some more.

The third day was more of the same

The fourth day was the same, except I had a holiday dinner to attend. Actually I was hosting the dinner. I had one glass of wine and some soup and a little pasta. I felt like my intestines were tied into knots. I was going to pay for eating something other then toast.

Day 5 was more of the same. I did manage to eat some oatmeal with no milk or sweetener. I also slept more then on the third or fourth day.

Day 6, I am feeling better. Food is more appealing, but I am sticking to Oatmeal, Toast, water and crackers. My BG is still running high.

Day 7, I expanded my food choices. I had milk with my oatmeal and I had a bowl of cereal with milk and sweetener. I tried a diet coke, but I could only drink half of it. I slept a little less today.

Day 8, My BG is in the normal range. I am hungry, but I am going to stay away from the acidic foods and drinks. I still don't want any coffee. I didn't take one nap today.

Day 9. I think I am back to normal. I had a cup of coffee and a regular meal today.

I am very glad that is over with. Just in time to enjoy a Christmas meal and to watch my BG go sky high from eating all the Christmas goodies.