Low on the road

TRW and I grab a bite to eat at the breakfast bar included with our room. I had fruit, oatmeal, skim milk, coffee and a slice of toast.

How may carbs does that equal?

The toast and fruit I can find in my PDA food list. That sure makes counting carbs easier when you don't remember the number of carbs in a serving.

Oatmeal was not in the list. There was instant oatmeal with cinnamon and spice. No, that is not what I was eating. Just plane old Oatmeal. I did add some skim milk and a splenda to liven up the taste, just a little bit.

Under the cereal catagory you would think Oatmeal would be a fairly common food item.

It had Oatmeal instant with raisins and spice. Nope, that is not it either.

There it is, well, sort of; Tucked between the other two oats is Instant, regular quick cooked with water. I guess that will have to do. 25 carbs.

25 carbs - Oatmeal
15 carbs - Toast
12 carbs - Strawberrys
52 carbs total

Check my BG! Answer the question "Yes" I am going to eat. The Bolus is calculated, transmit to the OmniPod, now it is time to hit the road.

We load up the bike and drop the room key off at the front desk. We are headed north west out of Aspen to Carbondale. When we get to Carbondale we will turn left on Highway 133. This is one of the best rides in Colorado. Very scenic and quite. We have about a half hour before we get to Carbondale, so we sit back and enjoy to cool crisp mountain air.

A few miles out of Carbondale, I sense some tingling in my hands and feet. Then it rises up into the back of my mouth. It has been just barley a half hour, since I did my Bolus. I can't be going low this soon. We only have a two more miles to Carbondale, if things don't change I will pull over and do a BG.

As we roll into Carbondale, I tell TRW we are going to stop, I need to do a BG. Are you all right? Anything I can do? No, just feeling funny and I need to check.

We pull into a grocery store and park. I pull out my BG kit and test. My BG is 59, WTF! I almost instantly start to sweat and get the shakes. I grab some sugar tabs and a bottle of water. TRW heads into the store to pick up more water and a few other things. I hang outside leaning against the bike and wait for the sugar tabs to kick in. I try to stand so the sweat can evaporate, but it is still pouring off of me.

A friendly citizen comes up to me and wants to talk about the bike. He likes the color and has always wanted to take a road trip. Nice, I say to him, but I can hardly stand up right now, much less think of anything to say. I try not to be rude, so I smile and nod my head. He gets in his car to drive off and I wave good bye.

Fifteen minutes go by. The seating is subsiding. My eyes are starting to clear. TRW comes out of the store with a few munchies and some drinks. My strength has returned. We talk about over estimating the Bolus. She is glad I can feel the low coming on. Me too. Especially since I don't have my CGM right now.

We wait several more minutes and then I am ready to go. TRW give me the once over to make sure I am ready. Then she give me the twice over, just to double check.

We load up and head south west on Highway 133. Through the twisties and over the mountain pass. We stop a few places along the way to take pictures. We drop out of the mountains and into the high desert on the western side of the pass. We stop to shed a layer of clothing. We end up in Delta, CO. where the locals are friendly and we stop at a small cafe for lunch.

One more beautiful ride interrupted briefly for a short Hypoglycemic episodes. It was still a great ride.

Myth; Better BG control on vacation

TRW and I went on vacation. We decided to do the "old biker" vacation and pick a direction instead of a destination.

Biker lore states: Young bikers pick a destination and ride to that destination. Old bikers pick a direction and ride in that direction.

We watched the weather report at night and in the morning. We looked at here it wasn't raining and then rode the motorbike in that direction. We tried to stop early enough to get a room at a hotel each night. We only had one night when we couldn't find a room and end up riding an extra 50 miles to get a room.

All in all, this was a very relaxing vacation. We arrived when we arrived. This reduced our stress around getting to a destination. The one night we didn't get a room out stress did go up until we found a room.

My belief as we enjoyed our vacation, was that my BG was down and better controlled.

I came back to work and immediately got wrapped up in the work and problems and issues. As I managed my BG after vacation it seemed that every time I checked my BG it was high. I related this directly to the stress level at work and how relaxing my vacation was.

I then downloaded the data from my meter and took a look at it.

43% of my readings over the two weeks, (1 week vacation and 1 week back at work), were high.
50% were within my BG parameters over the two weeks.
7% were low during the two weeks.

All in all these were not bad percentages. I personally try to keep 50% of my BG tests in the "within" range. At least this give me a target to work towards. It is hard to keep those reading at 50% or greater.

BUT, (Behold Ultimate Truth), Looking at the week by week data tells another story.

Vacation week my readings were:
44% of my readings were high.
49% were within my parameters.
8% were low.

Back to work week:
36% of my readings were high.
56% were within my parameters.
8% were low.

I am happier when I am on vacation. I am more relaxed, so I have a brighter outlook on the world and my diabetes management.

At work I am more structured in my daily activities and I have much more consistency in my actions and my diet, which makes diabetes management more effective.

I suppose with practice I would get better at managing my diabetes while on vacation, but I would need a lot more vacation! It will have to be one of those things I work on once I reach retirement. I should have plenty of time to practice tighter control while on vacation.