2nd post in one night

Wow, 2 in one night - I'm awesome!

I've fallen in love with the strawberry flavoured black tea I'm drinking - it's amazing!

Diabetes over the trip has been interesting. I've needed less and less insulin - especially since getting to Vancouver. I might need to change my carb ratios, but there's just too much to think about to get things very organized.

ALSO, I need a reliable meter in order to make real changes.

[Time for a rant]

Who the fuck decided that measuring whole blood was a good thing?!? Especially without a reference chart! I'm not sure if they think you're actually supposed to treat these the same as plasma numbers, but they're not! I don't even know the brand of meter I've been using, but it's the medtronic sponsored one that communicates with my pump. When I first tested the meter, I noticed that my sugars were always about 2 mmol over ALL my other meters (3 of the 4 were super close, but not this one). I went through the customer support and they verified that my meter was working and that whole blood is usually higher than the previous type of testing. Long story short, I was told to just use the meter and trust what it said because they're results are more accurate than any other meter I've ever used.

The only time that meter has read under 7mmol this last week or 2 has been when I was sitting on my new kitchen floor right before chugging back a glass of orange juice, in a cold sweat and fumbling with the strips. My glucose at that moment was 4.4 (before juice). YA RIGHT!

The only reason I've been using the strips is because, moving across the country, I can't afford to waste the strips. I've been assuming that I should just add 2 to every number I get and that seems to work fine.

Anyway, I'm back on my favourite meter - I'm plugging it now - the LifeBrand blood glucose meter. It's super cheap (60% of the cost) and the meter is attached to the strip bottle and can be discarded after each use.

The only problem is the excessive amount of packaging that it comes in. You need utility scissors to open it up and then it's all jagged - basically it can save you the hassle of using a lancing device....

Ok, that's enough rambling. Good night!

A new live in Vancouver

So far I love it. This post will be about everything non-diabetic, so that post will come next!

The road trip was pretty good. We made good time and stretched ourselves a little too far on some of the legs of the trip, but we made it and in good spirits. We talked about the possibility that we might hate each other by the end of the trip and how it would suck to be stuck in the same apartment thereafter, but that's not the case, so yay!

Vancouver is beautiful and the weather is great. The good sense we had about the area and the apartment itself have been reaffirmed since we've been here. Nothing we could need is out of walking distance.

We have to wait a little while longer until we get internet into our apartment, but there are TONNES of coffee houses to connect to wireless. Also, having my blackberry helps to survive life away from constant connectedness.

If I've ever complained about being less-than-affluent before... I was wrong. I'm still waiting to hear back from Ontario Drugs - they're my lifeline... The university plan has a 2-month blackout period so that the people who opt-out don't double dip - that means that I don't get any upfront help until November. I'll start the application process soon, but becoming a BC healthy person will take up to 3 months. That means I reeeeeeally need Ontario to get their stuff together soon. Anyway, enough health.

I'm taking my lack of funds as an opportunity. I will be forced to be better with money. I will also have a great excuse to not eat out, or eat as much. If I mix those things with regular exercise (which Vancouver promotes), then I could use this as a chance to lose some weight.

My room is slowly getting furnished. I have a desk (bought off of craigslist) and a chair (rolled down the street from someone's curb). I'll be using an air mattress or the couch for sleeping for a little while. Prescriptions are my priority, as well as some other expenses. I will get a good bed when I can see that I'm more financially secure. It's not going to be like this the whole time, in fact, just for a month or so. I actually had to swallow my pride and ask my sister for money. I will have regular money coming in for the next 4 years, but it hasn't started yet...

Ok, my next post will be much more health-related!

Yesterday, I hung out with my closest London friend for the last time.

Now, aside from work people, there aren't many people left that I should see before leaving. I'm going to see another friend this afternoon as well as do some more packing.

I'm pretty organized, it's just a matter of getting the motivation to pull everything together and I'll have no problem getting things shipped out tomorrow afternoon.

Tonight is my last day at work. I haven't made any decent sales in a while, so I'm not very motivated. Also, I won't even see the money from this paycheck until I am on the other side of the country.

Last week in London!

This time next week, I will be half-way from London to Vancouver.

As much as I'm excited, I hate the process of moving. I made the mistake of starting many weeks ago - packing is something you have to devote yourself to for a while - not spread it out.

As a result, I've been procrastinating for a month and am having trouble feeling the pressure which should now be very much present.

Work really sucks - I suppose I should be happy that I had a summer job at all in the state of economic affairs, but entertainment sales campaigning is certainly not a good industry lately... My paycheques are barely half of what they were last year.

I really can't wait until I am in school and my funding is coming in on a regular basis. I wish I could ignore all the stress and stuff that will be taking place over the next month - magically appear in Vancouver ready to go!

After work tonight, a few people gathered together to watch a movie - 'I love you, man'

It was funny and good times when someone enquired as to what a certain sound was - at first we thought it was the cat playing with a toy, but it was making a lot of noise.

Well, the cat had a toy alright... a BAT!

As if it was fate, a phone rang moments after we discovered what was making the noise...

'NanaNanaNanaNana

NanaNanaNanaNana

(you guessed it...)

BatMan!'

It was Ring-a-Wing delivering the wings that someone had ordered.

(that's right, there is a place that delivers wings like pizzas!)

Stereotypically, the girl and gay boy whose apartment it was were freaked out and pretty useless. Of the two straight boys, one was freaked out that we were all going to get rabies, while the other was willing to smash it to pieces with a tennis racquet.

I'm not going to lie, it was a fiasco with lots of screaming and some googling how to get a bat out of your house. Nevertheless, I was the level-headed one - securing a garbage pail and a monopoly board to cover the open end. With the tennis-racquet boy backing me up and rabies-fearing guy passing me the monopoly board, I captured the bat and released him back into the wild - only screaming once during the ordeal.

In conclusion, tonight was fun, but all in all, I wouldn't want to be a professional bat-removal specialist.

Well, I went a little overboard on the safety side....

I had a few oreos and a shot of orange juice before exercising. 15 minutes in, my sugars were exactly the same. I took this to mean that I should have more orange juice. I felt fine through the workout and then afterwards my sugars were 10.1.

Now I have a better idea of what I need so I won't go overboard next time.

In other news, I'm continually cleaning things out. I pulled out my box of knitting projects and realized that I don't need to keep them.

1) I have a lot of toques and I'm moving to a city that barely has winter, at least in comparison to Winnipeg

B) A lot of the toques don't even fit or look good. I was very experimental with my patterns; I quite liked them when I originally made them, but let's be honest... some of them are ... umm... not so hot.

Basically, I'm tossing out a bunch of things, and I feel good about it.

I have been functioning on the principle that my body just needs more insulin while I'm sick, so everything else should be the same.

I tried to exercise at home yesterday, doing things pretty much the same as usual. I disconnected while getting ready, after testing and mu sugars are happy in the 6.3 region. Long story short, 10 minutes into the workout, I was feeling sloppy and weak so I tested. 2.8! Spilling the remainder of my fridges juice on my face and not into my mouth, I took refuge with a honey packet before heading downstairs to buy more juice (and oreos and diet coke).

I'm not sure if it's just because I have extra insulin going around inside me, or maybe it was because I had eaten and bolused for lunch only an hour or so before, but this was not a good situation.

I hate the fact that, while I want to exercise and get in shape, I seem to have an endless supply of excuses not to.

Excuses aside, I'm going to try again right now.

Eerily, I just tested and my sugars are 6.3 again. I'm going to disconnect AND eat an oreo or two and see how that works.

I'll post a little later this afternoon, maybe.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I have an otherwise perfectly working infusion set that gets accidentally ripped off well before it was due to be changed!

Desk corners, door knobs, and shirts - I'm looking at you!