The right side of the bed

My trepidation about not being able to sleep last night due to the pain from falling down the stairs was unfounded. Thanks lone tramadol pill from a few years ago, and thanks sleeping on my side. I think I rolled over at least once, I know the blankets were pulled up on me at some point but I don't recall doing either. 

Around 6am I woke up and thought that Doug's cpap mask had slipped off his face, there was a loud roaring noise. This happens sometimes, and I nudge him and ask him to fix it. Sometimes that wakes him up fully, and then he's awake awake and goes to the guest room, so I woke up enough to listen. Phin was looking out the window, at the absolute pouring down rain. Ah. There's the answer! 

I got up to go to the bathroom, Phin followed and also had to go. I opened the door for him and there was reluctance but he went. The call of nature. 

He came back in, I attempted to dry him off but he was only interested in breakfast. I took some acetaminophen and grabbed my phone, headed to the guest room. 

When either of us wake up in the small hours, we have a tendency to go to the guest room. Rather than futz around with our phones and possibly wake the other up. Sometimes both of us are awake, but one gets up and takes the walk to the other room. Doug usually has a podcast on as we go to sleep and a timer that stops things after the episode. I don't mind if he turns it back on, even if I'm asleep but especially if I'm already awake. I'd like to listen to the next episode. But he still goes in the other room. 

The guest bed is an IKEA bed and mattress. The mattress is decidedly much better than the one we have on our bed. So I usually get my best sleep on that thing. Our mattress is 20 yrs old at this point, but the issue really is the boxspring. There are 2 twin boxsprings under the bed, because when we lived in the brown house, we couldn't get the box spring up the stairs - it was too big for our colonial house. 

The wood on the boxsprings is creaky so when you roll over it sounds horrible. I can roll over and wake him up. I get out of bed, and wake him up not from the bed moving, but the noise. 

The guest bed is quiet and lovely. The way a bed should be. 

Because there are two boxsprings under the mattress, there's kind of a ridge in the center. The mattress has gotten squished, but the center and its supporting wood frame are kind of up in the air. 

We're shopping for a new bed and having discussions. Doug would like a king sized bed, but we have a queen frame currently - it is part of a set. It looks good this way, with the bureaus and all. He's not married to the idea of maintaining the set just because it is a set. When Brodie was a puppy, she chewed on the footboard (I may have an entry on that....) so it's damaged. I keep my towel draped over the footboard, so we never see it. 

I'm concerned about getting a king sized bed if we have to move at some point. The queen bed barely fit in the bedroom of our last house. It fits wonderfully in the bedroom in this house - but what if we move again, and end up with a bedroom where basically the bed is the only thing that fits in there. It would suck. What, do we keep our bureaus and clothing all in the guest room and treat that as kind of a closet with a bed in it? 

Anyway, it is time for the new bed. We'll see what happens. There are a lot of products out there...

I think it is supposed to rain all weekend, which is okay. I could deal with some no-outside stuff, maybe if I can move better (the butt, it hurts) I can clean my room. Prepare for the possibility of a new bed in my future.

Exercise:

Blood Glucose

9:30am: 166
3pm: 131
9:30pm: 191 (again, seriously why so high?)

Food:

Coffee
Water
Seltzer
Leftover frittata (egg, cheddar, goat cheese, onion, parsley)
large spinach salad with tomatoes and caesar dressing, shaved beef, cheese, peppers (cheesesteak without the roll)

When I Fall

This morning, I slipped on the carpeted stairs and wiped the motherfuck out. 

I was barefoot, so it was not a socks problem. I deliberately do not carry laundry down the stairs because this is actually a big fear for me, falling down the stairs and really getting hurt. Thankfully Geoff takes the laundry down. Doug told me he's wiped out a couple times too. 

So note to selves... slow down and take it easy.

I was somewhat rushing down to ask Doug a question and was pissed because he had earbuds in, and does not answer texts or his personal email when he's working. So I was in a touch of a huff when I wiped out. Landed square on my ass and my yoga pants helped me slide down 5 more steps until I got to the almost bottom. I sat there for a while, Doug made sure I was okay and I pulled myself up, schlepped upstairs. 

My ass hurts so much. I feel like I probably won't be able to sleep tonight. I found one lone Tramadol in a bottle buried in the back of my bureau (thank you, past me) I wish I also had sleeping pills. Or something. 

During work, I got up and moved around a lot, probably should have set up a standing desk for myself instead of sitting. 

Getting off the couch is a huge challenge. I'm really annoyed because after the cortisone shot, my knees are finally feeling amazing but now my rump is screaming. This better go away fast. 

I will check in tomorrow with updates and I will ask Doug if it is bruised. It probably isn't. The hidden horrible pain of my butt. And no, no pictures of any bruising, cause no one needs to see my bum. 

Here's a picture of Phineas instead. He was mad at me and wouldn't make eye contact or look at the camera. I wouldn't share my chicken salad with him, it had onion in it, and that can really hurt a dog. But of course, he doesn't know that I'm saving him from dying. 

The digits.

Exercise:
Pokemon walk (short one because mah butt hurts)

Blood Glucose:
8am: 166
10pm: 188 (seriously, how's this supposed to work. So low carb today and a walk to burn some sugars. How come body, how come?) 

Food:
Coffee
Seltzer
Water
cup of cashews
Greek yogurt with blueberries and toasted slivered almonds
Cup of chicken salad
1 cheeseburger on top of a large salad with chipotle caesar salad dressing

Ants

(Should have been posted on 5/11 but I forgot) 

We have ants in the house. 

Not big ants, but wee tiny ones. Last summer we had some, but this year it is stupid crazy. 

They are mostly in the kitchen but I've found them in the bathroom and in my bedroom. I'm not completely freaked out by it. I don't like it, because they're just ants. 

And, I have a carnivorous plant garden.

So you can do the math on that. 

Christine spends time every day with a toothpick and a kitchen knife, forcing the ants with the toothpick onto the knife, and then scraping them into the plants. 

I feel like a monster in some ways, like how fair is this of some giant hulking beast to scrape up these dudes and feed them to a plant that eats bugs! 

Shouldn't the plant know how to feed itself! How would I feel if someone 6000x my size (at least) was grabbing me and putting me into another living creature so I can be eaten. It boggles the mind. But there I am, every day, scraping ants.

I put the plant garden out on the porch one very nice sunny day and some birds attacked it, pulled up at one of them (I can't remember the name) and uprooted it onto the sidewalk. Fuckers. 

So I repotted things and this little guy is still living, not sure how, most of it is dead but there are two parts that seem to be doing fine. The sundew is doing great, the one I accidentally plopped head down into the soil when I was planting it. The flytrap isn't doing as well but had a big growth come up out of it that didn't turn into anything. 

I'm hoping the diet of ants will keep all 3 of them alive. I want to put the little plant collection back outside now that it is nicer and warmer but feel like I need to sit with it and protect it at all costs. 

Birds, I want to love you, but you make it hard what with your waking up at 3:45 am and making all kinds of noise and your plant obliterations.

Exercise: 

Short Pokemon procurement walk. 

Blood Glucose:

8am: 155
12pm: 151
10 pm:188*

*I really am not sure I get how all this works. I spent a relatively super low carb day and didn't expect a spike to 188?

Food: 

Coffee
Water
Romaine & chicken salad
Chicken Parm 

Hmmm. Here's a thought. I checked the label of the sauce Geoff bought, my favorite Classico.  Noting it is higher in carbs and added sugar I would have liked, I figured the flour dredge and bread crumbs we use on the chicken was negligible, wouldn't matter much, but now I'm really pondering the sauce. 

I may have to make my own tomato sauce. Doug had Geoff  make his chicken with almond flour and parmesan cheese instead, and we did make his sauce with just a can of crushed tomatoes, which I augmented with garlic powder, oregano, salt, pepper, and even more parmesan cheese. May have to move onto something like that. 

Deviled Eggs and Recipe Talk

Because I cook a lot, I rely on a lot of online recipes. 

I will be in the mood for something like a mediterranean chicken marinade with yogurt, and the internet is super helpful in finding the right recipe, or at least one where I have most of the ingredients on hand or can fudge it. 

Recently I also learned you can use mayonnaise in marinades! And it is amazing. Highly recommend.

I'm not a big fan of sites with 9 miles of storytelling and pictures before getting to the recipe. Dude. I just want the recipe. It is so nice that your Nonna would make gravy on Sunday for the family and everyone would gather, and your mom's brother would play cards with the kids, and everyone would mangia mangia until they couldn't move. I am happy for you. Sounds like a lovely and loving family and wonderful memory. 

I just want to know exactly how much garlic. (In all seriousness though, there's never too much garlic so .... I can just deal with it). 

If the website doesn't have a "Jump To Recipe" link, I'm gonna jump back to the search results page to find another option. 

A lot of times, I just look for Alton Brown's recipes. I trust him implicitly, and Food Network or AB will just tell it like it is. No storytelling. Just recipes!

So a nice recipe like this one is the kind of just perfect option for me. Jump to recipe, I can skip the video, I know how to make stuff, I just need to know how much stuff to put in the stuff. Her site has a lot of good recipes, and it is grilling season, and so I go there a lot. And if I want to look at pictures, she's got some good ones. Well done.

I made that chicken marinade for dinner the other night, and it was outstanding. I used fresh oregano and mint, because my plants over wintered wonderfully. Every day I'm out there cutting herbs for something. I may run out of the parsley before summer even gets here. The oregano was a little too strong (probably because it was fresh) and it could have used a lot more lemon. But overall, this is a winner. I need to remember to make this a day or so in advance and just put the chicken in a ziploc with the mix, and take it out a couple times a day and just smoosh it around. It's better if you let it sit. Duh, marinades are like that, right?

Geoff has been using a cookbook that Doug had on the shelf for years and it has become his go-to for recipes he wants to try. He's made a few good things, made a few mistakes. He plans everything very carefully, studies the recipe for days, gets the ingredients all together. And it usually pays off for us to have him chef something up. Even if it is a lot more work than anything Doug or I would make. 

Tonight he's making a Spanish style braised steak (see image above). And I get to use my food processor for like the second time since I bought it! Now's your time to shine Kitchen Aid!

He went to the market after the gym, shopping for the week and getting the swiss steak and the everything we don't have (aside from marjoram, we have it all...) and food for the rest of the week.  I'm incredibly impressed when he picks a recipe and goes with it. 

It's in the oven right now and holy crap does it smell good.

Because he needed three egg yolks, I decided to go ahead and make a whole mess of hard boiled eggs for the team. 

Both Doug and Geoff enjoy them, I hate them. They smell. I hate making them. I hate peeling them. They stink up everything. 

All my windows are open, and I can still smell them from when I put them in the pot at 11am. 

We had a whole discussion on hard boiling. I asked Doug (and I always ask him, because I always forget) what's the best way to make them and he said 'ask the internet.'  

Then he told me how he thought it works... place eggs in pot,  cover them in cold water to about an inch above the top of the eggs, bring to a boil, turn the heat off, let sit for 11 minutes. Then, drain the water off, and run cold water over them for a few minutes. Peel and enjoy. He was, of course, spot on. Pfth telling me to ask the internet and then giving me the perfect instructions. 

They came out perfectly except I never get them to peel easily. It is always a challenge. It takes forever. This time was kind of okay, if I get that wee film between the egg and the shell just right I can pull of large bits of shell all at once. It's such a challenge for me though!

For Geoff's graduation party in 2015, Jess, Liz and I were making deviled eggs. We got eggs from our neighbor across the street but one rule we didn't know was that if you're using super fresh eggs, it is a totally different process. And we mangled the eggs. Complete and total disaster. We had a pile of busted egg whites and just a mess of stupid. I think we ended up making egg salad, but it was shame salad. We failed. Miserably.

I then found out the true instructions for super fresh eggs. You can read that here. Who knew. 

Waiting for dinner to be done, adding it to the food list below even though I haven't eaten it yet! 

Alright. The daily digits. 

Exercise: Short pokemon walk, about 3/4 mile total

Blood Glucose: 

8am: 144 

5pm: 155 (will test again before bedtime! because .... wine)

10pm: 132 (okay so.... wow? I thought it would be 312! with the wine and all) 

Food: 

Coffee  

Seltzer

Water with lemon

bowl of greek yogurt with raspberries

bowl of chicken salad

a couple of deviled eggs (and, the yolk mixture leftover. yum. my favorite part)

Braised steak a la Geoff 

Salad

Wine (yeah, I know) 

Dupuytren's Disease/Contracture - The next fun adventure

Longtime readers (all 3 of you) recall I've had some fun medical things going on in the last 20+ yrs of the blog. Let's see. 

• Subluxed kneecap
• DVT
• Factor 5 Leiden (blood clotting disorder)
• Hysterectomy
• Breast surgery
• Covid-19
• Type 2 Diabetes

And I bet I'm forgetting something. Before the blog I had my gallbladder removed (1994), so that was a fun one. That's a lot of medical junk all in one place. 

We get to add a new condition to the list: Dupuytren's Disease (DD) / Contracture. 

You have probably seen commercials with football legend John Elway talking about his experience with the condition. Essentially it is a commercial for Xiaflex treatment, but they never come out and say it. They just say to go talk to your hand specialist. So, I went and talked to my hand specialist.  Basically it is a condition where cords or nodules form in your hands and cause the fingers to pull or bend inward towards the palm. 

My dad has it really bad, so bad he cannot unfold his fingers at all. Only his pointer and thumb work. He can feed himself, button a shirt, drive the car (although that makes me nervous, to be honest) but he can't open jars, or doors, or tie shoes or do a whole lot of other things. Here's a picture of my hand, ignore the bandaid. I got a hangnail that was super bad and wouldn't get unhanged! 

A year ago I noticed my right palm was getting "puckered" and I was having a hard time laying my hand flat against things, like pushing a door closed, or opening jars.  It makes some things extremely difficult and very painful. 

I had the breast surgery thing, and then summer, and then it got to be late fall, and my typing was starting to be impacted by my ring fingers on both hands bumping into the neighboring pinkie fingers. 

I finally called my PCP to have a video chat, and then asked for an appointment with the hand specialist, she had me come in for X-rays, and decided for sure, it's time to see him.

Today was my appointment, he took one look at my hands, one look at me, and said "you wouldn't happen to be of northern European descent, would you?" 

Yah, doc. Sure am. I told him about my dad. And I said that I do not want to end up that way. Ever.

Looking at my left hand he said I'm not there yet for any treatment needs, but we decided we'll keep an eye on it. The right hand though, for sure, it needs help. 

He said I'm at a 30 degree contracture on the ring finger, the pinkie and middle finger are coming along for the ride. It's very visible, noticeable, and we're going to make an appointment to treat it with Xiaflex, and get those cords broken up and get my fingers back to normal. 

Also, looking at the Xiaflex website I have just now today learned about a disease that impacts penises and makes them bend like this. My mind is blown. You don't see John Elway doing commercials for THAT!

Looking at the summer and all the things happening I'm trying to figure out when this will fit in. Between Guster concerts and Guster concerts and other things that are not Guster concerts, having the procedure and then having a couple weeks in a splint, and going back to "release" the cords (which sounds very unfun) combined with summer things at work, this will be interesting. Wish me luck in figuring out when this will happen! 

The good news is I am down to 213lbs, so that was worth the trip to find out.

Here's the data for today. 

Blood Glucose:

• 9am: 140
• 7pm: 165 (immediately after dinner, so I may check again before bed)

Food: 

• Coffee
• small bowl of chicken salad
• 8 medium length stalks of celery with peanut butter
• meatloaf (no bread crumbs, just grated parmesan cheese instead) 
• Salad
• mixed nuts

I did have a cookie

Geoff bought a full gallon of whole milk the other day because the store was out of half gallons. We usually don't go through a whole full gallon before it goes bad, so he put into motion a plan. He baked cookies.

I heard him futzing around in the kitchen and sighed because I knew what he was doing. Cookies. Some of my very favorite things on the planet. They came out beautifully. They smelled amazing. 

To be honest, it is very sweet. 

Even at almost 26, nothing like a tumbler of milk and a couple of cookies is a treat. It's something I love about him. I mentioned to him that I couldn't have any, and he looked at me like I said "you're making poop on a tray." He had forgotten my near zero carb lifestyle. So 30 for him. 

I had one cookie while I was putting them all away. I'll be honest. 

After I posted the blog entry yesterday with the glucose readings, I tested again at about 11pm, 2 hours post cookie, and it was 195. 

Shit. 

I was doing rather well during the day there with the food choices and all. 

Today I'm back on the not having cookies grind. I slept until 10. My friend said she was going to come over before church to give me a present but they slept in too and didn't go. So I think I'm going to swing over to her house and get whatever she got for me.

And bring her some cookies.

Blood Glucose

10am: 165
10pm: 175

Food:

Coffee
Seltzer
omelet with ham and swiss (this one came out perfect! as seen above) w/avocado & salsa on the side
handfuls of mixed nuts
Salmon (2 large beautiful slices) marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, scallions, parsley
Salad (mixed greens, tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers)

Oh and here's a picture of Phineas looking like a lil'baby in his recovery vest/onesie, which he is very tolerant of. Just for you. Because.

Trainwreck Omelet

Most mornings I don't really have a breakfast. With working from home, my morning routine is basically: wake up; commute to bathroom and then kitchen; get coffee; commute to couch; email, team check-in on slack; peep the helpdesk ticketing queue; take a shower; more coffee. 

I eat an actual meal around 11-12. A snack/ish around 2-3. Depending on meetings. I hate to eat on camera, and hate to have a snack sitting next to me looking at me, taunting me for an hour. 

Weekends are easy and lazy. Today the dog woke up at 6 to go out, I took care of him, fed and watered him, started the dishwasher that I forgot to start before I went to bed. Went back to bed. I re-woke up at 9. Doug was already up and coffee was made. I joined him, goofed off on the phone while he goofed off on his phone on the other couch. It got to be 11. I decided to make actual Breakfast.

I don't really care for eggs much. Sometimes they give me the runs, or a stomach ache. I think as a child I was allergic to them in some ways, either that or my aunt Esther force fed me and I grew to utterly despise them and developed a psychological allergy to them. My cousin Deb says her mother never force fed me food. I ... well. Let's just say she wasn't there. 

Eggs. Well, they're hugely important in a low carb diet. They are full of all the important stuff, like protein. And junk. And they aren't bagels or English muffins. God what I wouldn't give for a huge beautiful brekkie sammitch on an English muffin about now. 

I'm usually really good at omelets. Even though I don't necessarily like eating them, I enjoy making them for others. But this morning, for me, I wanted to make the best omelet ever. 

I'm a huge fan of spinach. Grabbing a handful out of the container, I rough chopped a bunch and threw it in the skillet with some butter, salt and pepper. Noticing there was a 1/4 yellow onion in a ziploc bag, I diced that up, threw it in too. Bacon had just finished cooking and was cooling on a plate (Pro tip learned when I worked for Cateringman: fill a large sheet pan with aboutdozen slices, cook at 350 for about 20 minutes). 

I chopped up my bacon, and threw it in the skillet. Then, I sprinkled in crumbled goat cheese. 

Right then and there I am super happy. I could even have just put that on a plate and eaten it as is, but the goal was an omelet for the protein and whatnot. 

I whipped two eggs in a little bowl, mixed in salt & pepper, and dumped them onto the rest of the ingredients. 

Now, I mentioned that I love making omelets, and I am usually good at it. but I stood there realizing I had over filled the skillet with all the yummy things I had put in there. 

Hmm. 

I went to flip over one side of the concoction, and it kind of fell apart. Oops. I think what I have here now is a messy scramble. A beautiful mess. A trainwreck. I made sure the eggs were cooked through, flipping things over a couple times, and while it wasn't pretty, it tasted amazing. The goat cheese with the bacon grease melted together. The spinach, wilted perfectly and a touch of salt on each bite. The onions, still slightly crunchy but buttery enough that they started to release their sweet side.

Doug will often just make himself a couple eggs with cheddar and hot sauce, so he came in the kitchen and saw my veggie filled goat cheese party and was impressed. I said you could do this too, if you wanted. He said "no, that takes work, and I just want to eat so. I'll pass on the chopping, sauteing and all that other stuff." 

For me, lazy cooking leads to me getting absolutely bored with things which is why diets and me don't mix. Doug is usually a great cook - when he plans for it. He can make dry rubs, marinades, butterfly lamb, roasts! Grilling! But day to day cooking for him is eggs in a skillet, yogurt in a dish, berries,  some chicken breasts just thrown on a tray in the oven with bacon wrapped around them and maybe some spices and stuff, but, like, no. The bacon doesn't cook, and it is nasty. I'm thankful when he cooks cause I don't have to but over all, whatever. 

I like to plan what I'm making, have ingredients around that encourage me to shake it up a little. This keeps me from falling into repetitive ruts. 

The picture here is of my trainwreck omelet, and my dog who would like my trainwreck omelet but he cannot have any. It has onion in it. That's not good for dogs. 

Also, notice the "wrestling singlet" recovery shirt Doug got for him. He was doing great with the donut but Doug thought he's sleep more comfortably with the shirt on. Once he got used to it, and stopped freaking out and trying to rub it off his body, it's working out nicely. 

We have to undo the back and tuck everything in when he goes out to relieve himself, and he's gotten used to us "undressing" his back end and redressing it. 

It also has a "calming" disc which is scented with verbena and lavender. I couldn't believe that Doug actually put the disc into the pocket on the vest because of his rabid dislike of lavender, but, he did. My house now smells like aromatherapy. 

He just came in from out, and is asleep on the couch. We didn't button him all the way back up, we're just letting him be open and free, but keeping an eye on him if he should try and access his belly.

Right then, the update for the lifestyle changes part of my blog is below. 
oh - and I meant to include my weight from the doctor when I was there last. 
216

Blood Glucose:

9am: 168 

6pm: 159

Food:

Coffee
handful of mixed nuts
Trainwreck Omelet
4 very thin pork chops grilled and coleslaw with homemade slaw dressing
seltzer
more nuts

 

     

The Good News Update

 Phineas does not have cancer. Got the call today from the vet, and it is a hematoma, and nothing worse.  Best news to get going into the weekend. Best ever. 

Here's donut boy. Smiling for us all. 

Retiring from Team Triscuit

A couple years ago my doctor prescribed a blood glucose monitor for me and instructed me to start using it. 

I did not. 

I'd gotten my A1c down to about 6.5 to 7. I felt like I was doing everything right. I lost a good deal of weight. For instance, I think in 2017 when we moved here I was probably around 240-250 and since the start of the pandemic I've been between 210-220. I won't mourn the fact that when I had covid I got down to about 195 (I have longed to break 200!) but didn't manage to stay there because ... well. Food started tasting like food again. And I gained the weight back even though I was actively trying not to creep back up.

And, I was hungry. And to be honest. Bored. 

In August my A1c was 7.5. I just had it retaken last week and lo and behold, it was 8.3. Disappointing but not surprising.

All this past winter, I did nothing. My knees were bothering me, going up and down the stairs was difficult. I'd wake myself up rolling over in bed with the pain. I was eating pasta, pizza, chocolate. Baking a lot. I love to bake. More chocolate. And I was a star player on Team Triscuit. I could go through a box a night. Easily. Some peanut butter? Yes. Oh, sliced cheeses! Oh, yes please.  The only way to make sure I wouldn't eat a box of triscuits was to buy anything other than the plain/original kind. I do not enjoy all the different flavors. Meh.

And yes, let us not forget about the beer. So much beer.

Doug's bloodwork and labs were a lot worse than mine. So about 3 weeks ago, he decided to go zero carb. Back to the Atkins Induction/Keto/Whatever you gotta do to get the numbers down. He started walking daily. For a solid hour. Walk as far as he can for a half hour, turn around and come back. 

He'd try and guilt me into going, but he goes at like 4pm and I'm honestly still working until at least 5:30. And he walks so fast. So much faster than I do. So I hate struggling to keep up with him.

He stopped taking the dog because the dog does not walk, he sniffs, and stops, and sniffs some more, and you have to drag him.... so you never get up to a good speed with him. I take him down to the Pokemon gym down the street and come back, and that would be a workout for my arms, but not for actual cardio/exercise. 

I just got some cortisone shots in my knees a week ago, so my knees actually feel like a million bucks, but I haven't gone on longer walks. I'm realizing how horribly out of shape I am. I walked to the dentist the other day, it's about a half mile maybe, and I took a Pokemon detour, did the appointment, and then decided to do more pokemon detour. Not sure how much of a walk it all was but it was goodly. Doug said he was starting to worry about me being gone so long. It felt good to take a big stroll, at my pace, without the dog, and just do it. 

So using that blood glucose monitor, my sugar is anywhere from 120-170 most mornings. 

But I've had a couple surprises of over 200 and an over 300 later in the day which made me panic. 

The photo here is the first time I used it a week or so ago, before I had the cortisone shot, which they wouldn't give me if my numbers were too high.

Notice the arrow above the green line, this is I guess "good?" "Acceptable?" I think it is too high but the instruction manual says it isn't bad reading wise until we get to ... 200. Or below 70. I'll never be below 70. 

I guess my trends are good according to the monitor dealie here, just a few "oh my" readings. And I am now here to keep testing. After being someone who didn't want to test at all. Now I am a little obsessed and want to test all the time. Which isn't helpful either.

So for right now, for the next 6 weeks (and 2 weeks already doing it), my life will be low carb/no carb and hopefully more walking. I've also stopped having alcohol daily. For months, it was super easy to just finish work, and go make a big ass wine spritzer or G&T or grab a beer from the fridge. And the Triscuits. I went 10 days with no alcohol, and then had a Saturday & Sunday "treat" for myself. This whole week, nothing. 

Tonight, I'm planning nothing. I drank everything that I would normally drink already (ie: Wine and Vodka) and all the tonic, so I can't turn to a G&T. So I am drinking seltzer with lemon. 

I should use the blog to record the foods and the glucose, it's kind of boring but, it's a place. This will be part of posts going forward I guess.

Blood Glucose:

9am: 179
6pm: 159

Food:

11am: Leftover chicken breast, a lot of leftover green beans, a bit of cream cheese, herbs, lemons mixed together as a "sauce."

2pm: Handful of Mixed Nuts

3pm: 6 celery sticks with Peanut Butter

6pm: Bowl of chili, no beans, with cheese & sour cream

Coffee

Water

Seltzer

A Pupdate - Post Surgery News

We don't know the pathology of the mass yet but I did want to let people know how the Phin is. 

Surgery went well according to the vet. He was miserable with his plastic E collar. He fussed the whole ride home, kept trying to take it off. 

We got to the house and he tried to roll it off. Going up the front steps he caught the edge of it on one of the steps and wiped out. All my sympathy pains kicked in. You know the feeling - all the cringe through the body.

 Ouch. 

Inside, no success for the food and water with the cone on. Doug decided to at least take it off so he could drink and if he wanted to, eat.  Drink yes, eat no. 

Doug ran up to the pet store and got him a blow-up donut sized collar and we put it on. Able to nibble, drink, and miserable the whole time. Can't say as I blame him.

Miserable. I took the picture on the right here between the E collar and the donut. Should have gotten a shot with the E collar but I don't think I'll ever put that on him again.   

So we wait for the test results. The below pictures were taken on Tuesday on our first walk about in the yard in the morning. He looks totally out of it with that squinty stoned look, "faded" as Geoff said. 

"Dude, bro, like, whut."

He's much more with it now, in fact he's his usual punky self. Eating like a monster. Pooping like normal. Jumping into the bed (the first couple nights were difficult). The donut stays on through all of next week (Friday the 13th at least!)