If there was a theme song for Byetta, I’d be singing it

So far, after what amounts to two full days (Monday evening, all day Tuesday and this morning) of Byetta, I’m having a great time. That sounds weird to say, but that’s the best way to explain it, I think.

I’ve had two post breakfast readings in the 80s for meals that prior to Byetta I would have taken four to six units of Novolog to cover. I’ve had fastings under 100 when I’ve gone to bed at 216. And I’ve gotten great readings in random tests after I’ve had a snack.

One of the best things: I’m testing after every meal and keeping a log again. I’m not sure how long this will last, but I’m so in awe of this medicine (when I went into this with such low expectations) that I’m trying to make the most of it.

Perhaps the best thing: For the first time since taking it, I can’t fathom the idea of eating.

Simple pleasures

No. 1 was getting ready for his Friday baseball game when I asked him where his cup was. He didn’t know, which doesn’t surprise me because, like his father, he tends to explode when he comes home… there’s just stuff everywhere. Anyway. It occurred to me that he likely hadn’t been wearing his cup for the last few games.

He found the cup and was trying to put it in his slider shorts, but since it was hot and humid and he was trying to put on a bunch of baseball clothes, it was tough. Mom to the rescue. A few years from now, this would be considered inappropriate.

So, as I’m helping No. 1 get, um, situated, The Mr. walks in.

“I hate wearing a cup,” No. 1 says as he adjusts himself.

“Well,” The Mr. starts. “It’s better than getting hit in the ding ding.”

(I should mention that “ding ding” is not a term normally used in our house to describe the male anatomy.)

No. 1 looked at me as if to ask if it was OK to laugh. Of course, the look on his face—not to mention the term “ding ding”—made me bust out laughing, which made No. 1 turn red and start laughing. Hilarity ensued. He couldn’t stop saying “ding ding” (Ok, neither could The Mr.!) and I couldn’t stop laughing at him laughing and saying “ding ding.” Ah, the things that amuse us.

Byetta--and sour tummy--here I come

I’m. So. Flippin’. Scared. Of…Monday.

Monday is the day I see my endo for the first time in roughly six months. Monday is the day that he will give me the green light to start Byetta. Monday is the day he will ask me how my numbers are and if I’m exercising and if I’m keeping my carb counts in range. Monday is the day I will get blood drawn to test my A1C. Monday is the day I will not break down in fear. (Actually, it's more like Tuesday I won't break down since that's the day I'll likely get my A1C results.)

I’ve been doing some reading lately about people’s A1C and it was actually pretty comforting to know that people get by with an A1C above 7. Above 9 even. It’s rare and extreme, but I read recently about someone with an A1C of nearly 20! I don’t think mine’s that bad, but I know it will be bad. I’m trying to prepare myself for something in the 8s or 9s.

However, with little testing in the last few months, poor eating habits, not being motivated to get out and walk in the mornings, and the strangest inability to take Novolog when I should, I should probably prepare myself for just about anything.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m really looking forward to Byetta, to having this crutch that will hopefully help me stop eating so much. The fear, though, that crept into my mind today was that I will feel so awful from its side effects that I will have to quit, that it won’t work for me and that I will have to rely simply on will power and the thought of dying at 60. Of course, I also thought that even if I feel like crap that I’ll just have to stick it out because I need something. Desperately.

Meme meme

Indirectly tagged by Kerri.

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Michelle
2. Mom
3. Mommy
(What can I say? I’m a mom with three kids. I don’t have a clever nickname!)

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My hair. It’s growing and curly.
2. My eyes.
3. My height. Being the tallest girl in class often sucked (at one eighth-grade dance a guy friend of mine stood on a chair to dance with me), but being a 5’10” adult rocks.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My flab.
2. My big, wide feet. (Try finding a cute pair of shoes in a 10 wide.)
3. Stretch marks.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Irish
2. British
3. American

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Something happening to a member of my family.
2. The thought of bungee jumping or parachuting.
3. Not being a good enough wife, mother, sister, daughter, employee.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Chocolate (sigh)
2. My BG meter.
3. A watch.

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. A funky new shirt that Mom bought me. :-)
2. Cute new shoes that Mom bought me. :-)
3. A ring with the birthstones of my kids.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE MUSICALS:
1. I’m not really a fan of musicals.
2. But I did enjoy Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
3. Does Veggie Tales count? (If you like to talk to tomatoes, if a squash can make you smile...)

THREE OF YOUR [sort of current] FAVORITE SONGS:
1. Nothing Better To Do—Leeann Rimes
2. Crazy—Gnarles Barkley
3. Tim McGraw—Taylor Swift

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Love.
2. Comfortable conversation about anything.
3. Laughter.
4. Honesty.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS THAT YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE:
1. Arm muscles.
2. Chiseled facial features.
3. Appropriate-length hair.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Writing.
2. Photography.
3. Crafting.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Have money in my checking account.
2. Know where I’m going in life.
3. Have some time alone at home.

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. Full-time writer of fiction and non-fiction.
2. Professional photographer.
3. Part-time writer, part-time photographer, part-time mom.

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Colorado
2. Somewhere in Europe.
3. Some tropical island.

THREE KIDS NAMES YOU LIKE:
1. Wyatt
2. Henry
3. Emma

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Be a successful writer.
2. Be a successful photographer.
3. Be sought out for my writing and photography.

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A CHICK:
1. I cry. Easily and a lot.
2. I window shop—everything from hardware to houses to crochet yarn.
3. I can’t get enough chocolate.

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
1. I love to watch a good baseball game.
2. Farts are funny.
3. I don’t wear skirts.

THREE CELEB CRUSHES:
1. Patrick Dempsey (so, so yum)
2. Matthew McConaughey
3. Brad Pitt

What happened when No. 2's tube wouldn't fall out of her ear

I should have posted this a month ago when it happened, but I wrote this down and stuck the notebook in my purse and forgot about it. This is from the day No. 2 had the tube in her right ear removed because it wouldn't fall out on its own.

5 a.m. Alarm goes off, but since No. 3 was playing with it yesterday, I get static instead of music. It takes a few minutes for me to wake up. Takes even longer before I actually get out of bed.

5:45 a.m. Wake up No. 1 and tell him to get ready.

6 a.m. Finish getting ready. No. 3 wakes up; fortunately she’s not fussy this morning.

6:05 a.m. Wake up No. 2 and remind her that she can’t eat breakfast this morning and that she can’t even drink water when she brushes her teeth. I can see the fear finally showing in her face. I stay with her and help her brush her teeth and show her how to swish the water around in her mouth and spit it out.

6:21 a.m. Get No. 3 settled in her high chair with breakfast and finally check my sugar. 226! WTF? I was 187 before bed. Ugh, this is insane. I wash my hands and test again. 199. Sigh. I had a baked potato with dinner last night, but I also took Novolog to cover it. Blech. Whatever. At least I don’t have to eat breakfast before we leave and I can leave my appetite in tact for when we take No. 2 out to breakfast after her procedure.

6:40 a.m. We rush out the door five minutes later than we planned. Fortunately, the hospital is only blocks away.

6:48 a.m. We arrive in the Ambulatory Services Unit almost right on time. A nurse takes No. 2’s temperature and weight and then shows us to “our room.” Another nurse comes in and checks her heart. First nurse comes back with a gown for No. 2. I help her change and I can tell she’s even more nervous than before. They tell us to hang tight and that anesthesia will be right in.

7:10 a.m. The Mr. is happy and the kids are all crowded on the bed watching cartoons. “Seems like if they want us here at 6:45 that we should be doing something other than sitting around,” I say.

7:15 a.m. Anesthesia finally shows up and asks the same questions the previous four people asked. “Dr. B usually comes in a little before 8.” I look at the clock. “A little before 8?!” I say exasperated. “We’ve been here since 6:45. That’s when they told us to be here.” The nurse looked surprised. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Sometimes they have a lot of kids in the morning, but they don’t really this morning.” I sigh. “It’s not your fault. You’re not the one who told us to be here so early.” The Mr. starts to scratch my back in an effort to say “Chill out.” The nurse leaves and I grumble a bit and then settle in for a long wait in a small hospital room with three children. Thank God for cable.

7:25 a.m. The actual anesthesiologist comes in. She barely looks at me, paying more attention to her nails than her patient. (She actually took a nail buffer out of her pocket and worked on her nails while she was talking to us. Talk about offering an atmosphere of confidence.)

7:40 a.m. Dr. B comes in. I was surprised actually that it wasn’t 10 minutes later.

8 a.m. I wheel No. 2 down the hall to the surgery area in a wagon. She’s nervous, but hanging in there. It's less than 30 minutes before she's back with us, all smiles and drinking juice.

By 9:30 a.m., we’re home and I’m off to get the breakfast I promised her we’d get after the surgery. A corn dog and french fries was her request. Strange, but I obliged.

How many licks does it take?

Although I didn’t update you all from my post about whether or not to move up my next endo appointment seeing as No. 3 weaned herself, I was able to get the appointment moved from the end of July to the end of June. So, I’ll be starting Byetta likely on or around June 25.

I’m looking forward to it, actually. I was a little hard on myself for a while about needing this crutch, but now I’ve realized that I really do need the crutch and if I can have something that’s going to make me stop eating so much (one of the side effects of Byetta, apparently, is a decreased appetite) then it will be easier to get myself to actually stop eating so much crap.

So, I was curious about my other meds and asked my friendly Diabetic Mommies who take Byetta what other meds they take. I was surprised that the Byetta takers hadn’t gotten off the other medicines they took prior to Byetta. So I querried my endo by email (I love that he’s available for quick questions this way!) and asked if I’d be able to/have to ditch the Lantus, Metformin and Novolog. No, he said, we should keep me on all of those, although likely at a decreased rate, especially for the Lantus.

Whah…huh…um…excuse me. I know it’s not a cure and I know it’s not a miracle drug and I’m happy to be able to take it, but I feel like screaming OhComeOn! How many drugs do I have to take to manage this stinkin disease? I’m not really frustrated with the medicines. Really, I’m not. I think I’m frustrated with the whole situation…that I have to take four drugs for the same disease to make things work right. I have to keep reminding myself that it could be worse…this could be completely unmanageble and I could be at the mercy of my body with no recourse.

Notes from vacation

Look good on the outside, feel good on the inside Part II
Last week while visiting Phoenix, Mom took me shopping for some new work clothes. We thought we’d hit a couple of stores and maybe come away with a few things. But the first place we went into was like a gold mine. Five pair of slacks and so many shirts I didn’t even count! Then a quick trip to the mall for two new bras (my band size went down four inches!!) and the shoe store. This morning when I walked into the sitter, she complimented my new shirt. And before I even made it up the stairs in my office, someone woohoo’d me from upstairs. Talk about an ego kick.

On the hunt for an insulin pump
Although I have seen numerous pictures of insulin pumps both on and off people, I’ve never seen one on a person in real life. I’m not sure why I need to see this, but it seemed like something interesting to be on the hunt for. Like a car game. Mom and I took the kids to a ginormous park near my parents’ house and while we sat back and watched the kids play, I started looking for the reclusive pump. One woman I saw had a pouch clipped to her belt loops. I looked as closely as I could without being conspicuous. She passed by several times and after “close” inspection, I decided it was a cell phone case. No tubing. Hmph. The hunt goes on.

Inspiring photos from our week out west

This is the Salt River Canyon in Arizona. In the lower left corner area, there's a small spec that looks just a little different than the grass, rock and river. That's a red car.

No. 1 and No. 2 standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Nope, there's no fence on this part. If you're afraid of heights, you probably shouldn't look at this picture too long!

And just before vacation
I photographed my first wedding in ten years. I really felt pretty prepared and then almost as soon as I got there I felt like I had stage fright. It seemed that I had forgotten so many things. I felt so underprepared. My biggest problem is lighting, as I may or may not have said in the past. Although I was pretty disappointed in my shots, I feel like I got a few good ones. And a deeper passion (yes, I said passion!) for wanting to continue on my trek to being a better photographer. I did, however, feel my heart sink when the bride, bridesmaids and I were sitting in the bride’s room between photo sessions and the ceremony when one of her relatives walked in. I immediately spotted the Canon camera case. This was no point and shoot digital, either. With that bag, I knew she meant business. Oh, man, I thought, someone better than me. I had to really talk myself out of letting someone who might possibly be better than me get to me and affect my abilities. I got up the nerve later to ask the bride about this aunt. “Oh, she does what you do…takes pictures sort of on the side.” Oh, whew, I thought. But I still felt her judging me at every corner. Fortunately, she didn’t offer any advice. That’s not to say others didn’t.