Saturday, August 26, 2006

Ever since my colonoscopy, my glucose levels have been higher than they ought to be: in the range of just above 100 to 116 or so. I talked to my nurse educator a few days ago, and she suggested I keep a food journal for a few days and come see her, so I'm going to see her next Tuesday afternoon.

That day I had just a green salad for lunch, and for dinner I had some steamed vegetables and ate some peanut butter out of the jar. After dinner, my glucose was down to 96, from 107 that morning.

Feeling encouraged, I had a snack that evening of some grapes and cherries. The next morning, before breakfast, I was down to 94. I felt like maybe I was getting back to normal.

This morning, after a walk around Greenlake and before breakfast, it was 116.

Meanwhile, my weight is coming down faster. I've lost 4 1/2 pounds in the last 6 days, and I don't necessarily think I'm doing anything different with either diet or exercise, so I can't figure out what's going on.

I am not going to live the rest of my life on green salad, steamed veggies, and plain chicken breasts. There's got to be more to healthy, low carb eating than that.

Then there's some stress. My dog, Rose, had a seizure on Wednesday evening around 9:00, and a second one at 11:30. She's never had seizures before. I brought her to the emergency room and they kept her overnight. She did have one more seizure at about 4:00 a.m.

After I picked her up, I took her to her regular vet, and they took some blood, but the results of the blood test were negative. We are still awaiting the results of some additional tests for parasites, but this is not a likely cause. The most likely cause is a brain tumor. On top of her episode with vestibular disease in March, that makes it even more likely.

She's only had one more seizure, at 1:30 a.m Friday morning, and now she's started on phenobarbital, which is supposed to be an effective anti-convulsive drug. However, she seems agitated and unsteady on her feet, and I'm not holding out much hope for her. I will just try to keep her comfortable as long as that's possible.

It's hard to focus on other things when your 14-year-old baby is suffering and nearing the end of her life. But I've committed myself to a weekend of bridge at the regional tournament in Lynnwood. I took the afternoon off from work yesterday and played two sessions, and I have two sessions today and a Swiss team game tomorrow. Yesterday we had an abysmal game, and I've never felt less enthusiastic about spending the day playing bridge.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Everything's been going great this week, except...
  1. I didn't lose any more weight.
  2. I had to take a day off work to have a colonoscopy.
  3. In preparation for #2, I had to spend a day and a half on clear liquids
  4. Since #3 was mostly apple juice and white grape juice, it was way too much sugar for me.
  5. Ever since #4, my blood sugar has been too high. It spiked over 160 that evening, after all the juice, and since then it hasn't gotten below 120. I'm about to test again, and I was really good today, so I'm hoping for it to have dropped.
  6. Work was both fun and very stressful. I had to figure out how to find resources to get additional work done when all the members of my team are fully committed to their current work.
  7. I played a Swiss Team game at the Seattle sectional and we had a really bad day.
  8. My mom's husband almost died, though as of yesterday he seems to be doing better.
The good thing is that in spite of some circumstances that aren't as wonderful as they might be, I'm feeling positive and upbeat. I'm redoubling my efforts in diet and exercise and going to continue the good progress I've made. I'm still approaching my new job as Dev Manager with enthusiasm, even though the pressure for resources is going to continue this week. I don't know, but I just have a good attitude about life right now. I feel good.

And I just tested: 101!