Ugh.

Still going strong. Had a great workout this evening, really pushed myself. I am working on telling myself that I love working out while I am doing it. This is a total lie. But maybe if I keep telling this lie to myself, I will believe it.

In other, irritating news- my health insurance company is pissing me off. They are "reviewing" my ER visit in December. What? Here's the scoop:

Worked all day. Ran over to Urgent Care because my doctor's office was closed and I was pretty sure that I had a bladder infection. Decided to go get medicine as the two gallons of cranberry juice that I drank had not cured the problem (turns out the cranberry juice created new problems, unbeknownst to me at the time).

Urgent Care doctor totally freaked out- my urine sample had so much sugar in it that their machine couldn't measure it. Took my blood, my blood sugar levels were so high their machine couldn't register the number. He diagnosed me with Type 1 Diabetes, Uncontrolled. He pretty much told me I was about to go into a coma and needed to get to the nearest ER ASAP or I might die. He wouldn't even let me run home to feed my kitties and change out of work clothes into something more comfortable. And he didn't give me anything for my (horrifically painful) bladder infection.

I drove 4 miles to the nearest ER. Urgent Care people called me in the car b/c they were freaking out and then called the hospital to tell them I was coming. I then checked my health insurance online on my phone to make sure they covered the hospital I was going to. When I got to the hospital, the first thing I asked was if they accepted my insurance. Yes.

Long story shortened: at the ER forever, paid a $200 co-pay, luckily my ER doctor was adorable and awesome. Finally got pain medicine for my raging bladder infection. Went home with instructions to see my doctor on Monday morning for my newly diagnosed diabetes.

6 weeks later- received a letter from my health insurance company stating that my ER claim was "in review" due to missing information from the ER. Called and things didn't seem to be a big deal. Was told to keep an eye on the claim online. The hospital has 45 days to send in the requested info.

Logged in and guess what I found? Although the hospital accepts my insurance, apparently the random ER doctor that was assigned to me does NOT take my insurance. WTF? That is total bs. How is that even possible? I am not paying that full bill. I thought my co-pay was outrageous enough. I'm fighting this!

Can you believe that?

Gym Nut

I've been faithfully following my low carb diet AND my workout plan. My blood sugar has been higher in the mornings for the last couple of days (140 this morning). I'm working on that. Tonight, after my workout and before dinner, it was 91 (!) which is the best it's been. If I can keep it below 100 for the next two weeks, my doctor is going to start taking me off these crazy diabetes pills. That's a big goal for me.

I'm very lucky, it seems we've caught the diabetes before any serious damage to my system. My cholesterol is normal (although my good cholesterol is too low which my doctor says will improve as I exercise). My kidneys are normal, the blood flow to my feet is good. I'll be retested in 3 months and I'm excited to see the improvement at that time after all my hard work!

As for the gym, it's a different world in that place. And by different I mean...different! Interesting people in that place. If I wasn't so busy fighting to keep myself moving, there would be some serious people watching going on in there.

I don't want to bash other women so this next comment is as non-judgmental as possible: What is with all the make up at the gym? I can't figure it out- some of the women are actually fully made up with everything, even FOUNDATION and EYE SHADOW.

I can't comprehend the make up. Of course, after just 10 minutes my face is purple and dripping sweat, so make up at the gym would not work for me. But that can't be good for the skin. Anyways, I really don't want to be all judgmental or anything, I'm just so thrown by all the make up at the gym. And it's not just the females. I've seen some men with seriously styled hair and I've wondered about that, too. I would sweat all that gel and hairspray out in 10 minutes!

Despite these little observations, it's a nice gym. All kinds of people there, working hard. And I'm one of them.

A Day at the Concrete Beach

Kind of a crazy night around here. Woke up to spotlights shining through my bedroom window. Turns out a neighbor's condo caught on fire and it was just total chaos. Luckily no one was hurt. Unfortunately, I have a fear of fires and this has triggered extra anxiety. Truthfully, I'm afraid of a lot of things (fire, sharks, airplanes, germs, etc). The good news is that I worked some of that anxiety out at the gym/

Day 5 I decided to mix things up and went to the gym to swim laps. I'd planned to swim for 60 minutes but didn't remember how challenging swimming is! It was a weird atmosphere at the gym pool. Kind of a good old boys club. But I finally got a lane all to myself and I used it.

Started out with 4 laps of the breast stroke, did one lap of backstroke, one lap of freestyle (which I am REALLY rusty at), and then went back to breast stroke. I walked a couple of laps and for the last 10 laps, I resorted to my favorite "stroke" in childhood, dolphin dives. That was fun, not sure if it's really an effective exercise but I figured it was good to just keep moving. Who knows, maybe dolphin dives cure diabetes :)

I made friends with the elderly man in the lane next to me. His goal was to swim 40 laps so I decided to adopt his goal as my own. I had trouble remembering which lap I was on so I ended up doing 50 laps (45 minutes) to make sure that I got more than 40.

There aren't very many lanes in the lap pool, only 3 (which can be shared to make 6 lanes total). They were full when I got there so I waited patiently. While I was swimming/dolphin diving my 50 laps, there were people waiting to swim so I had an audience. I mostly ignored them although there was an embarrassing moment when I first got in the pool and was swimming under the lane dividers. I surfaced in a lane, only to smack my head against the lane divider. I pulled a kitty move by pretending nothing happened/I meant to do it.

The pool was kind of dirty. That grosses me out (remember my fears, including germs). The pool drain was really dirty, as far as I could tell through my new pink goggles. The drain is in the middle lane and my goal is to never get stuck swimming in the middle lane. I don't want to pass over that nasty drain 50 times! I'm going to find out when the pool is cleaned and plan to swim the following day. Hoping to incorporate swimming into my fitness routine 1-2 times per week.

Plan is to take a day off from working out tomorrow. First day back at work after the holiday break and I have a dermatology appointment for a skin cancer screening (another of my fears) in the late afternoon. Back to the gym on Wednesday for 60 minutes of cardio.

Blood sugar this morning was 117 (!)

Yikes or A Whole New Life

3 1/2 weeks ago I went to Urgent Care for a suspected bladder infection. I'd had symptoms for a couple of days and had been drinking massive amounts of cranberry juice to get rid of the problem. I hadn't taken any time off of work and on that particular day, a Friday, I'd worked all day. But I was concerned that the bladder infection was getting worse and figured I'd just swing by for some medicine.

It turned into a horrific ordeal. My blood sugar was so high that Urgent Care's machine couldn't even read it. They diagnosed me with probable Type 1 diabetes, Uncontrolled. They sent me to the hospital (where I fell in love with my doctor. Oh.My.God, he was amazing!). My blood sugar was 471 at that point. I didn't really know what that meant at the time, plus I was a bit distracted by the flaming pain in my bladder. Hours and hours later, I was home with those life-saving little orange bladder infection pain pills and a new diagnosis. Diabetes.

I'm a diabetic.

My doc thinks it's Type 2 because my body is producing some insulin (blood sugar higher in the mornings). I have been busting my ass for the last 3 1/2 weeks since my diagnosis. Low carb diet (not easy as a vegetarian) and exercise. My number one goal is to get off this diabetes medicine by controlling my blood sugar through diet and exercise. Goal number two is to lose weight.

The last 4 days have been a jump start into working out. 50 mins on the elliptical the first day (3.19 miles). 60 minutes on the elliptical the last 3 days (average 3.5-4 miles per session).

I can hardly move this evening.

Tomorrow- planning to swim and hoping for 60 minutes of swim movement.

I'm going to do this.