Cyclone Continued...

Still on red alert, but looking like we will go down to yellow later this afternoon or early evening. The worst part of the cyclone has passed Karratha and heading to cross the coast at Mardie. We got quite a bit of rain and some nasty winds. We were lucky and didn't lose power, just some flickering every now and then. About 1,000 homes in the area lost power and presumedly someone lost their patio and it went into the powerlines.

Should be back at work tomorrow.....

Cyclone Glenda

At the moment the Pilbara region of Western Australia has a Category 4 Cyclone of its coast. We have just been put on red alert, so thought I would quickly put up a post just in case we lose power etc. Please click here or here too keep track of it if you are interested in this sort of thing. This is my first cyclone experience....at the moment all is fine just very windy and some rain, it is the quiet times that are the scariest times when all of a sudden things just go silent and then bang it starts all over again.....

Take Care Everyone......

Carb Counting....

another thing I think I need to start to get my head around.

When I was diagnosed I saw the Dietician/Nutritionist and she went through an average day of what I ate and worked out that I did not really need to change what I was eating but the timing of my meals - I would only tend to have one meal a day and she said I would need to have three meals a day.

Everything I was to consume had to be under 10 grams of sugar per 100 grams and under 10 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams. If it was a dairy product I could increase both sets of values to 15 grams and if it was a liquid it was to be under 1-2 grams.

After reading different blogs and forums I keep coming across carb counting and that everyone seems to be doing 'it' this way - it all sounds very confusing to me. As I said another thing to learn and something I will probably have to adjust to once the insulin is reintroduced - time to find some books I think....

Which Sports Car Are You?

I'm a Honda S2000!

You live on the edge, and you live for the adrenaline rush. You don't need luxuries, snob appeal, or superfluous gadgets. You put your top down, get your motor revving, and take all the curves that life throws at you at full speed. So what if you spin out occasionally?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Deccy V

The other love of my life is my 11 month old nephew Declan Vaughan. He is a beautiful old soul who is developing a gorgeous personality, but boy does he have a temper. He has the most gorgeous smile and contagious laugh and has everybody wrapped around his little finger, even strangers and especially his Auntie Carolyn. He is not walking yet, but we are hoping he will be by his first birthday. He is slowly starting to say a few words, but still not able to say Auntie Carolyn, but we are working on it ;-D.

He turns 1 on 15 April and I am struggling to think of something special to get him for his birthday. I have already got him the usual toys etc. but I wanted to get him something special for turning 1. I got his sister a bangle which she will be able to keep for life (though she still has not been able to wear it - too big for her even though it was the smallest size). Any ideas?

We are holding a party for him at the local park and Lisa has been working on his birthday cake - she is making him a 3D train, so at the weekend she did a trial run of the cake and did the piped icing etc - it turned out really well so now it is just a matter of waiting for the big day.

Blood Test Results

I returned to the Doctor's last night to get my blood test results and the usual suspect ones came up - thyroid borderline - test in another 3 months - bicarbonates and electrolytes all high - due to one of my medications - hormones - all over the place - need to up the medication I am on but I declined as I am managing as I am, but it is good to know if symptoms get worse I have an option so she was fine with that.

Hb1AC was 6.7 so that was a relief in one sense but an increase from the last one - last one was 5.9 and the one before that was 5.6. This time there was only 2 months between the test due to it being a new doctor etc she wanted everything repeated now instead of waiting another month. So the honeymoon is slowly coming to an end and she wants me sometime soon to do a week of testing religiously quite a few times a day to get an accurate record of what is going on as I have had some very high readings. Test again in three months time and if things have gone crazy before that time, then come back and she will call the Endocrinologist and do a phone consult over the phone in her office.

I really thought she was going to put me straight back on the insulin, but thankfully we are going to leave it a bit longer and see how things go......just means I need to get back into the swing of things and start taking things seriously and testing regularly and not just when I feel like it or feel funny.....

Hailie Bailie

Hailie Jayde is my niece and the first child to enter the world to make me an Auntie :-D I never knew how much you could love someone until she entered the world and I am always saying boy I can't even imagine what the love for your own child could possibly feel like, because I don't think I could love someone as much as I love my niece and nephew.

Anyways back to Hailie Bailie - she is now 2 and a half years old, well a bit more than that (she will be 3 in August). She gave us a scare on Thursday night/Friday. The last couple of weeks she has been on antibiotics because she had awful mosquito bites that got infected. She stopped the antibiotics and then two days later she became unwell and was drinking obsessively and soaking her nappies. All Thursday night she was saying "Daddy drink please" and then would gulp down a cup of water and then go back to sleep and an hour later would say again "Daddy drink please" - by the next morning she could hardly walk and just wanted to drink continuously and alarm bells started going off in all our heads.

Straight off to the Doctors and straight in for some blood tests and urine tests, but the Doctor didn't think it was the beginning of Diabetes, but he says he always listens to the mum and would test anyways - he thought it was probably a virus of some sort. Being a weekend we couldn't get the results until the Monday and she had major ketones on her urine, but the Doctor put that down to dehydration and said that the blood test results showed that she had a bacterial infection caused from the bites and that she had an allergic reaction to them - so back onto another course of antibiotics - but he was concerned about her weight - three weeks ago she weighed 11kgs - Friday she weighed 9.5kgs and on Monday she weighed 7.5kgs.

Hailie is very petite in weight has always been that way - she is getting quite tall now, but does not put on any weight - doesn't drink much and doesn't eat much.....my sister has tried everything to get her to eat more and does frequent small meals during the day, tempting her with different types of food - she is not a fussy eater and eats very healthily - loves her fruit and vegies etc, but still enjoys chocolate and ice cream or should I say ADORES chocolate and ice cream.

On the Friday after seeing the Doctor, she went to the Pharmacist to look into the children's chewable vitamins, but they say Hailie can't have any until she weighs 13kgs - she has never weighed 13kgs. He suggested a glucose powder to add to her meals etc which should help fatten her up - so we have been trying that.

On the Monday the Doctor said that my sister needs to start giving her protein shakes but my sister is like giving a 2 year old protein shakes - but she is giving it a go - but it took Hailie 90 minutes to drink half a cup of the stuff. Lisa made it fun for her and got her to help make a banana smoothie and they put ice cream etc into the blender together and Lisa put the powder in without her seeing and she just would not drink it and my sister had to bribe her to drink just half a cup.

Does anyone have any ideas to help a 2 year old eat and drink more? She is otherwise very healthy, active and happy child and she puts on some weight and as soon as she gets sick it comes falling off again - I mean she is still in size 0 clothes.

Aqua Time

Last night I ventured to the local swimming pool to take part in an aqua class (water aerobics). It was a very interesting experience - outside pool 32 degrees Celsius and bugs galore. As soon as I got in there I thought I was going to die it was so cold (I don't do anything cold) and my sister said no it is lovely, it is like a warm bath - I have no idea what planet and pool she was in - trust me it was cold.

The instructor had her headpiece on and started up, everyone jogging on the spot, get those knees up, I want to see white wash.....Now move to the shallow running down the pool with those knees high and coming out of the water and when I say turn to come back you turn quickly so you get the most resistance - I am going to work you ladies.....but first if anyone of you is pregnant or has a medical condition that I should know about please come and see me now.......so two ladies went ahead of me as they were in different stages of pregnancy and then I went up and said ok I am on crutches and have RSD and she just looked at me and I just laughed and said I am fine I can do this and I know my limits, I have done heaps of hydrotherapy etc before blah, blah......I didn't go into the Diabetes side of things as I thought that doesn't count as I am not currently taking insulin (but that might soon change, will leave that for another post)....

Back to running up and down the pool and as I was running someone called to me hey you have a friend and I just looked at them and raised my eyes and they said on your bathers - I looked down and there was a grasshopper on me - he/she was a pastel green in colour and was just satisfied to sit on my chest and go along for the ride so I let him/her do that until I started imagining it crawling where it shouldn't crawl and then went to the side of the pool and let him/her off the ride.....

The class got quite intense at times and I didn't enjoy doing the burpies (how do I explain this one) - it is where you dive forwards your legs follow but you have to then tuck them up into your chest - not a good explanation, but you should try doing them in the pool - and then do them to your side - I swallowed a bit too much water on that one and then there was the kick board - kicking up and down the pool frontways, then on your back and then on your side - for me extremely difficult and my legs are not the best and not being able to use your arms that was a pretty long, and I thought neverending exercise, but I made it in the end....

I thought this morning I would be suffering for it but have pulled up really well and my blood sugar was perfect this morning 6.7 and it hasn't been that first thing in the morning for quite a while....so I am going to give this class ago it is three times a week but I am just going to do 2 times a week for now and see how I go.....

My First Week In the Pilbara

My first week of work went great. I was extremely nervous about that first day as I said in a previous post, especially as I couldn't speak to anyone beforehand because my Supervisor was on annual leave and would not be back until the day I started...they didn't even blink at the crutches...my Supervisor just asked what I had done to myself so I kept the explanation very brief and too the point and he was fine about it...the next day he casually says so how long are you going to be on crutches for and I said well it has been about 11 years now, but I am hoping that being up here in the warm climate, etc. that things will improve and I will be able to get off them. So all is well.

The job looks like it will be interesting, especially as I will be dealing with a lot of other hospitals that are in remote areas etc...the people here are very friendly and accepting.....

I went to find myself a GP up here, and that was an interesting experience as well. I went in there and said hi and explained that I had just moved up here and said that I would be her nightmare patient and she laughed and said give it to me. So I started listing all the problem areas and she was like OK lets take one at a time and go through them individually and I just laughed and said sure.

We started with the RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) and she had all these plans for me and I was like no you don't understand been there done that not going there again. I am happy with how I am at the moment and I will let you know if things change and I can't put up with things any longer and she was satisfied with that.

We then went on to the PCOS/endometriosis (no one can make up their mind what is wrong with me- seem to have bits and pieces of both conditions - lucky me)....I said my Gynae in Perth was happy for me to consult with him over the phone if I had any problems or questions and when I am in Perth he will fit me in for an appointment and he would write her a letter explaining my situation and treatment regime. She was happy with that.

Next was the Diabetes...oh boy that did not go down well, she says no you can't have type 1 because you are not on insulin so you must have type 2...so I explained that yes I do have type 1 but I am honeymooning and was on insulin for 8 months but never had to change my dose was just on 8 units of novarapid 3 times a day and 8 units of protophane at night and I had no idea I was low because the symptoms are exactly what I feel normally with the RSD so I was putting myself at risk so chose for now to not take anything as I was honeymooning and seemed to be doing ok without it, yes I do get some nasty readings occasionally, but I am very strict with myself in what I consume so that helps some as well and would continue that way until I had no option to go back to being on the insulin. Still not sure what she thinks about all that but we will see. She has organised a heap of blood tests testing just about everything you can think off and I have to go back and see her next week and see where we go from there.

Next I told her about the blood clots in my brain and that got her attention and she said boy you are very lucky to still be here. So will we see how things go with her. She is actually very good - she is young and very willing to listen and if she is not sure of something than she will go find out she doesn't just let things go - so I am thinking that is a good thing.

It is great being with my family again, though stressful all being under the same roof until my sister's house finishes getting built and me finding my own place. Being 29 and living with my parents just doesn't feel right to me at all :-) The cuddles and kisses from my niece and nephew make everything worth while though - I just love being an Auntie.

Yes I Did Arrive

Just a quick message to say I did arrive safely and all is going well and I will try and write more tonight or over the weekend and let you all know how my first week at work went, etc......

Offline

Ok have been up all night trying to finish all the packing before the Removalists arrive and I am still not done......they arrive in 2.5 hours......so now I am going to put the puter to sleep and disconnect all the wires......bye for now.......