Friday, December 23, 2005

Here I Sit...

It's about 1:30 in the morning and here I sit again. If I recall, I spent the Thanksgiving holiday on prednisone trying to get well. Here it is just two days before Christmas and I am again on prednisone trying to get well. It's a much stronger dose this go around and it's a stonger anitibiotic. And, I have more cough medicine with codeine...yea!!! EVERYONE will be much happier when it comes to bedtime if I have one teaspoon of codeine. ;) My allergist did send me to have blood drawn to see if I have pertussis...in plain English it's called whooping cough. Doesn't that just beat all? If that comes back positive...well, it just won't. That's all there is to it.

But the other MAJOR consideration for me is my glucose readings...you know, those 'blood levels' we diabetics are always so concerned about. While I was at the doctor's office this afternoon they gave me a breathing treatment followed by 3 pills of prednisone. I forgot to ask for my amryl (sp?) which meant I didn't get my internist called until almost five. The amryl is supposed to be taken once your levels rise. Mine are over 500. They are usually around 110. I've taken the amryl and am waiting to see how soon they begin to drop. I've been so thirsty and now I understand why...my levels were too high! So, if the prednisone doesn't keep me awake tonight all the water that I have been drinking surely will! Lol!

I learned about the "levels and prednisone" a couple of years ago. I had forgotten to tell my allergist that I was now a diabetic. Jim and I spent the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend with friends and I kept having to drink. I went through the huge Super sized drinks in about 8 minutes and kept having to go back for more. It was difficult to talk because of the dry mouth. I felt awful and couldn't think straight. On Sunday morning I take my levels and they are over 400 and my meter says "check ketones." Well, I'm Type 2 diabetic and on medication but not insulin so I had no idea what 'check ketones' meant. I called my sister who is my personal in house medical consultant and she had the nerve to not be home! ;) So I left a message about what my levels were and what the message had said and then left to run an errand by myself. While I'm gone she calls back as soon as she listened to my message and talks to Jim and tells him he needs to get a hold of me ASAP because I can go into a diabetic coma. She impresses on him how serious this is etc..... I come back and my levels are now even higher. I call the doctor on call and he tells me to have my husband drive me to the ER....Pronto! Do Not Pass Go...Do not collect $200.00. I spent the rest of the holiday in the ER on two separate trips hooked up to IV's as they tried to get my levels down below 250. Live and learn!

On to better news. It has been a delight to have James home. We have had such a fun time talking, talking, and talking some more. He and I went down to Cabellos (sp?) (the outdoors store) tonight after dinner. Jim, James and I ended up going out to eat for dinner since I spent the better part of the afternoon at the doctor's (which then put me behind in my Christmas cooking). James and I dropped Jim off at home and we went on Cabello's. What a neat store that is. James bought hiking boots so he and his friend Ben B. can go hiking tomorrow up in the snowy mountains. That should bring James home with a smile! He loves to hike the mountains!

I took a cd into W*lgr##ns to print a pic off. We are giving it to friends for Christmas in a picture frame that says "Friends". I'm sure you've seen different ones around. Anyway, I took it in and asked for one hour development. No problem. I come back after the doctor visit to pick it up. There were no pics transferred to the photo people in back. Thankfully, I have the cd still with me. I popped it in again and pull up the pics which I want. I leave and will come back when my Rx's are ready and after we have eaten dinner.

On our way home we stop to make my pick ups. There is still nothing able to be printed even though I selected the pics I wanted. "No problem," I tell the guy. "I'll just go home and have my tech savvy son make the transfer to a disc for me. I mean, I am so computer illiterate it's not funny (even though my nephew and niece told me on this trip that they've been VERY impressed with my ability to "muddle" through and figure things out concerning my blog). However, if my son can fly these million dollar planes and figure out all the computer stuff on them, then, surely he can show me how to transfer a picture from my computer to a cd to take to the photo people. :) Well, he in fact did that for me right before he went to bed.

So, it was about 11 p.m. and I'm wired (from the meds) so I run over with my new cd to get the pics printed. The same guy is there. I insert the cd and it tells me I have "no images". NO IMAGES!!! I cry out! Another man, not the guy who works there, comes to my assistance and he started the process over. Well, he pulls up the images on the PREVIOUS CD!!! Did you get that? On the PREVIOUS CD! Rather than risk not getting anything I select "print all." It prints out my receipt and I am able to eject my cd.

The guy who works there isn't working on any other order and he tells me he can tell really quickly if it has worked this time. He pulls up the order...it says there isn't anything there! But, he pushes more buttons and says, "Well, it says 8 pics ordered (chosen from the PREVIOUS BAD CD), and zero images shown. Oh wait! Here it says there are 2 images." I go behind the counter and look and I said, "Those are the two images I am wanting printed." So he printed those while I waited and he talked about how the machine must be 'haunted' or something. He sure didn't understand how the previous cd's images showed up on the new cd which only had 2 images. I calmly told him, "It's from the Lord!" He told me it sure must be. And, I assured him I was positive because I had been praying that this third try would work because this was to be a Christmas present which needed to be done by tomorrow! :) Isn't the Lord good? He is so faithful!

Well, it's almost 2 a.m. and I need to check my levels and take my very swollen feet to bed.

Please forgive all my grammer tense errors (of which there are many). I just can't focus enough to take the time to make corrections.

Goodnight, all!

10 comments:

HeyJules said...

Claire, you poor thing! I know how you feel, though. Being on meds that keep you from sleeping is NO fun!

Now that we're done praying for James' wings, I'm doubling up on prayers for you. Let's get to feeling better now, shall we???

Merry Christmas, Claire. You've been a real godsend to me. I can't wait to see what 2006 brings our way.

Love ya!

~Jennifer said...

I hope you feel better soon! This is a hard time of year to be missing sleep and feeling poorly.

Have a blessed Christmas.

ME said...

i hope that you start feeling better... you deserve it your like a super mom..best wishes

Corry said...

Please, take good care of yourself and may God bless you with good health.

God's Grace.

Unknown said...

Yes, isn't it wonderful being an asthmatic and a diabetic? You run in circles most of the time. Get your feet up and relax. I bet James would love to wait on you. If you don't take care of your body, it won't take care of you! Have some chicken soup and one piece of chocolate and enjoy the company of your family. I wish I could be there to check on you. Your niece can tell you how to get a hold of me should you need to. It would be an honor and a pleasure. You are in my thoughts. PB

Anonymous said...

Hi Clairebug! Oh, I so hope and pray you are better now!

We spent from 11:00pm to 5:00am in the ER ourselves last night. (the 23rd)

Roger thought he had some spinal fluid leakage from the tube in his spinal column. He's fine, but it was a crazy night.

Anonymous said...

Oh Claire...what a day!

God knows just how much we can handle, doesn't He?

Praying for you today.

Joe said...

I hope all went well for you at Christmas, in spite of not feeling well.

G~ said...

Oh, POOR CLAIRE! I wish I'd been by before now! Love your heart. In case, like me, no one thinks to tell you next time you get a script of prednisone...THAT STUFF MAKES YOUR SUGARS SHOOT SKY HIGH!!!!

It's just the nature of the stuff.

With my handy dandy pump, I (now!!) just up my basal rates for about 3 of the 5 days (the usual length of the Rx) and that takes care of everything.

I can't believe no one told you how badly the steroids could affect your b/s!!

Having hyperglycemia is a truly horrible feeling! headachy, cotton mouth, sick stomach, hallucinations, puking...honey, I've had it all over the years.

I hope you got better fast and were able to have a good Christmas!

~hugs~

Les and Kimberly said...

I am sorry to hear about this!! I haven't had a lot of time to read other people's blogs in a while, but I am slowly getting back to being able to.

You're in my prayers, my mom is diabetic too. At least I will know what to do in an incident like this with her.

How are you feeling now?

Hugs - Kim