Each Islet is Precious

The title is a quote from my Endo.  I saw him on Monday.  It was an appointment with high and low points.  It began with a series of bad news.  Before I see him, I have my A1c and glucose checked and my blood pressure taken.  My blood pressure was high.  I usually run about 110/60.  I was about 150/80.  Then my A1c result was 7.1.  At my last visit there it was 5.9.  When the doctor came in and saw my A1c and my blood sugar logs, he suggested trying some Novolog (fast acting insulin) before each meal.  This is in addition to the Lantus (slow acting insulin) that I had already been taking.  His feeling was that the high postprandials were very stressful to my islets.  The Lantus was helping my fasting BGs, but was not lowering my postprandials effectively.  He is young and speaks with an accent and when he said that we have to protect my islets because "each little islet cell is precious", it really made me smile.  Thats exactly how I feel.  When I told him about my being a recipient speaker at the Transplant Summit, he was really excited.  He did some of his education in Bethesda and has fond feelings for this area.  We enjoyed a nice post visit discussion about that.  He even shook my hand for doing this.  Pretty neat.  These were the high points.

Yesterday was day 1 with the Novolog.  It paralleled the high and low points of my visit.  The Novalog worked like a charm on my postprandials.  I was 101, 112, and 93 post meals.  Perfect.  The downside was that I could really sense the insulin in my body.  At about 9:30am, I felt some low BG symptoms.  I felt tired, hungry and even light-headed.  I had to stop work because I was having trouble concentrating.  I tested and was 94.  Not what I expected at all.  The same thing happened on Sunday.  We had been kayaking and at the end I felt low.  I tested and found I was 96.  That time, I questioned the meter.  I must just be hypersensitive to these symptoms because its been so long since I have experienced them.  I'm worried about having this problem at work.  We're busy now, which is a good thing, but doesn't leave time for having to stop because of BG problems.  Hopefully, I can get this under control.  The hypoglycemia unawareness that I would experience before my transplant was dangerous, but less likely to interrupt my day.

I have been checking my blood pressure at home and its back to normal.  I think that I was apprehensive/disappointed with my A1c at the checkup.  Its amazing what the mind can do to the body.

The other downside of the insulin is that my energy level seems lower.  I could really tell on my walk yesterday.  I wasn't really tired, just not as vigorous.  Hopefully, time will help this as well.  I tried lowering my Lantus from 6 to 5 units to see if that will help how I feel.

This is a tough time for me.  Its hard facing the insulin and the feeling like my past and future are beginning to converge.  I am as always, so grateful to my support system.  Gary is always there for me.  Discussing the insulin with Janet was a sad thing, but she summoned her skills to put things into a brighter perspective.  I can email Sandra and always receive an empathetic and knowledgeable response.  I'm looking forward to seeing Dave at the Transplant Summit next month.  We can add that experience to the list that we already have in common.


This is a wonderful cornhole game that Gary made me for my birthday.