December 6, 2009

Ladies, I can’t tell you how challenging the last week has been for me (and my family).  The week started off with me being laid off from my job in pharmaceutical sales (selling diabetes medication) on Monday morning.  I had been employed by the company for the last 6 years.  Although we were told lay-offs were coming, I can speak from experience in saying that you never really think it’s going to be you until it actually happens.  After the initial blow to my self-esteem and the immediate fear of making ends meet without a job, I gradually accepted the reality.  The reality is that I am among the large population of unemployed Americans (The latest unemployment rate is at 10%).  On Tuesday morning, I waited anxiously by the phone to find out the results from my dad’s biopsy.  (My dad is a 16-year Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer survivor and we found out the day before Thanksgiving that he has some form of cancer, so we were waiting to find out which kind so he could start treatment.)  Finally, on Wednesday morning, the biopsy results came back.  The results were inconclusive, which set into motion a flurry of actions to get him an appointment as soon as possible at one of the large, well-respected hospitals in my area of the state.  By the end of the week, we had him an appointment scheduled for this week.  As a side bar, I was also in the midst of remodeling a bathroom, so in my spare time (ha!) this week, I had to oversee its completion.   By Friday afternoon, I was ready for an opportunity to sleep late and that is exactly what I did on Saturday morning!  I slept very soundly for thirteen hours…until 11am!  As you may recall, I had my thyroid removed in September and my medication is still being titrated to the appropriate dose.  In the meantime, I still get very fatigued, have difficulty concentrating, and have difficulty sleeping, even though I am exhausted.  Finally, since I have made no mention of my diabetes at this point, I think it is quite important to point out that my blood sugars have been quite erratic the last two weeks.  (Imagine that!)  I assumed my lack of blood sugar control last week was related to all of the tasty Thanksgiving treats I was consuming.  However, when my blood sugars were still consistently high on Wednesday of this week (almost a week later), I decided it was time to increase my basal rates.  So, I increased all of my basal rates by.10 units.  

Until next week…keep your head up and stay focused on blessings in store for you in the future! (Don't look back and don't even think about the "what ifs.")