Insulin Pump, the verdict so far

I realised that I haven't reported back on how my insulin pump has been working, and having  not a great deal to write about later, thought that now was a good time!  It has been over 7 months since I was first hooked up, and, in a nut shell - it's going good! I had my first check up in about March and my HBa1C (a blood test that gives your average blood glucose levels for the previous 3 months, and is shown as a 
percentage, what we aim to get is under 7.5%.  For the 2 years previous to getting my pump I hadn't had a reading under 8.5%) was 7.6%!  This may not sound a lot, but trust me, it is massive.  I was slightly disappointed to not get under the magic number, but my specialist nurse was very pleased, and assured me that by the next appointment she was confident that I would be under.

I do feel physically better.  My yo-yo swings of highs and lows have been largely eradicated, and although I still do have some highs and lows they tend to come when my body's insulin requirements are changing and I have to adjust the basal rate (the rate of insulin drip feed) or because I have had a session of unadulterated piggery ;-)  

All of these are things I can do something about, so I feel a real sense of (finally!) having some sort of control.  Hurrah! 

More, some months from now.

Stride out to the Lighthouse

North Tyneside Council holds a health walk every year, and every year I think, oh I wish we'd done that.  This year I made no such mistake and ensured that everybody was available to tackle the 10k walk.  Despite the previous week being day after day of glorious sunshine, the day dawned grey and windy.  We set off nonetheless, all in high spirits to meet up with some friends and get our numbers.  The walk started at The Parks in North Shields and meandered down to our magnificent coastline,  through the Fish Quay.  We met our friends Karen and Jason Nash and their 2 kids, stuck Tom in a pushchair (to eradicate whinging- this is the child who starts to whine "I'm tired" when he gets a third of the way down our street!) listened to the mayor say some stuff (I don't know what, I wasn't listening!) and then off we went.


It was cold, there is no denying that.  The 2 oldest kids suffered injuries (not really) from not looking where they were going and so falling over, I had a couple of hypos, and the kids did ask once or twice (or maybe more!) "how much further?".  But, amazingly, we all made it, including the eight year old, 2 six year olds and a three year old, and the closer we got to St Marys Lighthouse, the more energy the kids seemed to have (perhaps it was the lure of those goody bags!).


I really enjoyed it, it felt wonderful to get a decent amount of exercise, and truth be told, could have walked much further!  We were all starving after all that walking and brisk sea air, so when we got home we treated ourselves to a slap up lunch of fish and chips - yum and richly deserved!!!