Wanna hear something really funny?
I’m not a numbers person.
LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL!
Ok. Maybe it’s not THAT funny.
But oh baby…I was NEVER a numbers person. Which we all know is some kind of cruel joke or something, because my life is all about numbers now.
It used to be, back in the day, when I only had two diabetics…(I know ONLY! LOL! LOL! LOL!) I didn’t need to look at their meters. I knew exactly what their blood sugars were doing when they were doing them. I would march into that endo’s office and say…”J is high every night at 10…his bgs the last few nights have been between this and this…and at lunch we are having issues with this. And L…well his last 7 wake up numbers were this this this this this this and this.”
I was borderline awesome…considering my number handicap and everything.
But now? WHOA NELLIE! Now…I don’t remember much. I’ll march into the endo’s office and say…”I don’t have the numbers to back it up, but I have a gut feeling we need to change B’s nighttime basals…I’m pretty sure I’m correcting him EVERY night. “ And a bunch of other half truths like that. They have to download the boy’s pumps before they get any reliable information. My instincts are usually right…but when asked for the reasoning behind said instincts…well, lately I just freeze up. My brain searches for the information. It scans the billions of numbers running through my head…and all I can back it up with is…”I just know.”
So last week it seemed like all the boys were running high…WAY TOO MUCH…I changed all of their basals using the VERY scientific method called “following my gut.” I obviously went too strong because we are having A LOT of lows.
So change them back! (That is what you are saying, right? You are totally thinking I should change them back…or dial them back a bit, correct??)
Well I have something to say to you…if I change them back; like any LOGICAL person would…well…I’ll be dialing them back up next week. In my experience if you get too strong on the basals, give it time, VERY soon they’ll be right on. Especially when you have three CONSTANTLY growing boys. Sometimes it just takes a little riding out before things settle.
Now don’t go running to up the basals on your kids and say that it will all work out eventually ‘cause Meri said so. I’m a stay at home mom. I check the boys every three hours or more. I have a dog people! A medical alert dog. I am vigilantly on watch! I am…I am…probably going to dial them all down a bit…
Hey, a girl can change her mind!
Although we are catching the lows, that are mostly occurring mid-morning, in the 60’s and the 70’s…there is potential for worse…and I don’t tolerate lower than that. (LOL! I don’t tolerate it! That is such a joke, it gives the illusion that I actually have some control over how low they’ll go!)
Can you tell it is a quarter to midnight and I’m waiting to check B and see if the pudding I fed him brought his 68 up to a nice number?
Truth is…I do hate dialing back strong basals…because It IS true…I’ll probably be dialing them back up in a week or so…but better safe than sorry.
Sigh.
All I can do is hope that all these numbers are being stored SOMEWHERE in my swelly brain, and that my gut instinct is just a manifestation of all the calculating my subconscious is doing. You know?
You don’t know?
Me either. It’s a theory anyway.
I should start writing it all down, but who am I kidding…I never get pass day two. So I think I’m going to slap the CGM on each one for three days each and let it do the calculating for me.
Because apparently, the CGM is a numbers “person”…and he’ll be able to paint the picture more clearly than the abstract my gut is handing me.
CGM is the Monet to my guts Jackson Pollock.
See how easy I worked all this out, because I took the time to type it down on virtual paper?
HA! Numbers are stupid! Who needs numbers when you got mad blogging/problem solving skills!
Ok it has been 30 minutes, wait here…I’m going to see if my gut was right in feeding B pudding…
138
BOOYAH!
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Ha! NUMB3RS is one of our favorite shows! And, I was never a number person, either! I have a phone number memorization capacity of exactly two numbers. But, amazingly, I've been able to memorize all of the C:I ratios and correction factors and basal dose, and recite them on demand. Even after getting really lazy pumping for two months, I'm right back on the number thing now we're back to MDI's.
ReplyDeleteBTW, thanks for commenting on our journey. It's great to know we're being "followed" :) - Mo
Love it Meri! You ARE a numbers person, believe it or not - its just that the numbers are in your gut and not your head. Hey, whatever works for ya is what I say! With 3 T1s I am surprised you remember any number at all.
ReplyDeleteI just changed G's basals all the way around after doing 3, count em 3 different basal tests in the last week. And we are rocking the numbers now. For me, when I do a basal test with her, is the only way I know. My gut only holds a teensy amount of numbers, unlike your amazing gut. Imagine me talking about guts like this, am I crazy or what?
Anyway, you have an amazing gut Meri. And that's a compliment!
I have no memory - it's completely gone. My husband asks me where I think all this info is going that I lose track of. I think it was sucked out my boobs when I was breastfeeding! So I write everything down - grocery lists, carb amounts, to do lists, and I download Grace's pump numbers on my computer. NO WAY I would remember what her number was, let alone to keep an acurate log. And I only have ONE diabetic to keep track of!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I totally agree with your findings when you up the basal rates. It's happened twice with us (I think we're in the middle of number 3) that Grace's numbers go all to hell, I up her basal, we see more lows than we'd like for about a week, then she settles in.
It's great to find something in common!
I hate numbers. I hate math. This is cruelly ironic.
ReplyDeleteI can test a bg and then 30 seconds later have NO IDEA what it was. Too many numbers. I have no idea how you do it with 3!
We had a similar night last night... it was BOOYAH night! Thank GOd. I'll take it when I can get it!
Hoping it all calms down soon....
I love how I always find a "perma-grin" on my face everytime I read your posts. You rock sista!!!
ReplyDeleteI have always been a numbers girl... heck, that all I had going for me. Now, I can't even use a calculator without messing something up. I'ts pretty pathetic.
Even before you wrote that it was a little late I was thinking, "Meri sounds a little slap happy!"
ReplyDeleteWe love to watch NCIS - do you ever watch it? Mark Harmon's character always says he knows something because it's a gut feeling...sounds like yours are right on!
That gives me hope for the future that in time I'll have more of an instinct about this instead of painstakingly working it through my swelly hurty (to use your terminology) brain.
Thanks for the laugh, as always!
Not a numbers person so I have to use a spread sheet on my puter and that is a good thing cause I would not remember at all .
ReplyDeleteMy gut does a lot of my thinking too. It is often spot on. Managing this beast is such an art.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm still fairly new at this, I find that I learn so much reading the d-moms' blogs. You are all amazing!
ReplyDeleteLOL...oh sweet Meri...I cannot even imagine doing this X 3 (UGH) and the "not a numb3rs person" even makes it that much more cruellishly funny-ish... in a sad sort of way... I.LOVE.YOU. You are A ROCK STAR girl...and your GUT ROCKS too btw.
ReplyDeletexoxo
Meri! You always make me smile. I am so not a numbers person too. Oh my....God must be laughing at me some days....in a nice way. : )
ReplyDeleteI mean...surely I'm entertaining Him! LOL
Thank you for your sweet comment on my blog. You are so right. I needed to vent...then hop off the computer and live. Happily.
D may get me down some, but it's not going to keep me down!
You, my friend, are a nut! The best kind of nut.
ReplyDeleteLove the 138.
The boys' doctor should take your intuition as gospel. I trust it is just THAT good.
:)
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNumbers....what the heck are those????
I have to agree about the basals, though....sometimes I find that we're chasing lows, but if we wait it out for a week or so, things work themselves out :)
Love you, Meri.
You are seriously amazing :)
Love this post! You rock! Your "instinct" rocks and, you are totally right, sometimes you JUST KNOW.
ReplyDelete