Saturday, February 13, 2010

Sweetheart, Sweetie, Sugar Pie

My appointment on Thursday with my oncologist went really well, although it seemed to take forever, which meant that I had a lot of time to read my book and linger over my hospital cafeteria lunch.

The one surprising and unpleasant bit of news was that my blood sugar level is high. This is just another typical side effect from the clinical trial drug, they hastened to explain. It does not mean I am now diabetic.

My blood sugar was at 250 about 4.5 hours after I had eaten anything. Yikes. My breakfast that morning had been what I thought was a virtuous bowl of cereal. I had mixed two oaty flaky fruity cereals together. The fruity part (cranberries and diced figs) must have been what sent my blood sugar soaring. Plus all the carbs from the flakes probably didn't help.

The high blood sugar explains my headache, too. The headache got worse after every meal.

So, for the next week, I will be checking my blood sugar three times per day, recording the results, and then emailing all the data to my clinical trial nurse Anne-Marie.

Ouch, the finger prick hurts. It takes a lot of resolve to push the button on the jabbing tool when I know that I am about to stab my finger. Yes I am a baby :^) The monitor I am using requires very little blood, so I think I will try to prick some other body part and see if it hurts less than my fingers.

My numbers have dropped now that the cereal is out of my system, but they are still not great: 155 to 211.

That reminds me, I had better go chuck those two cereals into the trash. Too bad I already threw out the boxes; it would have been interesting to check the nutritional value.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

just remember this, Karen, that no matter what your age, EVERYTHING that tastes good is bad for you...ttfn Mrs. S.

Anonymous said...

Hey girl, I hope that sugar is coming down. I thought all cereals were basically bad, or too much trouble to fugure out the good ones. Missed you last night.