We're having our usual tease of spring here in the Northwest. It seems to happen every February. Cold mornings, followed by glorious sunny afternoons in the 50's and 60's. It will pass soon enough and we'll be back to the low, grey cloud cover and incessant drizzling we know so well. But for now it's amazing.
It was like that yesterday most of the day, with blasts of sunshine breaking through soft, diffused clouds on and off. It was a day for gardening, cleaning out overgrown beds, pruning of roses and soil amendment. It's been a long time since I've worked so hard physically and I'm feeling it this morning. Even my hands hurt. But oh, not my spirit. Everything feels right in the world when it's sunny and I've spent a day in the fresh air with birds singing and the earliest signs of spring in the garden. It doesn't matter that my blood sugar is dropping. It doesn't matter that I'm out of practice in adjusting for this kind of activity very accurately. It just doesn't matter that much.
Of course, it does matter and of course I will figure it out, all over again. But it takes time because this kind of exercise changes everything, my metabolism, my insulin needs, my energy level. After a couple of days of this kind of work, my overall insulin needs will change too. I'll need less this week than last week to maintain my overall control. But I'm not sure how much I'll actually need to do that, so it's more blood tests and more attention to what's going on. I'm eating more protein in the morning and even a bit more fat so I can augment all the exercises's impact on my blood sugar. But I don't care about that because I'm having so much fun digging in the dirt that I'll do anything to be able to keep doing that very thing. I'm up for the trade off because the pay off is so high. So bring on the blood tests and adjustments I say! Bring it all on because there are roses to be pruned and sunshine to be soaked up. Ha!
A great pay off easily justifies all of the extra work it takes us to maintain our diabetes. Easily.
It's nice when something is so clear cut for us - in that we know it is going to make a little more work for us, but there is no question that we are up for it because of the pay off!
Posted by: Scott K. Johnson | February 17, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Wow! Temps in the 50s & 60s. Just reading that makes me feel good. Glad you've had some nice weather.
Posted by: Donna | February 18, 2008 at 06:06 PM