Misplaced Meter

I've misplaced my meter, the one I use to get my morning readings.

Which means, I haven't tested my fasting blood sugar in roughly four weeks.

Not great.

I saw this story on ABC today. I thought it summed up the thought nicely.

Now for a different topic: I have a secret quest.

I've been on this quest for some time now. I am in search of the perfect french dip sandwich. I love them!!

The beef should be good quality, but not too thickly sliced. One should be able to separate the beef into bites without sharpening one's teeth. The beef should not be too fatty.

The broth should not be excessively salty. This is hard to tell, as it should be salted, but not excessively salty. There should be plenty of au jus. One should not run out of au jus mid-sandwich.

The bread is key. The bread should not have been microwaved. Do not microwave the bread as it will, in that case, be pre-sogged. The bread should be a french or italian style, which means that it has a nice crust on it, with a good loft, and nice airy cells with which to absorb the jus. It should be significantly different from any standard fast-food hamburger bun. Soft white bread is not worthy of the french dip sandwich.

Cheese is unnecessary. Mayonnaise is unnecessary.

It's always a risk for me to order a French Dip at a restaurant, because I have such high standards. I hate it when I find out that they've used a hamburger-style bun and microwaved it. Yuck.

I will have for you a few examples of both the good and the bad french dip in the next few weeks or months.

Why not test?

I am a person with diabetes. I am learning to use this new PC language. I find it unnecessary and awkward. But hey, what's a person with diabetes to do? I am also a person with diabetes who owns a computer with problems and a modem without connection. Thus, the blog that is post-challenged. I must go down to the store and present myself as a person with service plan to the employees with geekness.

I've been thinking about testing.

As you know, it is wise for people with diabetes (type 2) to test regularly. Those of us with diabetes - type 2 - often do not, much to the chagrin of our people-with-diabetes-type-1 friends, who MUST test every few hours to keep themselves and their insulin dosages on track.

Why, my friends with diabetes (type 1) ask, don't people with diabetes type 2 test themselves regularly? Why do they stop testing?

Well, I reply, I think it's because we can. We can stop testing without risking death in the next few hours or days. I think that's the main reason. But I've got a second and third possibility, too.

The second reason, in my opinion, is because the testing doesn't always give us meaningful data.

In other words, If I'm testing daily, and I'm a person with diabetes and my diabetes is under good control, I can test regularly for weeks, months or years at a time and get nice polite readings for my morning fasting number that range between 80 and 120. This number requires no change of behavior on my part. I don't even have to respond to it. So why waste my $1 test strips and test daily? Couldn't I just test once a week and, if I get a nice polite number, test again a week later?

It's like a job performance review that reads "meets requirements" all the way across. No new info. Nothing to work on.

The third reason, in my opinion, is because the testing give us meaningful data that we don't want to know. The numbers are high, but the person with diabetes is unwilling to make any changes that could alter the numbers.

This is a common phenomenon among people with diabetes, especially type 2, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Imagine the frustration of a physician, trying to assist his patient with diabetes, when the patient brings no data. How can such a person think it's OK to enjoy a sugary slurpee on these hot summer days, without testing to see what such a treat does to the BG numbers?

It's just a number. And you DON'T have to respond to it. It's just one piece of data. You could respond to it. But you don't have to.

You can look at the reading and say, hmm, 284, how about that, and still eat the chocolate cake for breakfast. Who's going to stop you?

But it's kind of like driving your car around without looking at the dashboard gauges. Or the traffic signals. Or the street signs.

These marvelous meters are such a great tool. My grandparents didn't have them for most of their years with diabetes. Let's use them. Let's test.