Our blogger of the week feature kicks off this week, and first up to bat is Lyrehca. Check out her posts all week on The OC. You can find her own blog at Managing the Sweetness Within.
If you would like to be featured on The Diabetes OC please contact me at diabetesoc@gmail.com. Put FEATURED BLOGGER in the headline.
Blog Post # 2
So What’s Next?
There’s a palpable sense of relief and excitement today.
I feel it too.
I’m pleased with the outcome of yesterday’s U.S. Presidential election.
But.
The President-Elect is inheriting a complicated bunch of problems and issues.
As a type 1 woman, I have to ask: how will my health care coverage change? Will I be able to get a continuous glucose monitor, paid for in full, without the hoops others have had to jump through? Will I be able to do infertility treatment again, if necessary, and have to pay crazy amounts of money because, arbitrarily, my current insurance doesn’t cover things that other insurance companies do?
Will I honestly have a choice about which health insurance company I can sign up with, with my history of pre-existing conditions? That won’t cost me a fortune?
And how soon will we see legitimate, concrete progress on stem cell research? Will it actually affect me in my lifetime? My son’s lifetime, should he inherit a chronic condition like diabetes that might be cured from stem cells?
Blog Post # 1
Introducing Lyrechca
I started blogging back in 2005 because of envy, pure and simple.
I had an idea to write a book about type 1 diabetes and pregnancy, but at the time didn’t think blogging made sense. “Why write for free?” I reasoned.
Then a blog popped up from a recently-diagnosed type 1 woman, who wrote all about her pregnancy. “Oy vey,” I thought. “This woman is going to chronicle her experience and get the book deal I’m dreaming about.”
So I started blogging.
I’m Lyrehca. I’ve been type 1 for more than 30 years. I’ve been on an insulin pump for eight. I blog primarily about type 1 diabetes and pregnancy with some parenthood, career, and triathlon training posts thrown in to shake things up. I’m a longtime type 1 with very few complications and intend to keep things that way.
I love to eat and carb counting has opened my world up to the joys of overeating along with the pleasures of impressive blood sugars. But don’t hate me for that. My sugars may be great, but so too is my ass. Weight gain happens to the best of us—particularly those who love to eat and bolus accordingly.
But I digress.
The Mister and I tried to get pregnant. Oh, how we did try. I tested my blood sugars and carb counted throughout. Pounds crept on.
But pregnancy? I got bupkes.
We moved on to the world of infertility treatment, where I picked up a fancy new reproductive endocrinologist to complement my plain ol’ regular endocrinologist. I shot fertility drugs alongside insulin. I had a whole new set of foods to worry about while wondering if I was actually pregnant. Thought simple carbs were a headache for the blood sugars? Try avoiding soft cheese, cold cuts and caffeinated diet Coke because they aren’t great for a potential fetus. My diet got a lot more narrow.
And what do you know—I actually got pregnant and stayed that way for a good nine months. My bloods were up occasionally, but they were mostly down much of the time. I saw doctors all the time to monitor the type 1 and the pregnancy—and I had what’s considered an easy pregnancy.
Baby Lyrehca was born in April 2007. He was happy, healthy, and had great blood sugars himself—such a good boy!
Along the way, there were sleepless nights and breastfeeding angst. Mommy and me classes and furtive Ketostix checks of the baby’s diaper output. All those model patient blood sugars flew out the window as I became a parent with type 1. About a year into motherhood, I decided to go hardcore and train for a sprint triathlon.
(I had to get the baby weight off somehow. Those leisurely walks with the baby cooing in the stroller weren’t going to cut it.)
So then I wrote about training and type 1. Believe me, jockiness is not my natural state. I like to read in bed and eat and drink diet Coke. For the first few weeks of training, my favorite part was the shower after the workout. Or the glory I got when I told people I was training for a triathlon. But as I got into it, I slowly figured out things like how to run and carry my blood meter at the same time, or how my blood sugars would react after a half-mile swim, a twelve-mile bike ride, and a three-mile run. And what do you know—my clothes fit better than they did before. And I managed to finish two different sprint tri races and two 5K runs with the Mister and Baby L cheering me on from the sidelines.
That long-ago envy-inducing blogger had her baby and went offline. My book project is moving forward. And now I’m gearing up to do it again: the attempt for baby number 2. Who knows how long it’ll take or what paths I’ll cross, or even what the outcome will be.
But I’ll be here infusing insulin, counting carbs, tinkering with the exercise and testing, testing, testing the blood sugars all day long. Figuring out if we need to do fertility treatments again. And trying to look good and feel better most of the time.
What’s it like to try to do all of that right? It’s all about Managing the Sweetness Within.
I started blogging back in 2005 because of envy, pure and simple.
I had an idea to write a book about type 1 diabetes and pregnancy, but at the time didn’t think blogging made sense. “Why write for free?” I reasoned.
Then a blog popped up from a recently-diagnosed type 1 woman, who wrote all about her pregnancy. “Oy vey,” I thought. “This woman is going to chronicle her experience and get the book deal I’m dreaming about.”
So I started blogging.
I’m Lyrehca. I’ve been type 1 for more than 30 years. I’ve been on an insulin pump for eight. I blog primarily about type 1 diabetes and pregnancy with some parenthood, career, and triathlon training posts thrown in to shake things up. I’m a longtime type 1 with very few complications and intend to keep things that way.
I love to eat and carb counting has opened my world up to the joys of overeating along with the pleasures of impressive blood sugars. But don’t hate me for that. My sugars may be great, but so too is my ass. Weight gain happens to the best of us—particularly those who love to eat and bolus accordingly.
But I digress.
The Mister and I tried to get pregnant. Oh, how we did try. I tested my blood sugars and carb counted throughout. Pounds crept on.
But pregnancy? I got bupkes.
We moved on to the world of infertility treatment, where I picked up a fancy new reproductive endocrinologist to complement my plain ol’ regular endocrinologist. I shot fertility drugs alongside insulin. I had a whole new set of foods to worry about while wondering if I was actually pregnant. Thought simple carbs were a headache for the blood sugars? Try avoiding soft cheese, cold cuts and caffeinated diet Coke because they aren’t great for a potential fetus. My diet got a lot more narrow.
And what do you know—I actually got pregnant and stayed that way for a good nine months. My bloods were up occasionally, but they were mostly down much of the time. I saw doctors all the time to monitor the type 1 and the pregnancy—and I had what’s considered an easy pregnancy.
Baby Lyrehca was born in April 2007. He was happy, healthy, and had great blood sugars himself—such a good boy!
Along the way, there were sleepless nights and breastfeeding angst. Mommy and me classes and furtive Ketostix checks of the baby’s diaper output. All those model patient blood sugars flew out the window as I became a parent with type 1. About a year into motherhood, I decided to go hardcore and train for a sprint triathlon.
(I had to get the baby weight off somehow. Those leisurely walks with the baby cooing in the stroller weren’t going to cut it.)
So then I wrote about training and type 1. Believe me, jockiness is not my natural state. I like to read in bed and eat and drink diet Coke. For the first few weeks of training, my favorite part was the shower after the workout. Or the glory I got when I told people I was training for a triathlon. But as I got into it, I slowly figured out things like how to run and carry my blood meter at the same time, or how my blood sugars would react after a half-mile swim, a twelve-mile bike ride, and a three-mile run. And what do you know—my clothes fit better than they did before. And I managed to finish two different sprint tri races and two 5K runs with the Mister and Baby L cheering me on from the sidelines.
That long-ago envy-inducing blogger had her baby and went offline. My book project is moving forward. And now I’m gearing up to do it again: the attempt for baby number 2. Who knows how long it’ll take or what paths I’ll cross, or even what the outcome will be.
But I’ll be here infusing insulin, counting carbs, tinkering with the exercise and testing, testing, testing the blood sugars all day long. Figuring out if we need to do fertility treatments again. And trying to look good and feel better most of the time.
What’s it like to try to do all of that right? It’s all about Managing the Sweetness Within.
If you would like to be featured on The Diabetes OC please contact me at diabetesoc@gmail.com. Put FEATURED BLOGGER in the headline.
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