[[0059]] Day 49 of Self-Isolation (It's a diabetes post today!)

Day 49 (I still don't know when this will be over)

So, I figured I would make this post more diabetes related, as I have not spoken about the main reason I set up this blog, for the longest of time (T1D looks like me) and figured it was time to pay a little more focus to that for a change, instead of writing about keeping myself sane throughout this pandemic.

For all intents and purposes, I look like I am doing well and if I am honest, I do think I am doing okay. The mental health advent calendar has been working wonders, and I do get excited about what is behind those little doors. The new marvel one is also absolutely awesome and adorable and I cannot wait to find a cute little unit for each little figure (and maybe accidentally buy a Harry Potter one... maybe). 

I may not be helping out at work for reasons (my health is a living mess) but, my Skindred Support the NHS and Keyworkers tee arrived yesterday and I am loving it and I urge any of you who also want to help the NHS and whom love Skindred, to go and order one too in the link above! We actually wore them on our live stream last night and intend on wearing them again for more streaming shizzle and we have both decided that we are totally gonna rock these at the Skindred gig at the Showground in October (just waiting on our spiky sunglasses and my fluffy black coat to arrive).

But, we need to talk diabetes... because, like I always, I seem to be brushing it under yet another carpet, like I have done the vast majority of my life since being diagnosed with it. I don't mean to, but I have grown up with this mentality that everyone else's health and problems are bigger than my own and it has honestly taken me a long time to start saying no as well as cutting off the toxic and slowly, my control is getting a little better. The damage has been done though, after years of neglecting myself and focusing on family and so on, so now it's just making sure I preserve what I have left.

I won't get all down and meh about that now though... because I want to speak about things I am doing to help make my diabetic life easier.

Since last year, I have been put on more and more medication, and I have always struggled to keep on top of it... like I was fine when it was just my insulin and a single Mirtazapine each night, but then that got changed to a med I did not get along with for depression and neuropathy, so I got switched back to mirtazapine and put on a new med I had to take twice daily, so that is over twice the daily amount of tablets I had to take. Throw in the 4mg Candesartan and an antihistimine and that is it, my brain is fried and I often forget to take one or two of the meds. It's not horrendous if I miss the neuro meds or Candesartan but if I am to preserve what I have left... I need to take them and be pro-active about it, but I am just so damn forgetful.

So, last weekend, I made the decision to do something about this. I should have done it sooner, but I didn't want any connotations in regards to my age or ought so I didn't do it. I just didn't wanna seem any older then I really am and the thing I wanted to get is normally associated with old people. So I figured, if I am going to do this, I wanna do it in style... and I'd like to think I have.

What did I do?

I bought one of those tablet organisers, to put all my tablets into and well, in colour coded, Queenie fashion.

I won't lie, I was really picky with what I chose. Like, I didn't want a clear one, colourful was best, had to split the day into three instead of AM/PM or four times a day, and a case was bonus, so I could well, hide what it is... and well, it's cool.

I think this was £9 on Amazon in the end, and it was worth it because I am happy with it and I have so far remembered to take my tablets for today, amazing! And I would like to think that it doesn't make me look old... plus, rainbow... I am bi as the well, bi could be, this works for me... and all the NHS support right now, I had to (and honestly, I'm not really for clear or clinical colours these things tend to come in). The case is a bonus, but means I can just sling it in my bag when I go back to work, so practical too and shouldn't lose the little pots in my bag either. 

Yes, I arranged my tablets straight away, but eeeeee, that's Wednesday ready to go tomorrow! If you want one of these, you can find them over on this link to Amazon. 

Of course, it is early days yet, and whether I remember to order my meds so I don't run out let alone remember to get them out the pouch is well, to be seen, but, I honestly feel it is going to help me remember to take them and in doing so, will help preserve the feeling in my bad foot as well as my kidney issues.

Speaking of preserving kidney function, I have an appointment at my doctor's tomorrow for more bloods and a blood pressure test... the bloods to well, check my kidney function and the blood pressure test as mine has been running way too high for a while now, and well, kidneys and blood pressure are very much related to one another; if the blood pressure is normal, it will help in preserving my kidney function. I should get the results for them early next week either way so fingers crossed please! These tests have been nothing but bad news for me this year.

Well, that is it for my little diabetes win for today. Now to get back to being healthy, exercising more and doing what I can to be healthy and lose a bit of weight while I am stuck here.

Stay safe everyone,

Over and out, mes amigos.

[[0036]] Day 13 of Self-Isolation

It's all good here. 

Day 13 (The cats are taking over, or is it just my crazy creeping out to play?)

SO, today's post is a damn late one, but I have reasons, very productive reasons!!!

Our cats now have a room all to themselves, well... it's "technically" the spare room for when people come to visit but the cats are in the house a lot more than us having guests so, cat room it is. And people are only allowed to sleep over in it if the cats like them: if the cats no likey, no sleepy-over for you. Thankfully, the cats like the friendos we do have over so no problem there with them having to share.

Okay, so it is a work in progress because we need to borrow some tools to finish off some cool cat items and upholstery in there, but it will do for now! I just hope they like it when they realise (I may have hidden some bribery treats up there for them to find as well as their favourite things to sleep on and their toys and whatever else I could find that they like).

So the next photo is what I had to deal with! You may have seen me post it in yesterdays blog post
haha! I lost count of the amount of rubbish bags that came out of there in the end (must be near the double digits, if not over) and then there was the stuff that used to be under the stairs that needed to go back under the stairs and then the furniture. But yeah, several bin bags chucked on the bathroom rubble heat in the back garden and the room is finally cleared, the carpet hoovered within an inch of its life... ahhhh it's so satisfying seeing it all look so tidy at last! Heck, even under the stairs looks a lot tidier and organised now since we thought we were gonna flood last year and moved everything upstairs, it's all now packed and stacked neatly underneath. There are a few bags under there that need to go but that will be saved for another time, because some things elsewhere in family life, seems a bit up in the air. 

ANYWAY, the cat room!!! 

So, in the corner by the window, I have plonked Magnus Bane's cat tower, because she loves being in high places and looking out of windows. I've left the windowsill clear for Pom Pom and at some point I am going to make the curtain only cover half the window cos Pom likes to hide behind curtains when she sits in the window. We also took out the drawers from a chest of drawers and I've made a hidey hole with a blanket to give some cover for those times the meow meows want to hide, and my gold quilt is on the top because Magnus loves sleeping on it; underneath the gold quilt is a box cos princess loves her boxes. I've popped some treats up there for them and a water bowl, as well as there cat scratcher toys and play tube. I even put a nice squishy duvet on the bed for Pom to curl up on cos she likes to sleep on mattresses on the floor (she's been sleeping on the mattress we had on the floor in the office for the last couple of weeks).

At some point, when this whole quarantine shizzle is done with, we are gonna borrow some tools to properly bad out the top and add curtains and shizzle to the unit, as well as build a little ramp up and hang some dangle toys off. Nonetheless, I have dismantled a bed, moved two beds, moved two single mattresses, moved a chest of drawers, moved a book case, chucked loads of crap... I am exhausted now haha. But it was worth it. It feels good to be this active and pro-active again!!! (Okay so the king size mattress defeated me and I needed the others half's help with it but all in all, I have done myself proud!)

 So yeah, the cats now have a room. Bet you can't wait to see what I have to deal with tomorrow... I'd go up and take a picture but I don't even want to look into the music room until tomorrow haha!!! (Don't worry, I will take a picture of the erm, music room before I tidy it tomorrow...)

In other news, diabetes! I have had an absolutely FANTASTIC day with my blood sugars! 6.2 in the morning, 9.6 for lunch and 4.8 just before dinner. I am le shock! I am so so so so happy! It seems, being at home and forcing myself to focus on my bloods and carb counting instead of focusing on my job (which I love focusing on but sometimes it does get in the way of my diabetes management) is helping me loads! I had two crumpets for breakfast with a glass of no added sugar cranberry juice, two biscuits as a snack, then for lunch I had a packet of sunbites, some cucumber, a flatbread with cheese and cucumber, some chicken chunks and a mini roll as a treat. Altogether, that was 45g of carbs! Dinner, I wanted to try actually cook for myself, so I had rustic mash (skin kept on tatos) with some cheese and pepper, a pie and some fresh green beans with gravy... 60g carbs. And I felt so much better for it, I really did. I am going to try my best to keep this up but if I have an off day, which I get often, Ia m not going to beat myself up about it, I'll just start again the next day. Either way, my diabetes has been good for the first time in a while, so it can only continue to get better from here on out. I realise that my life is going to be a little shorter than most peoples, so I want to do my best to try and prolong it as best as I can.

Heck, I have my food planned out for tomorrow already. Greek yoghurt and granola for breakfast with some banana and a glass of cranberry juice, lunch will be same as today without the chicken, and dinner will be a salad with boiled eggs and cheese and maybe a small potato on the side with butter. So a very low carb and salt dinner again, which I hope will come through in my next lot of bloods when they are done in less than three months time.

But that is it for today, I need to relax and chill and get the knots out of my back (maybe beg the other half for a back massage because omg I hurt so much and my legs are covered in bruises from moving furniture. However, I am going to treat myself to a bar of chocolate and med for it appropriately of course, as well as this tasty juice the other half brought home for me which OMG I needed so bad and it tastes absolutely glorious. 

Anyway, I hope everyone is okay and happy! Remember, if you need a friend, I am only a message away! Stay safe everyone!!!

Over and out, mes amigos.

[[0023]] Organising Chaos - Type 1 Rainbow Button Badge Review? I think?

Okay, maybe a half review cos I wasn't planning on buying anything from Organising Chaos until my payday on the 27th March!

So, recently, I was browsing one of the T1D UK groups I am in on facebook, where someone asked about silicon accessories that fit on Fit Bits and watches, and someone mentioned Organising Chaos so I went and took a look, out of curiosity more than anything.

One of the first things I jumped to was pins, because I am an absolute sucker for cute badges for my work lanyard! And I saw this one straight away and just knew I had to get my lil diabetic hands on it for my lanyard for work! I have a few pins on it already, from the Litten I picked up from an amazing artist Teejaylay a couple of years ago... as well as some enamel pins from Pokémon card sets I bought an age ago (should probably get some new ones... been a while since I bought mon cards...). I need to point out that I have a Harry Potter Lanyard with two Slytherin house pins on and then the Star Wars lanyard I got in Disney Land, with my awesome Yoda sketch pin on it. 

But there is one badge that travels across all my lanyards and that is my NHS pride badge, to show that I am an LGBTQ+ ally/supporter (I'm as bi as a sparkly Christmas, fo reals). I also joined some work colleagues a few weeks ago holding a big pride flag alas I cannot remember where the photo was posted afterwards! Either way, as well as being Bi, I believe the badge is to show to everyone that I am approachable ally and supported for those that are LGBTQ+.

Anyway, I love my NHS pride badge, hence why it moves across all my lanyards, so when I saw the "Type 1 Rainbow Button Badge", I knew out of everything, that would have to be the highest on my list to buy from this amazing lady and store! It just sums me up perfectly and I have honestly not related so much to a badge in a life time!!! 

It also made me realise that there honestly is not a lot of cute diabetes stuff out there! And again, made me realise that I shouldn't be ashamed for being chronically ill, but if I am going to show I am okay with me and my health, I need to do it in my own way, and if that is with cute T1D merch, then that's the way I want to do it. Plus... it means I have something bright to look at to remind me I am still here and doing okay, especially when the days at the moment are dark and nothing but bad diabetes health news. All in all, I love the idea of "Decorate your Diabetes" and as its a hidden illness, it feels the right thing to do. Plus, I am a fun and interesting person (I think...) so why have a boring silicon wristband when I can decorate in ways that are appropriate to me!

Now, you may have noticed that I said I was going to buy amazing items from this store on payday... well, someone got there before me! I came back from work today and saw this little envelope on the floor that had been posted, and obvs, I picked it up and looked at it very curiously and realised that it had come from Organising Chaos... but I hadn't made an order yet! 

I ran inside, opened it and the perfect little button badge to sum up me was inside and it instantly went on my lanyard!!! It came with such cute packaging as well, which if you see on the left, I also got a logo sticker which appeals to me on a scientific level as the Organising Chaos logo means "I am greater than my highs and lows" which I know I need to keep reminding myself sometimes, especially as my world keeps changing for the worst and diabetes is threatening to take over everything of my being (I use my phone a lot so I'm gonna pop the sticker in the case for it).  

So, whoever you are, wherever you are... thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️ I have had a lot of bad news this week, and I have been thrown in for a sudden appointment with the renal team at my local hospital tomorrow as well, so coming home to this was exactly what I needed, so thank you so so so so much whoever you are!!! 

So, I probably should write some kind of review? Seen as I didn't order it, but I know I posted about Organising Chaos on the 9th March and it's the 12th now... so it came super quickly? Was packaged amazingly? Badge is amazing quality? AHHHHH I mean all these things ARE true, but I think I am going to wait till end of March when I have bought a few more things in a bulk order and do a proper big blog post from start to finish about ordering from Organising Chaos. Nonetheless, I have spoken a little to the owner of Organising Chaos and she seems so so so so lovely, so I am honestly super stoked for ordering more from her soon and reading her blog too, which you can check out Organising Chaos Blog!!!

So, as far as ratings go, its kind of obvious where I am siding with this one!!! 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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