The blood cannon

Crazy thing happened to me this morning. Well actually, to be honest, a couple crazy things happened. First, I decided to set the alarm for 5 a.m. which NEVER happens. See, I was recently challenged by Big Brother (unbeknownst to him) to workout in the mornings. He’s been boasting all about his new found love of morning workouts, how they make him less scary in the morning, more talkative, and energized for the whole day. And so, I thought, if he can do it (he is NOT a morning person) I can do it. So last night, I set the alarm fully intending to ride the bike trainer for 45 minutes before going to work.

But when I got up to use the washroom at 3:40 a.m., I was already negotiating my way out of the plan. And when the alarm went off, the last thing I wanted to do was jump out of bed. Mario turned the light on. I laid motionless as I tried to figure out an excuse not to get up. I decided to check my blood sugars. Now, here comes strange thing No. 2 and the excuse (weak as it may be) for me shutting the lights back out for another hour: When I poked my finger with the lancet, and subsequently squeezed the blood upwards, a little globule did not form, oh no, it was more like a cannon shot of blood splurting from one finger all over two other fingers – on the other hand! That’s never happened before!

So you know that surprise party, that super fantastic, ultra amazing, fabulously joyous surprise party (you know, the one that I kept a surprise!) which was filled with great friends, great family, great surprises, great eats, great memories? Well, that wasn’t the only thing it was filled with. It also featured a war on my blood sugars. Oh crud!

It seems my body does not function so well on appetizer style meals. Because my every day meals are sit down meals, where for the most part, I can weigh and measure and calculate the carbs in my food to a tee, thus calculating my insulin dosages to a tee, a meal full of appetizers proved to be a great challenge for me. Can you say hyperglycemia?

The nature of the meal was the furthest thing from a sit-down meal. A whole range of super yummy appetizers were on the menu, which extended over an hour and a half to two hour period. And so, I couldn’t give myself a full bolus right away, I had to do little spurts here and there. But because my BG was borderline low to start (thank you blood sugar gods) I waited on the insulin spurts. When they started going up, I started bolusing for the risotto cheese balls, shrimp puffs, chicken sliders, leek soup, etc.

But it was too late. An hour and a half in, my BG was at 14.4. YIKES! For those of you unaware, the good numbers are less than 7.0. Insert a night full of rage bolusing here 🙁

While I choose not to eat like this on a regular basis, I do enjoy the appetizer feast every now and again, especially when my parents who are amazing cooks are manning the stoves. So, here’s my question to you, is there a surefire strategy to avoid rage blousing? Or, do I have to avoid dinners like these forever?

4 thoughts on “The blood cannon”

  1. appetizer parties are pretty bad for me too. I’ve had the best luck with extended boluses (bolusi?). Even tho I inevitably still end up high in the end.
    And morning workouts… force yourself JUST ONCE… and it gets easier and easier. You will love yourself for it.
    Oh.. and blood cannon? I secretly love it when it does that. 🙂

  2. All I have to say is that I am glad the blood cannon didn’t appear the day I had to poke your finger when we were out running. 🙂

  3. Have you tried a square wave bolus? Like on my pump is gives some now and some over however long you tell it to. Kinda like a temp basal..ish. Or maybe you can increase basal for a couple hours? Or if you’re low, go to like 80 percent for an hourish?
    Does this make sense at all? Lol sorry if it doesn’t, let me know and I’ll try and do a better job explaining.

  4. Frankly, I don’t even know what BLOUSING means, let alone how to prevent it!! I even Googled the term – and found nothing that remotely seemed relevant!!

    But, you know my philosophy – deny yourself NOTHING!! 🙂

    But I guess you’ll have to decide when you’ve stuffed yourself with enough dainty appetizers 🙂

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