It was with much trepidation that I embarked on my first ski trip since having Type 1 diabetes. While I'm not the best snowboarder who ever walked the planet a day on the slopes is one of my favorite things in the world. There is something about being in that cold mountain air and those amazing views that lets me relax and forget about anything that might be going on in my life. With all the issues I've had with blood sugar lows from working out I was really nervous that diabetes would prevent me from enjoying the mountains.
On Thursday night I fought the traffic leaving Manhattan and headed up to Sugarbush in Warren, Vermont. On the way up I stopped at the supermarket to stock up on multi grain bread, turkey, yogurt, whole wheat pasta, oj, turkey meatballs and some vegetables - I wasn't taking any nutritional chances! On Friday morning I had the breakfast I'd normally eat before a run (2 eggs, 2 slices of toast, black coffee) and gobbled up a clif bar as I was putting on my boots. While standing in the lift line my blood sugar was 120 so I popped my first accel-gel. After 2 runs my blood sugar was in the 120s so I had another clif bar which lasted me well past lunch - the first day was a success, the only low I had was after the last run of the day.
I followed the same protocol on the second day and had similar success - after lunch (where I had 2 beers) we decided to hit Stein's Run a double black, Stein brought my bs down to 56! I still had to get down to the lodge so I could get carbs pronto. So I popped an accel gel, waited a couple minutes and as relaxed as I could got down to the base lodge. Worried that my diabetes was going to crash the fun I told the 2 people I was with that I'd just meet them at the lodge when they were done. Lee, AJ's boyfriend had nothing of it and asked if I wanted him to come with me to grab a gatoraide. I said no it's cool I'll be ok then in one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me Lee responded with, "well if it's ok with you I'd really like to get that gatoraide with you." Here I was worried that I'd be ruining my friend's vacation and all they wanted to do was make sure I was safe.
This totally made my day and let me realize that while diabetes is a pain when you're surrounded by awesome friends its alot easier to deal with. So this trip was an awesome end to 2007 - I look forward to sharing all my athletic pursuits with you and dealing with diabetes in 2008! Happy New Year.
6 comments:
It really is great to have friends like that. They may not know what you are going through but they are still there for you.
Glad it went well for you, overall..those are real
friends not to desert you
for fun.
I've never gone skiing w/d,
is there a possibility of anything
(meter,insulin) freezing?
Scott - my endo warned me that my insulin could freeze but if you take precautions it won't happen. I kept my pump next to my skin inside my pants/ spandex the entire time and made sure the pump tube was against my skin to keep it above freezing.
I got a warm fuzzy feeling reading about your friend wanting to stick with you. It's times like that that endear you more to a person.
And I'm glad you got to have fun without major incident!
Isn't it nice to have friends who support you and want to help you? It makes bearing the burden of diabetes easier, in my opinion.
Yeah, that was pretty awesome for him to do that.
Isn't it kind of crazy how we get so self conscious about stuff, worried that we are wrecking someone else's time, when they just want to help you out.
That's something special.
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