http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/dorset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8618000/8618075.stm

Spent a week away from the gym, and as always although it was a few days my blood sugars went silly and suffered nutrition wise just missed meals and had to use more insulin. I know it sounds obvious but it's a routine that seems to go out the window to.

I learnt allot from the kayakathon and roughly have an idea what my insulin dose should be.
The first half of the kayak my BS was 16 way to high and I suffered, before setting back I gave 2 units of Humalog and when I finished it had dropped to 8, so it dropped by 4 an hour.
I did drink water and sipped some lucozade sport through a camel pac but not much.

I intend to get out on the water and do some training similar to that of endurance paddlers....

It was my own fault that my blood sugar had risen that much, I did have an idea what my lantus dose should  be, I knew it wouldn't be far from what it is now because of the training I was doing already, but this is endurance, well to me it was; so i did over compensate with food at breakfast.

As this had never been done before on the Thames, Simon was concerned about it running smoothly and I didn't want me putting a spanner in the works. I think he was already concerned with the fact I had my leg in plaster below the knee and the fact I was a Diabetic. He did know about the transplants I had though.

Kayak in Weymouth

What I find hard at the moment is training with the lack of gear I have which is a risk, I compare it to a diver going out on his own rather than with a buddy. On the one hand I can't do anything about the Diabetes side but the lack of VHF makes the the situation worse,as always this cost money and because of my circumstances at the moment there is nothing I can do.

I have basic gear, PFD, Cag, Paddle, and spray deck but I also have determination and hopefully a good sense of danger and when to push it and when I think the moment might not be quite right.

So I deal with one risk at a time and the one that I can do something about and that's my fitness, kayaking skills and Diabetes in preparation for the expedition.

Insulin manipulation

Today I'm intending to go out for another training session on the water. I've lowered the lantus last night from the normal 17 units to 14, this has left me with a blood sugar of 13.2 on waking, this is worrying. I've given 6units of Humalog and going to eat my normal breakfast and I know my blood sugar will be high going in the water. Not sure if lowering the lantus that much is for me but we'll see today.....

Well, Went out for a training session Saturday, It was nice and sunny all day, if I remember rightly the temperature was a lovely 16 degrees with a slight 3mph  SE wind.
I thought I'd take a nice paddle up to Ringstead, I parked up at second wind rather than at the other end of the beach road as I knew there would be a better chance of parking. I had packed plenty of food, a huge Jacket potato measuring in at a whopping 100 grams of carbs/salad, 50g cho Rice pudding, cheese and crackers,Chicken some dried fruit slightly covered in water, to get the benefit of some nice juice, 2 bottles lucozade, 1 bottle of Gatorade, 2 litres of water; well stocked for what I intended to do, or so I thought!!

I tested my blood sugar just before going down to the water, it said 10 on the bg metre, so as I wasn't sure where I was going to stop I had 1 square of chocolate and a swig of lucozade and off I went. I took a slow to med paddle up round to Osmington bay it was around lunch so I thought I'd park and have something to eat  before going onto Ringstead. Now I tested again before eating and it had climbed to 18.4 I wasn't happy so I gave myself 4.5 units of Humolog which I thought would be just right, with plenty of room to spare HA!!

About an hour later just before turning into Rinstead I thought I'd check my BS it was 7.1 as there was another hour before the insulin reaches it's peak I downed Half a jacket, half a bottle of lucozade just to be safe and carried on paddling. Half an hour later tested again 4.2!!.
Now I'm in that position where I didn't really want to be, but I knew that it was inevitable that this would happen to me at some point, First thing I knew I had to do was get some more carbs in so I drank more lucozade/jacket potato and some dried fruit mix, and started analyze the position I was in, most of the shock was seeing the numbers on the metre after that although I was a bit nervous I was also pretty calm and quite focused on what I was doing, I knew I had another bottle of lucozade and Gatorade, I had the mobile with the Coastgaurd number which would have been the last resort I also knew that I could probably make to sure or even rocks that were high to rest on if it got to bad.

I tried to control my breathing and not panic and made a slow paddle towards the Rocks. I could have stayed where I was but this was the first time I had experienced a hypo at sea so thought it wise to move in,  if it did come to a point where I would pass out, I'd be somewhere above water.
I stayed in the kayak and decided to paddle on, roughly 25 minutes later I tested again and it had climbed to 8.3 and there it stayed for the next 3/4 of an hour.
There is a school of thought that because of Gluconeogenisis If I was to do a quick spurt of a hard paddle and keep it up until I could do no more the liver would kick out glycogen and my bloodsugar would rise, as it does when I first begin a weight training session, and where sometimes I would give myself some insulin to counter balance that effect, but to be honest I wasn't willing to give it a try at see, on my own.
When I got home, just before tea it was 18.4!!
Now I know my body uses up carbs/glycogen differently to weight training but by how much  I wasn't sure and know one can really tell exactly, it's just trial and error.

Apart from that I had a really great day lol.

I came across this poem, or rather I heard Sophie Dahl read part of it and had to find out who wrote it and if there was any more to the poem.

Happy the man, and happy he alone,

He who can call today his own:

He who, secure within, can say

Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

Be fair or foul, rain or shine

The joys I have possessed, in spit of fate, our mine.

Not heaven itself, upon the past has power,

But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

Horace

Ode

I believe you can live everyday like that. We always tend to focus on what we lack, or the things in life that surround us, that cause us problems, and not much time is giving to thinking about what makes us happy, we will always want more, we will never get it all and we will never get everything done.

Take a moment everyday to see what you do have, if you think you don't have much then you don't, what makes you smile, is there a memory that cheers you up, no? then visualise and follow that, feel it, breath it, do it everyday.

This includes a story of 7 year old Jack, who had is kidney's removed at 4, and is in need of dialysis. also show's other health problems he suffers from.

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=129297

You'd think I'd of learnt by now, especially considering what's happened to me; I have to exercise every day!! that's the only way I can control my blood sugar levels. That's not a problem because I enjoy it but there are other reasons that make it difficult.

I am gradually gaining weight and strength which is good, I'd love to be able to train in the mornings and kayak in the afternoon, regardless of the pain in the backside that which my leg is becoming, lol

I have started giving myself insulin before training which stops bs rising from the action from the liver producing glycogen .