Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Research participation



On Tuesday I was scheduled to go at the Benaroya research Institute for Diabetes at the Virginia Mason hospital in Seattle to participate in a regular blood draw they like to perform on me, but to also get screened for a new research I have agreed in participating which will involve me for more than a year of testing and trials by injecting a new "drug" once a week at the beginning.
This drug is being developed and tested on 72 humans worldwide (I would be the first subject in Seattle). It is the hope and believe that the drug would and can preserve the current insulin production of a type 1 diabetic like me rather than letting the auto immune system continue the destruction and eventually making the pancreas "dead" as far as insulin production is concerned.
This Tuesday was the 1st step in the screening phase, which involved a series of blood draws at regular intervals after they had given me a "special" glucose/protein shake to see the left over effectiveness of my pancreas. They also performed an ECG (or EKG) to make sure my heart would be able to handle the little bit of extra stress the study requires.
I am now waiting for the research director to schedule me in for an eye exam, when to start a 24 hours urine sample collection (not a very fun part of the screening as I have to carry around this 3 litter jar with me for whenever I need to go to the bathroom. I also have to keep it refrigerated and I hope my son won't mistake it for lemonade....). They will also set me up with the Dexcom continuous glucose monitor during the first 11 weeks of the trial and need to set that up on me.

More to come...

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Vashon Ride (solo)

Today I decided to get my lazy ass off the couch after watching the stage of the Tour de France and set myself the goal to ride at least 70 miles at tempo. I thought about riding in the direction of Alki beach in West Seattle via Bellevue and Mercer Island with the loop. http://www.bikemap.net/route/241269
I left the house with a blood glucose at 99 and kept the levels pretty good all along. Once I got the West Seattle, I decided to take a "left" where the road was going up rather than down where the road was going to Alki. I ended up at the Fauntleroy ferry terminal and got on the boat that was sitting their. Made it to Vashon island and took the scenic more hilly loop to the south of the island in order to take the ferry off to Point defiance in Tacoma where I met up with Gina and had a late lunch. Gina then recommended to drive me home, as a precaution since after cooling off for a while, my blood glucose levels tend to trend down FAST!
over all it was a very nice ride, not pushing too much, still got 3560 ft of elevation gain but only 54 miles.
Average blood glucose for the day with 14 readings: 108 with a high at 174 at the end of the day and a low at 55 right after the ride.