Fasting BG 2020

[Tamagno]

199 this morning.

Well, the lidocaine patches really help, but you can't wear them continually. At some point I'll need to see a specialist, but there's little point trying to get an appointment now, and I certainly don't want any procedures done around here (likely they'll insert cement that'll solidify the fractures) so I'll tough it out for now.

Funny morning - I often play endless loops of forest birds, thunder storms, etc. at night via Alexa. This morning when I told her to stop, I kept hearing the sounds. Naturally, I yelled at Alexa (those of you using these things admit it - you yell at them too) and then I realized I was hearing live birds. Spring is arriving however slowly...

[Grammabear]

87 this morning.

I don't have Alexa, but I would like to use it.  Before covid 19 came to our shores, I would get therapeutic massage and the therapist would ask Alexa to play soft music during my massage time.  I must admit I don't know the first thing about getting one of these devices.

Birds are indeed singing loudly in our neighborhood.  While walking the perimeters of our lawn I even spotted a dandelion, which is considered a weed.  So now we know Spring is here.

[walkerwally1]

84 this morning.  It looks a lot closer to Summer here.  Yesterday we hit 92°  and heading towards 97°  today.  I'm OK with the 90s but tend to stay inside with the A/C on when it gets over 100°.
Yeah Tamagno, right now is probably not a food time to go to the hospital.  Our local hospital is in pretty good shape though.  We have only had 4 cases of the virus here and three have returned home. 

[bigskygal]

117 this sunny morning.

65° was the high yesterday today's forecast is 69°/42°. Yup, Spring is definitely here too. Tons of dandelions, the lilacs are beginning to bud, the bleeding hearts, day lilies and iris are just beginning to poke out of the ground. Pretty soon I am going to have to call the yard service soon. The birds are noisy here too, it is nice to wake up to their songs.

[Tamagno]

150 this morning.

Wally, I hear that a lot about local hospitals and ours is no different. However, I've also known too many people who have acquired MERSA at ours and it is the place where I first got a UTI. The modern idea of corporate hospitals has hit us hard and all of them in this area are owned and run by one entity. Since they took over, our local hospital has closed its birthing center, cardiac center, intensive care unit and now boasts a brand new $20 million ER that closes at 10 pm, isn't open on weekends and can't even perform intubations; plus operating rooms are closed weekends. You don't want to go there.

Nevertheless, it's sunny here today which especially in the spring is probably the cheeriest and most optimistic time of the year. I'll go with that.

[Grammabear]

87 this morning.

Our city has no hospital, but we are within 15 miles of 3 major hospitals with Trauma 1 facilities.  Never the less we seem to have major problems with testing for corona virus.  The nursing homes and the jail population are considered high risk.

I agree with Barbara - it is nice to wake up to the birds singing even if it is a bit noisy.  It certainly is more cheerful than hearing about corona every time one turns on the television.

[walkerwally1]

92 this morning.  Most birds around here are year around but the loudest in the Spring are probably the Mocking Birds. 
Our local hospital has improved quite a bit in the last few years but they still had to have me transported to another hospital that is about 75 miles away both times I ended up in emergency.  The reason was that there was not a specialist here to deal with the Hypercalcemia or my broken hip.  I was not unhappy with that because the hospital I was sent to is quite nice and I was taken care of well.  Right now though I would be kind of worried about going there because it is in a much more densely populated area.

[bigskygal]

112 this partly cloudy morning.

65° was the high yesterday, today's forecast is 79°/51°.

I started washing windows yesterday and got so sidetracked that I didn't go out to shop. So I went out this morning. I went to the larger market today. It wasn't too crowded, about 1/2 the people were wearing masks, myself included. There were some empty shelves in the cleaners aisle but I did score a 24 roll pack of TP and it was my brand! Cottenelle! You could only buy 1 packet and my choices were a 4 pack of very flimsy looking stuff and the 24 pack...no way I'm going for flimsy! There were sporadic empty shelves but I basically got everything I was looking for.

Has anyone else noticed that the cost of groceries seems to be going up? Each time I shop the total is higher and I buy mostly the same things. Today was the highest I have ever paid at the grocery store, $264 and some change. That's crazy!

[Tamagno]

119 this morning.

Like you, Wally, the only hospital I'll let them take me to is Yale-New Haven which is a 1-1/2 hour drive, even by ambulance (making that trip when "in extremis" is pretty daunting), but at least I know there'll be good care.

Anyway, we continue to edge our way on to spring with forecasts of nearly 70 over the weekend. Unfortunately, it's overcast and rainy, but still...

Groceries do appear to be getting more expensive here as well. However, we've been buying a little differently and a number of things I'd have gotten previously, I just do without or make substitutions. It's the big necessities like insulin, drugs and pump supplies for which there really are no substitutions nor any way of doing without that concern me; I suppose I could get rid of my pump and CGM and go back to MDIs, but I've not reached that point just yet.

As for hearing the continual doomsday news, I've taken to listening to audio books instead and am really enjoying that.

[Grammabear]

93 this morning.

We've noticed grocery prices rising also.  We try to stick to the basics but have noticed those prices have started creeping upward too.  We feel lucky if we can get eggs, meat and fresh vegetables.

Tamagno - Do you listen to audio books with Alexa?  I have never tried that but it sounds like a good idea.

[walkerwally1]

83 this morning.  We were at 96°  for a high yesterday and it is supposed to hit 95°  today but windy.  Tomorrow it is "cooling" down to 90° !   
I haven't noticed any increase in prices but we do most of our shopping at Walmart and maybe they are doing better at holding prices down.  I did notice when I got my last pickup order that when they substituted an item I had ordered they charged me the price for the item I ordered even though the substitute was more expensive.  I didn't expect that.

[bigskygal]

100 this cloudy morning.

79° was the high yesterday, today's forecast is 62°/37° with occasional showers. I guess Spring is taking a little vacation.

An interesting Tweet came across my Twitter feed yesterday. A 101 year old woman survived the 1918 influenza and has also recovered frim the Covid virus. Those must be some strong genes!!

[Tamagno]

120 this morning.

Bigskygal, my own grandmother survived that flu - she was young at the time but lived on a tiny subsistence farm way up in the hills of West Virginia. She also survived small pox. She lived to 92. Interestingly enough there was very little by way of health care up in those hills where there was also quite a bit of tuberculosis. She never had much by way of other illnesses during her life, but was a life-long bulimic; she otherwise had no real vices. A very tough if scrawny little thing, you didn't want to cross her. Up there, plumbing was unheard of - if you were fortunate enough to get the annual Sears catalogue that was what served for toilet paper and if you wanted soap you made your own from lye. No electricity either. She was a typical hill-billy of her era. The stories of my progenitors lives make my own troubles seem like the whining of an effete weakling.

Grammabear, I listen to audio books via Alexa or my iPad. You could also easily use your phone. I've got four Alexa devices on my main floor that I have grouped together in such fashion that they all play the same thing simultaneously so I can have a book playing as I go about my chores and hear it everywhere. I can also easily connect it to my other Alexa devices in the basement and master bath. Pretty cool.

[Grammabear]

73 this morning.

Thank you Tamagno for the tips on audio books.  I shall look into that as it sounds like a great way to pass the time while doing house chores.

[walkerwally1]

83 this morning.  The weather outlook for the next two weeks looks like it will be in the low to mid 90s which is not bad for here in May. 
A few years ago I was driving an hour and a half to and from work each day and audio books were a real benefit.  Back then I had a cassette player in my car and I bought audio books on Ebay and when done with them I resold them and bought more.  Worked out quite well and I was able to sell them most of the time for what I had paid for them.