Yesterday was just a weird day. I stepped outside to head to the train and had a winter coat on. While it gets warm during the day, when I leave my house it’s usually in the mid-30s. I stepped out, pulled out my phone and the weather app said 55 degrees at 7:20 in the morning – nice! I came back in, switched to a light jacket and headed to the train.
I knew something was up as I got closer to the train station because I could hear a perpetual announcement and people walking away from the train. Not a good sign. When I got on the platform, I was informed that a pedestrian was hit further down on my train line and that all activity going in and out of Chicago had come to a complete halt. My choices? Wait it out on the train. Go home. Drive to the Elgin train station (a good 30-40 drive from where I live) and take a different train line into Chicago, or drive to Rosemont (again, a good 30-40 minute drive) to take the Blue line into the city. The only option I thought of was to just sit it out.
I had my coffee. I had my book (Carrie – almost done with it – love!) the sun was shining, and luckily my boss was out of the office yesterday, so I didn’t feel like I had to get to work straight away. So while I embraced this unexpected leisure time, others on my car? Not so much. As announcement after announcement kept coming over the loud speaker that there was no news on when we could move, people just got more agitated, got on their phones, canceled meetings, etc. One man in particular was very vocal about how busy a morning he was supposed to be having and this was messing up his whole day. By then I could see on my phone that the person that got hit was killed, which normally is always the case. When it’s pedestrian vs. train, the train almost always wins.
I politely turned around to this man and said “someone isn’t going home to their family tonight!” I now know that it was a 32 year old man that was struck and killed, and that it is being deemed a suicide. I’ll never understand why someone would throw away their gift of life.
I didn’t get to my desk until 11:30. I have my new WW meeting on Thursdays, but luckily got to go. I didn’t eat the breakfast I brought because now it was nearly lunch time, so I just ate a quick banana before my meeting.
-.8. I’ll take it. I didn’t grocery shop last week, Hannah did some meal planning, but a couple nights I’d get a text “hey Mom, sorry, Jacob and I ate a late lunch so I didn’t fix what was on the menu.” So I had to wing it with what I had. My only exercise has been walking, and while I routinely get around 15k steps a day walking to the train and my lunch time walks. I haven’t been to the Y in the longest time and plan on cancelling that membership. Guess why?? BECAUSE MY NEW OFFICE HAS A FREE FITNESS CENTER!! It actually is run by the office of the building, and tomorrow I should get my key card. It’s on the 3rd floor. I also discovered that my office also has a tenant lounge. What the what? Also run by the office of the building, it has tables, comfortable couches, ping pong, t.v.’s. That’s nice to know when it’s crappy outside I’ll have some place to eat my lunch if I wanted. Hope to check that out tomorrow too.
I used nearly the remainder of my $20 treat budget for lunch. In the lobby of my building is Pret, they pride themselves on organic coffee and natural foods. I didn’t realize it was a “grab and go” so I changed my decision because the wrap I wanted had red onions in it – ew. I got the hummus and crisp veggie wrap (pickled red cabbage – so good!) and a cup of their tomato feta soup, which said was 110 calories for the smaller portion for the soup.
The sandwich according to the WW app was 9 points. When I looked up the soup – 13 points. I am not believing that though – no way a 110 calorie soup could be 13 points, so I called it four and moved on. Both were delicious by the way. I’d definitely use that as a weekly treat in the future.
The train ride home was uneventful. Until about four stops (or 20 minutes) before my stop, I could feel sweat start to pour down my neck. Dammit. Low blood sugar. Not sure why this has been happening lately. There are just so many variables with managing blood sugar. Anywho, I tested it and it was 58. I had nothing to eat. No glucose tabs, nothing. I knew I could make it to the CVS once I got off the train, but by the time I got to my stop, my whole back was sweating and my shirt was completely soaked. I walked into CVS as if I were walking through mud, and reached for the first thing I saw, which was a snickers bar and started eating it before I even paid for it because no one was at the register.
When my blood sugar drops like that, it really takes the wind out of me. I had an errand to do, which I did, but the whole time I was walking through the grocery store, I felt like I could just lay on the ground and take a nap right then and there. I made it home. I picked up chicken fingers for the kadults, and took two for my buffalo chicken salad. This was really tasty and 10 smart points.
Hannah and Jacob were going on a coffee run, and Hannah said “Mom, you don’t look that great, why don’t you just rest for a while.” So right when they left at 8:00, I laid down on my bed for a few minutes, which immediately turned into over an hour! I was shocked when it wad 9:15 – and actually thought “is it 9:15 on Friday morning? I’m late for work!” Then I saw it was dark out. Whew! But I did feel 1000 times better. And then got busy in my kitchen pre-making deep dish pizza for Party Pizza Friday tonight at my friends house. Hannah is coming with me, so that will be nice. I am working all weekend at the Chopping Block, so it will be nice to spend some time with her.
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So that brings me to the actual blog post title – It’s National Diabetes Awareness Month. There are now about 8 million people walking around with diabetes right now, and they don’t even know it. Diabetes is a manageable disease, but you have to do the work. Get regular check ups, test your blood sugar throughout the day and before bed, etc. Halo Top ice cream reached out to me to spread the word about their ice cream.
“Halo Top is an all natural ice cream that not only tastes delicious, but each pint is less than 400 calories, low carb, high protein, and most importantly, low sugar. You can learn more about each of our flavors on our website. We also just launched 10 new flavors this month, so this is a pretty exciting time for us right now! Halo Top as a sweet option for those with low sugar diet restrictions. We also have a fun social activation to engage our fans to help raise money for diabetes research and we’re planning to donate up to $10,000.”
So far, I’ve only been able to find it at Whole Foods. I see it all over the WW peeps Instagrams (they now have a birthday cake flavor!) and I think you can eat a whole pint for like 4 smart points because of the low sugar and high protein content. And best of all, it tastes amazeballs!
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What are your Thanksgiving plans? In our WW meeting yesterday, we mapped out the points of some of our favorite foods – one slice of pumpkin pie is 13. A cup of tater tot casserole is 10 points. We basically mapped out our dinner plates, with the lean turkey and veggies first, and then a tablespoon of the “good stuff.” Our leader is a lot of fun, and she basically said that she treats Thanksgiving like any other meal, except she’ll focus on stuff she only eats at Thanksgiving, like the stuffing and the pumpkin pie.
My Mom is coming over, and members of Jacob’s family – not sure who all has officially committed to coming, but it will be a nice time. I plan on grilling a turkey breast, turkey wings and legs, and Hannah is doing the side dishes and I am making desserts. I may ask my Mom for a veggie side dish and some dinner rolls. Momma, I’ll call you 
Alright, we made it to Friday – make it a great day!
I was freaking out a bit reading the part about your blood sugar being low and you not having anything with you. Don’t do that again, girl! That’s terrible about the guy and the train. I hate it that people can get that deep into despair. What is it we don’t see so that we can reach out? What is this new job? I’m behind on reading. I’ll have to go back a post or five.
Hey Pam! I am back working in a law department, as much as I LOVE working at The Chopping Block, the pay just isn’t enough to make ends meet. Still working there on the weekends though, and it’s my happy place and I don’t consider it work 😀
Pickled red cabbage … (drooling over here)
So glad you were able to make it to CVS. That has to be scary! I hope this stops happening for you soon.
You can’t see me but I’m giving you the head shake where I am worried about you. I like the idea of the medic alert bracelet if you don’t have one 🙂 How awful about the train incident. It makes me upset that it seems like everyone is always in a hurry for everything these days. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong time period.
I have a medic alert bracelet, but I haven’t gotten it replaced yet. It has Tony’s contact information on it, and I just haven’t gotten around to changing my emergency contact to Hannah. It’s kind of like one of the last things I haven’t changed. Well, that and his car! We each had a car in each of our names for credit purposes to balance the debt/income ratio, and I’ve been paying his car payment since he died and it will be paid off in October of next year. I’ll need to contact them before I pay it off so I can have the title in my name.
Yikes, the low blood sugar episode sounds freakin’ scary. I’m glad you got to CVS quickly. I get annoyed when people feel personally inconvenienced and violated because someone else is in trouble. One time, someone I work with was late because there had been a horrific traffic accident, and he was delayed driving in. He was SOOO angry, and I said to him “you’re still having a better day than that poor driver, and the family he/she has left behind”. sigh. Perspective, sympathy and humanity takes a back seat WAY too often. GRRR. But on a bright note, have a great day Vat!!! Hugs!
Biz, take care of yourself, girl! Ironically, I bought the birthday cake ice cream yesterday at Publix supermarket. I’ve been looking for it for several months- WalMart, Winn Dixie, and Fresh Market (no whole Foods here) and Publix had stocked it!! I love ice cream so here’s hoping it meets my expectations.
That flavor seems to be elusive! Let me know what you think of it!
Ok, I don’t like the sound of this low sugar episode. Do you wear a medical alert bracelet? If not, you need to get one!!
Beth, please keep some of the glucose gels or tabs with you!! Do you have a diabetic alert bracelet too? ((((((hugs)))). Thankfully, I have not had any lows lately, but I can totally relate. We live right behind a large commuter train track and since I’ve been here, 4 people have committed suicide. I’ve heard the train slam its brakes on one time. Its horrible. I’ll never understand that either.
I wonder if diabetes can change when your hormones do? Certain times of the month, maybe causing the low blood sugar?? I’m not a doctor, but I am a concerned friend. Hate that you had another rough day with the sugars.
Whew, scary. My step dad is diabetic. I spent time with him this summer, helping him after back surgery. It was pretty scary. He’s not that great at managing his sugar.
He’s gotten better – now he’s doing low-carb, and he’s choosing better carbs to manage his blood sugar (he was eating cookies and candy most of the time). He still keeps snickers around for emergencies.