Have Cream Cheese...Will Travel

[Narcosis]

I've been enjoying everyone's journals so thoroughly, I thought I would start one. I'm catching a plane in a few hours, bound for the island of Cozumel, Mexico for 9 days of diving. I have cream cheese packed in a stay-cold pounch in in carry on.

I'm not sure if I can find it wandering through Chedauri, which is a Mexican Wal-mart type store. They have a real Walmart in Cancun, but I've never been in it. I also have some almonds and Macadamia nuts so I can say NO to the honey roasted peanuts on the plane. We're flying Continental connecting in Houston. It's always a mad dash through the Houston airport to make our connection. I can't wait to see the reefs as we approach the island. Stepping off the plane, the sun is brilliant and the airport is quaint, but hot.

We're staying at Villa Aldora and Gregg will pick us up. Aldora is a hotel mainly for divers diving with Aldora Divers. Cozumel is an island mainly for divers when the cruserios leave, it is nothing but divers. This will be my 6th trip to Cozumel. BUT, this is the first time I will be eating low carb and I'm kind of nevous about it. Chips and dip, beans and rice - everywhere! I don't drink so I don't have to worry about that. I'm a diabetic - a juvenile, insulin-dependent one - and no one I dive with (except my dear dive buddy hubby) knows. Diabetics like me aren't supposed to dive.

You definitely don't want a hypo (hypoglycemic episode) 100 feet underwater. No, that would be very bad, perhaps fatal. So the folks who run the dive operations don't want to take any chances. So, I've had to lie about my condition and I really hate that. But this is something I have always wanted to do and it means the world to me. In the past, I ate carbs which means lots of insulin, so I would have to cut back on my insulin and dive with pretty high BG levels, 200-300 sometimes, and that often made me feel bad later and sometimes made blow chunks. (That's divespeak for getting sick on the boat). I've been fasting in the morning to 2 days now and I think I have my BG levels nailed. By taking just my looooonnnggg-acting basal shot of insulin, I have been able to keep my BG levels very reasonable in the mornings (we mostly dive in the morning) without any food, which would mean fast-acting (potentially dangerous) insulin. So tomorrow will be my first day diving with near-normal blood sugars and low carb.

We're supposed to have high-speed wireless at the Villa and I'm brining my beloved Sony Vaio so I can keep connected and download my underwater photos. I thought I would record my experiences here - and hopefully keep up this journal in the future so if any other type 1s stumble across it, perhaps they can benefit. I've been on MDI (multiple daily injections) for almost 20 years. MDI means at least 4 injections of small amounts of insulin in an attempt to mimic the body's production of insulin. I take more injections because I take some types of insulin that can't be mixed. I take Lantus in the morning (as a seperate shot) and if eating or high, Humalog (which starts to work in 15 minutes). The Lantus lasts till about bedtime. Before each meal, I take additional Humalog or Humalin Regular insulin to cover the food. And before I go to bed I have to inject more Lantus so my BG levels will stay steady through the night. I usually wake up at 3:00 a.m. to check my sugars to correct if I'm too high or low. I HATE going hypo in my sleep. I check BG levels 6 or 7 times a day. Combined with all the shots, I am a virutal pincushion. But I'm alive and feeling pretty good.

I'm up late tonight because I can't sleep before a flight. I have to run around and check everything 20 times. Do I have the D/L cable for my camera? Check. Do I have my scop patches for seasickness? Check. And so on. There are so many items impossible to replace in Cozumel.

It's a new Fitday and since I fasted for most of the day, I had a mini-meal of egg salad (which I positively CRAVE) at midnight. Yesterday's calories were only 652 because of the fasting experiment. I don't know why I'm craving egg-salad??

I think I'm getting close to 160 pounds. I was able to pull down my Levis today without unzipping/unbuttoning them. I don't like to weigh daily and sometimes put it off until 2 weeks to give things time to settle. DH bought me a new wetsuit in size 10 for the trip. It's very form-fitting and little bit snug from the crotch to the neck, lengthwise. Wetsuits are a PITA to fit. Thankfully, Henderson makes a hyperstretch that stretches 250%!

We're supposed to go to Playa del Carmen and dive the cenotes which are underwater caverns. I've always wanted to dive in caves and that probably sounds pretty nutty. We're scheduled to take 2 advanced classes: Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures. Nitrox is just air with more oxygen and this class will allow me to carry an extra tank of 50% oxygenated air for accelerated decompression. You have to decompress when you've been deep for a while. Otherwise, you'll get the bends and possibly die.

We'll be diving mostly in Cozumel in the majestic spots like Punta Sur and Columbia Deep. These are enormous canyons of rock and coral. It takes my breath away - almost like the Grand Canyon is underwater and populated by strange contraptions which swim around. Puffer fish, eagle rays, flounder, toadfish...incredible life down there.

I have a sore muscle in my butt, right cheek to be precise. I'm not sure how it happened, but I've been lunging and squating a lot to prepare for the extra tank weight. I'll be carrying about 80 pounds of gear with this new class. Getting off the boat is pretty easy - just roll backwards, but getting back on is a monumental task with all that gear. I'm 48 years old and I often wonder why I'm pushing myself so hard? I always have to have a goal and it's got to be tough.

I think I was inspired to write all this stuff because of TaDa's last post about her journey. It was so uplifting to read about her struggle. And it is a struggle no matter how big your goal or your ultimate desination. I want to be a more normal person who is not constantly worried about meals and insulin and eating just because I took a shot. I want to be able to do things normal and even adventurous and I think the low carb life will allow me to do that. And I course I want to lose more weight and look good, better in my 50s than in my 40s!