Bad BGs on the trams of Toyohashi
What makes the trams of Toyohashi so special?
Watch on YouTube (29:49)
Today I rode the trams of Toyohashi, exploring the lines and stops, and gawking at Japan’s tightest rail curve. Lots of fun, but unfortunately my blood glucose levels were annoyingly high for much of it.
I had a nice breakfast in the hotel I was staying in, as steady rain fell outside. My BG had hovered in an almost straight line around 100 all night, so it was a good start.
Breakfast
Things changed quickly: the rain stopped and it got sunny, AND my BG stopped behaving. My post-breakfast spike was worse than normal, flattening at about 291 for an hour.
High at a tram stop in Toyohashi
I had to intervene, and took a small corrective shot. Not a large one, despite the BG: I was still out on the trams, sometimes walking the streets around a stop, and I knew that would be bringing me down, however slowly.
Beside a stop called Undokōen-mae is a large park, and as I walked through it, admiring the pond, the strong winds, and the graffiti, my CGM said I was 165 and dropping. The arrow was straight down, although that often makes it seem more drastic than it really is.
Still, it was dropping, and I had a bit of glucose. Even my small-ish corrective dose of Humalog earlier had been a bit too much.
That arrested the fall a bit, but not enough. By about 1:30 pm I was back in my hotel room and BG was 69. Time for some quick glucose.
But I overdid something, somewhere. Soon I was back up to 263, the second time today with that exact reading.
But, it was snack time; I was hungry and I had a little pastry thing and some coffee in my room. It would take a large shot, so that’s what I took. A while afterwards, imagining it must be down the low-to-mid-100s, it was 264.
I was so surprised by this that I dug into my backpack and fished out my backup meter, which can often be more accurate. Pricked a fingertip and put the drop of blood on the strip. It said basically the same thing, 253.
I was indeed high. Again. I took a corrective shot. Again.
After the snack, double-checking out of disbelief at being so high again
Later, dinner was at a local restaurant, a carb-heavy rice and noodle dish. But I felt good about it – took a series of two shots, towards the beginning and towards the end of eating.
After dinner I was high again, in the low-to-mid-200s. Before bed I had another corrective shot and as I slept, things were even and good again.
Before dinner: Good BG again (temporarily)
A rather rough day for diabetes. Some of it I can explain, and some I can’t. Generally, looking back, it seems like it was mostly the story of a couple bad choices and some bad timing, like waiting for the rain to stop after breakfast before going out and moving around more.
Good day in many ways, not BG-wise. But I lived to fight another day.
