Blood glucose on the Chizu Express
I went out of my way for a chance to ride this railway
Watch on YouTube (36:37)
Today was a day spent on trains. Seven hours, on local trains only, from Niimi to Tottori, Japan. It was a series of four trains, with breaks in between each one.
And again, it was a diabetic story that’s become normal on this trip across Honshū so far: a noticeable but not devastating spike in BG after breakfast, and then quite good readings the rest of the day.
The breakfast at the hotel in Niimi was the same I’ve had all three mornings there: Japanese style. That means a bowl of rice, some fish, vegetables, and miso soup.
The biggest the spike got after this was 239, but I took a unit of corrective Humalog and it began to come down quickly. (Though it took a while to get down to where it should be.)
By about 11:40 am, as I walked the streets of Tsuyama and waited for my next train, my BG was 146. So I left it alone, though I did buy lunch for later at a Family Mart before catching my next train.
That train took me to the more rural station of Sayo. Here, on the platform, I was basically the exact same – 139. I took some insulin and ate the lunch I’d purchased back in Tsuyama, on the platform.
My next train came, and it was a special purple train emblazoned with stars and planets. I rode this train, along the Chizu Express Railway’s tracks, through rice fields in valleys and in and out of mountain tunnels, up to its endpoint, a station called Chizu.
In Chizu I had about an hour to myself, so despite the encroaching heat and humidity, I hiked up a hill on the edge of town to a remarkable lookout tower designed like a traditional Japanese wooden building. I was the only one there.
Back down in the station, my train was already waiting. I got on and saw what the exertions had done for my blood glucose: it was 78.
I had some glucose and rode the last train of the day up the JR Inbi Line to the city of Tottori. I checked into my hotel, an Alpha-One Hotel, and had a repeat BG from earlier in the day: 139 once again.
Dinner was at the hotel restaurant – more like a simple cafeteria. I had a bowl of hot soba noodles with a salad and a cup of royal milk tea. Nice and simple.
The rest of the evening, there was no great spike of BG, and it held right around 115 steady all night as I slept. A great day on the rails, and a pretty fine day diabetically as well.
