R&R over for the time being

Well back from vacay and set in the regular routine plus some! I have a project going at work and a new class starting in two weeks. LOTS to do. The past few days have been nice and I've been working outside on the deck in the mornings and evenings. Unfortunately not at my retreat but at home. I've had some lower back and hip issues that prevent me from traveling at the current time. I'm also on a medrol pack for 6 days which is usually lethal for diabetics.

Apparently the dogs scrounge around in some underbrush that had poison ivy in it and it's all over my hands, forearms and some on my face. Rubbing the dogs after their exposure transferred the oil to my skin. UGH!

The medrol causes high blood sugar in normal folks but it can be extreme in diabetics. Fortunately, over the past three months my BS has been low enough to be "normal" for someone who does NOT have diabetes. Readings have been between 75 and 95 even when I splurged and ate birthday cake for my dad's 85th b-day and a few splurges on our anniversary dinners (yeah more than one) at restaurants on vacay.

After the first day on medrol, my BS was elevated to about 119 at the highest. Not too bad so far. I've completely cut out all carbs except what's in pb (my mainstay) and whatever veggies and meat I consume. No fruits (which I'd just gotten so I could enjoy in moderation after three years of NO fruit at all) and no bread or any other type of starchy stuff.

I'm hoping to keep the numbers below 140 for the 6-day duration and the days after as the crap gets out of my system. Then hopefully back to my normal 75-95  readings. The one worry is that my diabetes was prednisone-induced and I'm hoping that with such a short burst, there won't be any long term effects.

Good news? The intense itching has stopped for the most part after just one day. Now it the rash and scaly crap will just go away in the next 5 days it'll be worth cutting out all carbs completely for two weeks.

Meanwhile, I have lots of work to keep me busy. My new independent-study writing pilot at work opens July 1 as does my writing class at the university. Perfect opportunity for some comparisons in effectiveness for student learning.

More later -- don't worry if I'm not around for a week or so -- got to be ready for the opening date.

Random thoughts

The conference presentation went great.

Met in person a colleague I've worked online with for 8 years.

Have a few photos. Still figuring out the new camera.

Weather is hotter than forecasted. Storms every day. Humidity is off the charts.

Blogging on the cell phone is convenient but slow.

Big tiff with boss on my new pilot project lead job. I don't do university politics or suffer fools gladly. I won't take direction from faculty chairs who have no clue what this pilot is all about.

Big conference call tomorrow. Hope I still have a job once all is said and done.

Haven't decided which is the grossest - mice, ants, or ticks.

But for some odd reason I love camping (okay Holiday Inn on wheels might not be true camping).

More in a day or so.

Work this week - retreat next week

My first conference is Tues the 14th of May. I've finally figured out how I'm organizing the presentation. It's a short one so more difficult to figure out than the longer presentations. I'll be working on getting that all put together this week. The June conference is the same topic but longer time slot so I can easily expand on the shorter one for that conference. The second June conference is a topic I've done before and have an awesome presentation so I'll only need to revise and update for that one. Lots of work this week.

Thursday I'm leaving home to go to the "permanent" campground for about 10 days. I'll have all three dogs and that awesome deck to sit outside and work. That's my writer's retreat. I may just come home for the conference and then go back the next day! I'm planning another solo road trip for mid-summer out to the WV mountains. I won't be gone longer than a week or so and am planning the trip for lots of photo ops.