I have only been swimming (and drying off by doing the Yang 108 tai chi form on the pool deck) twice so far, but I’m already feeling the effects, both mentally and physically.

Mentally, I feel lighter. I feel calmer. I feel more even-keeled and centered. I find myself smiling and laughing more when I’m by myself. I able to stay in the moment longer with my animals – especially Buttons, who is in that twilight zone before the end of her life here.

Physically, it’s not so great. I love the feeling of using my muscles to propel myself through the water and the soreness the next day that means I’m working them. (Self-massage rocks when they feel like that!) But I don’t like how exhausted I am when I get home, how breathing seems harder, coughing is worse, and my blood sugar is all over the place.

For the breathing, I have a CT scan scheduled for next week before figuring out the next step. For the blood sugar, hopefully the levels will even out as I figure out what I need to do to anticipate them and as my body gets used to the new routine.

It seems so counter-intuitive to increase the basal rate of insulin before exercising, but I seem to remember having to do that before running. When I started running regularly, I would go for an hour run with a starting blood sugar of 95 and end up with a blood sugar over 250 at the end of the run (drinking only water) – and it would stay there unless I did something about it. 12 to 24 hours later, my blood sugar tended to drop to the 40-60 range if I forgot to anticipate it with less insulin/more carbs. (Talk about delayed reactions!)

I’m hooked enough on the mental benefits to tolerate the physical, for now. Time for some slow experimentation.