I have a work event tonight and am the acting office floral expert.
Was attacked by a rose while getting the blossoms in tip top shape.
What’s a diabetic to do? Perfect timing for a BG check!
And almost as easy as 1-2-3 (the Dexcom pic was from earlier today. I was too busy bleeding to take BG pics).
I’ve been meaning to post this for weeks.
The BGs are truly rubbish, but do you see the profile of the face too?
Or am I crazy?
Or just crazier?
Who’s face is this?
When it comes to having a JDRF Walk Team, it is challenging to get and keep people interested year after year. Asking the same people to donate money, asking people to walk, asking people who are walking to please raise money, it isn’t easy, and involves a lot of asking.
I met my dear friend Kerry, my first day of college (Yes, a long time ago. Dinosaurs carried our books. They were very helpful). She is a wonderful friend and will be walking with me again on September 29th. A few months ago, she started a new business venture with Initials, Inc. At the time, I was carrying my blood glucose supplies in a ziplock bag (yes, it was convenient-ish, ok, not really). When I looked over her website, I thought this was a great opportunity to not only support and cheer-on my friend, but also time to try out a *NEW* blood glucose carry case.
Kerry sells a design called Tune Keeper which is a fabric, zippered pouch, meant to hold an iPod. It also has a keyring and lobster claw clasps on one end. The pouch is padded and securely fits my Verio IQ, OneTouch Delica, Verio test strips, emergency cash, and if need be, my Dexcom G4 receiver. Yep, I love it. It also has a tiny interior pocket (that’s where I hide the $5… there’s the info robbers. Come and get it).
Kerry contacted me about an idea she had to help fundraise for this year’s JDRF Walk. In separate news, her daughter is the one who reminded me to believe in miracles, when I needed a miracle believing boost. It’s a whole story about inch worms, and bronchitis, and crying at a funeral, and the inch worms becoming moths. I’ll save that story for another day though. Anyway, Kerry is a special person in my life (as is her family) and this is what she’s doing (in Kerry’s words):
Pretty cool huh?
As a New Yorker, as an American and simply just as a human being, 9/11 is wrought with emotion, deep sadness and many memories. I have stories I could tell, my fellow Alecia’s Stem Cells teammates have many, many stories too, some of survival, some of hope and kindness, but quite a few of unbelievable horror and grief.
I can’t possibly do justice to any of these stories today and planned to post some Wordless Wednesday photos I’ve taken over the years of the Twin Towers, the blue lights that symbolized the towers from past 9/11 memorials, construction photos of One World Trade Center, and the 9/11 memorial pools.
If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (especially Instagram), you know over the course of the summer, I became keenly aware of “hearts” in my world. On the sidewalk, in graffiti, a crumpled piece of paper in the street, gum on the curb. Frequently, I see a “heart” somewhere. Depending on what’s going on in my world, they symbolize different things to me. I usually see them when I’m alone and they always make me think (or change my thinking), and usually stop me in my tracks (well I’m not taking action photos, so I do actually need to stop). I try to change my walk routes now, in the hopes of finding an undiscovered heart. Often these hearts give me hope.
This morning I passed 2 familiar hearts on my way to work. Hearts I now see all the time. I was secretly hoping I would see a NEW heart today but it didn’t happen. The 9/11 TV coverage I’d watched as I walked out the door weighed heavy on my heart. I thought of the friend I was with on 9/11, who has since passed away, and how very much I miss him.
At the office, my BG skyrocketed, work stress elevated (like crazy yo), I very politely but firmly argued with a medical supplier and I glanced out my window. I have pigeons that land on my windowsill often. I call them Pigeon Spies. I claim they are stealing my designs and that they are annoying, but secretly, I love them (even though they occasionally give me a heart attack when they tap the window as they land). They taunt my dog and fall asleep inches from him. They are bold, brave and curious. Those pigeons are New Yorkers.
Every once in awhile, two pigeons will be on the sill at the same time. One is always going after the other and there are never two on the sill for more than a few seconds. Today, I watched something new. Two pigeons. One much bigger than the other one. They stood together, side by side. They watched me for awhile and mirrored my movements (yep, spies) and then they turned and sat down, touching, looking out on a corner of New York City. The smaller one leaned over and the big one got down a little lower. There’s a term for this, allogrooming, meaning grooming performed by one animal upon another animal of the same species. Perhaps we all see what we want to see, but the smaller pigeon spent so much time fixing the other pigeon’s head feathers, it was remarkable. I was less than 6 inches away, they would look at me, but they didn’t leave. There was something tender about it. I felt exactly like when I see hearts. It felt like love.
So today, just remember to love. On some level, we are all in this together. Whether it’s helping someone in the DOC, or reaching out to a friend or a family member. Just remember to love.
Thanks for bringing me some magic today, Pigeon Spies. Tomorrow you can go back to taunting and stealing.
You know the NYC JDRF Walk is coming up (September 29th) and you also may know this is the 12th Year for Alecia’s Stem Cells (NYC) Friends and Family Team. I’ve walked a lot of walks and I certainly keep talking a lot of talks. If you’ve done the Walk, you know it gets maybe, just maybe, a we bit redundant over the years. I am always trying to put a new spin on it. Boston team and NYC team in ONE weekend? Check. Design your own Alecia’s Stem Cells iron-on shirt party? Been there, done that too (it took FOR-EV-ER). Pirate shirts with me in a pirate beard (Keeping the ARRRR in JDRF?) and pirate sword fights over the Brooklyn Bridge? Yep and arrrrr.
So how do we spin it this year? Ah my friends, this is the Until-A-Cure is found question. I have been considering challenging my buddy Ben from Team Hoffmanderson to a Break-Off. A Break-Off you say? Oh yes indeed, I do say. I would do my best breakdancing moves (I have 1 move, well sort-of 1) with Ben over the Brooklyn Bridge to raise money. Does anyone want to even see that? Nah probably not. Bikers would be yelling at us, kids would be tripping over us, we would give diabetes a bad name (Ha! Like diabetes has a “good name”. Funny stuff there). So while I agonize over gimmicks, let me tell you a fundraising plan that IS happening… RIGHT NOW!
Over the years, we’ve had some awesome and diverse Alecia’s Stem Cells shirts. I’ve had a slew of friends take a stab at this (no needles were actually involved). It’s been fun/crazy/ totally stressful getting designs ready, finding printers and making the Walk deadline. I buy the registered team member’s shirts, but it gets tricky having a set number of walkers so far in advance. This year, our shirts were a collaborative effort (Thanks so very much Deb) and then I had the same idea I seem to have every year … oh wouldn’t it be great if we could sell some shirts? I saw a tweet from Tina over at Stick With It Sugar where she was selling her Walk Team’s shirts through a crowd sourcing printer. It’s a long story, like a really long story, but I had such a great call with Tina, realized we needed to use a different printer if this was even going to be an option, looked up a Forbes article where the founder of the company Tina used named his competition (to all business owners, never acknowledge the competition in an article). I called the competition the day before a holiday weekend, had a totally surreal conversation with the Principle. He knows my work and is a fan of my former boss. He also understood my Do Good, Feel Good philosophy AND they could do the job AND they wanted to help!!!
So here’s the skinny. I LOVE NY. I HATE diabetes (See what I did there diabetes, I didn’t even give you capital letters, di-a-betes). The back of our shirts have a tag line thought-up while looking over notes I took at a JDRF Walk Kick-Off/Research Update:
New Technologies, New Treatments, New York.
So, we are in the shirt selling business folks, But ONLY until 9/12 (SOON people, so very soon). The shirts are great quality (Canvas and Belle who supply T shirts for Nordstrom which I wouldn’t know since we don’t have a Nordstrom in my city…. yet) and come in Mens, Ladies and even Youth sizes (this is a first for us). Not only are the shirts cool, rad, awesome, fly, tight, sick ( <- that one annoys me), BUT the proceeds are going to JDRF! Yep, our team fundraising efforts have a NEW spin… Team shirt sales!!!
So check ’em out and most importantly, PLEASE forward the shirt link to anyone you think might like one (or two) too! Thanks y’all.
http://inktothepeople.com/private-marketplace/ink-detail/11041
I had another post planned today for Throwback Thursday, but I read something this morning that trumped what I had planned.
As long as I can remember, my Dad has had inspirational/motivational quotes typed on index cards and taped to his office desk. Very cool. One summer, I had a part-time job and to fill extra hours (ugh) I also worked at my Dad’s office. When he wasn’t there one afternoon, I sat at his desk and connected ALL the paperclips in his drawer to each other. A paperclip chain if you will. I giggled endlessly imaging him reaching for a paperclip and about 50 of them would be attached to one another. Tee hee hee. I also remember sitting there and rereading quotes on his desk. Quotes he frequently told us, his kids. When I was in college, my Dad would periodically send me pieces of inspiration… quotes typed on index cards. I grew-up loving a good quote.
THIS is the quote that felt like a hug this morning.
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
poet, playwright, essayist
The view while walking the dog last night.
Oh and I almost forgot. I waited and waited for my Dad to discover the paperclip chain. When he FINALLY did, he called me. As annoyed as he TRIED to sound, I knew he thought it was funny…well sort of.
Saturday afternoon, after a sweaty mini golf tourney, I took the ferry and then subway home. In my rush, I bolted out of the subway turnstile and ran up the 6 train steps. I believe I made it 2 steps, well maybe 3, before …*SPLAT*. Yep, I tripped. Yes, I fell. Oh I fell alright. I fell HARD. Splayed out on the subway steps (Ewwwww, gross, gag, ick, blech, more gagging, phewy, dirty, yucky), I pulled myself up and quickly continued onward. I believe I told myself, “DO NOT CRY” maybe 15 times in under a minute, well that mixed with, “DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING, YOUR HANDS HAVE NYC SUBWAY STEP COOTIES”. Without stopping, I quickly walk/limped and tried to take an assessment of my injuries. Right knee throbbing. Right forearm and wrist not happy. My Daddy toes (you know, the big toes) hurt and stung and hurt some more. The right one hurt the most but the left one was bleeding. I turned the corner to my street and the blood was making my foot stick to my sandal. What the…??? The blood was coming from the center of my toenail. More grossed out by the second. Right toe pulsating.
I arrived home and after antibacterial washing the hell out of my hands and considering drinking Purell, I investigated. Yep, split left Daddy toenail right in the middle. Ewwwwww. BUT it was the right Daddy toe and right knee that felt the worst.
Fast forward. Today I went to my podiatrist to get my orthotics that were ready a month ago. Apparently they tried calling a phone number I had 10 years ago. Nice try podiatrist receptionist. You and your potty mouth have been confirming appointments with me on my current phone number for years. Anyway, I casually mentioned my 6 train step run turned SPLAT.
After a bunch of, “Does this hurt?” Yep! “Can you bend here?” Ummm kinda, questions with my doc, I found myself watching a video while I waited to see my Xrays. I learned a lot of fun foot facts at 8:30 this morning. I now know things about arthritis, plantar facitis and the importance of diabetic foot care. The loop had already started playing again and I was back to diabetes and foot care being a team approach when my doctor returned and started reviewing my Xrays.
It was a sweet moment. I sat there reviewing my Xray with my doctor and cracking jokes about all the time I’ve spent at his office. I’ve broken toes and chipped stuff quite a few times. I broke my foot years ago and learned 2 major things. 1. Crutches are effing HARD and 2. NYC in the winter with crutches is a really crappy place that will make you unbelievably angry. Anyway so back to my doctor. Nothing broken. Toe is just a bad jam and needs time to heal. Yippee Skippy.
This all sounds very nicey nice but there’s a bigger part to this. I actually paid attention to that foot video. I half expected scary diabetes stuff. There was nothing scary, just encouraging and stressing the importance of taking care of potential foot issues quickly and the reason’s why… decreased sensation, compromised circulation, blah blah. it wasn’t scary though. It was about staying healthy and having a good team.
I might have a small crush on my podiatrist. He looks like Ed Harris, is extremely quick witted and even when my foot was a broken a mess and I was threatening people who stole my cab with my crutches, he always kept me laughing. But there’s a much bigger reason that I like him so much… he’s a T1D too. He’s a 50+ year T1D. I am drawn to these 50+ers like a moth to a flame or injuries to my feet. Bad joke, sorry.
To my podiatrist: Thank you for being part of my team. Thank you for being a 50+ yr T1D. Thanks for having encouraging and informative videos. You may never truly realize how just talking to you gives me hope, but it does. Rock on, or maybe walk/run on.
My view walking back to work. Not bad.
I consider myself a cyclical sleeper. That is I go through phases of sleeping like a normal person and hopefully getting balanced sleep and then phases of extremely interrupted sleep or just a pretty acute lack ‘o sleep.
2 weeks ago I was visiting my parents. I have a truly beautiful and happy-go-lucky little nephew. I am pretty sure my nephew would love to get to know my dog better. My dog seems quite determined to bark like crazy every time my nephew makes a peep. My otherwise awesome dog woke my nephew up once within hours of his being there. My awesome dog is a jerk at my parent’s house.
My happy-go-lucky nephew’s crib is in the room next to where I sleep. If you are not used to the Dexcom high or low beeps, they are fairly loud in a not so densely walled house. I decided to switch from my overnight Dexcom audio to vibrate. I even slept in PJ’s with a pocket so I would feel the alarm. The Dexcom ended-up out of my pocket and under my ribs while I slept. I had run earlier that day and the weather had been quite hot (anyone else see the low bg coming in this story?). My vibrating ribs woke me up (If I’m ever in a band I will call it Vibrating Ribs). Glucosticks to the rescue, back to sleep. More vibrating, more Glucosticks, back to sleep.
This formula worked pretty well (not counting going low in my sleep twice… ahhhh running). The vibration woke me up both times. Great. Dex rocks and no one else woke up.
So I got lackadaisical. Who me? Lazy? No, say it isn’t so. Careless? Say What?
Yes, me. I have probably put my Dex on audio overnight 2 times since visiting my parents. Both times it was on days I did killer workouts. Otherwise, it was a nice break to not hear the beeping at 171 when my HIGH beep starts at 170. I have been sleeping with Dex on my pillow. Sometimes Dex slides off and is under my arm, but I haven’t been running too low so yes, I thought all was well.
I spend a lot of time worrying that I will be another statistic of Dead In Bed Syndrome. I worry that I will miss vital medical treatment because no one will know I’m unconscious in my bed. I worry that if these scenarios happen on a weekend, my office won’t know to look for me until Monday and by then my body will stink and my dog will have possibly eaten my fingers (if you are squeamish, I absolutely should have warned you that I love shows like Criminal Minds and Dexter. Oops. Sorry. Walk away from the blog now). I got a Dexcom 7+ a year and half ago for EXACTLY these scenarios. Every time I read of a case of Dead In Bed, I thank my lucky stars I have my Dex G4 and that on quite a few occasions Dex wakes me up, NOT my own body. So why, WHY, would I relax about the audio on the Dexcom? Why would I trust vibrate? Because it worked before and therefore would absolutely do the trick again?
Diabetes dummy. There is no relaxing. I’m not a rookie. I am however someone who’s been waking up with perfect bgs at 3am and finding myself unable to fall back asleep for hours. Oh sleep, I need a good night’s sleep. I didn’t turn off Dex, I just switched to vibrate. That’s OK, right?
This morning I woke up and immediately felt the fuzz of being low. I laid there feeling low. My phone alarm would be going off in 5 minutes. Oh I should hit snooze. The alarm hadn’t gone off yet though. There was no snooze to press. Then what’s that noise? Wait, I feel low, not like emergency low, but I-am-not-quite-right low. Oh Dexcom. Under my arm. Dexcom. Maybe I went low overnight. No, I’m low right now. 65. On the other side of me, in my bed, glucose tablets. Grabbed them. Ate 2. Phone alarm went off. Hit snooze. Dexcom kept beeping. 66.
Ate another glucose tablet. Sat up in bed. Fuzzy headache. Looked at Dex. Still too low. Been low for awhile. Scrolled back. Horror. I’d been low since shortly after 2am. Took pics of Dexcom screen. I should blog about this. THIS is MY fault. Sit up. Dog is awake and burying head in pillow. I am exhausted. Head still hurts. I am not shaky. I don’t feel great. Ask dog to make me coffee. Nope. He still won’t learn to do it. He flat out ignores me. Turn on TV. Dexcom is buzzing. It’s now under pillow. Pillow keeps buzzing. Still in 70s. Check meter. Yep, 70s. Dog is back to sleep. He’s not making me coffee. Go make myself coffee. Sit on bed. Dex keeps beeping. Under 90 pic (my low setting). This is my fault. Tweet pic of Dexcom. Think back on my evening. Didn’t each much. Didn’t bolus much either. Strolled 30 blocks after while I chatted with my Mom on the phone. Was in 180s pre-bed. Took conservative correction. Hours later I dropped. I never turned on the audio. I know better. No one would know I was dead or unconscious. Drink coffee in shower. Listen to Beyonce. “I’m a Survivor”. Rub-A-dub-dub. No crying. Things happen. I am fine. Get dressed. I love this dress. No one would have known I was dead. Double arrow up on Dexcom. Bg is too high now. Take correction. Walk out front door. Eyes get misty in hallway. Fight back tears in elevator. I am tired. I finally slept through the night.
THIS was my fault.
Turn Dexcom audio on.
Little Sara
Not much has changed since the research meeting in terms of what JDRF is pushing through the pipeline (as they like to phrase it), but what HAS changed is the marketing and presentation of this research. For eons, I have had issue with the way JDRF marketed us! I was just sick of the ads full of cute children surrounding Mary Tyler Moore, as she begged for a cure. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Mary Tyler Moore, but she is not of this generation, and while Nick Jonas and Halle Berry ARE, we can’t seem to get them to speak out as loudly as, say Christina Applegate and Sheryl Crow do for breast cancer.
And basically, it’s that hope that gets us out of bed every morning. It’s why we ask our friends and families to donate to the walk, isn’t it? We all still hope for our cure and we need JDRF to continue this research until we have a world without Type One Diabetes. JDRF is now making it clear that they are no longer a mom and pop organization, but a world leader committed to removing T1D from this earth and until then, it is their mission to lessen our burden, lessen our struggle, lessen our pain and fear, and lessen that of our loved ones.
And they won’t stop, until they turn Type One into Type None
So, now go sign up to be a part of Alecia’s Stem Cells, or come be part of my Team Type None in Tucson, and let’s NOT give up our hope!
Sara (LINK TO MY VIDEO)
I pass by this patch of sidewalk almost everyday. I noticed it again as I rushed home from the gym this morning.
12
12 is my favorite number. 12 is my “lucky” number. Alecia’s Stem Cells was founded 12 years ago. 2012 wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. There’s gotta a be a BIGGER 12 out there. Please, please let there be a bigger 12 out there.
I received some horrible news from a friend over the weekend. My Dad hugged me and I just started sobbing. I believe that is very much a Dad/daughter thing. Hug from Dad = tears from me. Life has thrown me a slew of challenges, all in a row lately. My Dad kept whispering in my ear, “It doesn’t make sense right now, but there is a plan for you. Just remember, there is a plan for you. It’s just a different path.” There was some God stuff thrown in there too but that’s between me and Dad and well, God.
I was with the friend with the horrible news last evening (that is a terrible description by the way). There were some tears. We discussed many things. She’s always supported my diabetes and JDRF projects. I told her about the JDRF Walk Kick-Off/ Research Update I’d attended on Wednesday night. I told her about JDRF’s encapsulation program (or at least what I understood of it) and all the things I learned last week. I told her about how I felt inspired, a renewed sense of hope, again. I told her about my friend who’s part of JDRF’s Voices Council and how she recently shared with me that she too felt inspired. At the end of our meal, I think I’d not only given her a pep talk, but I’d also given myself one. She kept telling me how much I inspire her. Talking with her really helped inspire me too. Sometimes, I think the energy you give off, really does come back to you. I got the most positive e-mail from her first thing this morning. It felt like a hug.
12
LUCKY 12.
I’ve gotta a lot of work to do.
Join me. Join our team. Get involved.
Oh, and if you don’t like me or think I’m a jerk or I talk too much, just donate to this guy.
The fundraising all goes to the same place although we seem to be in some sort of competition. This is the photo he put on Facebook last night. Yes, that is me. No, that is not my quote. If this quote raises funding for research, then yes, that is EXACTLY what I said EXCEPT, I definitely didn’t call anyone Mr. Strahan*.
And if you’d like more info on Alecia’s Stem Cells, want to spy on how we’re doing, want to join our team, want to sponsor one of our walkers, want to donate, please go here AND read the post below this one for more ASC info. XO
* Team Hoffmanderson is an awesome team and I am extremely happy to call them friends. I mean, they might not even be friends, but I’m happy to call them that.