Category Archives: Diabetes Notes

Getting Down To Business… and Halloween

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There’s a line in a Kanye West song where Jay-Z raps,

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”

I repeat that line to myself from time-to-time.  I love it because, whether you like rap or not, the line is quite simply, clever.  What a difference a comma makes (As does “comma”, vs “coma” as I just typed and am laughing).  I also like the line from my perspective as a business woman (I work in product design and branding).  I’m a business, (Wo)man.

When I was a little girl, carb counting with insulin:carb ratios didn’t exist (diagnosed in ’79) but instead there was the Exchange Program.  If you don’t know about this, I won’t bore you with the details.  If you lived through Exchanges, I won’t subject you to having to endure it again.  I will however say that carb counting and bolus ratios are certainly an improvement in both diabetes care and quality of life.

On Halloween, I would go trick-or-treating like every other kid in my neighborhood.  Looking back, it really was ALL about the costume (hell, it’s still ALL about the costume and I may or may not, occasionally wear a Pocahontas or Cleopatra wig in my apartment on really cold evenings because A. wigs are warm and B. those wigs are pretty amazing and make me feel like the coolest girl in school).

My parents would let me have some candy.  The whole “you’re diabetic, and can NOT have candy” thing wasn’t exactly part of my life BUT “you can have ONE piece of this tonight and then a piece tomorrow night” was. FYI – T1D didn’t even exist as a term in those days.

So my parents set me on a path that I believe started me as a business woman (no comma… yet).  When I came home from trick-or-treating, I would get down to work.  I had to set-up my store on the dining room table! I grew-up in a neighborhood with many houses, very close together, which of course meant LOTS of Halloween candy.  I’d empty my bag on the rarely used dining room table and start combining “like” items.  All snickers on one side, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups stacked in a pile, Milky Ways to the left, and so on.  My Mom made index cards with prices.  Everything cost $.05 or $.10 and every so often, a full size candy bar would be in the bag (say WHAT?!?) and that was $.25.  I would strategically position the candy and index card pricing (hello future merchandising) and then announce that my store was open for business.  My parents would enter and make their purchases.  I have to assume they gave my little brother some coins too because in later years, he became one of my customers too.  The older couple next door even shopped at my dining room table candy store.

I know today’s parents of T1D kids can bolus for candy and this whole story is incredibly out-of-date, but since I don’t have kids, happen to be painfully sentimental and am currently treating a low BG with Halloween candy, I think about this series of events.

I had a savings account as a little kid at a local bank and a Savings Passbook.  When I received money for ANYTHING, I had to put some of it in the bank.  Into MY saving’s account (I thought I was Richie Rich after my first Holy Communion which is pretty amusing now).  When My Mom or Dad had to go to the bank I would bring along my Savings Passbook.  My Dad would lift me up to hand the book to the teller who would stamp the “new” amount in my account.  I would deposit my Halloween candy sales AND then get to see how much I had accrued in interest since my last bank check-in.  I was fascinated.  Kids would run around in the bank.  Not me, suckers.  I was a kid with a Savings Passbook and I stood in-line with the adults.  My Dad explained that because I let the bank hold my money and that they used it (OMG, THEY USE MY MONEY), that they had to pay me to use it and that was “interest”.  Get out of town!  My money makes money?!?!

So here’s my thinking for Halloween.  Some creative thinking on the part of my parents along with my broken pancreas helped me learn about money.  And that’s where I get back to Jay-Z.  I am now a business(wo)man, but I am ALSO a business, man (well, woman).

My grandmother who passed away when I was 11 yrs old made this incredible costume.

My grandmother made this incredible costume.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Giraffe Masquerade

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This morning I had my 3 month Endo appointment.  I’ve decided I’m not ready to write about this appointment, yet.  Time to process.  My A1C was acceptable but elevated by .2% which wasn’t shocking or even surprising.  My problem though was with the rushed, interrupted and frankly uncomfortable conversation I had with my doctor today.  When I call the situation “not cool”, it is because I apparently cursed so much my first 15 minutes back at my office, that I may be in “time out” the rest of the day.

So, I left my doctor’s office this morning, shaking my head a bit.  The wind definitely knocked right smack out of my sails.  I started to walk and thought how very much I needed to find a heart  (note: if you follow me on Twitter, you get this.  I find hearts.  The hearts actually just found a new home but only a few have moved there so far.  Work in progress people, work in progress).  So I started walking.  I planned to calm down, shake it off a bit, find a heart, breathe, maybe grab a bite to eat and hop on the subway.

I never stopped for a snack, I realized the Upper East Side of Manhattan has a distinct lack of graffiti (especially on Madison Avenue), and I walked close to 50 blocks before I found this glorious yellow heart:

yellow heart leaf

 

 

 

 

 

While I attempt to wrap my head around today’s appointment, I leave you with the following from my post-endo walk:

giraffe

 

Somehow an inflatable giraffe wearing a fancy masquerade mask did cheer me a bit.

 

 

Don’t Fall For Pretty

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If you are going to bed, and see this:

 

Note the time. Started treating 5 minutes before this photo.

Note the time.  Started treating 5 minutes before this photo.

DO NOT TREAT WITH THIS:

g2

 

Why?

Because apparently my NEW emergency juice is low calorie which means = LOW CARBOHYDRATE.

And then THIS will happen:

NOTE the time.

NOTE the time.

At almost 11:35 pm, after BGs hovering between 49 and 54 for a FULL 30 minutes and feeling my heart racing, tears welling in my eyes over and over as my brain short circuited, (but oddly not sweating), panic creeping further and further into my body, I looked at the Gatorade label.  5 grams of carb per serving.  Like drinking air.

Who knew Gatorade made such a low carb drink?  As a non-Gatorade drinker, I picked the WRONG emergency juice to have at home, but the purple had looked so pretty.

Learn from my mistakes people.

 

 

A Thorny Issue

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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.

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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).

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Thinking Outside The Box, Or In A Pouch

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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).

photo

 

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):

As a Creative Partner at Initials, Inc., I am excited to help fundraise for my friend, Alecia’s, JDRF Walkathon’s Team. This month, 25% of your Tune Keeper purchase will go towards her team, Alecia’s Stem Cells, as we walk for a cure in two weeks.

What is the Tune Keeper, you ask?  It is a cool little wallet meant to hold your iPhone & earbuds, but Alecia has found it perfect to case her diabetic supplies! We thought you might think it is handy for other uses, too. Plus it makes a great gift – never too early to start that holiday shopping!
Since being diagnosed in 1979, Alecia has benefitted from technology advances in diabetic care and treatments. Glucose monitors and insulin pumps simply did not exist when she was diagnosed, but these advances come from critical research – and research is the key component of JDRF.
I’ve set up a shopping link to purchase the Tune Keeper. Please visit my website !Click SHOP ONLINE at the top and click “Shop Now” to the right on the “Tune Keeper Fundraiser – JDRF event” link to make your purchase. I will personally donate 25% of my sales of the Tune Keeper towards my friend’s JDRF team, and will follow up with an email to you to let you know how much was raised from this sale. Please consider buying one of these great wallets and supporting JDRF!
(Please be sure to un-click “ship to host” to have your order shipped to you – otherwise it will ship to me.)
For more information about Alecia’s walk team, please go to:http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/AleciasStemCells
Please feel free to email me with any questions about placing your order.
 
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
TK.png

Pretty cool huh?

Giving the Shirt Off My Back (Well You Can Buy It)

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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.

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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!

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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!!!

FRONT OF SHIRT_2013

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.

BACK OF SHIRT_2013

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

 

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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.

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.

 

Broken?

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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.

bloody toeI 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.

feetAfter 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.

toe xray

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. Keep walking.

My view walking back to work. Not bad.

 

Guest Post – Sara at The Voices Council

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Today I have a something/someone special to share.  It’s a guest post from my friend Sara who was one of the first people I met and felt I could really talk to when I made the switch from MDI to an insulin pump in 2000 (we also happened to have the same doctors).  I can’t possibly explain how fortunate I felt to have her as a friend then and all these years later, for her friendship now (hey, when she got her Dexcom she was willing to to bedazzle it).  Sara’s friendship has been a true resource for me and made me realize how important it is to have peer support.  She moved to AZ many years ago, but I usually get to see her twice a year when she’s in NYC on work trips.  She is a friend I probably never would have met if it weren’t for T1D.  So yes diabetes, I will give you 1 point for that one.  Here’s her post  (Also that is a pic of us below, post pumpkin pancakes.  Clearly pumpkin pancakes are exhausting hence the squinty eyes):

 

Annual/Bi-annual NYC brunch (pumpkin pancakes)
Hi, my name is Sara and I have had type 1 diabetes since I was a little kid and for the last 39 years, 3 months, 16 days and….6 hours,  I have been waiting….eagerly, sometimes not so patiently, but always hopefully, for my cure. For the day when I can travel without getting groped by the TSA, and when I can eat, without doing MATH.   For the day I stop poking holes in my body and I stop worrying about needing dialysis or going blind or wondering if my brothers kids will get this cruddy disease.

 

I had the honor of being selected to participate in the first JDRF T1D Voices Council. These 16 people are meant to reflect the needs of people with type one diabetes.  Most of the Council members have T1D, but there are a couple of family members. Most of us are normal people, but some are medical professionals. We are mostly American, but we have some Europeans who bring their unique perspective to the group. We range in age from a college freshman to a grandparent, but what links us is our commitment to finding a cure for Type One diabetes, and our vested interest in JDRF.  We are all active with our local chapters, whether as participants in the Annual Walk, and some of us are on our local Board of Directors. We don’t make any funding decisions; we are simply here to speak as the voice of our peers, to make sure our concerns (and I mean the universal “our,” not just our 16 voices) are being addressed, and to offer some perspective from the front, as it were.  We have been assured that our opinions are highly valued by the organization, including CEO Jeffrey Brewer and the International Board of Directors.

 

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Our first meeting was held last December in conjunction with the research meeting. We all met for the first time in person (we had set up a Facebook page and were stalking each other madly), along with with our leaders, Bill Parsons, from the International Board of Directors and father of a T1D son, and Dr. Richard Insel, JDRF’s chief scientific officer.  Our discussion focus was “complications”and specifically, which complications, if any, should JDRF be concerned with in terms of research.  As you can imagine, our opinions were fiercely personal; colored by our experiences. For me, the focus should be on eyes, absolutely. Others were more concerned with nighttime lows (the parents in the group seemed to speak loudest on this, less of a concern for me, thanks to my CGM), but we discussed and ranked them. The discussion at times was heated, to say the least, and a couple of us were unable to “rank” which complications were more deserving of funding than others.  By the end, however, I think our consensus was that we wanted JDRF to stay focused on a cure and improving our lives, and leave the research on complications to other organizations.  One complication the T1D VC discussed, which wasn’t on the original list, were the psychological aspects of living with this disease, which I think came as a bit of a surprise to the powers that be.

 

Two weeks ago, the T1DVC attended the annual conference in Washington DC, and we were forewarned that our topic was going to be the Psycho-Social aspects of T1D, which arose partially from a recent study on these issues, and our timely discussion back in December. However, let me start by saying for the first time in 39-odd years, I finally really felt some HOPE….sure, we all say we are full of HOPE every year when we try to raise money for the Walk…my donors need to hear that I haven’t given up on JDRF. Frankly, that “just around the corner” nonsense has been playing rather thin.  But now, oh, NOW!  I am so full of ever-lovin’, say Hallelujah, pass the hat HOPE, I can’t stop bouncing, dare I admit to smiling, (and then crying) every time I talk about it.

 

Little Sara

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.

 

Anyway, enough whiny rant. The point is, if you haven’t seen the new marketing campaign,  stop reading now and go watch the BELIEVE video (which got a standing ovation and reduced me to tears) and the VISION video (which also got thunderous applause and reduced me to tears), and then watch the research videos on Encapsulated Beta Cells and the Artificial Pancreas Project and Smart Insulin and the WALK video or watch the Plan for the Future one. If you aren’t moved by these, then you probably aren’t really T1D!

 

So then we had our T1DVC discussion on the psycho-social aspects of diabetes, and we each defined our vision of a “cure.” Some of us are pretty strict and a cure means, “life as it was BEFORE diabetes,” while others are a little more lenient, and would accept a STEP towards a cure, such as encapsulated beta cells, or even an artifical pancreas system that integrated insulin, symlin AND glucagon. Most of agreed we didn’t want to trade T1D for anti rejection drugs and a pancreas transplant.

 

What I am MOST excited about is those Encapsulated Beta Cells.   I won’t go into all the technology behind it cuz you can google Viacyte and read one company’s plan for yourself, but I SAW it. Jeffrey Brewer stood up there and held up a prototype of this amazing device in his hand. It looks like a tea bag, but this packet will allow us to live completely boring lives, for up to 24 months…which, as Jeff said, isn’t exactly a CURE, but it IS a darn good thing. And it will be in clinical trials next year!

 

And don’t you think, for one SECOND, that just because they are working on all these technological advances, they’ve forgotten about a CURE.  The Voices Council cornered Dr. Insel at breakfast and grilled him on research updates that our own doctors don’t know about. His eyes gleamed as he talked about the things that are coming down the pike…the potential for a vaccine, and regenerating damaged beta cells, and gene therapy. It is all THERE….and we just can’t lose hope!

 

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)

meandaliens

Updates, Cussing and Such

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Busy, busy, busy so a quick update (also I have another post after this one):

  • I never finished the post about my eye doctor appointment.  So here’s the short summary.  I am fine.  I took lots of pics at the office.  I was there for HOURS.  Is anyone losing sleep at night because I never wrote the down and deep about my eye doctor appoint?  No?  Okay, let’s move on and I’ll get info together for another time.
  • I read this earlier today:  “To strengthen the muscles of your heart, the best exercise is lifting someone else’s spirit whenever you can.” – Dodinsky.  Do Good, Feel Good.

    Brooklyn heart

    Found on Sunday in Brooklyn Heights

  • My ongoing issues with my pump sites going bad immediately after inserting and blood bath moments in my bathroom have remained but I have had 2 good sites in a row so that’s encouraging.  The discouraging part is my insurance won’t budge on my allotment of sites.  I went through 6 in a weekend.  I will be completely screwed towards the end of this 3 month prescription and forced to either leave in sites too long or switch back to shots.  No way Jose.  I’m an Inset kinda girl.  I like awesome packaging the doubles as the inserter.  I like pink and blue sites (I’m totally anti green though.  TOTALLY).  Today I was able to try out the Inset 30.  Things have changed since I used the equivalent version (Silhouettes) back in my MiniMed pumping days.  Although the needle still looks obnoxiously rude (like it’s going to spew curse words I’ve never even heard at me), there is now an inserter.  Yeah, I was nervous putting it in but not that pale, sweaty way that used to happen as my hands shook back in my manual insertion days.  It’s funny though that just looking at this new (well new to me) site took me right back to my first NYC apartment and pep talking myself as my hands shook trying to get those damn sites in.  So, I am currently wearing my old blue Inset (I can’t risk another blood bath at work.  Mint green pants and a white lace shirt SO does NOT go with my ruby red blood).  I also have my Dexcom on my tummy.  I am one hot stuff robot lady today.  Woo Wee. (I can’t show the Dexcom because  I’m keeping SurfaceFine PG… well for today). 

    2 sites. 1 tummy.

    2 sites. 1 tummy.

  • I have finally finished my JDRF Walk letter.  I wrote an earlier version that I tried out on a few people last week.  It had one of 2 reactions.  It either made people cry, like really cry and hug me or TOTAL radio silence.  Like no email, text, IM silence.  Oh well.  My new letter is a bit long but it touches on what I think is important.  Once I clean it up a bit, I’ll post it here. 
  • I need to stop cussing so much.  I’m not sure if this is diabetes related or not.  F*ck Diabetes?  Yeah, totally diabetes related.  Oh and PG is over now.