Missed It, But Thanks Diabetes

It’s a little weird for me to NOT have participated in Diabetes Blog Week this past week.  I started Surfacefine 2 years ago to participate in what I think remains a TREMENDOUS idea by Karen over at Bittersweet Diabetes  …… And this year, I’ve completely missed it.

At some point I hope to catch-up on all the amazing blogs and posts.  I only read one post the entire week.  Yep, just one.  The one I read was from Kim over at Texting My Pancreas.  First let me explain, I don’t have any clue how things work in life.  Fate?  I question it.  Luck?  Perhaps.  Karma?  Don’t even get me started.  So I happened to see Kim’s post on my phone and actually had a few minutes to read it.  She nails it.  Although this was so very true for me as a diabetic it applies to so many other things, many other struggles.  Here you go kiddos: What Brings Me Down I was meant to read that… I’m sure of it.

I attended JDRF NYC Chapter’s Annual Research Update last night.  I’m not gonna lie, a lot of it was over my head but it was encouraging to see so many people in attendance.  I arrived late for the reception but was thrilled to have maybe 5 minutes of rushed conversation with some DOC friends I haven’t seen for awhile.  The nicest part though was when, after the 2nd presentation, my brother took a seat next to me.  I’m fairly certain he was lost during the presentation too but he was there and that’s what mattered.  My brother and I managed to squeeze in dinner afterward.  I can’t remember the last time we had one-on-one time but it was good to reconnect.  Although we were rushing a bit through our meal, my brother still missed his train.  Getting to the train was a hike from where we were.  His train ride is far from short, but we had some together time and it was nice to feel like I had some support.  We were together because of diabetes.  As much as I hate to admit it (and my teeth are gritted as I type this), I have to thank diabetes for giving me some time to see DOC friends and to have a dinner date with my Bro.  I guess I will have to hold back my Duck Fiabetes for the day.

On Wednesday I met up with a friend for lunch and she suddenly exclaimed, “Your eye is BLEEDING!!!!”.  Of course I thought blood was coming out of my eye but nope.  It looked like this:

eye1

 

Great.  Probably a broken blood vessel but that inner voice that says, “Hey you… you’ve had a slew of pump site problems and some overnight WAY highs that you’ve been sleeping through… A LOT…. now look what happened” was whispering in my ear.  I called and got myself squeezed into an early morning appointment the next day with my retina specialist (he may actually be God).  The next morning (yesterday) it looked even sexier:

eye2

So I saw one of my very favorite doctors, joked about wearing bright red lipstick and a red dress to play up my eye as an “accessory” and WHEW-OH-WHEW got the diabetes all-clear.  WHEW again! I also got the this-will-take-two-weeks-to-heal-news.  Ugh.

As I left the doctor’s office I noticed something a bit clearer than when I’d entered.  Sculptures on Park Avenue.  Alice Aycock’s Park Avenue Paper Chase.  Oh how astonishingly lovely and inspirational.  So there you have it.  The reason I have a retina specialist is because of diabetes.  If my eye didn’t look like a Halloween horror show, I wouldn’t have been at the doctor’s office until August.  Now, I probably would have seen some of these sculptures on other parts of Park Avenue, but definitely not right out of the entryway of my fantastic doctor.  Dammit.  Thanks Diabetes.  grrrrrr.
Aycock

And finally, an update on how eliminating curse words from my vocabulary ($.25 a F-Bomb adds up) is progressing.  Yesterday and today did no favors to my savings, but at least it benefits JDRF.  I would also like to point out something to the right of the jar.  I didn’t notice it until i uploaded the pic.  Know what that is?  Ah serenity now!

JDRFjar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 thoughts on “Missed It, But Thanks Diabetes

  1. I just love your blog, I’m glad Diabetes Blog Week convinced you to start it two years ago (only two years?!)

    I got hit in the eye with the corner of an envelope (didn’t blink in time) when I was a kid and it looked similar to that. I was at camp at the time and I tried to call my mom to tell her my eye was bleeding but it’s pretty difficult to explain.

  2. Your voice was missed this week. This was my first dBlogWeek and it’s been totally overwhelming. If you’d asked me on Wednesday whether I would ever do it again, I would have not hesitated a minute before saying “No!”

    I hope your eye recovers quickly and looking forward to seeing you in September. I’m thinking that my husband will also come on the trip and that with my son’s family, we’ll be four walkers plus one baby in a stroller.

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