Just a Smoke Machine

I wear glasses. My doctor has told me several times that my vision problems aren't diabetes related, just genetics luck of the draw. I do have some cloudiness that shows the start of cataracts on both of my eyes, but neither are affecting my vision. I do have some bleeding in both of my eyes, but it's minimal and also not affecting my vision.

Over the years, one of my greatest fears is loosing

The World’s Worst Sick-O (Sick-y?)

I’m sick. Real people sick. Not super sick, but I’m feeling icky, coughing, hacking, can’t breath, sore throat, swollen eyes, etc. I felt bad enough (coupled with the fact that several members of my family that I spent time with over Thanksgiving have an upper respiratory infection) that I went to the doctor this afternoon. I didn’t want to risk getting any sicker right now because I’m seriously

Diabetes and the Christmas Season

The Christmas season is upon us. There are so many things that come into play this time of year. Gift giving, card sending, baking, decorating, Christmas programs, family, travel, and a host of other things that, while not regulated to one time a year, rarely fall all at the same time of year.

It’s easy to let some things fall by the wayside when you’re dealing with all of these other things

Diabetes Blessings Week 2012

This is the time of year that we are supposed to be reminded of all of the blessings we have in our life. I have many. Even though it sometimes can be difficult to remember them all, God always has a way of dropping things or people in my life to remind me of how truly blessed I am.

Diabetes has a way of taking over your life sometimes. And not in a good way. There are times when the blood

Keeping It Stuck

The other day a fellow D-OC member posted something on facebook that another person was looking for ways to keep her daughter's CGMS taped down as it kept getting ripped out. I have a very complex system. Really. ;)

 

But I wanted to share it and since I changed sensors this morning, I thought I'd share through pictures how I keep my own sensor stuck.

 

As a note, I put my sensor in my leg

World Diabetes Day 2012

November 14th, 2012

World Diabetes Day

 

Diabetes unites us. It's made us friends, family, soul mates. 

But as much as we are about the people that diabetes has brought into our lives,

we'd all love to have a cure.

 

Take a minute today to tell someone why you're wearing blue. Speak up if you hear someone say something that's untrue about diabetes. Share a piece of yourself with someone

Photo A Day Challenge: Diabetes Style

Today begins a month that is dedicated to Diabetes Awareness. Diabetes Awareness Month is a time when we all try to bring awareness, truth, and understanding to diabetes. Not that we don't try every month, but November is kind of "official." :)

One way you can help people understand a little more about diabetes is by joining in on the Photo A Day challenge. If you are on Twitter or Instagram (

No Fun, No Fair

As most of you probably know, I'm a huge fan of live theatre. It's so wonderful to get to see a show, especially if it's one you've been wanting to see for a while. Today I went with a couple of friends of mine to see a show in Nashville. Nashville is about 2 1/2 hours from me, so it was basically an all day trip.

This morning I got up and it was full diabetes change time. Basically, new pump

Steel Magnolias....Updated or Not

On Sunday night the new "updated" version of the classic movie (based on the classic play) Steel Magnolias. I've written about my concern and worry about what this movie reboot would be like. Many of the people in the D-OC have been worried about how diabetes would be approached in the movie. Rightly so, as the original basically made it look like if a woman with diabetes had a baby, she was

So Many Questions

I was talking with a
colleague the other day who knows a young person with diabetes. According to my colleague, this young person (not an adult, but more than old enough to be making adult decisions in regards to health) wasn’t doing a good job with diabetes management, even using diabetes control (or lack of) to “hurt” the caregivers emotionally.

It was hard trying to explain to my co-worker

The "New" Steel Magnolias Movie

I know information about the new version of Steel Magnolias has been floating around on the 'net for more than a while now. I've had mixed feelings about the movie, but I'm pretty sure they aren't for the same reasons that most of the D-OC has. I've been a fan of the movie for years. My mother doesn't care for it, but I can't remember a time when I didn't love it.



Even as a child, I remember

Choices

Life is a series of choices. What shoes to wear, what to eat for lunch, what book to read next, what job to take, what to study in school, what extra curricular activity to pursue, and the list goes on. Some are minor decisions. Some are major. And some seem minor and turn out to be major.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been sticking close home. After traveling so much in the past couple of

Steel Magnolias: Raising Money for JDRF

Steel Magnolias. This movie and/or play is often a source of debate in the Diabetes Online Community. Some people love the show. Others hate it for its ending and somewhat inaccurate portrayal of life with Type 1 diabetes can be. I personally fall in to the “love it” camp, while my mother hangs to the other side. She’s always told me that the thought of anything happening to me, her Type 1

Guilty Pleasures

Before I was taking care of my diabetes the way I should. Before I had CGMS. Before I was testing 8-12 times a day (yes, there was a time before), I had a few foods that I loved to eat. Foods that I would later discover cause major issues with my blood sugar.



The two biggest ones are pizza and cold cereal. I used to eat cereal a couple of times a DAY when I was in college. And like most

Complicated Diabetes

When you have diabetes, there are times that everything feels more complicated. It's something that I, myself, try to hide from most people. Those living with or caring for people with diabetes know better. They know the truth.

A trip out of town requires more packing.

A job requires more questions (do I get paid time off, or sick days? What's the insurance coverage like? How much does it

Happy/Sad

Lately my life has been in upheaval. I've been traveling a LOT since January and I was actually gone as much as I was home in July. It's not work related, and I've enjoyed myself greatly....but sometimes, no matter how hard we try, life and circumstance conspire against us.

Depression and anxiety are things that I've never been formally diagnosed with, but I know I've dealt with at many times

Roche Social Media Summit 2012

For the first time, I was invited to a blogger/advocate summit. July 29-31, I was in Indianapolis, Indiana, courtesy of Roche, maker of Accu-Chek products, as well as many other diabetes related supplies and devices. I put my disclaimer here: Roche paid for all of my travel expenses, including flight, lodging and meals. That being said, all opinions are my own and anything I say in this post,

Questions and More Questions

For the past 3 years, Roche medical company has invited, and paid all expenses for, a group of people in the D-OC to come together. This year is the fourth Roche Social Media Summit. Each year has been a group of people that I felt represented the D-OC very well. There are so many of us out there who are doing what we can with what time and resources we have.

Each year has been different, but I

Any Time Is a Good Time

Anytime is a good time for a d meet-up. I LOVE getting to meet my D-OC friends in real life. It's so great because there is a person you already know you love and have a lot in common with and there's none of the awkward stuff that usually comes with meeting a person for the first time. 

Pumping at the Full House park...apparently
also known as Alamo Square. Who knew??


Sarah and I "met"

Responsibility

Responsibility is a big word. It is a word that I think many people don't like to hear. But it something we all have, even if we choose not to live up to it. Some responsibility is put on us by society. Some by our families. Some by our friends. And sometimes responsibility is something that we put on ourselves.

I started this blog over 5 years ago. Blogging was something I did for myself. I

Stingers and Creepers

I very rarely get a bad infusion site. I'm pretty lucky like that. I don't know why. I do often get what I call "stingers." To me a stinger is a site that stings like CRAZY when you insert it. Sometimes the stinging can last for a while. Sometimes a bolus can hurt when there's a stinger.

With me, a stinger usually goes away by the first day, so I try to stick it out. A little over a week ago, I

Guest Post - Diabetes is No Picnic

Yet again, I've come up on a major writer's block. And yet again my friend Sherry has sent over a guest post. Sherry, you are not only one of the sweetest, most sincere people I know, you're also a lifesaver when it comes to my blog. :)

Sherry's other posts can be found on the Your Voice page. Want to submit a post as well? Click HERE for instructions.

It was like any other summer day in the

The Friendly Side of Flying

As you may know, flying with diabetes can be a flat out pain in the rear. Not only do you have to deal with the "normal" part of flying (3 oz containers, no shoes, carry-on size luggage, etc), when you throw diabetes into the mix you run into rules and regulations and technology issues many times.

I treat my lows with juice boxes most of the time. Since even a small juice box is over the 3

D Blog Week: Diabetes Hero

Our last day of Diabetes Blog Week! Thanks again to my great friend Karen at Bitter-Sweet Diabetes for organizing this wonderful event, yet again.

Let’s end our week on a high note and blog about our “Diabetes Hero”. It can be anyone you’d like to recognize or admire, someone you know personally or not, someone with diabetes or maybe a Type 3. It might be a fabulous endo or CDE. It could be

D-Blog Week: Saturday Snapshots

Day 6 of Diabetes Blog Week

Back for the third year, let’s show everyone what life with diabetes looks like! With a nod to the Diabetes 365 project, let’s grab our cameras again and share some more d-related pictures. Post as many or as few as you’d like. Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures, or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for

D-Blog Week: What They Should Know - Guest Post

My lovely friend Sherry, who has blogged for me before on my Your Voice project, was kind enough to submit another post to me on today's Diabetes Blog Week topic. As always, I am still accepting posts for the Your Voice project. And THANK YOU to Sherry who brightens my day more times than she probably realizes.





The grossly uninformed public! I think this is one of the hardest things for me

D-Blog Week: What They Should Know

Day 5 of Diabetes Blog Week

Today let’s borrow a topic from a #dsma chat held last September. The tweet asked “What is one thing you would tell someone that doesn’t have diabetes about living with diabetes?”. Let’s do a little advocating and post what we wish people knew about diabetes. Have more than one thing you wish people knew? Go ahead and tell us everything.




There are so many

D-Blog Week: Fantasy Diabetes Device

Day 4 of Diabetes Blog Week
Today let’s tackle an idea inspired by Bennet of Your Diabetes May Vary. Tell us what your Fantasy Diabetes Device would be? Think of your dream blood glucose checker, delivery system for insulin or other meds, magic carb counter, etc etc etc. The sky is the limit – what would you love to see?



There are so many fantasy devices that I would love to have. I could

D Blog Week: One Thing To Improve

Day three of Diabetes Blog Week! Today's topic plays off of yesterday's topic.

Yesterday we gave ourselves and our loved ones a big pat on the back for one thing we are great at. Today let’s look at the flip-side. We probably all have one thing we could try to do better. Why not make today the day we start working on it. No judgments, no scolding, just sharing one small thing we can improve

D-Blog Week: One Great Thing

Today's topic for Diabetes Blog Week:

Living with diabetes (or caring for someone who lives with it) sure does take a lot of work, and it’s easy to be hard on ourselves if we aren’t “perfect”. But today it’s time to give ourselves some much deserved credit. Tell us about just one diabetes thing you (or your loved one) does spectacularly! Fasting blood sugar checks, oral meds sorted and ready

D-Blog Week: Find A Friend

Time for the first post of this year's Diabetes Blog Week, the brain-child of my good friend (and pseudo twin!) Karen, who blogs at Bitter-Sweet Diabetes. If you haven't signed up yet, there's still time! Check it out HERE.

Today's topic:

It seems the most popular thing about Diabetes Blog Week is that it helps us find blogs we weren’t reading yet and connect with some new blog friends. With

The Break...How's It Going?

So, as some of you know, I'm still on my break from my CGMS. It's been weird. Good. Bad. Crazy. I have been testing my blood sugar more often. Not as often as I was pre-CGMS, but more. And I'm working on testing even more. Thank goodness for pump alarms that I can set to remind me.

The most annoying thing that I've been doing is getting up to do a 2:30 am test. I'll admit, I don't do it every

The Plan to Fix the Problem

So the past 6 to 8 months have been somewhat of a struggle for me. I've been laying down on the job, so to speak. Diabetes burnout takes many forms, but for me it's been nagging and ongoing in a way that I'm done dealing with.

As most of you know, my blogging has taken a back seat to other things in my life. My time on twitter (at least my "diabetes" account) has been less and less. This is an

Having My Fears Calmed: The Eye Appointment

This post is actually way, way overdue. Back a couple of years ago there was bleeding found in both of my eyes. The thing that every person with diabetes dreads hearing. I was determined to get a second opinion for a couple of reasons. The biggest one was that I'm paranoid. Bleeding in my eyes is something that I have dreaded for years. When they found it, I wanted to be sure that everything was

Instant Friends...just add water (or coffee)

I've never been exactly good at meeting new people. I tend to be slightly awkward and uncomfortable when it comes to people I've never met before. I've gotten better in recent years and I owe a lot of thanks to the D-OC for that.

The thing about meeting new people online is that the instant awkward meeting is almost nullified by the safety of the internet. We get to know each other before every

Diabetes Alert Day

Today is Diabetes Alert Day. What's that? Well, it's a day that is celebrated (??) once a year. The American Diabetes Association, and other around the world, encourage people to take the Diabetes Risk Test. This test takes several things into consideration (family history, weight, health, etc.) and determines if you are at high, moderate or low risk of developing diabetes (specifically, Type 2

Diabetes Camp Letter

In the summer of 1990, when I was 9  years old, I attended the now defunct Camp Liwidia. I remember a lot of things about camp. Very few of them pertaining to diabetes. I remember on camper in my cabin having a low in the middle of the night. I remember that all of the camp counselors had fanny packs full of test kits and glucose tabs. I remember group testing and injecting before meals.


The

MTV True Life - I Have Diabetes

Wow. I just spent the last hour watching a much anticipated episode of MTV True Life. Months ago (maybe even a year ago?), MTV put out a casting call for people living with diabetes. They made it sound....depressing. And very much T2 oriented. After many emails to MTV, they rewrote their casting call and made it more universal. And slightly less depressing.

Of course, none of us actually

A Million Little Things

A new year is upon us and I'm sad to say that in the past month I've been rather lax in keeping up with my diabetes blog. However, I have had a day today. A day I'd like to share with you.

For the past two days my blood sugar has been running almost perfectly. I've gotten high predictor and low predictor alarms, but I hadn't actually had a high or low alarm in almost 36 hours. I have NO idea