Moments of Wonderful

Diabetes Blog Week Day 5 – The obvious choice

Sara — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:56:20 +0000

With all due respect to the friends who suggested the topic for today, nothing good can come from comparing medical conditions. I’ve seen people live long and happy lives with diabetes, and I’ve seen the opposite. I’ve seen people live long and happy lives with other chronic health conditions and I’ve seen the opposite. I am taking another pass on today’s topic.

Since I already used the other wild card earlier in the week, the only thing left for me to talk about today is my concept for an ideal diabetes service animal.

What is the ideal diabetes service animal? Think beyond the obvious and be creative in explaining why your choice is a good one. For example, maybe a seal would make a good service animal – it flaps its flippers and barks every time you get a good blood sugar reading! (Thanks to Tristan of Based on a True Story for this topic suggestion.)

My first meet-up ever with diabetes included a diabetes service dog – Dixie – and she was awesome. One of us at the table ended up low after dinner and Dixie kindly alerted before the person even felt low.

My second experience with a diabetes service dog was when I roomed with Becca (and her owner of course) at Friends for Life in 2011. Other than when she tried to attack Kim and I when we interrupted her sleep when we came in too late at night, she was an awesome roommate.

Dogs are great and all, but I am slightly allergic. I think the challenges might outweigh the benefits for me. With a hat tip to Jeff, I think the best option for a diabetes service animal would be my two cats. Not just any cats, my cats specifically.

I’ve had Bes and Rose almost as long as I have had diabetes. By this time they must be familiar with the daily management of the disease.

They don’t like to nibble on pump tubing, test strips, or infusion sites. Diabetes supplies are totally safe around Bes and Rose.

They have no problem getting my attention so I think they’d have no problem with alerting. If their food dish is empty (or even close to empty), they let me know. When we lived in Florida, if a lizard slipped under the door they would sit in front of it and alert until I did something about it.

They love to be rewarded. Rose especially, will do just about anything for a treat. I taught her how to sit and stand on command for a simple treat. They are so motivated by food, I am sure I can train them to do just about anything.

They love to cuddle. At least one of them is within a few feet, if not just inches, of me every minute I am home. They’d be close enough to alert and changes in blood sugar at any moment in time.

I can’t count the times I’ve been woken up at all hours of the night. No fear of not waking up due to hypoglycemia in my sleep. I’m sure they’d just walk across my back and poke my face with their paws like they do any other night if they needed to get my attention.

The only problem I can see with this perfect plan is actually getting them to care about anyone other than themselves.

#catproblems

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Diabetes Blog Week Day 4 – I lived

Sara — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:08:45 +0000

We don’t always realize it, but each one of us had come a long way since diabetes first came into our life. It doesn’t matter if it’s been 5 weeks, 5 years or 50 years, you’ve done something outstanding diabetes-wise. So today let’s share the greatest accomplishment you’ve made in terms of dealing with your (or your loved one’s) diabetes… (Thanks to Hilary of Rainie and Me for this topic suggestion.)

I wrote about my proudest accomplishment so far in my life with diabetes last year for Diabetes Blog Week and I already used one of the wild card topics so I am going to put a bit of a different spin on today’s topic.

This is a story of a time where I am just proud that I managed to accomplish staying alive.

I’ve written about the trip before, but just about a week after I got out of the hospital for my diabetes diagnosis, some friends and I headed to Vegas for my birthday weekend. At the time, I was taking NPH and Humalog. I took both insulins just at breakfast and dinner – the NPH at a set dose and the Humalog on a sliding scale based on what my blood sugar was at the time.

From what I can remember (it WAS ten years ago), most of the trip went just fine. It wasn’t until the last day that I got myself in serious trouble. The plan was to check out of the room and head down to the buffet for breakfast before hitting the road back to California.

I still wasn’t that good at drawing up the insulin from the vials and hadn’t really done it in public yet – not in a public restroom and certainly not at a restaurant table. I decided I would dose my insulin in the room and then we could head down to the buffet.

It was my first time in Vegas so I didn’t have any idea about the buffet lines. I didn’t know too much about insulin yet, but when they told us the line could have been up to an hour and a half, I knew I couldn’t wait that long.

One of my friends (the one who was responsible for getting me to the ER the night I was diagnosed and basically saving my life) had been to Vegas a few times before and knew her way around. She suggested that we go to a chain restaurant down the road – certainly they would be able to seat us faster.

We retrieved the car from self park and set off to find our breakfast. As we approached the restaurant, I could tell that this place was not going to be any better for me – there were crowds of people waiting all around the parking lot. We decided to not even stop and just keep driving. We figured that the further we got away from The Strip the less people there would be and the more likely it would be that we could find a place to get some food.

We finally found another chain breakfast place, and I told my friends before we even went inside that no matter how long the line was, we would really need to wait and just eat there.

I’m not sure if it would have helped any but we never mentioned that I had diabetes until we were seated in our booth about 30 minutes later. As you can imagine, at that point I really felt LOW. I’m not sure that I had even experienced hypoglycemia before that morning! We told the waitress that I had diabetes and needed some juice as soon as possible. Every single seat in the place was full and it seemed like it was taking hours for her to get back to the table.

Seconds felt like hours. I was sweating, shaky, and my brain was feeling really fuzzy. I was sure that I was going to pass out at the table. Finally someone remembered that the car was packed with snacks. I gave my friend my breakfast order in case the waitress came back (because apparently that was still important in my low brain), grabbed the keys, and headed out to the car.

I still remember feeling like I was floating and not actually taking any steps as I made my way out to the parking lot. It took a while for my shaking hands to manage the key in the lock. I just remember sitting in the back seat with the door open eating snacks from the bag. There must have been more but the only thing that I can clearly remember eating were a bunch of no sugar added sandwich cookies (because people with diabetes can’t have sugar of course).

One week into life with diabetes, my biggest accomplishment was just surviving.

Diabetes Blog Week Day 3 – Memorable Moments

Sara — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:47:13 +0000

Today we’re going to share our most memorable diabetes day. You can take this anywhere…. your or your loved one’s diagnosis, a bad low, a bad high, a big success, any day that you’d like to share. (Topic suggestion from Jasmine of Silver-Lined)

I could write about the crazy stories of high blood sugars or the even crazier stories of low blood sugars but my favorite memory of my life with diabetes so far is July 5, 2011.

I had met friends with diabetes before, but there was something extra special about that day.

That was the first day I met many of the people for the first time who have become some of my closest friends (with or without diabetes – do we still need this disclaimer?!).

There are many stories from that day, including trying to figure out what the deal was with the one guy whose jokes didn’t make sense until I found out about his real job. He still doesn’t make a ton of sense, but now I know that is just him.

I also remember a few days later being part of a conversation with a new friend (and FFL roommate) as she spoke hopefully about the future – a future that is now happening!

There are plenty of annoying, frustrating, scary, and discouraging “memorable” moments with diabetes but I don’t have to look very far to find the really wonderful ones too.

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Diabetes Blog Week Day 2 – Wild and thin

Sara — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:46:40 +0000

My fantasy diabetes device…

… is a CGM where the needle…

… just keeps getting thinner and thinner.

I’m choosing the wildcard post option today because I’m completely petitioned out.

And I just took out my first Dexcom G4 sensor after 23 days. I actually thought the wire was still inside my leg because it it is so thin that I did not see it at first glance. It reminded me of the pictures that I’ve taken of my CGM sensors before. The G4 wire is 60% smaller than the Seven Plus version, and who knows how much smaller than the sensor wire from my first CGM experience.

Back by popular demand, let’s revisit this prompt from last year! 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?

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Diabetes Blog Week Day 1 – Dear Doc

Sara — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:15:00 +0000

This week begins Diabetes Blog Week – the time in which the diabetes blogging community unites behind a series of topics to provide education, entertainment, and support for ourselves and others. The topics and list of participants are hosted at Bittersweet Diabetes.

Today’s topic (by Melissa) –
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Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one’s daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don’t see?

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I’ve had seven endocrinologists in my ten years with diabetes. Some of them I have only seen for one appointment and some I have seen for years. This letter is a collective approach to all of them.

Dear Doc –

Thank you for seeing me this early in the morning. I’m not a morning person and I’d schedule the appointment for later in the day if I thought there was any chance I could see you without having to wait in the waiting room for over an hour.

I know that you see patient after patient with the same condition and it probably feels like you are repeating yourself over and over to people who aren’t even listening. I can promise you that I am listening. I can also promise you that when you walk into the exam room quoting research studies and diabetes statistics without finding out anything about me first, the rest of the appointment will not go well and I will not trust that you have my best interests in mind.

We both live with diabetes every day. Since endocrinology is not a highly compensated field, I know you must care about what you do. But for me, it’s personal. I know it takes extra time and concentration, but please treat me as an individual and get to know me (or at least read my chart on your way in the door) so that we can work together to find the best treatment for me.

I’ve only been doing this a comparatively short amount of time and that means that there are disagreements that we have never had to have – for that I am very thankful. We’ve never had the fight about logging. That’s good because I’m not going to do it. I choose technology that does the work for me, because we both know nobody wants to deal with any extra steps. I expect you to embrace this technology and help me review the reports I’ve downloaded at home or the ones we can download together in your office.

Speaking of technology, I would love to be able to email your office and receive a reply. I know you are worried about HIPPA violations, but there has to be a way we can maintain privacy and still communicate between appointments. Speaking of communication, I’ll back off on the email issue if you agree to get a phone system that actually works.

Most days I feel like I’ve got this whole diabetes thing under control, but some days I don’t. Thank you for being there for me to help me problem solve and get back on track. I know I have told you that I am a diabetes advocate and that I write a diabetes blog. You don’t seem very interested, but don’t worry, I’m not offended. I just wanted to remind you that sometimes that community of people who I connect with online (and more often now in person too) help keep me on track too.

Signed,

Your favorite patient

P.S. I’ve lost two of you so far to maternity leave (and once for twins), so if you could stop doing that I would really appreciate it.

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Wordless Wednesday: Excellent function

Sara — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:15:13 +0000

Weird dreams aside, exceptional algorithms.

P.S. Get it – function? An algorithm is the method for calculating a function… I love a good math joke!

P.P.S. What did zero say to eight?

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Dexcom dreams

Sara — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:54:25 +0000

I had the strangest dream Sunday night. I was so odd that I wrote down part of it so I wouldn’t forget when I got out of bed because I needed to be able to talk about it.

I was headed to a birthday party for one of my friends with diabetes. It wasn’t just a feeling that this was someone I knew – it was actually an identifiable member of the diabetes blogging community. I was standing outside the party waiting for him to arrive. Somehow I knew he had recently been to the doctor so as he walked up to the party I asked him how he was doing.

He said he was doing well but I could tell that something was wrong so I asked again. Apparently his doctor told him “I think you are the only one that should know about the buzzes and beeps.” [that’s the part I wrote down]

What the heck does that mean?

Do you think it was really supposed to be about the other person? Should I tell them? Is it about me? Why do I have subconscious issues with the Dexcom? Does this mean I should stop posting Dexcom pictures (see attached)?

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On basal testing

Sara — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:45:33 +0000

Before I had a CGM, my preferred method of basal testing was using one of the charts from the book Pumping Insulin. I would wait for a blood sugar in range, fast, and test my blood sugar every hour (or two) to watch for changes. This was especially fun at night.

Now I can’t remember the last time I did that version of basal testing. When Diasend worked with my CGM and/or when I still had a computer that was compatible with Dexcom software, I would just look at a chart comparing several days of graphs to spot any patterns.

One side benefit of obsessively capturing pictures of ~~your~~ my CGM, is that I can use the resulting snapshots to try to capture the same type of trends. I don’t know what it is, but for the past week or so my basal rates just seem all wrong. I haven’t changed the type of food I am eating or the amount of exercise. Usually when the weather warms up, I actually end up reducing my amount of basal. Instead I’ve had to run a temporary basal increase every night to stay in range which I sleep, and I’ve bolused more times for corrections than I have for food. I took a little time last night to analyze all the dots, and I think I made all the necessary adjustments.

I had some supervision.

I’m wondering if people with CGMs still do the “old-fashioned” version of basal testing. Anyone?

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Fund research and wear flats

Sara — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:14:08 +0000

Just because I prefer jeans and a t-shirt to just about anything and my makeup routine usually only includes lip gloss, doesn’t mean I don’t also like to dress up when the situation requires it. And finding a cure for type 1 diabetes is certainly a situation that requires it.

As I mentioned on Thursday, this was my first time attending a JDRF gala event (as a volunteer). Even from the sidelines, it appeared to be a great event. Before dinner there was a silent auction and the mayor stopped by to share some kind words about the guest of honor. The live auction included celebrity chef catered meals, trips, puppies, cars, and just about anything in between.

The last part of the auction was the Fund a Cure video presentation. This 10 minute video alone raised over $320,500 for research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. To stand in the room as that amount of money was donated was encouraging and inspiring.

I’m glad I was about to take part in this year’s Gala of Hope. I look forward to participating again next year but if I attend as a volunteer, I will definitely make a better choice in shoes.

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Shopping and searching

Sara — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:47:45 +0000

The gala for my local JDRF chapter is tomorrow night, and while I can’t afford a ticket* I can afford to volunteer. This still meant I needed a new dress, so I headed over to the mall during my lunch break from work.

Apparently I don’t shop for dresses very often because even the most popular search engine on the internet decided that this event needed to be captured. JDRF Gala – now including search engine optimization.

*Can we talk about how most people with diabetes have not been to a gala because the tickets are so stinking expensive?! Something feels wrong about that! Does anyone’s chapter offer a diabetes discount or anything?

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