Changes - #DBlogWeek Day 4

Welcome to Day Four of the Sixth Annual Diabetes Blog Week.  As we pass the halfway point of the week I hope you’ve been having fun and discovering some great new blogging friends.  I know I sure have, so thank you to everyone participating!

Today’s topic is Changes.  Today let's talk about changes, in one of two ways.  Either tell us what you'd most like to see change about diabetes, in any way.  This can be management tools, devices, medications, people's perceptions, your own feelings – anything at all that you feel could use changing.  OR reflect back on some changes you or your loved one has seen or been through since being diagnosed with diabetes.  Were they expected or did they surprise you?

I can't help but think about today's topic as my past, my present and my future.

When I was diagnosed, dinosaurs roamed the Earth and we used spikes from Stegosaurus tails as lancets.  Okay, okay, I might be exaggerating a bit.  But things were very different.  Urine testing.  Exchange diet.  One injection a day.  R and NPH insulin.  Sugar was strictly taboo.  Control was poor. 

Today, things have changed quite a bit.  Blood sugar testing and CGM.  Carb counting.  Insulin pump.  Apidra.  Nothing is off limits if I work to make it work.  Instead of “control” I try to say “management” and it’s better than it was 35 years ago.

So does that mean I’m happy to hold this status quo for the future?  Hell no!  There is still too much diabetes work involved in our lives.  Things need to be smaller and easier and more automated.  Three decades ago my family got our first cable box - a large push-button device that didn’t come with a remote.  That’s right, we had to get off the couch every time we wanted to change the channel.  Today I can program the DVR in my living room in Connecticut while I’m in California.  (I’m not in California, but I could do this if I flew out.)  This is what I want for diabetes.  Big advancements that I can’t even dream up yet.  (Because when I pushed those clunky cable box buttons I couldn’t have imagined the sleek DVR boxes and smartphones I’d be using today.)

I may not be able to tell you specifically what I want and how it can happen.  I just know we still need much better.


Here are more Changes - Thursday 5/14 posts.

What is Diabetes Blog Week? Click here for an explanation and to sign up.  You can also check out a list of participants over here.

Clean it Out - #DBlogWeek Day 3

Welcome to Day Three of the Sixth Annual Diabetes Blog Week.  If you have signed up to participate, please check the Participant’s List to make sure I’ve added you correctly.  I tried my hardest but the chances are slim that I didn’t mess up an entry or two.  So please email me if your listing needs to be corrected and please accept my apology for the error.  Also if you are blogging along with DBlogWeek but haven’t officially signed up yet, please do so here so I can add you to the participant’s list.  The list will remain available well after Diabetes Blog Week is over as a Blog Roll of sorts and I’d love to include your blog on it.

Today’s topic is Clean it Out.  Yesterday we kept stuff in, so today let's clear stuff out.  What is in your diabetic closet that needs to be cleaned out?  This can be an actual physical belonging, or it can be something you're mentally or emotionally hanging on to.  Why are you keeping it and why do you need to get rid of it?  (Thank you Rick of RA Diabetes for this topic suggestion.)

There are a lot of things I could clean out of my emotional diabetes closet.  I am inclined to say that getting some therapy wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I’ve never quite gotten around to it.  (A therapist could probably tell me why I keep putting it off.)  But anyway, I feel like my first two posts of the week were kind of heavy, so I’m not going to delve into my emotional diabetes closet today.  Instead, I’m going to take a look at my physical diabetes closet and all of the stuff I’m holding on to that should just be cleaned out.



This is some of the stuff I’ve stashed in a couple of boxes in my diabetes closet.  It’s stuff I haven’t used in years.  Old meters, old lancing devices, and tons and tons of lancets.  There are a bunch of instruction booklets and empty boxes from my pump and my current meter.  There is a bag of pen needle tips, a glucose tablet keychain, a thigh pouch for my pump (that no longer fits my thigh) and a box of Tegaderm which I haven’t used since switching to the Enlite sensor.  There is also a photo-bombing cat, but she can definitely stay!!

Why am I keeping all of this stuff?  I have no idea.  I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t use some extra closet space to fill with . . . um . . . something.  (Okay, it’s shoes!!  I always could use more shoes!!)  And come on, do I really need to be a lancet hoarder?  Is there ever really going to be a lancet shortage than I need to prepare for?  I don’t think so.  It might just be time for a Spring Diabetes Supply Purge!!  (And then maybe some shoe shopping.)


Here are more Clean it Out - Wednesday 5/13 posts.

What is Diabetes Blog Week? Click here for an explanation and to sign up.  You can also check out a list of participants over here.

Keep it to Yourself - #DBlogWeek Day 2

It’s Day Two of the Sixth Annual Diabetes Blog Week.  Before I jump into today’s topic, I wanted to take a moment to thank Scott Benner for hosting me on the Juicebox Podcast.  I had a great time chatting with Scott.  If you’d like to have a listen, you can find the episode here.

Okay, on with #DBlogWeek.  Today’s topic is Keep it to Yourself.  Many of us share lots of aspects of our diabetes lives online for the world to see.  What are some of the aspects of diabetes that you choose to keep private from the internet?  Or from your family and friends?  Why is it important to keep it to yourself?  (This is not an attempt to get you out of your comfort zone.  There is no need to elaborate or tell personal stories related to these aspects.  Simply let us know what kinds of stories we will never hear you tell, and why you won't tell them.) (Thank you Scott E of Rolling in the D for this topic.)

I'm pretty much an open book when blogging about anything diabetes related.  I’ll share my triumphs and my struggles, the things that work for me and the things I need to improve, and even some fairly personal stuff that has to do with diabetes.  If something doesn’t have a diabetes connection at all, I’m probably not likely to share it because this is a diabetes blog, right?  And anyway, diabetes seeps its way into an awfully big chunk of our lives, doesn’t it?

There is, however, one diabetes story I haven’t written about in detail.  And that is the Glucagon story.  I did write a tiny bit about the incident but at the time I didn’t feel up to rehashing all of the details.



Honestly, even though it’s now almost two years later, I still can’t bring myself to write about it.  I’ve told the story to friends in person.  I carry guilt over what happened that night.  Part of me feels like I should share so others can learn from the mistakes I made.  But overall, I just don’t want to.  And I think maybe I never will.  And I’m trying to decide if that’s okay, or if it’s a blogging fail.


Here are more Keep it to Yourself - Tuesday 5/12 posts.

What is Diabetes Blog Week? Click here for an explanation and to sign up.  You can also check out a list of participants over here.

I Can - #DBlogWeek Day 1

Welcome to the first day of the Sixth Annual Diabetes Blog Week.  I’m thrilled to see many past participants signing up again.  And I’m equally excited to see that there are so many new blogs are joining in for the first time.    If you didn’t sign-up yet, it isn’t too late.  The sign-up form and other information you need can be found in this post.

Let’s get started!  Today’s topic is I Can.  In the UK, there was a diabetes blog theme of "I can...”  that participants found wonderfully empowering.  So lets kick things off this year by looking at the positive side of our lives with diabetes.  What have you or your loved one accomplished, despite having diabetes, that you weren't sure you could?  Or what have you done that you've been particularly proud of?  Or what good thing has diabetes brought into your life?  (Thank you to the anonymous person who submitted this topic suggestion.)

Two weeks from tomorrow I will turn 47.  And I am healthy.

Several years back I wrote a little bit about my aunt who died of diabetes complications when I was in high school.  I thought the things I saw her go through were the things my future would hold.  I thought it didn’t really matter if I tried to manage diabetes or not.  I remember laying in bed as a teenager and counting how many healthy years I had left.  I figured it was less than ten.  Definitely not 15.

And now it’s been 30 years since I stared at the ceiling and counted the years I had left.  I can dare to dream that at least another 30 are ahead of me.  I feel very fortunate that, for whatever reason, my body seems to be holding up despite what diabetes does to it.  I try to never take that for granted.

Living with a chronic illness sometimes means the thing I’ve accomplished that I didn’t think I could is simply living.  I can grow old.


Here are more I Can - Monday 5/11 posts.

What is Diabetes Blog Week? Click here for an explanation and to sign up.  You can also check out a list of participants over here.

Sixth Annual Diabetes Blog Week

Can you believe it’s time for Diabetes Blog Week number SIX!  I remember that first year when I wasn’t even sure anyone would be interested in participating.  I was so thrilled that so many bloggers were game, and then wanted to do it again.  During the second year  DBlog Week grew, and it continued to grow over the third year and fourth year and fifth year.  And now here we are at six!  I'm so grateful for all of the enthusiasm and support Diabetes Blog Week has received year after year from the D.O.C.  I’m thrilled to do this each year and thankful for all the help I’ve received to make Diabetes Blog Week happen again and again.  So, are you ready?  Here we go!


 

What inspired Diabetes Blog Week?  For those of you who haven’t participated before, Diabetes Blog Week was originally inspired by a fiber-blogger event called Knitting and Crochet Blog Week.  When I participated that first year on my knitting blog I loved the way it united the community, and I knew I wanted to try to do the same for the DOC.

How does Diabetes Blog Week work?  The main idea for Diabetes Blog Week  is that bloggers sign up to post about a set topic each day for a week.  This way, readers can jump around the DBlog Community and get a big variety of different perspectives on a single topic.  The hope is that new DOC connections are made, and that our voices are raised to spread a little more diabetes awareness.

When is Diabetes Blog Week?  The sixth annual Diabetes Blog Week  will take place next week, from May 11th through May 17th.  

Where can I find the Diabetes Blog Week topics?  You can find the topics for next week on the Topics and Posts page.  They’ve been posted in advance, just in case you want to start drafting your posts this week.  (Remember not to publish your post until that specific day though!)   Use the topics as a starting point for your post each day and see where it takes you.  Write as much or as little as you like.  There are no right or wrong answers - just read over the topic and start blogging!  I've also included two wild card topics to choose from.  If one day’s topic doesn’t inspire you, feel free to post about one of the wild card topics instead!  

Who can participate in Diabetes Blog Week?  DBlog Week is open to anyone who blogs about diabetes - be it Type 1, Type 2, LADA, gestational, etc, and it’s also for parents, spouses and caregivers to someone else with diabetes.  If you blog about diabetes in any capacity, please join us!  The more perspectives that are shared the more connections we can make and understanding we can foster.  If you don’t have a blog but have thought about starting one, now is the perfect time.  There are free blogging sites (such as Blogger or Wordpress) that you can use to get started.  

Can blogs done by groups, organizations and companies join?  I like to make Diabetes Blog Week as inclusive as possible, so yes, group blogs and professional blogs are welcome to join.  However, the posts must be written by a blogger with a diabetes connection.  Also product plugs / advertising will not be allowed.  Posts that do no adhere to this policy will be removed from the master link lists.  (More about those lists below.)  

What if I can’t write posts for all seven days?  The idea for Diabetes Blog Week is that everyone who signs up to participate will post on all seven days.  Although that is the goal, I absolutely understand that life sometimes gets in the way, so if you end up falling short of seven posts that’s okay.  Diabetes can be stressful enough, so let’s keep DBlog Week fun and stress free!  

How do I sign up?  Once again, I’ve created a form to submit your information.  Fill it out and you will be signed up and added to the Participant List within 24 hours.  There is a space on the form for you to let me know if you have any questions, and you can also email me at any time at DBlogWeek@bittersweetdiabetes.com.

Fill out my online form.

Will there be a master list of posts for each day?  There sure will!  I’ve included daily Link Lists on the Diabetes Blog Week topics page.  Once you’ve published your post each day, be sure to add it to the that day’s list by entering your blog name and the url of that day's post.  This way we’ll have all posts linked in one central location, which makes it easier for people to hop around and read all of the posts.  Please do not “pre-post” your links - links may only be added on the day that we’re blogging about that topic and your post must be live on your blog when you link it.  (Early posts will be deleted from the list.)  

How about a button or banner for my blog?  I’m so grateful to Mike Lawson (@MrMikeLawson) for donating his talent and time to the cause again this year and providing fantastic DBlogWeek graphics.  If you’d like to display the button or banner on your blog you’ll find the HTML Codes below - just to make things a little bit easier.  Highlight the code in the box, then copy and paste it into the HTML section of your blog’s sidebar or post or where ever you want to display the graphic.

Grab the Button <a href="http://www.bittersweetdiabetes.com/2015/05/diabetes-blog-week.html"><img border="0" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8718/16961638558_93ba336879_o.jpg" /></a>   Grab the Banner <a href="http://www.bittersweetdiabetes.com/2015/05/diabetes-blog-week.html"><img border="0" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8772/16529245533_9739d501a5_o.jpg" /></a>
What if I want to tweet or Facebook about Diabetes Blog Week?  That would be awesome, you can use the hashtag #DBlogWeek.  

What else do I  need to know?  Great question.  I’ve tried to cover everything, but I’m sure I missed something.  So please leave any questions in the comments section below or email them to me at  DBlogWeek@bittersweetdiabetes.com.  I'll be sure to answer you as soon as I can.

Thank you all again for the overwhelming support during the last five Diabetes Blog Weeks, and I’m thrilled to be doing it a sixth time!

#IWishPeopleKnewThatDiabetes . . . .

Last week while I was sick I missed out on #IWishPeopleKnewThatDiabetes Day, an initiative organized by Kelly.  So in “better late than never” style I wanted to jump in now.


My perspective on this is due in part to my participation in the Health E Voices conference a couple of weekends ago.  The conference brought together people from a variety of different health communities, including rheumatoid arthritis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, lupus, HIV, mental health,  different types of cancer and more.  How much do you know about any of these conditions?  Are you sure that what you know is actually correct?  I realized that weekend how much I don’t know about other health conditions - even ones that have affected my own family members.  For example, my grandmother had rheumatoid arthritis but I know very little about it other than it made it very hard for her to grip things with her hands and that knitting helped her.

I sat with these people, who are my peers but who live with conditions I know very little about.  And as it turns out, many knew little about diabetes.  So we talked.  We connected.  We respectfully, and somewhat apologetically, admitted to not knowing about each other’s conditions.  And it was okay.  And we shared.  And we learned a lot from each other.  And we realized that although we lived with different health concerns, we had so much in common.  It was pretty magical.

Photo provided by Janssen conference photographer.

 So what do #IWishPeopleKnewThatDiabetes?  I wish people knew that diabetes is not something I expect you to know everything about.  And that much of what you think you know may not be correct.  And that is absolutely okay, because unless you or someone very close to you lives with diabetes there is no reason for you to know the ins and outs.  And that you are more than welcome to ask me, in a respectful and honest manner.  Don’t be embarrassed for not knowing.  Just be open to learning and understand that I (mostly) know what I’m talking about because I’ve lived with diabetes for more than 35 years.  And I’m willing to share my perspective.

Disclosure:  Janssen Global Services paid for my travel expenses for the conference. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

The Lost Week . . . .

It’s almost like last week never really happened.  Last Sunday I returned from the Health E Voices conference with a sore throat, which I blamed on my hour spent in the not so clean (and kinda scary) Newark train station.  (I’ll most definitely be sharing more about the conference soon, but I was invited by and my travel and accommodations were paid for by the host, Janssen.)  I often end up with colds when I travel, so I didn’t think much of it.  On Monday I was pretty congested so I spent most of the day resting.  Usually that helps me recover fairly quickly.

This time that wasn’t the case.  By Tuesday I was much worse and had spiked a fever.  As I said,  I often pick up colds when I travel, and I’ve been very susceptible to colds for as long as I can remember, but I almost never have a fever.  I can’t even recall how long ago my last fever was.  So I spent the day in bed.  On Wednesday morning the fever was gone and I felt better so I headed off to a meeting.  Bad idea.  But the afternoon my fever was back and higher than before, and I felt even worse.  I ended staying in bed right through until yesterday, when I finally felt well enough to venture out for a few hours.

The problem is, I missed a lot of stuff while I was sick.  I’m most disappointed about having to cancel my trip to the DiabetesSisters Leadership Institute over the weekend.  I also needed to cancel a few other appointments during the week and I’m now completely behind on Diabetes Blog Week preparations and other general life stuff.  And my house is a wreck (which I hate!!).

So yes, I was Real People Sick <--- click then scroll down  and I was really sad and disappointed to  miss out on a whole bunch of stuff.  But I thought about how I would have felt if I had been Diabetes Sick and had to cancel my entire week.  And you know what?  It would’ve been much worse.  I would have been so angry.  I would have felt like a failure.  Why is that?  Why do I continue to let diabetes get the best of my emotions.  Sick is sick - it shouldn’t matter if my body can’t handle a germy invasion or a diabetes invasion.  But somehow it does, right?  Do you get more upset at being diabetes sick rather than real people sick too?

Green Lancet . . . .

Over the weekend it was finally warm enough to go for a run outside.  Pete and I decided to start training all over again since it had been a really long time since we’d done any running at all.  In fact, I hadn’t run since that terrible 5K knocked away any confidence.  I think I will, in time, do another 5K.  But I have no immediate plan for when that might be.  I’ve decided that for now we can run just to run.  No pressure on distance or speed or being able to do 3 miles without stopping.  A goal can be a great thing to work toward, but sometimes NOT having a goal nagging at me works better because I don’t feel like I’m failing over and over.

Anyway, there we were, huffing and puffing our way through that first training run along our neighborhood route.  As we began a walk segment, Pete said “Hey, did you see that lancet back there?  It was green.  Not the kind you use.”  So, of course, we backtracked and there it was!  (And by the way, major points to the hubby for remembering what kind of lancet I use!)


I don’t know why finding diabetes trash (that isn’t mine) always gives me a little thrill.  I guess it’s because I love finding other people with diabetes.  When I see misplaced d-trash, I wonder who left it behind.  Did I miss them by just a few minutes or by a few days?  Did the lancet fall out of their case during an impromptu blood sugar check because walking made them low?  Did they remember to stash some glucose tablets in their pocket before heading out?  And will our paths ever cross in the future?

One small green lancet can bring up so many questions and emotions . . .