February 2021 Update:
Hey there! I found some more words and shoved them into a book. Rage Bolus & Other Poems is a collection of diabetes-centric poetry that I’ve written over the last few years, touching on everything from the emotional influence chronic illness has had on my life to earning the pizza bolus calculation after a knock-down-drag-out battle with pancreas. (True-ish story.)
You can order your copy of Rage Bolus & Other Poems from Amazon, or from me directly via Square.
And now …
Thank you for visiting Six Until Me! My name is Kerri, and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in September of 1986. It’s really nice to meet you, if you’re finding this space for the first time. (And welcome back, if you’ve visited before.)
I created this site on May 4, 2005 and maintained it with love as part of the diabetes online community from May 2005 – May 2019. It is no longer being updated and comments are no longer being posted, but these pages remain archived here because patient storytellers put disease into the context of real life. That matters. Our collective stories change the way people see diabetes.
The stories that have been written here for the last 14 years might still resonate for new readers and could be fun to revisit for seasoned SUM friends. I hope you find something here that makes you feel empowered and less alone with diabetes. There is life after diagnosis, and it is filled with as much hope and possibility as any other.
Maybe even more.
– Kerri.
p.s. If you’d like to keep up with my next round of projects, you can sign up for my sometimes newsletter down there in the footer, or you can visit KerriSparling.com by clicking the image below.
If You’re Looking for Something Specific:
- pregnancy with type 1 diabetes
- diabetes and parenting
- traveling and diabetes
- pumping insulin
- diabetes-related complications
- wearing diabetes devices
- the emotions of diabetes
- diabetes advocacy
- diabetes poetry
- psychosocial support and diabetes
Some of my favorite posts:
- Why Six Until Me?
- 25 Years with Diabetes: What I’ve Learned
- Thirty-One Years with Type 1 Diabetes
- Filling Back Up
- World Diabetes Day: 2013
- I Can.
- What is it like to take insulin?
- The droid you’re looking for
- How to Have Sex with an Insulin Pump
- On the other side
- Instead of Making Insulin …
- What I’ve Learned After 14 Years of Blogging About My Health
… and I can’t pretend not to like all the goofy diabetes poetry posts the most.