Some diabetes concerns feel normal – worrying about low blood sugars or diabetes related complications. But worrying graphically and incessantly about my insulin pump being catapulted through me in the event of airbags deploying feels like a bit much. … and then again, it seems kind of normal to worry about weird shit like this. You might also like: Not…
It’s a picnic. I’m wearing a maxi dress with pockets and my infusion set is on my arm, the tubing snaking discreetly into the body of the dress, disappearing. “Hi, nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you, too!” I don’t know everyone but that’s okay; kids are running everywhere, it’s a beautiful day, sunshine like whoa. “Do you mind…
“Hewwo? Hewwo?” My little Guy thinks my insulin pump is a phone. A phone that I casually keep in my bra. You might also like: OMG MY PHONE. Emergency Plan. Phone Call Shuffle. Site Change
“I’m going to change my pump really quickly while you’re finishing up in the tub,” I said to Birdy after rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. “Is that cool?” “Yeah,” she replied, grabbing a toy whale, plastic dinosaur, and Han Solo figurine out of the bath toy bin. “That’s cool.” “Glad I have your approval, Birdzone.” I took a…
508 mg/dL. What? No way. 488 mg/dL. 501 mg/dL. Dexcom was just saying HIGH to me. I made some really dumb decisions. I should have pulled that site out and replaced it last night at 9 pm when it became obvious that my blood sugar was not responding to the insulin from my boluses. Instead, the thick and sticky pudding…
Designing for Diabetes: An Interview with Natalie Balmain
Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Diabetes Products, Psychosocial Support, Pumping Insulin, Real Life DiabetesNatalie Balmain is a fashion designer from England, and the creative force behind Type 1 Clothing. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 20, and this was ultimately her inspiration behind her debut line, designed to help people manage their multiple daily injections more easily and wear insulin pumps more comfortably. Natalie has raised money for…
I grabbed the Dexcom receiver from my purse and gave the button a quick click while I was standing in line for coffee, checking the graph and noticing the single “What UP!” arrow pointing my blood sugar up from 146 mg/dL. A moment of mental math took place: I was rising, but I had some insulin on board, and how…
Beep, Beep, Beep!
Blood Sugars, Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes Poetry, Diabetes Tech, Pumping Insulin, Robot LifeOne of my son’s favorite books is Little Blue Truck. We have that mess memorized and can bust it out even without the book pages in hand. And every time my pump beeps, I think of the little black pump on my hips at all times. These two thoughts ended up in my mental blender this morning, thus, Little Black…
“Can I please have an iced coffee? No sweetener, please,” I said to the girl behind the counter at the coffee shop. The snow was falling fast outside, but she expertly kept her eyebrows steady at my request for an almost frozen beverage. “Sure thing.” Her hands deftly hit the right buttons on the ordering pad. Without looking up, she…
Getting into the holiday spirit? Today I’m revisiting the ghosts of poems past with Pizza (A Christmas Poem). Watch out for that pesky, fight-picking panc. T’was the night before Christmas and all tinsel’s in, Not a creature was stirring or making insulin. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care In hopes that my islet cells soon would be…
This piece was written back in 2013 about a different insulin pump, but the song remains the same: pumping insulin alleviates some of my diabetes mental load and makes living with this disease a little mellower. I mean, I could “wash the dishes by hand,” but it’s so much nicer to play with my kids or go for a walk…