Sometimes, I see things and I think they are a wonderful visual representation of diabetes, like the game Perfection. And this pot. My blood sugars are a heavy pot of boiling water. A rolling boil, the ones where you look at the water and see the bubbles coming up like predictable and methodical pewter poetry. Scary if I were to…
in awkward homage to The Great British Bake Off. “Good morning, Bolusers! It’s the semi-finals here at the Great Bolus Shake Down, so you know what that means. That means your endocrinologists will be requiring nothing short of perfection.” “Yes, and not just your endocrinologist. This week, we’re also adding in your family, friends, and your insurance company as judges….
No time for a “proper post” (which is loosely defined as a blog post with a definitive beginning and end and also usually a point). But lots on my mind today, so resorting to a bullet list in order to let these thoughts out: Some of the group text threads on my phone this week are among the reasons my…
I can’t even count the number of times I’ve written about the importance of the diabetes online community. Topic-wise, it’s one of my favorite themes to revisit. And I’m absolutely positive as to WHY. When I first started blogging, I didn’t know other people who had diabetes. Yes, I encountered the rogue PWD here and there (as a waitress, at…
At the TCOYD conference I attended this past weekend, the question of low treatment came up during a panel. Specifically, “What is your favorite thing to treat a low blood sugar with? Not what you should eat to treat, but what you want to eat.” My opinion is unpopular, but I’d sell my soul for candy corn. It’s soft and…
My parents made me check my blood sugar before getting behind the wheel when I was a teenager. If I wanted the keys, I had to be responsible without fail, and I had their trust unless I broke the rules. No exceptions. No excuses. I started driving in 1995, so my means for blood sugar checks were limited to a…
Sometimes I think about how my muscles would wither and my skin would crack and my kidneys would fail and my blood vessels would collapse and my nerves would succumb and my heart would weaken and my body would turn itself inside out in starvation and how I’d be dead within days without this tiny bottle. It is not rightThat…
It took me years to use an insulin pump. Actual years. I was on multiple daily injections for 17 years before deciding to take the cyborg plunge, and honestly, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in terms of making sense of my diabetes. I use an insulin pump because it keeps me from having blood sugar bumps in…
“Could I please have a medium iced hazelnut coffee with extra ice and some half and half?” BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP The barista stopped keying in my coffee order and looked behind her. “I’ve never heard them make that noise before,” she said, tipping her head towards the wall of brewing coffee machines. Shrugging, she continues with my order. BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP “Okay,…
Evidence-based hope. I can get on board with that. Check out this really great video from the TCOYD team, featuring Steve and Bill talking about all the reasons we can feel hopeful as PWD. <3 You might also like: Bag of Hope … For Adults? Still Here: Evidence Hope vs. Fear: The Video Edition. Plant-Based Faceplant.
That feeling of mild fuzz on my teeth when my blood sugars are really high? I loathe that. Diabetes is the leading cause of my excessive dental hygiene obsession; I keep a tooth brush in my purse and I floss daily, and even though visits to the dentist are uncomfortable because of sensitive teeth, I go every damn time because…
Every few years, my symptoms of low blood sugars morph a bit. When I was first diagnosed, numb lips and quick tears were my reflex symptom. The emotional uptick would hit first, and I knew things were going south quickly once my mouth and tongue would go numb. This caused a lot of slurred speech during hypoglycemic events, an immediate…