This is weird. I don’t know what to say in a last blog post, because it makes it seem like a black hole is going to open up and suck me into it once I hit “publish.” (I really hope that doesn’t happen, because I still need to shower. I’d hate to be stuck in some Interstellar purgatory and have…
Signing off
Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes and Family, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Psychosocial Support, Real Life Diabetes, Website InformationWhat I’ve Learned After 14 Years of Blogging About My Health
Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Memories, Diabetes Online Community, Real Life Diabetes, RelationshipsThis Saturday will mark 14 years of blogging. Here’s some of what I’ve learned … Technically-speaking? Put the word “diabetes” in your blog title. Invest in a full-throated URL (instead of a .blogger or .wordpress site). Spellcheck and grammar check every single post. Use images, as they are nice and help flesh out your content. Back your content up. I’ll…
The Words We Use as PWD
Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Healthcare, Real Life DiabetesThe words we casually use as people with diabetes continue to make me giggle. Like when I was a kid, my mom would casually tell me to go “shoot up,” (instead of “go take your insulin dose”) … the looks we received in public settings included a lot of arched eyebrows. Or how, during days when I have my insulin…
Thoughts on Being a Mom with T1D
Diabetic Mommy, Psychosocial Support, Real Life Diabetes, RelationshipsBeing a mom with type 1 diabetes isn’t something I think about often because, on the average, run-of-the-mill day, diabetes doesn’t influence the way I mom. (And as the mother of two very active kids, “to mom” is definitely a verb. We don’t sit still very often.) Being pregnant with type 1 diabetes was very intense and on the forefront…
Man Cold Diabetes
Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes and Family, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Psychosocial Support, Real Life DiabetesThis video is older, by Internet standards, but I remember first seeing it and laughing out loud. “Laura … I called for you, I said ‘Laura!’” (And for the love of God there’s a Wiki entry for it. The Internet is forever an amalgam of chaos and delight.) Over the last few weeks, I’ve been running through my older posts…
Making it Work
Blood Sugars, Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Mental Health, Psychosocial Support, Real Life DiabetesSometimes, 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….
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…
“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
Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Psychosocial Support, Real Life DiabetesEvidence-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…
Earlier in the week, I wrote up my thoughts on the Freestyle Libre 14 Day system and also promised perspectives from a colleague who is using the system who has type 2 diabetes. Today is that day! Thanks to Barry Campbell for visiting SixUntilMe today, and I’m grateful for his generosity with his words and in sharing his graphs! *…
It’s been a day. It’s been a week, honestly, because the Pukes have been making their way through my kids, and it’s been a no-school, workus interruptus sort of adventure with lots of hand washing and flat ginger ale and Pedialyte. My washing machine has earned a gold star this week for un-yucking the very yucky linens. No one has…
[DISCLOSURE – PLEASE READ: The team at Abbott reached out to me and asked if I’d like to trial the Freestyle Libre system. I said yes. After my doctor approved a prescription for the device, Abbott sent out the 14 day system to me, which included a scanner and three sensors. This whole review needs that bias lens in place. Good?…
Poking around in that box that’s been hiding in every iteration of “home” for the better part of a decade, I found another writing sample from what looks like third grade. (No date on the piece of paper, but third grade is where we learned cursive, so this is either the end of third grade/fourth grade time of my life….