This 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…
Man Cold Diabetes
Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes and Family, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Psychosocial Support, Real Life DiabetesMaking 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…
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…
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…
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….
With a (semi-organized) stash of yarn and a growing list of crochet projects for friends and family always in development, I have a soft spot for fellow PWD crafters. This week, I saw a post from Becky Thomson roll by in my Facebook feed and I stopped, because she was making awesome mouse ears to help fund her travel to…
Sometimes my glucose meter feels like a random number generator. (And for people who read Friday’s post and thought this blog was immediately archived, it’s still live and will be updated until May 4th. Check back when you feel like it for new content, and then it’ll go Rip Van Winkletown in May. <3) You might also like: Five Random…
With My Whole Heart (and What’s Left of My Pancreas)
Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Mental Health, Psychosocial Support, Real Life DiabetesWhen I was a lot younger, I thought about my 40th birthday as so far in the future and potentially scary. I didn’t know how I would feel. I didn’t know if I’d still be healthy. I didn’t know if I would be happy. Also, what the hell middle aged?! Today is my birthday. I’m turning 40. I feel pretty…
Clinical Trials of the Diabetes Kind: A Guest Post
Dexcom, Diabetes Products, Diabetes Tech, Psychosocial Support, Pumping Insulin, Robot LifeI’m very excited for the future of diabetes technology, and today’s guest post is a glimpse into what the Tandem Diabetes Care’s Control IQ experience might be like once it’s released into the wild. Big thanks to Celia for reaching out to excitedly share her experiences as part of a clinical trial for Control IQ. This post is to…
Myabetic Giveaway – Unicorn Sparkle Time
Diabetes Products, Psychosocial Support, Real Life Diabetes, Robot LifeI love, love, love all of the Myabetic options. From the Kerri bag (bias alert!) to the dinosaur meter case, the Myabetic team finds a way to make diabetes functional, fashionable, and fun. And their newest bag is no exception. Check out this unicorn cutie: “Diabetes care needs a little sparkle,” said Kyrra Richards, founder of Myabetic. “As a mom…
YouTube, Diabetes, and &: An Interview with Diabetic Danica
Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Diabetes VideosSome people are just nice, and then you find out they also have diabetes and becomes a happy moment of “YES!!!” This is what meeting Danica, aka Diabetic Danica, is like. She’s kind, easy to talk to, and just happens to have amazing hair. Oh, and diabetes. She’s been creating videos that showcase her upbeat, positive take on diabetes since 2011,…
Earlier this week, I was sick again. A very clingy cold with high snot-producing capability and lethargy like whoa took up residence in my face and chest, and my blood sugars did not respond kindly. As a result, I spent the better part of six hours between 260 – 330 mg/dL on Tuesday. Being high like does not feel good….