friendo (n.) – An endocrinologist who brings expertise, experience, and engages with a high level of empathy. ex. “My endocrinologist is kind of my friend. And my endo. They’re my friendo.” Last week, I had my quarterly visit with my endocrinologist. Our clinician/patient relationship is still in its fledgling stage, and we’re definitely still getting to know the pros and…
An Initial Review of Basal IQ
Dexcom, Diabetes Products, Diabetes Tech, Pumping Insulin, Real Life Diabetes, Robot LifeDisclosure: I have a sponsorship agreement with Tandem Diabetes Care – details are on my disclosure page. This post is written with that bias in place. Tandem did not ask me to write this post. Neither did my pancreas, because that thing doesn’t do much. The hardest part about the Basal IQ update was waiting for my endo to sign…
It’s not always reasonable things of juice or precisely stacked glucose tabs; if you’re low, you’ll eat whatever it takes. Like a granola bar you’ve found at the bottom of your purse and is smashed into an almost unrecognizable pulp. Or the Skittles that somehow ended up in your car and rolled around loose on the floorboards. Yeah, you’d pick them…
What Helped Me as a Kid with Type 1 Diabetes
Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes and Family, UncategorizedI was diagnosed with diabetes in second grade, so I’ve had this disease along for essentially all of the available rides in my almost 40 years. From 1986 onward, I’ve experienced everything from field trips to fights with my parents about boyfriends to learning to drive to college to pregnancy and parenting children of my own. My life, for all…
I’m the middle child of three, the only one in my family with type 1 diabetes. My “diabetes diet” influenced food choices for the whole family, but we weren’t without sweet treats, especially since my brother and sister weren’t under the thumb of NPH and Regular insulin. So sometimes my mom got crafty with her food storage stylings. Like when…
Weird skin week continues! Welcome back. Sometimes I think that diabetes makes my skin extra weird, extra sensitive, extra … extra. Like the bit with the Dexcom rash. I’ve been writing about my skin’s over-sensitivity to whatever is in the Dexcom adhesive for several years. Here’s a look back at some of the archives: Dexcom Pros and Cons 36 Hours…
Weird skin week continues, with this post centered on something entirely un-diabetes related: melasma. After Birdy was born in 2010, I noticed that my skin had some new freckle-looking things. Only they were like dalamation-esque dots of too much pigment and not-enough-pigment, and they made my face look dirty in the summer with the sun bringing out these rotten spots….
I remember being at Disney World when I was like 10 and seeing some lady’s feet underneath the stall. Her heels were light gray and cracked and dry looking, and I recall smugly looking at my own kid feet and thinking, “My feet look soft.” Hahahahahahaha old age has caught up with me in a hot hurry. My heels looked…
Happy weekend! Be silly. And slightly cyborgy, if that’s your jam. You might also like: Hypoglycemic Blues. Unexpected Advocacy. Whoa! Woe. Inset/Outset.
Feet have always been flagged as a “body part to be concerned about.” When I was a little kid with diabetes, my pediatric endos cautioned me about foot care on repeat, telling me to check my feet, be careful when clipping my nails, and for the love of God never, ever do “bathroom surgery” on my feet. Noted. And followed….
Accidental blog hiatus. You know what that means … mmm hmmm. Bullet points. Children with Diabetes* Friends for Life conference took place in Orlando last week, concluding on Sunday. It was exactly the diabetes emotional and educational refresher I needed, and I’ll have more in terms of stories to share this week. But for the time being, you can check…