Thirty-Two/Thirty-Three.
Dear Birdy,I lost track of the days and the weeks, and I forgot to write you a letter at the 32 month mark. Yes, I know you didn't realize it, and I'm pretty sure you didn't care (it's not like you slid me a note that said, "Hey, Maa. Where's my blog letter, yo?"), but it's been bothering me, so this is a combination letter. This is just one of the many things I've already screwed up in your little world, and I'm sure it's just one of the many things I will screw up. So cheers! I raise my cup of blueberries to you, my darling Bird, the very same blueberries you keep naming before you...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 15, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: Diabetic Mommy Source Type: blogs
Guest Post: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Type 1 Diabetes.
Today's guest post comes from my dear friend Kate Boylan, who has experienced a journey with diabetes, pregnancy, and miscarriage. I'm grateful that there are people like Kate who put it out there like this, even when it must still feel raw. I hope there's some healing found for her in sharing.* * * “It has absolutely nothing to do with diabetes.”
That is what the renowned Boston-area high-risk obstetrician reported to me and my husband right after she told us that I was miscarrying my first pregnancy. She went on, “Based on the irregular heartbeat, and the lack of growth in...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 14, 2013 Category: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
Nasty Diabetes Trickery.
That moment when you realize that you are traveling for the weekend and you only have one tube of glucose tabs to your name. And the same moment when you realize you're disgusting for having a tube that's dotted with your DNA. (At least I can confirm that I tested before treating.)Oh diabetes … you nasty. (Source: Six Until Me.)
Source: Six Until Me. - January 11, 2013 Category: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
From Abby: Brrrrring on Winter!
Every time Chris and I go to Maine, we think, "Holy crap; it is so much colder up here than it is in Rhode Island." So when the temperature started to drop this winter here in Rhody, I thought of Abby up in Vermont and immediately pictured her as a snowman. (Sorry, Abby, but it's true. I gave you a mental carrot nose and corn cob pipe and two eyes made out of coal. Hang on ... where's my Photoshop?) And today, Abby is writing about the benefits of living with diabetes in the Vermont arctic tundra. * * *It's getting cold and white here in Vermont. Like REALLY C...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 10, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: From Abby Source Type: blogs
:: Head Explodes ::
(Or at least I wish it just WOULD already.)I've never had a sinus infection before, but I've heard the rumors. Some family members of mine have been plagued by this sort of this their whole life, and they describe the swollen head feeling with their hands almost touching their temples, as if connecting their fingertips to their head will ignite the switch. Until yesterday, I was as empathetic as I could be, from my ivory tower of inexperience.But hot damn (one), I've earned some stripes in the last 24 hours.Something not unlike a brick has taken up residence behind my nose and eyes, surprising me when I look in...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 9, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: Real Life Diabetes Source Type: blogs
Hypoglycemia Hangover.
The 48 mg/dL I had the other night wasn't the lowest I've ever been, or the most 'out of it' I've been in the middle of the night. Getting out of bed and not being able to stand without swaying, forcing me to wake my husband and ask him for assistance isn't the best, but it isn't unfamiliar. And the fact that my washing machine doesn't have a "hypoglyemic sweat-and-grape-juice removal" setting for my bedding the next day isn't new, either. (Though I wish that setting existed.)What's new in the last year or two is the hypoglycemia hangover that happens after a middle of the night low. Years...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 8, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: Blood Sugar Source Type: blogs
Clotted Dexcom Sensor.
(That's easily one of the grossest blog post titles I've had in the past seven and a half years. Clotted? Blech. Sorry about that.)Last week, I needed to give the real estate on my thighs a little breathing room, so rotated my Dexcom sensor up north to live on the back of my right arm for a few days. Chris helped me out with the sensor application, with me preparing my skin, sticking the adhesive patch where I want it, and then asking him to, "Oh, do it carefully okay because it might pinch a little and ..." as he unclips the sensor applicator after half a second and says, "It's done....
Source: Six Until Me. - January 7, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: CGMS Source Type: blogs
The Friday Six: New Year, New Ewe Edition.
Lots of links to share this morning, as I wipe snot from the Bird's nose and sleep from my eyes. (Actually, that's a super gross concept, wiping sleep from your eyes. Does that mean "sleep" is that film of eye geeb that builds up sometimes? If so, sleep is nasty. But I still wish I did it more.) Link time:Lorraine and her son mark six years of diabetes. "I’ll have a new picture, and in a very peculiar way, it will be a new beginning."Katy over at Bigfoot Child Have Diabetes shared a link on Facebook of some amazing "daily drop cap" letters from illustrator J...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 4, 2013 Category: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
Inconvenience Overload.
The theme from Top Gun rang out from my hip as I brushed my teeth, in that giant-piano-on-the-floor-from-the-movie-Big sort of way. "What?!""LOW BATTERY.""Stupid thing just needed a battery ... I need to call Animas about this ... grumble, grumble, ..." reaching for my meter case to grab the quarter and backup battery I keep in there."BEEEEEEEEEP!" wailed the Dexcom, the screen awash with red letters signaling a low blood sugar."Oh come on, you too?!"I put the battery back into the meter case and retrieved the meter instead. Low confirmed at 54 mg/dL. I we...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 3, 2013 Category: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
Diasend.
Paper blood sugar logbooks were my arch nemesis when I was a kid (and I'm fairly certain my mother wasn't a fan of them, either). My mother and I used to slap together my logbook the night before my endocrinologist appointment, using different colored pens to make it seem like we'd been tending to this data stream for weeks. In the days before meters could be connected to computers and when "clouds" were simply indicators of precipitation, logging the numbers and seeing the trends in my blood sugars wasn't the most streamlined process in the late 80's. When I was pregnant, the magic of the Kevin spre...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 2, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: Blood Sugar Source Type: blogs
The Proof is in the People.
Happy New Year!! The 50th issue of diaTribe came out last night, with a really amazing letter from editor Kelly Close, insight from the advisory board, and my response to the NPR article that came out in early December."Earlier this month, I was part of a piece put together on NPR about diabetes and social media, which focused on how pharma and patients interact in this medium. The NPR article referenced a quote from Dr. Jason Bronner that ruffled feathers not only in the diabetes online community, but in many other patient communities across the web. 'But what are patients getting out of social media? It'...
Source: Six Until Me. - January 1, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: Diabetes Advocacy Source Type: blogs
2013: Balance.
I resolve to avoid resolutions, because I'm complete crap at keeping them and I lose track of what I've resolved to do in the first place (unless I write it down), which exemplifies why I need to make an exception this year and make one, eensy resolution. I need balance.Oh holy hell, do I need balance.I can't properly explain how disorganized my world has become since making the leap to self-employment. I'd imagine that the inside of my brain looks like our kitchen table, which is overflowing with mail, paperwork that needs to be sorted, and the rogue Thomas the Tank Engine train. (He's the cheeky one.)&n...
Source: Six Until Me. - December 31, 2012 Category: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
The Year In Review: 2012.
Yearly recap? Sure! Here we go: the first lines of a definitive post from each month in 2012. With the same photo I've used for the last few years ... maybe I'll update that in 2013. :)January: "The confusion is instant - the raw and palatable confusion where you know you're in trouble, but you haven't yet grasped just how much." February: "My total daily dose of Humalog insulin varies between 23 and 34 units, depending upon if I'm correcting highs or consuming waffles (faffles) instead of eggs."March: "Monday morning, I woke up at a blood sugar o...
Source: Six Until Me. - December 31, 2012 Category: Diabetes Source Type: blogs
