Choosing This, Not That
This: Not: This: (mostly not...) That: This: Not: (the child is a perpetual ray of sunshine,so my collection of "angry baby" photos is very slim. This one is probably from a year ago.) This: Not: This: Not: (the W...) This: Not: This: Not: This: Not: And always, always,more of this!!!! Posted with Blogsy (Source: The D-Log Cabin)
Source: The D-Log Cabin - April 24, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Pledge(d)
Long, long ago, when I was a young un' in 4-H...every meeting would begin with the solemn pledge. Which I will probably remember till my dying day, given that I recited it hundreds, if not a thousand, times over those 7 years. It went: I pledge: My head to clearer thinking My heart to greater loyalty My hands to larger service My health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world. Nursing kinda has a pledge like that as well. It's called the Florence Nightengale pledge, as it's kinda like a Hippocratic oath for nurses. You don't get to say it unless you are a graduate/or actual RN. Florence Nig...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - April 19, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
For Want of a CGM
For want of a nail the shoe was lost. (CGM/blood sugar)For want of a shoe the horse was lost. (blood sugar/class)For want of a horse the rider was lost. (class/student)For want of a rider the message was lost. (student/paperwork)For want of a message the battle was lost. (paperwork/course)For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. (course/nursing school program)And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. (CGM) This is my Dexcom CGM. It is my security blanket, my ray of sunshine in the dark night of diabetes, my cool kids toy, my partner,till death (or cure) do us part. It's sole job in life is to keep me safe. (of cou...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - April 17, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Where the River Runs Deep
Yesterday,I dropped out of nursing school.It's been one steamroller of a ride,& it's only the third week out of eight. And I guess I should explain that nothing,nothing went right in those days...starting with The Low in Lab & culminating in the Peak De Triumphe anxiety attack on Tuesday over paperwork,for which I gained a Plan For Success in Professional Behavior as well as a Plan For Success in the paperwork that I'd done wrong. I hyperventilated & ended up on the floor,thinking I would fail clinical because I was getting a plan for success (for paperwork)& it took an hour to get me up off the floor. (I got extremely diz...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - April 13, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
In Ex Evictus, Maeror
Dear Clinical Student,I'll be short & blunt.. I don't want you in my group. And when the reason for this finally becomes known, I won't be anywhere near you. You'll be in a meeting with the nursing Dept. head and the head of the Med Surg II course when you find out,& the vitriol will suck the breath out of you,but I don't care. Why don't I want you? I heard about your low. I don't want to have anything to do with your "unstable medical condition", in fact, I refuse to. The clinical site refuses to to, which means your going somewhere else. Your head instructor and head of the nursing dept. may tell you whatever they want, ...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - April 2, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
It's been one of those weeks...where the diabetes hasn't played nicely with life. It's the first week of Med Surg II(aka Mental Health) & it's been somewhat of a perfect storm.Monday morning saw 5 inches of fresh snow so some things were delayed to later in the week. There was Orientation (Monday), a simulation (real patient aka paramedic instructor) Tuesday, a math exam & neurobiology lecture on Wednesday, & a Therapeutic Communication & a Central Line Care labs on Thursday. TC went fine but about 20 minutes into the other lab my stomach started rolling & I started to get extremely dizzy & I thought I was going low but I ...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - March 29, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Lost
Last night at a D-meetup,I lost my beloved Dexcom.I tweeted about it, & while the DOC still has its angels,it also has its "other" individuals. News Flash: not every PWD is your best friend forever. Someone said that they wish they had a Dexcom to lose in a bar..not the therapeutic response of the day. Whatever that means.(insinuating that I'm a rich,spoiled PWD?) I'm over their response, I'm moving on.(you don't know me OR my situation)I don't have $1300 to drop on a new one. I hope someone turns it in, I've called the restaurant & I went back & searched the parking lot..nothing. Hopefully they will turn it in when they r...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - March 23, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
A JDRF Summit
Several Saturdays ago,I left the toddler with my hubby for the day & drove to Bethesda for the JDRF Summit. I was kind of nervous,as Daddy DayCare tends to be alot more lenient then Mommy DayCare(basically,he doesn't freak out over every time the kid has something happen to him) so I only called home 5 times just to make sure everyone was still alive back there. They were all fine.(me,not so much) Despite that,I did have a pretty good time at the Summit...there were a few D vendors & I got to play with the new Omnipod PDM.The PDMs are basically the same size..the difference,of course,lies in the home screen of the newer on...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - March 22, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Victories
********I have a love-hate relationship with this particular series of posters in my Endo's office. (as in, I love to hate them) I realize that the purpose of it is to empower you to do better, but when I look at it, I see an unattainable goal (unless I'm A. pregnant or B. dead)Anyhoo....as much as I have really,really come to dislike the Verio meter, and as much as I came into this appointment expecting double-digits a1cs & a thyroid level off the charts due to said "noncomplience" issues & my own slew of stress highs relating to nursing school, my a1c actually came back 0.5 lower then it was the last time & my thyroid re...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - March 19, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
That "C" Word
The Cure is Coming. Yes, yes, boys and girls...this according to the Diabetes Research Institute. Your days of blood tests & swag carb counts and wonky levels are numbered, according to one in-the-know blogger. When I heard the "possible" news, I was briefly intrueged. Not because I knew it was a "cure" per say, but because I wanted to hear if their idea made any more sense then all the other ideas out there. Because, in 15 years, I've heard alot of "this is it, this is the CURE!!" hype & yes, I've actually believed that it could lead to the cure. Islet Cells. Some sort of Pancreas Wonder Pills. The Glucowatch. (& others)...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - March 6, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
In the Trenches
You are a very young teenager,newly dx'd with type 1 diabetes...freshman year of high school. You're at that age where you act like it doesn't matter,it's no big deal & yeah talking about it?not gonna happen.(Not that anyone has any idea of how to go about this) Your mother passed away from T1 diabetes,soon after giving birth. The family dynamics is a complete cataclysmic shroud of mystery. Time heals many wounds,but there are some it does not. Perhaps your family is involved emotionally with your care,perhaps not but the practitioner treating your D is definitely not,because insulin changes are minuscule & insufficient fo...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - February 27, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Tsunami
I don't know what to say.Failure is crash wave over me right now,& I can't breathe. Or think. The problem is the nursing school tests..they are so,so hard & I'm not doing well. 72,67. There are two more tests to go & I have to pull off a 76 average. I want to believe that I can, I study myself into a coma, ask my profs for help. Not helping. I am so scared that I will fail...& then what? I've never done anything career-wise with my life that I could be proud of, & I wanted this..so badly. Yeah I guess there are plenty of other things but you don't get 3/4 of the way through a program to just fail,without taking things majo...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - February 18, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
They Cometh
"Do you know how very,very lucky you are?" my instructor gushed. "This is a wonderful opportunity to influence the nursing school process."Luck,admittedly, is not the first thing that came to my mind.(more like:no absolute WAY am I getting involved in this) And what is this?you ask? "That" is upcoming visit by the National (RN) Accreditation Committee, slated to drop into town Tues/Wed of next week. One day at the hospital,one day at the college. They are here,to check up on our program/interview students & faculty,& basically ensure that we are learning what we are supposed to be learning. They come around every 8 years,h...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - February 9, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Gray Days
It's been a rough 1.2 weeks. Begun,of course, with a sore throat & a mild cough,moved to the runny nose, followed by the 101 degree fevers & the addition of some hard core throat pain, losing my taste on Super Bowl Sunday,(I did not go to the party & how sad is that,when the whole of Baltimore was stark Raven mad?Methinks it may never happen again ) The cough set in & Sunday night I probably got two hours of sleep. Monday I went to the doc & they gave me codeine syrup & an antibiotic for my "sinus infection." Sinus infection-really? Yep,within a day my head felt like a literal bomb & the discharge turned a disgusting color...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - February 7, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Once, We Were Juniors
The 3rd Semester. Pediatrics, Med Surg II.2 8-week courses, but in reality, it feels like years since we were scared little nursing school"freshies." We have survived Nursing 120, 121,122,OB, Medical Surgical I.(some of us more then once) After Medical Surgical, any and all courses may just feel like a breath of fresh air. We have a swagger in our step & a new-found confidence that really,really was not there last semester. IV's do not scare us, dying simulator modules have taught us lessons best left un-repeated on actual patients. One day(very soon), some of us may yet walk across that stage & be "pinned" into that profe...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - January 26, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
