The Corner Booth

You never know when an unplanned D-Meetup may happen. Today, my D-Wife writes about a random encounter she just had with a Type 1. This all came about thanks to some of the "war wounds" my loving spouse endured thanks to one of my scary night-time Lows earlier this year. This wasn't an example of Aliens, Apple Cider & Honey , as has happened before, but some other weird nonsensical hypo scenario that appears to only happen in our crazy world... Not fun, but it is what it is. Anyhow, she's blogged about this latest encounter over at her online spot dubbed Laughter & Tears . While I often ramble about how these other Type 1s actually do exist out there in real life, she's had much less exposure to them and often thinks I may be imagining these people. Well, here's to bolstering my case! We Persons With Diabetes appear in the strangest places, as others have written about before. Always interesting when our paths cross... and you never know - we ...

Exercise hasn't been a favorite activity of mine in many years, despite my Living with Type 1 diabetes. Not since my secondary school days when sports - soccer, basketball, baseball, swimming - were a routine part of my schedule. College turned me into an exercise slacker, with only an occasional round of golf or even softball in the warmer months of the year. Walking and biking were occasional time-passers once we moved to Indiana in 2004, but even that's diminished in recent years and I've haven't been exercising much at all. Even taking the dog for a daily walk has dropped down on my priority list, and brief walks during the work-day in downtown Indianapolis have moved the way of the dinosaurs. Lately, this lack of exercise has been on my mind for a few reasons. 1.) My pants are getting tight .. No, they've been too tight for awhile. Now, it's gotten to the point where I've had to up my pant sizes and even secur...

Larry The Loaner CGM and I have finally parted ways. We've had a love-hate relationship for nearly three months, but our time together has come to a close. You may remember that in early January I started a trial run with the Minimed 523 Paradigm Revel, a loaner from my local pump rep who offered to help out in making a decision about whether I truly wanted to purchase this most up-to-date Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). I've got a 722 Paradigm pump, but it only sports the real-time CGM without any predictive alerts or what the x23 styles offer. So I brought on this 523 (which has a smaller reservoir than the 7-series but is same in all other respects). Affectionately, I named this loaner CGM/pump Larry The Loaner. We rode the glucoaster and recognized the Highs and Lows for a decent amount of time, with a few sensor breaks every once in a while to mix things up. We had our fun. And quite the opposite of fun. Overall, it wa an educational and eye-opening run together. But af...

What's the longest you've ever kept an infusion set attached? I'd be willing to bet it's not as long as this current set that's been attached to my stomach since that time way long ago. I'd put money on this. (Crouching down, hiding behind the laptop screen, looking around from right to left and over shoulder. Peers in your direction, suspiciously...) No, I'm not gonna give it away. Not gonna to divulge a real number, indicating my sight change slacking. I need to be careful. A network of  doctors, profit-hungry device makers who want to sell more sets, and secret FDA agents Those That Can't Be Named are everywhere, and they have their eyes on all of us. Really, they do. I'm serious. No, I didn't get paranoid until they started plotting against me. The conspiracy is playing out, with help from insurance companies Third Parties who help grease the profit wheels by restricting coverage amounts on these infusion sets. Ahem ( composing myself a...

My day began with a clouded grey sky, chilling wind, and a mixture of flurries and freezing rain. A day earlier, we hit a sunny 70 degrees in Indianapolis. The fickle March weather perfectly describes how my Endo visit went on Thursday. One day back in December, the weather was great and my Christmas Endo visit revealed an A1C of 7.5 - down a whole percentage point from the start of that year. But this recent visit, winter arrived and my diabetes management had gone chilly cold. To the point where my A1c jumped just as predicted, to a 7.9%. Disappointing, but not at all surprising. A review of my Minimed Carelink blood sugar data the night before my visit affirmed what I'd already knew: that I have been slacking pretty hardcore lately in my D-Management. Only in range about 44% of the time and going High and Low. usually higher in the morning and evening with nearly picture-perfect BGs from 11a-7p. Labwork from the day before proved conclusively that my thyroid level is lo...

Labwork is a necessary evil for those of us in the Diabetes Community. While we all love to banter about our own vampire-like skills in blood tests, set or sensor insertions, and syringe stabs, our semi-regular visits to those other Vampires in lab settings are a whole different breed. I've shared the perpsective before of one Vampire Girl who's Better Than Edward Cullen , but as a followup I now offer my latest lab adventure where we got to play that game known as Find the Vein. My fun came on Wednesday. Even though I've been meaning to take some time to get over to the lab to get that done, I procrastinated and didn't get around to it until a chance arose this week - the day before my nearing Endo appointment. In the 4 years or so that I've been with this current Endo, my lab work sites have moved around a number of times - first in the adjacent hospital itself, then in a lab down the hall from her office, across the street at th...

These posts are all scattered and swimming around aimlessly in my head, so you’re getting a glimpse of them in no logical order – just as they surface in my brain and translate into words on the screen. As you likely know, this is part of the continuing coverage of JDRF Government Day 2011 from several within the Diabetes Online Community. Traveling with diabetes is always an adventure, one you never know quite what to expect until you’re there being all Johnny On The Spot at the airport or particular mode of transportation. So was the case with my recent trip to Washington D.C., where I got to engage in some sweet diabetes advocacy on Capitol Hill. This was my first plane ride since last summer, since the TSA imposed its pain in the ass new security protocols. I’d made sure that all of my medical supplies – syringes sealed in the bag, clearly labeled insulin bottle in box, pump and blood testing supplies – were all in one easy to find case that could be displayed and searched. A ...

Our Diabetes Online Community is a powerful voice, and we're at a time when we all need to do our part in raising our voice to help keep diabetes research moving forward. This is our chance to make sure that what we've achieved in recent years doesn't get sucked into a black hole of bureaucratic inactivty - a.k.a. the FDA. The ever-slow government agency that reviews medical devices and treatment possibilities is in need of attention, specifically because it's got on its radar important research such as the Artificial Pancreas Project that is a "closed loop system" us diabetics have long dreamed of (short of a cure). At this point, the project has been successfully within hospital settings but it now needs to move into the clinical trials outside of the hospitals - to where the "real people" are able to use them in every day life. This will help research the safety and efficacy of this treatment option, which not only would be a step forward in tre...

This post was written on a notepad while sitting in the Washington D.C. airport, waiting for a late-night flight home from an incredible JDRF Government Day 2011 experience . My laptop wouldn't connect online and my Blackberry had one battery bar left. And that doesn't even take into acount that my feet are worn from Capitol Hill advocating, my mind is beyond exhausted and I can't even think straight to formulate a coherent thought. But I want to at least get some initial thoughts out while they're still fresh in my head. So many feelings and tidbits are swimming around in the overflowing sink inside my head, and I want to take some time to reflect and write about them in the weeks ahead. Not to mention get some real, continuous sleep... In the meantime, it needs to be said: Thank you, JDRF, for making me a part of this and more importantly for what you are doing for the entire D-Community. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...

What do you get when you put part of the Diabetes Community in the District of Columbia? No, the answer is not as simple as a chicken crossing the road, why lancets are blunt, or why Sprinkles the Unicorn lept over the sprinkled cupcake. No. Specifically, the answer is most notably: the upcoming scene in Washington D.C. where hundreds of members of the Diabetes Community will gather, along with a handful of DOC advocates, to advocate for the cause and meet with members of Congress about diabetes issues and funding. You might say it's DC to the Second Power, DC Squared. :) There may or may not be sightings of Sprinkles the Unicorn, and it's rumored that some BluntLancet members and groupie Lanceters might be jammed in front of the Pentagon and with Abe Lincoln grooving nearby. I am not entirely convinced that D.C. is ready for this, or the universe for that matter... But kidding aside. The next 4 days are bigger than that fun. It's about the entire Diabetes Commun...

This month marks my diaversary, or my diabetes-diagnosis anniversary. Or so I've decided for myself. This is a self-designated diaversary because the actual date in 1984 when I was diagnosed has been lost in time. We didn't catalog the exact date and any diagnosis records from Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit have long since been destroyed. However, we know it came on the heels of my birthday following my maternal grandfather's death in late January that year. Back in 2010, I made an executive decision that March 10 was going to be the actual dia-versary for me based on my receipt of a replacement Paradigm 722 pump swapped for the one pervious one that got a case of "mass battery suckage" and needed to be put down. So, with the arrival of my new pump - dubbed Bacon Gibbs - it seemed like a perfect anniversary gift to mark the diaversary from then on. But what I didn't realize when self-designating this as my "diabetes day" and wha...

Baseball season is nearly upon us, so I find it timely to write a baseball-themed post - with a diabetes twist, of course. Lately, it feels as if I’ve been swinging away and too often striking out. When I manage to make contact with the proverbial pitch coming my way, I'm either swinging too early or late. Even if it's in my strike zone, my performance at the plate isn't getting the desired results - leading to a Low-ball or blundered Bunt to an infielder for a quick out, or High Fly to someone for an easy catch. Source .  I'm not trying to be a clutch Designated Hitter slamming it out of the ballpark or anything. I just want a little consistency in the results I'm generating for myself and the entire team. In a way, I've been pushing for some versatility as a D-Player: not only striving to score a home run or grandslam A1C, but also being able to play the rest of the field skillfully with RBI blood sugars based on exercise and stellar ...

Nearly two years. That is how long it's been since my last visit to Dr. Funky Eye, the trusted optical consultant who works at the Indiana Eye Clinic a couple miles from my home. It was in August 2009, just about the time I've always visited my eye doctor through the years ( start of school time, even though I've been out of school for a decade ). Anyhow, I had planned a visit about the same time in 2010 but insurance changes took Dr. Funky Eye out of my network - so that he couldn't do my advanced eye exam, only my regular vision testing. We decided to find a new person, but that took longer than planned and eventually our vision insurance was elevated to a higher level so that Dr. Funky Eye was back in the network. This was late last year, and I just hadn't gotten around to making a new appointment. One was scheduled for early February, but the Indy Icepocalypse shut everything down for a couple days and so my appointment was rescheduled. For now. It was tim...

Those of us in the Diabetes Online Community are music lovers, and we're loyal followers of the magical musical phenomenon known as BluntLancet . ( #BluntLancet, for those Lanceters on Twitter ). We've come to know the story Behind The Music and even learned of some hidden lost albums of those years long past and rumored new releases on tap. But a recent episode of Lows in my own D-Life revealed the makings of a truly epic Blunt Lancet secret, a golden nugget that can only be described as a secret that the world would marvel at. It may very well be destiny or will of the Diabetes Gods who made this revelation happen with the help of a Low Blood Sugar. It started with the classic symptoms: shaky limbs, falling body temperature, blurry vision, sweating and shivering. Getting lost on the way to the vending machine, and trying to be all "professional" in the workplace, I went back to my desk and started munching on glucose tabs as some musical vibes entered the mind: ...