Carnival Time

Summer has been pretty intense in terms of weather, personal and professional aspects of life, and diabetes in general. Very busy, chaotic, and up and down. Now that we're in September and Labor Day has come and gone, I've finally gotten a chance to reflect and slow down. I took some time to look back on Diabetes Blog Carnival entries - and apparently I've been delinquent on these posts for several months. So, here's a rundown of those entries I hadn't written for several months, making this a Summer Selection of D-Carnival posts.

For September, the entry is:

If I didn't laugh about the used blood test strips that follow me around, then I would be totally overwhelmed by the fact that I was being stalked by a line of bad D-decisions in my life.

 You know, because those darn little strips are everywhere. On the floor. In my shoe. Beneath my desk. On floorboards of my car. Even in my coffee cup from time to time.

It's like they are trying to taunt me about all the things I do wrong...  since it's pretty clear that "I am perfect... perfect at being imperfect."

The Diabetes Online Community has taught me humor as a coping mechanism, and I think that is why management in recent years has been so much "easier" to deal with than in the past. Laughter is the best coping mechanism, and in being able to keep a sense of humor and share that, I know that I am not alone and don't have to shoulder this life of d-management all by myself.

For August, the entry was:
 Let’s discuss the lack of diabetes education, supplies and insulin for PWD’s living here and in other countries. What can we do?

In my opinion, so much of what can be done is being done already - just not across the board. We have so many scattered efforts in the real-world Diabetes Community, and we just haven't connected the dots in advocacy and story-telling to let the broader community know about what's being done. I think building our infrastructure is a way to get this done. Using tools such as DiabetesMine, the You Can Do This Project, patient-advocate communities and efforts such as TuDiabetes and Diabetes Advocates to connect these dots and tell what's happening. And then getting publications such as Diabetes Forecast, DiabetesLiving, diaTribe, and all those in the non-D community to spread word even more broadly.

For July, the entry was:

Over the years diabetes technology has come a very long way from the days when syringes were boiled and sharpened, and sugar was checked using droplets of urine and fizzy tablets in test tubes. Today we can choose from an array  of blood sugar meters, insulin pumps, carb counting apps, data uploading programs – technology is woven into our diabetes lives.  But although technology has come a long way there is always room for improvement, right?  So this month give us your complaints, your ideas and your technological wishes and tell us: What improvements or adjustments would you make to current [diabetes] technology? 

I'm really thinking that we need a D-technology app along the lines of a food-wine pairing... But instead of matching up the appropriate food and wine, it would match up our specific D-happening (Highs, Lows, Spouse Assistance, D-Meetup Planning, Camp Adventures, etc.) with a particular DOC resource. Example: I have a Low while at work, and this technology tosses my way a note about Kim's recent post on a related experience. Or I am getting involved in my local D-Camp, and it lets me know how Kerri's been a part of Camp Clara Barton. Or even that I'm curious about setting up a legislative meeting to talk diabetes with my Congress-person, and it alerts me to what Scott Johnson has done on this front.


Technology could very simply affirm patients that they are not alone, and prove it by connecting them with those who've gone through that same situation before.


That could be the latest and greatest thing, and it's only a matter of time... I'll await the news that this concept is pitched during the next DiabetesMine DesignChallenge.

For June, the entry was:

When it comes to diabetes, sometimes it seems things change more than they stay the same.  Every so often, we may start to notice things going a bit out of whack and some new blood sugar patterns emerging.  Part of being an informed and educated patient is learning to identify these problems.  So this month we’d love to hear: What are the best resources you have used to help trouble shoot?

Without a doubt, it's the support of the Diabetes Online Community. Not only have I been able to find some new ones to cope and view certain situations, and expand my perspective and mindset about a particular issue, but I've learned new tools and tricks that I may have not known about before. Like how to fine-tune temp basals during the periods of exercise, times that I'd seen "super-charge" my body but I hadn't ever really recognized it before. Having that online resources of people who truly live with diabetes and "get it" has been so incredibly important and eye-opening.

For May, the entry was:

Friends, parents, spouses, care takers – we sometimes call them Type 3’s (or Type Awesomes) and they are the awesome people who support people with diabetes and help us in times of need.  And sometimes those times of need turn into an experience that really makes us laugh later on.  So this month, tell us: What is a funny diabetes experience you had with a Person Without Diabetes / supporter / T-Awesome?

Once, I thought my wife was an alien trying to force poison apple cider down my throat during a Low. Another time, I thought she was a Communist trying to torture me for being from the U.S.A. Those were some scary low situations that may have involved the paramedics being summoned to my home, but my wife was a trooper and did what was necessary - and now, we are able to laugh about those times. And every so often, she threatens to alert the Communist Aliens to come take me away when I'm acting up and not listening to her as I should... (she's such a team player; i.e. Loving and Supporting Spouse).

These posts have been my May-September entries in the DSMA Blog Carnival.  If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information for the latest month over at http://diabetessocmed.com/category/dsma-blog-carnival/