The Corner Booth

Sometimes, the only word you have is: "Doh." T hen you find a new set, a new site, and move on. Just keep pumpin', just keep pumpin'...

Those of us in the Diabetes Online Community have long speculated that cats are plotting world domination and that eventually they'll get the better of us. Our cat, Shadow, has been in on that plotting for awhile. But as it turns out, Shadow won't be around to see that World Domination come to be. Her years of cat co-plotting will go unrealized. We said goodbye to our beloved 10-year Korat recently, her story coming to an end on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Also fondly referred to as "Beaner," "Mitten," "Kitty," and "The Grandcat" among other names, we are now sharing Shadow's story. She'd been a part of our life since our first year moving to Indiana in 2004, and came to us via a copy-editor that I'd worked with at the time. Shadow had been wandering outside and apparently had experienced a near-miss by a car, and she was picked up. My co-worker sent out an email asking if anyone was interested, and I took a chance. The name c...

Batteries die. Reservoirs run dry. Devices we use simply need recharging. These devices are just like our bodies. They need energy, insulin, motivation. A boost to get back in the game of doing what they're supposed to be doing.   What is depleted must be refilled, recharged, reconnected. How long it takes, is up to us. We can remain in that place or step forward, immediately or down the road. The choice is ours. But we move forward. Toward a place where the battery bar is full and the energy level is strong. Where the insulin is full and we have what's needed to do what's needed. The hope is there, even in the abyss. Even when we're depleted.

I'm not gonna lie: this one is a little deep, dark and depressing. But I have to reflect briefly before circling back to the present task of Moving Forward. A lot has been going on in my mind. I'm not healthy, not happy. Things have been tough, and I have been at the point where I want to give up. Diabetes management is the last thing on my mind, and I've been drowning in hopelessness aside from just feeling crummy. Sleepy all the time. Consumed by self-doubt. Reclusive. Emotionless, humor-deprived, non-focused, irritable, unhappy. Personally, professionally, emotionally, mentally, physically, internally and externally. For too long, I just haven't been "me." In a sense, I've been wearing a mask. Not talking or meeting or being curious as I've traditionally been. The writing hasn't seemed to flow, and what does happen to appear on my screen doesn't seem right or as interesting as I know it truly is. I'm bankrupt in the con...

Welcome to the Diabetes Community, Paula. Though it’s a bittersweet welcome, one that no one deserves or hopes for, I’m grateful that your Type 2 diabetes diagnosis announcement comes at a time where you don’t have to be alone. Where you can find some friends who “get it” and know what you’re going through. I applaud your courage and willingness to share your health story, especially in such a public way. On your own terms, your own timing. Confession: I’ve never watched your show. Yes, I knew who you were before all this news materialized. And maybe once or twice, I’ve caught a glimpse of your cooking and personality while flipping channels or when passing through a room where you happened to be on the screen. No offense to you or your southern-creations – just not something I’ve ever embraced. And it has nothing to really do with the food types or ingredients, it’s just not something I’ve ever really paid much attention to. Even though I'm certainly a fan of food. Now that yo...

Many players in the online world are protesting the pair of Congressional proposals that target the online universe- Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). I'm not going dark here at The D-Corner Booth - in part because this is a diabetes blog, and I can't block out my D for a day. Blood tests and insulin-doses are ongoing, as are the thoughts in my head. So there. But know this: I'm not a fan of censorship , and if this legislation does what critics think it will, then I'm totally against it . I'm not a lawyer, I only cover them as part of my real-person job, so I don't have any worthwhile insight about what the law says or doesn't say and how that may hold up. My experience covering legislatures and courts tells me that lawmakers typically are vague in crafting legislation and don't understand the impacts or practical realities of what they're drafting or passing into law, and the courts consistently find this w...

A s Bennet has wisely established as a mantra, Your Diabetes May Vary. The same applies to Lows. Kerri ( Shelby? ) wrote about this very recently , which was actually funny timing because I'd had that same topic on the mind after a conversation the day before with my own mom. She's lived with Type 1 for more than five decades, since she was a young kid, and we were doing an interview about our own individual, joint, and differing D-Life experiences. Lows came up, and that got me wondering how our experiences varied. I've written about some of my examples in the past - violent thrashing and struggling, believing my wife was an alien or robot or Communist trying to gain control of me, the dog trying to eat my head , and the dream-like states of being outside my body and then waking up to the paramedics hovering above me. You get the idea. But I wanted to know about my mom's, so I asked. She responded by email: I did (have reactions) and remember my mother pouri...

Everyone has for the past year, even a little longer, has been going on about the anniversary of when insulin came on the scene and changed the face of how people with diabetes could live, not just survive. First, there was the date on Halloween 1920 that the esteemed Dr. Banting actually came across the idea for what would become life-sustaining insulin. Then, there was the development of that idea in 1921. Of course, then there's the date that creation came to fruition and the first person actually received the benefit of insulin. That was Jan. 11, 1922 - exactly nine decades ago. A 14-year old boy named Leonard Thompson was dying at Toronto General Hospital, but it was this newly-developed drug known as insulin that gave him a chance to live. Even though it was initially unsuccessful, a revised formula was successful and it changed everything. No one really paid much attention outside the medical community, until August 1922 when the now-infamous Elizabeth Hughes hooked ...

This clip captures my mood perfectly right now, as I reflect on our country's politics and those vying for the presidency. http://youtu.be/sen8Tn8CBA4 I'm surrounded by assholes, apparently. But I guess I already knew that. (Sigh). Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum apparently thinks that insurance companies should be able to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. He's also of the belief that those who aren't denied should have to pay more to receive benefits, because they're sick and cost more to insure. Not all the fools GOP political hacks presidential wannabes think the same way, and some have specifically said that despite wanting to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act they want to make sure insurers can't prevent pre-existing denials outright. But apparently, that's not how Rick rolls. Or so his sometimes-inconsistent video statements seem to indicate. To a New Hampshire high school class, on why people with pre-existing ...

I haven't been to see my Endo since March. By my hand-counting, that's close to 10 months. There's been a couple visits scheduled, one in the summer and one a few months ago. But, knowing that I've been slacking on the D-Management front and dreading the expected A1c that I know is higher than it should be, I have been putting the visit off. The last time my A1c was done, it came out at 7.9% - up slightly from the one just before Christmas 2010 when it was 7.5%. I'm sure it's higher now, probably somewhere closer to 9%. (My 30-day meter average is 220, which comes out to 9.3 and my past couple weeks are about the same - as are the past few months or so.) For inquiring minds, it's not a matter of not knowing what to do . No. I am testing about six times a day, have a pump and now a Dexcom 7+. And while I'm certainly no expert and probably know little in the grand scheme about diabetes management, I've been doing this for 27 years... so I kn...

Fellow diabetes blogger Kelly K reminded me the other day that, with the year's end approaching, it was time to refill my prescriptions. That brought a check of the fridge butter compartment and a realization that I was, in fact, on my last bottle of insulin. Wait a sec...is that BUTTER in that butter compartment?! WTF? I phoned in a refill late in the night a day before Christmas, so we vowed to avoid the next day's shopping craziness and pick it up after the holiday. Another day passed and Suzi grabbed it on the way home from work. All was good and I had another three bottles (one month's supply) safe and snug in the butter compartment. That was that and all was well with the world. But after reading a recent post over at Six Until Me , my mind started working about that insulin lounging in the butter compartment. I got curious about the real cost of the life-sustaining medicine being pumped into my body on a daily basis. The real cost. Not the after-insurance "fee...