The Corner Booth

~12:45 p.m., December 11, 2013. William Lee Hoskins. Yes, I'll carry on your name , but also everything you've taught me during over the course of my nearly 35 years. Love you, Grandpa.

Many years ago, I started exploring family history. This was a couple years after finding the Diabetes Online Community, but before I really stepped into that world of wearing diabetes very openly on my sleeve. Back in late 2007 and early 2008, my focus was on my full-time newspaper job and my off-hour, stay-up-all-night hobby of aspiring family historian. This was just before Ancestry.com got a surge of new interest and a TV show brought it even more recognition, and it was something I couldn't pull myself away from. A key motivation for this was my grandfather, William Lee Hoskins, who's been a pivotal force in my life and has always been the heart of our family. I'm proud to have William as my middle name, as does my own dad, and it's an honor to have been able to compile 20 months of intense research into a 35-page Living History that I presented to my grandpa on his 80th birthday on Oct. 8, 2009. I found myself scouring through online records and datab...

 A very happy (and hopefully blue-colored) World Diabetes Day , Everyone! Of course, this annual celebration was placed on this particular day thanks to its historical D-significance as the birthday of co-creator of insulin, Dr. Frederick Banting, who was born on Nov. 14, 1891 -- and would be celebrating his 122nd birthday here in 2013 if we were alive today! (In fact, the Banting Homestead in Canada just opened a new education center in conjunction with World Diabetes Day this year.) So, we raise a Diet Coke (or Fresca) in his honor today, while marking another World Diabetes Day, which dates back more than two decades, but really started getting traction in 2006 when the United Nations adopted a resolution making it an official day of observance. Gauging the Impact of World Diabetes Day Today, we wanted to take a closer look just how the World Diabetes Day awareness campaign has evolved through the years, and what kind of impact is it having? So guess what? ...

Someone in the Diabetes Community online recently engaged me in conversation about why they do not support a particular color or symbol to embrace diabetes. What started the whole online exchange was how they were promoting diabetes awareness, using a ribbon that had a little blood drop symbol and used a color that most associate with another health condition. I supported the advocacy and D-Awareness raising, but noted my hesitancy behind multiple colors and symbols. I noted my support of the color blue. That person's point: "Diabetes is not a color or symbol, it's a disease. Period." Over time, there have been so many other colors and ribbons in regard to diabetes that it makes my head spin. I often feel that we're doing ourselves a disservice by having so many different colors, as that seems to tell the non-diabetic world at large that we can't even agree with each other about how we want to communicate about diabetes at the very ground level. Thi...

I took a couple airplane rides recently, the first since buying a Dexcom G4 CGM. Airport security was mostly hassle-free and not an issue, for the two airports I went through in my own city and then the higher-traffic one I was flying home from. They knew what my insulin pump was, and just did their thing swabbing it for possible explosives that only took a few minutes. No issues there. ( maybe because I'm currently using an Animas Ping that really does look like a medical device and is much more old-school retro looking, compared to modern-looking devices like the t:slim... ) My CGM was less understood. At both airports, the same comment came my way from a handful of security people: "All phones and iPods need to go in a bin and get scanned." My response: "It's not an iPod, it's a medical device." TSA responses varied -- "Oh." ( Read: Whatever. ) "Oh" ( with an exclamation point! ). "Really?!" ( ...

Published this post initially in March 2010 . But it's again how I am feeling, after being reminded by Kerri Sparling in a great post she wrote recently. So, here it is again. In The Waters Again Sky is dark. Clouds hover overhead, trapping the light behind a veil of darkness, a haze that stops you Source . from seeing what's ahead. A bright spot, a break in the clouds, can be seen ahead on the horizon where the sun shines through. That's the destination.  But it's not an easy path. This journey means you must ride the river. A dangerous river. Toward that place off in the distance, a spot you hope isn't a mirage as you desperately try to reach it. This river is riddled with rough patches. A rocky, wave-splashing-against-the-shore type of river. Rocks sit in strategic spots along the river, aimed solely at catching you off-guard and pitching you helplessly into the waters. The only...

Photo by Mike Hoskins Today, something a little different... We're imagining what a job ad might look for that lazy organ in the body largely to blame for us having to live with diabetes: WANTED: Self-starting leader who isn't afraid to call the shots, and can bring a creative style to a challenging body of work. The position might even be for a CGM Data Entry Manager, Artificial Pancreas Division of Associates In-Corporated (A1C). Word has it that my very own slacker organ, Peter PANcreas, put his blood into the test strip vial for consideration. And rumor was that he scored an interview! So, we reached out to the company's executives to see how that all played out. Thanks to a source inside A1C who managed to get us "in range," we were able to snag a copy of the resume that Peter submitted for the position. Peter PANcreas 104 Blood Meter Blvd Mike's Body, 888 Behind the Stomach peterpancreas@diabetesmine.com OBJECTIVE: To find a management and supervi...

Let's start out with a couple catchy-quotes we all know and love. "Judge not, lest ye be judged." "Those who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones." Well, sure. Sound advice. Easy enough to follow, right? Only if you can tell whether someone's actually judging you or not. And that's not always easy, thanks to the simple little fact that we are made the way we are. A few people I know wrote some blogs recently that got me thinking about the human condition, and specifically the topic of how quickly we judge and point fingers in today's society. One post that caught my eye comes from Renza over in Australia , and she wrote about how so many doctors judge their patients who aren't following directions and doing what they're supposed to. Her point: leave that judgement at the door, and just realize that we don't want your judgement. That's not going to make us any healthier, or get us closer to wanting to lis...

The morning sun painfully peeks through the bedroom window to pay his final respects, warming her body as the warmth slowly fades for the final time. My eyes are closed to him, for in my eyes all the world is clouded with sorrow. With all my heart, I hold onto her hand to ease the pain, hoping to contain her love and tenderness in the earthly body for one moment more. A tearful joy floods my head as she takes my hand and holds on with that tender grandmother love. A while light of wonder that fills the room with essence of peace. Maybe that's just rays of sunlight, but to me they are angels. Beings with unblemished complexions of compassion and sympathy. They hover above the bed, waiting with patience to guide her soul into the heavenly light. Clouds of misery hang just as close, during this dark hour. The hour in which my childhood forever faded into adulthood. She has been released from this mere planet of pain and suffering, and moves on to a place of ...

We approached the table for breakfast, holding our plates of eggs and bacon and slice of French toast on each. The family already seated at the table were strangers, but that wasn't a big deal since we were all "family" at this diabetes conference anyhow. Hey, we all had bracelets -- most green, some were orange and others were yellow. But it all meant "family" to some degree, so there really weren't any strangers ( at least not for long! ). Once we stepped up to the table and did initial intros, the dad welcomed us and motioned that we sit down next to him and his boy, while the mom mentioned she had to run back up to the room with her teenage daughter. Sitting down, we instantly got to talking about what had brought us all to that conference and respective table. We shared diabetes diagnosis stories, and the dad wondered how I'd heard about the Friends For Life conference in Orlando. I told him about knowing of FFL for years, thanks to some fri...

While we were off enjoying Orlando and Disney and the whole Friends For Life experience , a comment came my way through email. It was on a post written more than three years ago, back in February 2010 . The post came just after Christmas 2009, when Suzi made me a Diabetes Ninja modeled after all my talk of "being a ninja" thanks to Super G who's widely known in the DOC as the original Ninjabetic. Anyhow, a few years have passed since then and we've since handed Lance off to a friend in the community who needed his protection - he's now been renamed, Little G . Dr. Google or the power of online connectivity apparently came into play, bringing someone to that post. And this comment came from that person: Just wanted to say to you and Suzi that I loved your Diabetes Ninja toy so much, I made 20 of them to send with my son to Camp Joslin for him and his cabin mates and counselors. I of course made the weapons, including a sword made from the cartridge p...

I remember standing on the school gym floor staring up at the rope I was supposed to climb. My mouth must have been wide open, as I stood gaping up at the ceiling. The top of the rope was so high up there, but for some crazy reason my 5th grade gym teacher believed we should and could climb all the way up -- just to touch the ceiling and then climb back down. I made a choice that day, even though I knew better. Since my diagnosis before I'd even started kindergarten, I had always been taught to "not use my diabetes as an excuse." This time, however, with that rope staring back at me, I chose to claim my blood sugar was Low and I needed to sit down and have some juice. Nope, I wouldn't have to climb the rope this time. That 5th grade experience still stands out in my mind all these many years later, and even now in my 30s I'm ashamed that my younger self made the decision to use my D as excuse. I allowed it to dictate what I could and couldn't do, and i...

There's a new "teen with diabetes" on the block. Yes, the biggest diabetes conference aimed at children and families living with type 1 is a teenager, and just as for any person with diabetes (PWD), hitting this stage of life is an exciting time with a lot of change in the air. The annual Friends For Life Conference took place July 9-14 at the Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, FL, bringing in more than 3,500 people, a 10% increase from last year, including roughly 700 first-time visitors -- my wife and I included! This was the first time I've been able to attend FFL, and my wife Suzi and I were thrilled to travel to Orlando for a week not only for the conference, but also to return to the spot where we spent our honeymoon back in late 2005. I'm still wrapping my brain and heart around the whole experience, but to me it felt like diabetes camp on steroids. Being surrounded by thousands of people who "get it" and seeing the smiles and friendships...

We spent a week in Orlando, for our first-ever trip to the Children With Diabetes Friends For Life conference. So much to say, so little brainpower right now to make that happen here... What can you say about being in a place full of a few thousand people who "get it?" Know what you're going through and are living with diabetes just like you are? It's a pretty remarkable experience. Now, I'm not always in the mood to talk diabetes. But seeing the kids and families connecting, witnessing the magic of those smiles and hugs and friendships, is something that will live in my mind and heart forever. But aside from all the diabetes activity that I'll be blogging about over at DiabetesMine soon enough, there was a whole bunch of Disney fun and Universal Park excitement. This was our first trip back to Orlando since our honeymoon in September 2005, and we had a fabulous time. And then we also got to experience what was a highlight for Suzi - the Harr...

As long as I can remember, I've been a baseball fan. I started swinging a bat and throwing a baseball just about the same time I was diagnosed with type 1 back when I was 5 years old, and for the next decade or so baseball was my world. As I got older, I sort of fell out of it and took up other sports and several not-so-physical activities that kept me indoors in the newspaper offices more often than not. But still, my love for baseball never faded. That's why I've kept my eye on the game and taken a particular interest in those players who not only make it to the major leagues, but are also living with type 1 just like me. There have been many through the years and there's a roster of them playing now, including Tampa Bay Rays' outfielder Sam Fuld , who was diagnosed at age 10, has advocated along wth the American Diabetes Association in the past, and is on Twitter at @SamFuld5 . It's also been cool to keep tabs on other pro baseball players like Brandon Morrow...