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Showing posts from November, 2014

Once Upon a Blood Sugar...

There was a time when keeping on top of my diabetes management was more fairytale than real life. Checking my blood sugars wasn't a common occurrence. Carb counting wasn't around thanks to my 2 or more shots a day, in the morning and evening, so it came down to a more stringent style of meal planning. And as my docs often said, I wasn't "compliant." At some point in my 20s, I grew up. Well, to be accurate: I started growing up. That came in waves. And it's still a work in progress to some degree. But that's when I started accepting and embracing the fact that my diabetes wasn't going anywhere, that I wasn't destined for doom, and I could do something about it in the here and now. That sense of hopelessness still existed, but it became like a toy that I could put into a box and pack away in the closet. Every so often that toy would reappear, but not as often as it once did. What changed? For the most part, it was because I found inspirat...

The Day Our Diabetes Community Crashed the FDA Site

Months or even years from now, I wonder if the pancreatically-challenged community will be asking: "Where were you, the day the Diabetes Community crashed the FDA's webcast system?" Yes, that appears to have happened this past Monday. So many people tuned in for the first-ever virtual town hall discussion between the D-Community and FDA, that the agency's ability to livestream the three-hour meeting online slowed and eventually crashed. And it wasn't only our diabetes dialogue... it seems the FDA's entire network of webcast meetings shut down for a couple hours at least. OK, that's not technically official yet; the IT gurus within the regulatory agency are still trying to determine the exact cause and moment it happened (about 90 minutes in), but so far FDA leadership believes that we were indeed the cause, since it was essentially like having a massive crowd all trying to peer through a tiny little window at the same time. So needless to say, there was a ...

Best of the Betes Blogs: October 2014

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I'm honored to be hosting the Best of the Betes Blogs for this month, featuring some of the great writings of the DOC during October. But while this is me hosting this monthly treasure this round, it's not about me... but the We . It's about all of us in this D-Community sharing, connecting, and just spreading the good word -- as in the real side - of life with D. As always, it's great to find friends in the D-Community, both new and old ones, who have shared some insight about life with diabetes -- whatever the category may be. So, without further ado, I'll highlight some of those that caught our collective eye this past month. (Drum roll, please...) Best Use of Humor Renza in Australia, who blogs at Diabetogenic. Yes, you'll want to get this smile from her post called " The Greatest Advancement in Diabetes ."   Best Vlog Kim at Texting My Pancreas shares some real emotion in this video blog, A Minute . ·        Best Re...