The Corner Booth

Middle of the night. My 2 AM ceiling transforms into a canvas, a lack of light creating the perfect patch of blank page for the mind to paint a masterpiece. A candle sits on the table below, the shadows of a single flame dancing on the darkened ceiling above. I'd never dreamed of being a firefighter. But enough television and movies portrayed the life of flames, the mystery and danger. Free, a moment away from exploding into new spaces, but caged at times. Often, one's own human life and career could be described in much the same way. We mostly stay in our lanes but flirt with new challenges and experience at other times, eating up the oxygen around us and crawling on the walls of our known existence. Until that new burst of energy gives us a boost to explode outside the lines, into new chapters of the canvas before us. Above, the ceiling flame dances as the floor fan provides a soundtrack and oscillating choreography. It paints the canvas overhead, tempting my eyes with it...

"As one chapter closes..." A decade ago in 2012, I had the privilege of joining with my friend and fellow diabetes advocate Amy Tenderich at DiabetesMine. At that time, my journalism career evolved into one that could be combined with my passion for diabetes and my own life with type 1 diabetes. I'd been personally blogging since 2007 and had been actively involved in the DOC (Diabetes Online Community) for a handful of years at that time, attending various conferences and forums with fellow advocates looking to "do good" in the world. I've been proud to be managing editor for so many years, covering this community and doing advocacy journalism there - before and after we became part of Healthline in 2015.The time has come, though, for my career page to turn to the next chapter. Healthline made a decision that it's time to close down DiabetesMine. We first heard about this decision-making in early 2022, and by mid-March the final decision had been made...

So many people with diabetes whose lives depend on insulin are struggling to afford and get access to this life-sustaining medication, and in some cases, they're rationing and even dying as a result. That's why every year in February, our Diabetes Community gets pretty vocal about the "Spare a Rose" initiative , a grassroots effort aimed at raising money to provide insulin and diabetes supplies for those in desperate need across the world. The idea is simple: Instead of buying the typical "dozen roses" that are so popular on Valentine's Day, you buy just 11 and donate the value of that last flower (roughly $3 to $5) to help someone with diabetes. You still get to be romantic and give roses, while also showing some love to someone who really needs it. Seriously, it really is that simple. You're literally just sparing a rose — at a minimum, because there is certainly an opportunity to spare all the roses and donate much more than just the cost...

 The invention of a "noninvasive" device that can measure blood glucose for people with diabetes with no need to poke the skin and draw blood has been the dream for decades. After all, why wouldn't people with diabetes (PWDs) flock to a skin patch that can detect blood sugar levels through sweat, or a wrist band that uses radio frequency technology to continuously beam glucose data directly to an app? Numerous companies are pushing forward in this noninvasive continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) space, even in the midst of a pandemic. To date, it's been mostly hype versus hope, as attempts to create those products have fallen flat. The Diabetes Technology Society (DTS) published a scientific analysis on this topic in October 2021, noting "the amount of interest in seeing the development of an accurate [noninvasive glucose sensor] and the amount of hyperbole by companies promising an accurate [product] both far outstrip the amount of publicly avai...

As we look to what's ahead in new diabetes technology for 2022, many may experience a sense of déjà vu. After all, much of what we'd anticipated for 2021 was delayed because of the continuing global pandemic (much like the year before). That means a lot of the forecast for the year ahead resembles what had initially been on tap a year earlier. Still, it's exciting to look at new innovations anticipated to literally change the face of daily diabetes management — from new insulin pens and pumps, to CGMs, and smart closed loop tech, or Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) systems. Our DiabetesMine team has been listening to industry earnings calls, and talking with company insiders and other experts to compile this roundup of what’s expected to materialize in 2022, with some of our own insights and observations sprinkled in. Tandem Diabetes Care For the first time, people with diabetes (PWDs) will likely see technology giving us the ability to control our medical ...