That's My Dog!

Billy Corgin happens to be the featured dog on The Daily Corgi today. Go check it out... you know, if you're into that sort of thing.

There is a dog in there! Welcome to my house, dog! Let me sniff you.

I'm Not Great At This.

I rely on my CGM for insulin dosing decisions, and I wear those sensors until they sputter out. The ends of the adhesive get so frilly they start to resemble a tutu.

My A1C has risen each of the last 3 times it's been tested in the past year. Not dramatically, but steadily. It is not currently under 7%. I have mixed feelings about that.

I make food decisions that could stand to be improved. I order a cheeseburger when I should order a salad. With the exception of the past few days, I usually have a few diet sodas a day. (I've switched to coffee, iced tea and water for the time being.) I'm sitting here eating a spoonful of peanut butter with chocolate chips on it as I type this. Low carber, I am usually not.

I don't test as often as I used to, or as I "should". My testing frequency ebbs and flows, and right now, it's ebbing like a boss. I bribe myself with new (not originally intended to be) meter cases to get myself to test more often. (Sometimes, that works. Sometimes it doesn't.)

I reuse insulin pump tubing and cartridges. I fill cartridges from multiple insulin bottles and pens, because I don't want to waste the little bit that's left at the end.

 I don't log my numbers. At all.

There are nights where I don't take my thyroid meds and vitamins because I'm just too tired to mess with it. It literally would take me 30 seconds, but I don't do it. I can always remember my morning ones, but evening is a different story.

Exercise is... well, you can guess. I don't work out often - it's either that I don't have workout clothes clean (lame), or I'm already tired (hello, exercise and taking all of my meds would help this), or my blood sugar is already dropping (or too high, or planking, or or or...).

I often don't notice that I'm out of pump supplies until I try to do a set change, only to find that I've nothing left to change with. (This is where that "reusing" comes in.)

I learn the same lessons over and over... or, rather, I'm reminded of them. Sometimes I change my behavior, sometimes I do not. A lot of times I change, but it doesn't stick.

I don't have this all figured out. I don't have all of the answers. I'm not great at being "perfect" (whatever the heck THAT is).

I'm living with this the best way I can at any given moment.

Life's A Taco.

It's almost like this song was written for the diabetes online community... almost.

MTV True Life: I Have Diabetes.

image credit

Last night, MTV aired an episode of its series "True Life", called "True Life: I Have Diabetes". It shared stories of three people with diabetes - Kristyn, a 25 year-old with type 1 and an insulin pump that badly needed replacing; Matt, a college student with type 1 trying to find the balance between "college life" and "life with diabetes"; and Jen, a pregnant 19 year-old who we are told was diagnosed with type 2 four months prior (it is clarified at the end of the episode that she now has a diagnosis of type 1) and struggles with the changes in lifestyle that she was told to make.

I went into this episode thinking that I'd come out the other side feeling riled up and angry. I assumed, like so much else of popular media's "coverage", that people with diabetes would be portrayed as having done something wrong; as having brought their condition on themselves; as people who can't make good, healthy choices for themselves.

I was pleasantly mistaken in most cases. While MTV's portrayal of life with diabetes wasn't without its flaws, I actually thought it was... good. (And I did DVR it, so I'll need to go back and rewatch... but these are my initial thoughts.)

We saw rational people dealing with the same real-life diabetes crap that we all know. We saw young adults grappling with the expenses - of money, time and brain space - of this disease. We heard a doctor being realistic instead of derogatory with his young patient who consumes alcohol, and who provided some advice and guidance for partaking in those activities. We saw these people with diabetes surrounded by friends who cared enough to ask questions, know what to do if and when their help was needed, and watched out for their friends with compromised pancrei.

Then again, we also heard nurses reminding Jen (the pregnant one) multiple times that her baby could die if her blood sugars were "too high". You know, "because of the diabetes". (And yes - they really called it "the diabetes".) We saw parents with what I felt to be extremely high (read: unattainable/unrealistic) expectations for their child's health goals. We also heard soundbites that were probably taken out of context.

The overwhelming, heartstring-pulling, need-to-do-something-about-this feeling I was left with was this:

You are not alone.

As I heard these people talk, I heard echoes of my own past ways of thinking in their words. I remember thinking that it was one of two options: live a "normal college life", or take care of diabetes. So many of us who went through college with type 1 felt that way. Like Matt, we were the only people in our circle of friends who had diabetes. We knew we needed to take care of ourselves, but we also wanted to just have fun and LIVE.

I also felt for Jen, who apparently was misdiagnosed with type 2 before being correctly diagnosed with type 1. I know a few people to whom that has happened, as well. Being diagnosed as an adult by a doctor who isn't looking for the right things can do that.

And struggling to find ways to pay for medical supplies? Yep, those of us are out here, too.

I don't think I'm the only one who hopes that MTV sees some of our tweets from last night, and somehow finds a way to connect Kristyn, Matt and Jen with the diabetes online community. Not because we have all the answers for them... but because we know. We know what this life is like, because we live it too. We talk to each other and support each other and make a difference in each other's lives by what we say and do.

There is help that is needed. There are lives to be changed; people to be supported.

There is work to be done.

UPDATE: Kristyn found me on Twitter, after finding this blog post. In related news, the internet is amazing. Find her @followkristyn!

Wordless Wednesday: New Hardware.

(My first iPhone, and my newly-replaced-under-warranty pump.)

Wondering why Texting My Pancreas has a black background today? Find out here.

"That Looks Like My Music Player!"

Disclosure: Last week I was contacted by a PR agency representing LifeScan/OneTouch. They asked if I'd like to receive their brand new VerioIQ meter for free and provided me the meter along with all of the parts I've pictured here, as well as a box of 50 strips. While they hoped that I would write an evaluation of their product, I was not required to do so in order to receive it.

Let me start off by saying that I'm a little biased. OneTouch made one of the very first glucose meter I can ever remember using - that big, clunky gray brick of a meter in the snap-shut case. Anyone else remember this thing?

Image source: TuDiabetes. Also, this is not the VerioIQ.

I used that thing for years. I used it so long, in fact, that when I met with a brand new CDE after college and we were trying to figure out my blood sugar patterns, she finally asked what kind of meter I was using. When I told her, her eyes grew to three times their normal size. "WHAT? Oh, no. NO. That thing's ancient. We're getting you a new one."

Whoops.

Given that backstory, it tickled me just a bit that I got to test out this very fancy, high tech (but super easy to use) meter. If you've ever wanted a meter that paid attention to what your readings are (even when you don't) and gave you feedback, this is the one. If you've ever wanted one that was rechargeable, lights up in the dark like nobody's business, or has a vivid and animated color screen, this is the one. And if you've ever wanted one that a friend will mistake for an mp3 player, this is totally for you.

There's quite a bit that I like about this meter, and that was before I even tested my blood with it. It's kind of sexy-looking, right? Nothing about it really screams, "I have a chronic illness! Medical equipment alert!", and I appreciate that. Even my co-worker, upon finding out what it was, was aghast. "Really? Holy crap, that's awesome! It looks just like my music player." And she was right: brothers from a different mother, if you will.

The meter has a USB cable to download readings to your computer, and an AC adapter so that it can be plugged in to recharge. (Cool!) The charge is reported to last two weeks, and so far I believe that to be true. I've been using it out of the box for the past five days, and only one of the three bars on the battery display have vanished.

There is also a "Pattern Guide" that was included with my set, but apparently won't be included in the for-sale version. (What?) From the press release: "A companion OneTouch® Verio™IQ Pattern Guide is available to patients from healthcare professionals or by contacting OneTouch directly at 888-567-3003. It offers possible causes and potential solutions for High and Low patterns based on guidance provided by leading diabetes healthcare experts."

The big deal about this meter, besides how it looks, is what it does. Also from the press release: 

“All meters will tell you your blood sugar level at a particular moment in time. But, the OneTouch VerioIQ System is the only one to compare your current result with your previous results and to proactively alert you to important patterns you might not even be aware exist,” says Michael Pfeifer, Chief Medical Officer, LifeScan, Inc. “Our goal is to make a real difference for people with diabetes by providing simple tools that help patients discover ways to improve their glycemic control. By analyzing the information after each test and identifying patterns as they occur, this system helps patients and their healthcare professionals focus on fixing a potential problem instead of trying to find it.”

I've been using this meter for a few days now, and I really like it - the feel, the usability, the visual happies (like the graphics when it's counting down from 5, and the icons for "Before Meal" [a whole apple] and "After Meal" [an apple with a couple of bites missing]). I'm a visual person. This kind of stuff pleases me.

Other things to take note of:

• This meter uses a completely different kind of gold test strip, and they only work with this particular meter. The strips don't use a whole lot of blood - yay! - and it kind of zips across the strip. They "will soon be available wherever diabetes supplies are sold".
• The VerioIQ stores 750 test results and 50 pattern messages. It will also display 7-, 14-, 30- and 90-day blood glucose averages.
• High and low thresholds can be customized by the user.
• The OneTouch VerioIQMeter has a suggested retail price of $69.99. OneTouch Verio Gold Test Strips are covered by Medicare Part B5 and private insurance co-pays for test strips will vary by health plan.
• Apparently this meter is "shipping now, with availability increasing steadily...it will vary by retailer but typically it takes 4-6 weeks for broad availability", according to the email exchange I had with LifeScan's PR agency.

If I could change anything about this meter, I'd want it to double as the remote for my Ping insulin pump. That would be rad.

Other than that? Yep; I'm a fan. I can see this being an especially popular meter with kids, based on the way it looks (for them) and the feedback it can provide (for their parents). Or, with people like me, who like those visual happies.

Neat-o robot-themed case not included.

Pinterest Is To Blame For This.

I made this a couple of weeks ago, but forgot to mention it on Ye Olde Blogge, so here it is.

My friend Meredith found a recipe on Pinterest that involves both avocado and eggs, so I was totally game to try it out. And it's so super easy! I wasn't a huge fan of the textures, but someone else might think it's totally awesometown.

Here's what the picture looked like on Pinterest:

Source: apronstringsblog.com via Erin on Pinterest

And here's what they looked like when I made them (plus some lemon bread):

Not quite as pretty, right?

Here's what you do, via the Apron Strings Blog:

Heat a non-stick skillet to medium low heat. Lightly spray with oil. Slice an avocado with the skin ON lengthwise, forming one thick slice in the middle. (You will have some leftover avocado pieces – so, Hey! Make some bonus guacamole if you want! Guacamole for Breakfast? Why NOT? It’s the Holidays!) Remove the seed and use a small cookie cutter {Editors note: or, you know, a spoon.} to make a hole in the center of your thick slice. Place the avocado slice in the pan. Crack a medium sized egg into the center of the hole. Cover and cook for a minute or two, until the egg is as you like it. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

I feel like I didn't cut enough of the avocado out, so my eggs spilled over everywhere. (Is that an eggalanche?) So watch out for that.