It’s FRIDAAAYYYYY!!!! WOOHOOO! I’m so excited! After the weekend, November will be here and that’s a busy month for a lot of people.

November is also NaBlaPoMo, and I am planning to do this for the first time!! The idea is to write a post every day of the month, not just Monday-Friday. Weekends are mandatory! I’m excited to be participating. This will also be the first time I’ve ever posted every single day in a month, so wish me luck!

It is, as most of you know, Diabetes Awareness Month. So, let’s start is off BIG! Join everyone and SAE it LOUD! on SAE Day, November 1st! SUPPORT•ADVOCATE•EDUCATE!!!

November 9th is D-blog Day too, started by Gina Capone. This year’s topic is: 6 things you want people to know about diabetes. Find out more by clicking here to go to Gina’s post!

November 14th is World Diabetes Day! This is the day where we turn everything possible into the color blue and participate in the Big Blue Test to raise awareness for diabetes! I have a surprise planned for next month in honor of WDD, so come back Monday to see!

Of course, it’s not all about diabetes. I have 3 birthdays to plan for, as well as TurkeyDay and Black Friday. Oh, and I’ll be gone for a few days too on a delayed anniversary trip, so I’ll be having some special guest bloggers for those days! Stay tuned to see who they are!

“What is SAE Day?” you may ask??

SAE (pronounced “say”) stands for Support, Advocate and Educate. This year, with the help of my friends, I am announcing November 1st as SAE day. You may be thinking, “What’s going to be so different about this day than the rest of the month?”. Well, here’s the plan: November 1st is the first day of Diabetes Awareness Month. What better way to kick it off than to have the first day be the day we really push for awareness? The idea is to do something in relation to each letter on November 1st to “SAE” diabetes and raise awareness in a big way.

•Support•

transitive verb

1. 1. to carry or bear the weight of; keep from falling, slipping or sinking; hold up
   2. to carry or bear (a specified weight, strain, pressure, etc.)
2. to give courage, faith, or confidence to; help or comfort
3. to maintain or provide for (a person, institution, etc.) with money, or subsistence

This month, lots of people are doing JDRF walks. If you can, support them by donating towards their walk. If you can’t, don’t feel bad! As a community, we can support each other by doing what we do everyday, just a little more. Blogging is some ways that people advocate. If you read the blogs, try to comment on all the ones you read on SAE Day. Let the writers know that you are there to support them not only as a diabetic, but as a D-advocate blogger. Which brings me to….

•Advocate•

transitive verb advocated -·cat′ed, advocating -·cat′·ing

1. -to speak or write in support of; be in favor of

Let your voice be heard. There’s an awesome link through the ADA where you can advocate for Diabetes by sending emails to your local officials to try to raise awareness for diabetes issues in your area. I did this just this week and sent an email about the food standards in our local schools, and how it affects not just kids being overweight and possibly leading to T2 in kids, but also brought out the fact that more and more children in my area are being diagnosed with T1, and they need healthier food options at school as well. There’s lots of topic, and some are state specific. Head on over there and check it out and try to send out at least one letter today!

Another way you can advocate is by being a Diabetes Diplomat for the DRI. You can find more information here.

•Educate•

1. to train or develop the knowledge, skill, mind, or character of, esp. by formal schooling or study; teach; instruct

Tell you story! Find an opportunity to educate someone about diabetes. Blog it, Facebook it, Twitter it, MySpace it! However you’d like to do it. Maybe there’s a co-worker or casual friend that knows you are diabetic, but that’s all. Take the time to educate them today – tell them the facts about diabetes, describe your type of diabetes, show them your emergency kit in your drawer or locker (you do have one, right?), encourage them to ask questions. Through this, maybe we can raise awareness to what living with diabetes really is like, and maybe dispel some of the myths out there. Maybe even take them out for lunch and eat a big slice of cake in front of them to show them we can , in fact, eat sugar!

If you are on twitter and you submit a dblog about SAE day or do something for SAE day, tweet about it! Use the hashtag #saed (support, advocate, educate diabetes). I, personally, can’t wait. Won’t you help me kick off Diabetes Awareness Day and SAE it loud?!?

When looking for a new site, you check all your approved site areas for lumps and bumps and all that stuff to make sure you’re not placing the site in scar tissue from old sites. Of course, last night, I felt completely weird, like I was doing a self-breast exam on my belly (which has enough “dead” areas and tissue that I so wish I could move that tissue “up top” to help balance out my bubblebutt, but that’s a whole other story!)

Anyway, since my wild crazy weight gain 3 years ago, I was left with a belly. I never had one when I was younger. I was skiiiiiinny until you reached my hips, then it was like “BAM”!, so I always prided myself on having a nice, flat waist – to – hip area. It really wasn’t there to put sites in. Since then, in my search for sites, I left the bulge – the “underbelly” – alone I still steered clear of using it just because it was ugly. I didn’t want to mess with it. Besides, it’s there at a beltline too… sort of.

Long story short, I went for it. I went below the belt line to the underbelly zone, placed the inserter, and 3…2….1……  OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG OMGWAITICAN’TDOTHISOMG YESICANNOICAN’TYESICAN…. *shunk*it’s in – “I did it???! It’s there?? Are you kidding me?”  – I was expecting pain. But, surprisingly, I didn’t feel it at all. I rarely feel the Insets go in. I think it has to do with the whole circle hitting your skin at once in my opinion. I put it just sliiiighhhtly above where the belly area creases when you sit down. Yeah, I know, gross-city, but that’s the only way I can describe it. (BTW, that picture was taken with me laying down so maybe it wouldn’t look too bad, showing my gut and all!)

All ugliness aside, I do like having the site there. My absorption is wonderful there and it’s not in the way of my belt line (yeah, no low-riders for me since getting the belly!). Who knows, it may become one of my “sweet spots” (pun totally intended!)!

The point of this post? Only to say this: try new sites! It might surprise you. If you can pinch an inch, try it. Be adventurous! The only thing holding me back from trying more spots is the tubing being the shorter length. Next month, I’m getting the longer tubing in with my order. Then, there’s no tellin’ where I’ll try next. What’s holding you back?

As I already blogged about earlier, when my blood work came back, my TSH was now too low, meaning that my Synthroid dosage was too high. So, we backed off on it one smidge and are going to retest in December.

What I didn’t plan on was the insulin dosages needing to be changed yet again. I had most of everything set from the horrible lows I was having and, after consulting with Dr. Google and an endocrinologist that I follow on Twitter, the constant lows were most likely caused by the big Synthroid dose increase. Since your thyroid controls your metabolism, the meds had my thyroid working a little too well. You would think this would be a good thing, right? Wrong. If you are on too much thyroid medication, it can cause other damage that we don’t need, especially as diabetes already carries enough risk in and of itself.

I’ve noticed my numbers were getting hard to control. Slowly creeping into the 160’s, then 180’s. Then, it seemed like over night, I started staying in the 250-350 +/- range. I hit the 300’s more in one week than I had in 6 months. Needless to say, being frustrated due to having so many highs and the irritability that comes with being high, I turned into a ugly monster. A – - tch, for lack of nicer words. Doncha just hate when it does that to you?!? Frustration, irritability, anger, and a constant state of “DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A SH**” attitude had settled in, and I was becoming someone that no one would like to see. Someone that no one would recognize was being the Sarah they had met just a few weeks prior.

So, once again, it was basal remake time. But, since I knew how much the Synthroid increase had affected me (going from an average of 1.3u per hour to a mere 0.7!), and I had been prescribed the middle dosage between what I had when I was on those basals, I took a guess and did the same with my basals and went with a semi-middle ground basal rate. (******DISCLAIMER!!!!!! ********Now, I am certainly NOT a medical professional and I do not claim to be, so anything I say I do or did on this blog is definitely 100% NOT to be taken as medical advice and should never be used as such in your own treatment.) And, by making that little change and going with a 1.0-1.1 basal throughout the day, things have been much more manageable. Not 100%, heck, not even 80%, but I’m getting there. There’s still some basal testing to do, but I’m not just letting things be as they are and letting my control get back out of hand.

Learning your body and how it all works is a task in itself. It’s that much harder when you have two (or more) conditions complicating the matter. Sure, I may not (Okaaayy, probably will not) have an A1c back in the 5’s for my next visit, but I have to not look at that. I have to look at the overall balance of my control and how well everything is working together. One you find somewhat of a good balance, then you can work on gradually increasing it control for the best you can do.

Good morning, y’all!

Today’s post is over at Well,Then (and it’s a vlog, too!). Head on over there and check it out!

“Organizing Diabetes –

Living with diabetes means living with lots of supplies. Sometimes, keeping those supplies neat and together can be challenging. Here, I tell you how I organize my supplies for quick and easy access.”

To every year, there are four seasons. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. One, flowing into the next, making a complete circle. This can be relative to life as well. No matter the length of years we are given, we all have seasons of life.

Spring. A life begins as a baby is born and wrapped up and given to their mother to hold.

Summer. The life of the child growing up. Crawling to walking to running, playing sports for the local high school athletic teams, going off to college, getting married, starting a family of their own.

Autumn. Growing old gracefully. Aging beautifully and colorful.

Winter. Signs of life coming to an end, succumbing to the harsh cold of life that is death.

And somewhere, a new spring beings. A new life is born. And the circle goes on.

These can be relative to parts of your life as well. Time frames. Though these aren’t always in order, we still have them.

Spring. Starting a new journey in life whether it be a job, marriage, having a child.

Summer. Things are right with the world. Everything is going good.

Autumn. Good things are coming to an end. Summer fun, Work projects being completed.

Winter. Sadness. Depression. Loss. We are held down by the weight of grief and loss from someone or some part of us dying.

And, somehow, some way, we get through. Just when it seems we can’t take the Winter much longer, a breath of hope breaths new life into us and we begin Spring in our souls again.

Yesterday, the DOC had it’s winter. It was a cold, fast Winter that came on us suddenly and crushed our hearts beneath it’s weight. But today, we need to start anew. We need to shake off the icicles and snow and broken branches and let our Spring begin again. That’s not to say that we’re pushing aside the memory of what happened and forgetting it, but rather letting it be a remembrance of what life really is. It’s sacred. Something not to be taken for granted or let pass us by. Every second, every minute, every moment, every season is something we need to hold near to our hearts and cherished.

Make the most of this new Spring. Support. Advocate. Do what you can for Diabetes Awareness.

All over the DOC today are candles being lit in remembrance of Eilish, a young, sweet, 13 year old little girl, whose life was lost in her sleep to diabetes – DIB syndrome.

I have to say, it honestly scares the ever-living crap out of me to know that there is yet another way that this awful disease can take us from this world, and that it has no respect of persons. It doesn’t happed only to those who are slack in their care for themselves or the diabetic child. It doesn’t happen only to those who have had diabetes for what seems like forever and already can start counting on one hand the complications they have from living with diabetes. It happens to anyone. Young, old. Compliant, Noncompliant.

Sure, we try to put it off to others that diabetes is hard, but manageable – try to soften the “blow”, I guess. Maybe not make it seem as bad as it is. Maybe it’s just our hope coming through as we try to convince them and ourselves that diabetes is not a death sentence, just another way of life. But how do you say that to the families like Eilish’s who have lost a loved one way too soon by this worlds standards? The ones that did every single thing they could right. The ones that were compliant.

I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m just to angry at diabetes today to write a sensible post. I’m angry at myself for all those nights I just dismissed a bg of 50, convincing myself that I’d be ok and that I’d come up on my own. For being a fool to think that it can’t happen to me. Because it can. It can happen to any one of us. Maybe I’m mad, too, because it’s something that can’t get punished for taking a life. We can’t arrest it and put it in jail until it rots. I can’t go up to it and beat it upside the head and scream at it, “WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING!!???”, while shoving it into a jail cell. Yes, I’m upset. Very upset. Maybe today isn’t the day for a post. All I can think about and have thought about since yesterday is how an innocent life was taken from us. A life that still had so much to offer.

THIS is why we need a cure. Not just for those of us who are still here, battling it everyday, but so we can stop losing people, especially children, to diabetes.

Hugs and prayers to Eilish’s family. She will always be remembered.

(For those of you who don’t know what DIB syndrome is, you can read about it here.)

Five years ago, I was set up on a semi-blind date with this guy that was the son of my aunt’s co-worker. When I say “semi-blind date”, it was because I knew what he looked like from a picture my aunt got from his mom to show me. After seeing the picture and agreeing to exchange my phone number, I got a call the next night. I missed the call and it went to voicemail. I called him and it went to voicemail. “Well, this is a weird start” is what I thought. He called back around 9pm and before we knew it, it was midnight. Yes, that’s right. We talked on the phone for three whole hours. Just like some high-school kids who had known each other from class, yet we didn’t know each other at all.

That was the night after my 21st birthday. We talked the night after and the night after that – all three hour “chats”. I remember something about my dad walking past my room one night and saying, “She must be talking to that boy again – she’s all giddy!”. I was embarrassed at the time, but now I think it’s funny. The third night we decided to go on a date the next night, September 1st, 2005. We hit it off and that was that.

Fast forward a year and (almost) 5 months. January 15th. Erik had promised to pick me up for our usual Saturday afternoon outing around 3-4pm. He was late getting there, and I was furious. He was always late. If you set the time for 2pm, you might get him there by 3 if you’re lucky. And that day, I had enough. I got in my car and went over to his house. I was just about ready to actually break up with him or have a relationship-time-out because of his tardiness. (Tardiness is my biggest pet-peeve, btw.) I got to his house and he wasn’t back from his trip to town yet. He even had his sister call and tell me that it was her fault for keeping him in town so long. Still, I was fuming. He came in the door and tried to kiss me. I wouldn’t allow it. I’m telling you, my anger was at an all time high. Then, he grinned, looked at everyone else and they gave him a nod. Right there, in his mom and dad’s kitchen, he got down on one knee, presented me a little black box and asked me those famous words, “Sarah, Will you marry me?” I was shocked. Taken back. Confused. It was like a whole line of :

“WHATOMGREALLYSERIOUSLYAREYOUKIDDINGMEBUTI’MSOPISSEDATYOU RIGHTNOWAREYOUREALLYPROPOSINGOMGTHERESTHERING!!!!!!”.

I was shocked and embarrassed and ran to the bathroom to gather myself. That’s right, people. I didn’t answer. He followed behind me to make sure I was okay and asked again. This time, I accepted and proudly wore a shiny, brand new engagement ring on my left hand. (And, btw, I also didn’t know that on his trip home, he actually had my mother and my brother get my dad out of the field off of the tractor to ask for my hand in marriage. Mom tried to tell him would be okay, just go ahead, but he wanted to be sure with my dad and to hear those words from him. Gotta give him credit for that!)

Now, fast forward to October 20, 2007. All the planning had been done, invitations sent, and rehearsals done. This was it. This was the day we would be wed. Standing behind double doors, I put my arm through my dads and awaited the bridal march to be played. The music started, the doors were opened, and we walked down an isle sprinkled with fall leaves to stand beside my friend – my fiancée – my soon-to-be-in-just-a-few-minutes husband. We said our vows and sealed them with a kiss, and I walked back down that isle with the new man in my life. A man that from here on out be a part of me – my second half.

That was three years ago today.

If I have learned anything, it’s that marriage isn’t something that suddenly happens on the day that you exchange your vows. It happens every day after that too. Each day you are learning how to live and work together, each of you changing to conform to living so closely to the other. Sure, I don’t fully understand his obsession with Transformers or computers, but he doesn’t fully understand my obsession with photography or Food Network. Yeah, he gets mad because I forget to break down the boxes before putting them in the trash, but I get mad because he doesn’t clean up after himself. But through it all and faults aside, he loves me for who I am, and I love him.

Five years ago I met my best friend. Three years ago, I married him. Thank you, Erik, for all the wonderful times we’ve had together. I look forward to making many more memories with you.

It was all started as a private practice by Elliott P. Joslin in 1898. From there, the Joslin Clinic,formally founded in 1952, merged with The Diabetes Foundation, Inc. in 1968, and was renamed the Joslin Diabetes Foundation Inc. It wasn’t until 1981 that it was officially renamed the Joslin Diabetes Center. (You can read more of their timeline here.)

All through the years, they have made many advances through research, such as treating diabetic comas, perfecting the A1c test, discovering how diabetes and Alzheimer’s may be linked, and in a 2006 study, how type 1 patients who have lived with diabetes for 50 years or longer may still have residual functioning insulin-producing islet cells. They have let us know about these studies and research advancements through news stories on their site, www.joslindiabetescenter.com . 

And now, the Joslin Diabetes Center is reaching out to it’s online readers in a new way. Last week, I received an email from Jaime, a member of the Joslin Diabetes Center’s social media team, who informed me that Joslin has some news they’d like to share with me and the rest of you guys. The currently have a Facebook page and a Twitter account for sharing news and updates, but they have recently launched a blog.

That’s right. A BLOG! I asked Jamie for some information about the blog that I could share with you, and this is what I received:

About The Joslin Diabetes Center Blog
 
The Joslin Diabetes Center blog was created to better communicate worldwide with people living with diabetes and those who care for them.

Joslin Diabetes Center, a teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a one-of-a-kind institution on the front lines of the world epidemic of diabetes — leading the battle to conquer diabetes in all of its forms through cutting-edge research and innovative approaches to clinical care and education.

At Joslin every person is dedicated to realizing our vision of a world without diabetes and its complications through a relentless pursuit of our mission:

To improve the lives of people with diabetes and its complications through innovative care, education, and research that will lead to prevention and cure of the disease.

I am personally excited about the Joslin Diabetes blog. Not only are they working hard to make living with diabetes easier and possibly find a cure for us as patients, but they are working on reaching out to us as people. And, it’s not just for Type 1, but for all  types. Through the blog, we can read news updates, facts, and information regarding diabetes, and if we want, we can leave a comment, just as you would on any other blog. You can even subscribe to the RSS that they have available so you can read it on the go or through your current reader (i.e., Google Reader).

So, when you have time, click on over to the Joslin Diabetes Blog and check out the posts they have up so far and maybe leave a few comments.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Oh how I wish that were true! Right now, with the way I feel, I’d love to be back at home in my comfy bed sleeping away this terrible, awful feeling, only having to wake up once an hour to check bg and adjust from there, but I can’t. My boss is out today, so I couldn’t call in sick, although I’d love to because I’m practically useless this morning.

I woke up with the feeling of an elephant (okay, okay… maybe not an elephant… a cat!) sitting on my chest. Short, shallow breathing, pain in my throat, weird dizziness. Ugh.

Before I went to bed, I my bg was 144. Yes, it was a little high, but I corrected, rolled over and went to sleep. Next thing I know, it’s 5:13am and I’m rolling out of bed to go pee. I usually do this if I’m high, but I also knew I had taken my HTCZ (water pill) before bed, so I kinda wanted to ignore it, but I didn’t and checked my bg anyway.

5…4…3…2…1…

345… 345?… 345!? WTH? Where did THAT come from? So, I bolused the correction dose and went back to sleep. Yeah, I know I shouldn’t have gone back to sleep, but I did. And the evidence of why showed me at 8am…

5…4…3…2…1….

380!!! HOLY-FERNIN’-SMURF!!!! (Yeah, those weren’t the words I used, but you get the idea.)

So, I drug myself to the kitchen, immediately feeling the “cat on my chest”, and corrected via injection before doing anything. After that, I reached over to smell my sleeve. Yep, insulin-y. I pulled off my shirt to see what was wrong, and there it was.. site, hanging on by a smidge of tape and glue, cannula completely out and bent in towards the tape. I have no idea how long it had been like that. So, since I still have a good bit of insulin left in my pump, I just inserted the new site and connected there. That way I’m not wasting insulin to fill that tubing. (BTW, I think we need to make a petition to Unomedical to make those inserter thingys to come with just the site too. That way, for times like these, you don’t feel bad for throwing out a tubing that could have been useful!)

After getting ready and coming to work, I rechecked again to be sure I was heading down. This time, I remembered the ketone meter too. (Would have been nice to have seen what I was clocking in at when I had that 380, but alas, you can’t really think when you have a high that high being sleepy, lethargic and with “a cat sitting on your chest” and all.)

5…4…3…2…1…

335 BG and 1.4 ketones! To which, I tweeted:

335 (And 345 & 380 @ 5am & 8am respectively.) Ketones are moderate. I FEEL LIKE SHIT! (sorry, there’s no other way to put it)

To which my good friend, Kim replied:

@Sugabetic Also, once you hit 300, you are allowed to curse all you want. That’s the rule… that I just made up.

She made me laugh. I felt a release of some sort. Because of her and other friends sending me “twitter hugs” and “lowering bg vibes”, I went from feeling panicked, awful and stupid, to feeling like I was back in the game. Because it’s not just me doing this everyday. I’m not “weird” with them. I’m understood.

Right before writing this post, I rechecked and things are looking better:

… and the kitty is slowly getting up off my chest so I can breathe again.