All posts by Stacey D.

Diabetes Art Day. 2013.

BG, Community, Emotions, Events, Fun

Diabetes Art Day is a fun event started by my friend Lee Ann to “encourage individuals and families with diabetes to engage in creative visual expression to communicate their experience with diabetes, connect with others, raise awareness, and promote insight and positive coping skills”.  One thing that I have learned over the past few years participating in this is that I’m really not all that creative 😉  But I still have fun and especially love seeing the entries by others in the community.

My submission for this year is about the ups and downs of diabetes. Figuratively and literally.  There are both good and bad times living with diabetes.  And even though the bad times can seem overpowering and never ending at times, in reality, the good times are bigger.  And this I believe is what gets us through.

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48 Things About Me.

Community, Fun

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A couple of weeks ago.  I think.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Most of the time.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Honey maple turkey.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I’d like to think so 😉
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I do.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes and they are gigantic!
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Part of me wants to, the other part isn’t so sure.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I rarely eat cereal but I do like Banana nut Cheerios.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?  Yup.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?  Not always.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?  Plain ol’ vanilla.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their hair.
15. RED OR PINK? Pink.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My laziness likes to take over sometimes.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Daddy 😦
18. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST? Being more outspoken.
19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Veggie miso soup.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?  Myself and my office mate typing.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple.
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Pink Sugar perfume, Twisted peppermint lotion or soap, sandalwood vanilla.
24. HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TO YOU?  I hate politics.
25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?  Mountain hideaway.
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football or hockey.
27. HAIR COLOR? Red.
28. EYE COLOR? Hazel.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope.
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Salads (honestly!), guacamole, hummus, cheese, pizza, bacon, yogurt.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Hunger Games.
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Black, white, pink.
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Neither.  Spring or autumn.
35. FAVORITE DESSERT? Creme brulee.
36. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO? Cardio.
37. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION? Computer.
38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Just finished Breakthrough last night so must find a new book.
39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? At work, pictures of my niece + nephew.  I don’t have a mouse pad at home.
40. FAVORITE SOUND? A baby’s laugh.
41. FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC? If I had to pick one, I’d go with what is considered pop.
42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? I’d say approximately 2,200 miles to Costa Rica.
43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Is retweeting a talent? 😉
44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Brooklyn, NY.
45. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW? Queens, NY.
46. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE? The outside is brick.
47. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR CAR? Silver.
48. DO YOU LIKE ANSWERING 48 QUESTIONS? I always like these sort of things 🙂

Thanks to Cherise for starting this meme over at DSMA.  It’s a great idea for us all to get to  know each other better, in a non-diabetes sense!

New Good Reads.

Advocacy, Community

When I was growing up with diabetes, there weren’t many books around that I knew of on the topic.  These days, I’m happy to say there are more book resources available to people with diabetes and their loved ones.  And some of them are even written by people I know and respect.

I wanted to share some recent books that are out there.  The first is Ginger Vieira’s new book Emotional Eating with Diabetes.  I read her first book Your Diabetes Science Experiment and loved it.  I’ve also worked a bit with Ginger on my own eating and exercise habits and love how Ginger works with each person on what fits their individual needs and lifestyles.   If anyone can help you create a positive attitude about food, it’s Ginger.

The second is Diabetes Do’s & How To’s by Riva Greenberg.  Riva is a well respected member of the diabetes community, being diagnosed with T1D in 1972.  (And a great travel mate 🙂 )  She contributes to the Huffington Post regularly as well as the author of 50 Diabetes Myths that Can Ruin Your Life and The ABC’s of Loving Yourself with Diabetes.  With her new book, Riva strives to guide people with their diabetes self care, avoiding common confusion and feeling overwhelmed.

Living with diabetes myself, I don’t get the viewpoint of being a care giver for someone with diabetes.  It has its own challenges and thinking back, I’d never really known what my parents felt as I grew up.  Fortunately, there are many parents of children with diabetes in the community and I learn all the time about what that is like.  One book that is currently available is Kids First Diabetes Second by Leighann Calentine.  It explores the many challenges surrounding raising a child with T1D.  Leighann’s insight on taking care of her daughter has been valuable to me, seeing diabetes through her eyes.

A book that is available for pre-order is Life is Short, Laundry is Eternal by Scott Benner.  Scott shares his story of keeping a positive attitude, despite his daughter’s T1D diagnosis, and his experience of being a stay at home Dad.  Scott is a really funny guy and I do admire his outlook on things so I am certain this will be a good read.

Year in Review. A Tad Late.

Community, Fun, Holidays

Technically, the year is still new right?  And 2012 not that far away?  Good.  I’m getting a late jump start on the year in review meme that was circulating earlier in the week 🙂

January – “Since I know that many of you have been keeping an interest in my OmniPod trial (which I greatly appreciate by the way), I thought it fair to share with you my decision.”

February – “I have made two rather major changes to my diabetes management recently.”

March – “When I was at the JDRF Research Summit last month, the main focus of the presenters was the progress, current efforts and complexity of finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.”

April – “If you know me, you will be well aware of my interest in new things that come out.”

May – “Vacation.  I think everyone needs one once in a while for the sake of their mental health.”

June – “One of the things about living with diabetes is that there are a lot of medication and supplies needed on daily basis.”

July – “I got home tonight from my first ever Roche Social Media Summit in Indianapolis.”

August – “Wordless Wednesday.”

September – “Wow.  When you haven’t cried in a while and something sets you off, it’s kind of hard to stop.”

October – “My last A1c about 6 weeks ago was not only one of my lowest ever but also close to a 1% drop in 3 months.”

November – “When Dexcom announced their new G4 continuous glucose monitoring system last month, I was ecstatic.  And anxious to get mine.”

December – “On Christmas eve 31 years ago, my life changed forever.  And my family’s.”

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope the new year is off to a good start so far!

Goodbye 2012.

Community, Events, Holidays

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I want to thank all of my readers for sharing The Girl with the Portable Pancreas with me.  I truly appreciate your reading and feedback.  This past year has been a tough one for so many of my family and friends.  So it is with wishes for health, happiness and good fortune for all of you that I say goodbye to 2012.  I hope the new year is a good one.  ~Stacey

My Diabetes is 31 Today.

Emotions, Events, Holidays, Milestones

31 years going strong.

On Christmas eve 31 years ago, my life changed forever.  And my family’s.  Instead of celebrating Christmas with family and gifts like planned, I was brought to the hospital by my parents for a type 1 diabetes diagnosis.  To this day, I am grateful that my parents recognized the symptoms of insatiable thirst and never ending trips to the bathroom as soon as they did.  They saved me from becoming seriously ill.

I dislike having to live with diabetes.  There are days or moments when I absolutely hate it.  I’m not going to hide it.  But as I am reading “Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle“, I cannot help but feel extremely thankful that I live in a time where there are treatment options.  Back in the early 1900’s, the prognosis of being diagnosed with diabetes was a death sentence.  And a short one.  In my first years of being a person with diabetes, we relied on urine testing and only 1-2 daily injections of insulin to manage blood sugar.  But it was still better than nothing at all.  And today, 31 years later, even though I have some mild complications, I am still overall a healthy person.

So happy birthday, Diabetes.  I’m sorry to be stuck with you but in a way I hope we get to celebrate many more together.

End of the year. Already?

A1c, Community, Endocrinologists, OmniPod

So I’ve had a bit of a blogging hiatus, with a few things going on for me personally.  Luckily not all of it bad as we welcomed my nephew into the world last Sunday 🙂  Frank Micheal was a bit early and came very fast but he is doing well so far which I am extremely thankful for.  My sister, brother in law, big brother and sister are settling into their new “normal”.

My new angel =)

Things on the diabetes front are going pretty well.  I had another appointment with my endo last week, with a consecutive A1c under 7%.  I posted after my last appointment, I was spending some time figuring out if my good A1c was a fluke or the result of hard work on my part.  But it appears that it was not in fact a fluke and something that I can hopefully hold onto.     As I will ring in my 31st year with T1D next week, this is music to my ears.

You may have seen some recent pictures I’ve posted on Twitter or Instagram of BG readings with a Bayer Contour Next Link meter.  Even though I don’t currently use a Medtronic insulin pump for the meter to link to, I purchased the meter and like it.  I have an older Contour Link meter but wasn’t too happy with its accuracy.  Having tried this new one out that uses Bayer’s new Next text strips, I find its accuracy running along the lines with the Verio IQ and Accu-chek Nano.  It supposedly is compatible with the Diasend software but I am currently having issues getting it to work on my MacBook.

Big news in the diabetes community came last week when Insulet announced that their new generation of the OmniPod insulin pump system was approved by the FDA!  Being an OmniPodd-er I was ecstatic hearing this.  I’ve been using the pods for 10 months now and have become extremely accustomed to using a pump that is tubeless.  However, since the pod itself is bigger and more bulkier than a typical infusion set, my concern about real estate reared its ugly head.  Having a one third smaller, one quarter lighter pod to wear will be a fantastic upgrade for pod users.  And it still holds the same 200 units of insulin!  Here are a few snapshots of the new system.

Current pod vs. New pod

Current pod vs New pod2

New pod compared to fruit size

New pod and PDM

(images were provided by a communications consultancy firm, on behalf of  Insulet)

The new PDM also has some enhancements, although it looks pretty similar.  To check out some more detailed recaps of the new product from Insulet, read what Scott, Diabetes Mine and Rachel had to say.  I guess we will have to wait a couple of months to get our hands on this new insulin pump!

As the holidays and end of 2012 approach, I hope that each and every one of you have happiness and health to share with your loved ones.  I for one am hoping that 2013 brings more happy times than its predecessor, especially in the tri-state area.

Dexcom’s G4.

Dexcom

When Dexcom announced their new G4 continuous glucose monitoring system last month, I was ecstatic.  And anxious to get mine.  Since I got my latest Seven Plus system only in July, that made me eligible for their upgrade offer.  Which I enlisted for immediately.  I was originally told the expected shipment for my upgraded system wasn’t going to be until early to mid December.  However Dexcom made me a very happy customer by delivering it to me at the beginning of this month instead, one day past the date four years ago when I got my very first Seven system.  It has been a week and a half using the new G4 and I wanted to share my thoughts.  Kerri, Scott and Arden, Kim, Catherine, Kelly and Adam and Melissa have already shared their experiences if you’d like to check those out as well.

The tape.  All of us who are Dexcom users know that the tape that keeps the sensor and transmitter on our body parts isn’t the stickiest of all tapes.  I was somewhat hoping that they would have improved on that but it doesn’t look like they did.  I’m currently on day 9 of my first G4 sensor and I’ve already had to add some Flexifix tape to the mix.  (side note: if not-so-sticky tape is the most of the negative features of this system, I will gladly take it)

The transmitter.  It is similarly shaped to the Seven Plus transmitter yet slightly thicker or bulkier, from top to bottom.  I had a wee bit trouble setting it into the pod of the sensor.  I’m hoping my next sensor insertion will be without that wee bit of trouble.  My primary area for wearing the sensors is my outer thigh.  I did notice at first that it sticks out a bit more than the old transmitter and thought maybe it would be a concern.  However since wearing it, I really don’t notice the difference.  It states in the manual that the transmitter battery life is only at least 6 months.  We shall see how that pans out.

The receiver.  Let’s face it.  I like diabetes devices that are pretty or that I can pretty up.  So of course I got the tinkled pink.  I love that they offer three different colors.  It is tiny compared to the Seven Plus “egg” receiver.  This makes carrying it around much more flexible.  The color screen is fabulous.  I like how they color coded the out of range readings – red for low and yellow for high.  I like how the alerts in color seem to draw more attention.  See how the below low alarm looks much more alerting in red!

And also how the replace sensor soon warning appears more unmistakable.

Even the BG calibration notifications are more obvious – with the green check for the first reading already entered and remaining red drop for the additional reading still needed.

The alerts to me are more audible, which I know is a great thing to many.  I keep mine on vibrate since I don’t usually have a problem hearing that during the night.  I feel the vibration is stronger or louder.  Even the tone that occurs if you’ve missed a vibrating alert is louder.  This is a huge plus.  Let’s not forget the range.  The G4 can send signals from the transmitter to the receiver up to 20 feet away.  How awesome is that?

The battery life.  I haven’t noticed much of a difference in the battery life, positive or negative.  I typically charge my receiver once or twice a week.  The improvement, in my opinion, is that it has a normal USB plug to charge unlike the Seven Plus.  This is wonderful since I already have USBs for my Kindle Fire and my work Blackberry.  It allows more freedom in terms of having yet another cable to have handy in order to charge it.

The accuracy.  For the past four years, I have always been happy with the accuracy of my Seven Plus system.  There were times when it wasn’t all that accurate but those were few for me.  The last 9 days of the G4 have proved to be a tad more accurate even, compared to my finger sticks.  And isn’t that something we are all striving for?  Better accuracy for our diabetes management?  Heck yeah.  Of course this device still isn’t perfect in terms of accuracy.  I had an off reading last night.  But overall, there is an improved accurateness that is evident.  Also, I have not had one period of ??? yet.  I’m hoping I didn’t just jinx it but that is a wonderful enhancement.

My overall impression.  Thank you Dexcom for investing in a system that helps many people with diabetes manage their glucose levels.  I heart you.

World Diabetes Day 2012.

Advocacy, Community, Education, Events

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 59 years after insulin was discovered.  And here we are just about 31 years later and although the tools to oversee one’s glucose levels have improved significantly, we still rely on insulin to live.  Without insulin, the rest is useless.

So on this day, World Diabetes Day 2012, I say thank you to Banting and Best.  I owe you both my life, literally.  Oh and happy birthday Sir Frederick Grant Banting!   🙂

I’m going to try and pass by the Empire State Building tonight to see it lit up in blue.  Let’s hope it’s not a big fat fail like last year!

Advocacy(less).

Advocacy, Community, Events

November has begun and it is Diabetes Awareness month.  This is the time that diabetes advocacy takes on a whole new meaning.    Diabetes education and awareness is extremely important.  In fact, it is critical in order to get the resources we need  to live long, healthy lives.  This is when my voice is supposed to be the loudest.

But my heart is just not in it this year.  I do feel like I am failing as a diabetes advocate.  But with the loss that surrounds me from Hurricane Sandy, I can’t seem to focus.  I wasn’t directly affected by destruction.  But my twin sister was.  And so, so, so many other people.  I will never forget the desperation and terror in her voice when she called me fearing for her and her family’s lives when the water from the beach started approaching their house.  It was the longest moments of my life waiting to hear from her again.  I will never forget the news stories of neighborhoods close by, just gone.  I will never forget the sight of her neighborhood or her house from the destruction.  I will certainly never forget the compassion and generosity of friends, family and complete strangers to her and others.

I know it will get better.  And I’m hoping in a couple of weeks when things calm down a bit, I can focus again.  Until then, please don’t mind the absence of my advocate voice.  I’m there in spirit and commend all of my diabetes community friends for all their efforts.  My heart is just someplace else right now.