2 out of 3 ain't bad.

So I thought some of you would enjoy this little story:

I'm taking a class this semester called "Writing About Issues and Ideas" and the professor loves to send emails. Like seriously everyday after class we get an email. It's nice, but somewhat annoying. Anyway the emails are usually just tying up lose ends from class, but sometimes if you actually read them and respond you can get extra credit points.
The latest one was:
Which of the following statements is NOT an arguable factual claim:

1. People who are obese run a heightened risk for diabetes.
2. In the long run, dieting may be more harmful than moderate
overeating.

Supposedly the answer is 1.

Long story short I never responded because I was too lazy plus she sent it to us over a weekend. I had better things to do than worry about 3 silly points. We get to class Tuesday and she decides to review the answer. For some reason it catches my attention that even if statement is not arguable in her opinion, to me it is. So I raise my hand and ask her to read number 1 again. I then flat out say that she's she's wrong because her statement is a sweeping generalization. I tell her that by saying simply "diabetes" it makes it arguable, because I have Type 1 Diabetes and that has nothing to do with weight it's auto-immune. She admits that she is wrong and tells me to see her after class. Guess who got 2 extra credit points? ME! I'm not usually the most vocal when it comes to addressing Diabetes misconceptions in real life. I get flustered. I get frustrated. I feel like it's too hard to change the preconceived notions everyone has about Diabetes. But I did it, and it paid off. It should be noted that the book for this class is called "Everything's an Argument", maybe that's where I got the courage to speak up.

Also in the school realm, I'm taking a black and white film photography class this semester. The professor said that if you happen to have a cut on your hand and you touch the stop bath solution the cut will magically disappear in 2 days. Today I dipped all my over pricked fingers in just to experiment. If it works I'll let you know.

On a totally different note. Since I switched to Animas I have somewhere between 2 -4 boxes of unused Cozmo pump cartridges. If you or someone you know could benefit from free supplies, please let me know so I can get them to someone who needs them. My email address is available in my profile.

Happy Monday!

(Almost) One year away.

Whoa. It's been almost a year since I've written here. The adventure at the new place hasn't gone so well. I've missed writing and the feedback, but I just haven't had the time. If anyone is stilling reading this. A little update:

I started community college...let me tell you it is NOTHING like the show on NBC. It's good to be back in the classroom. I've kind of settled into the routine, and it's not terrible. I even got into the honors program. Still undeclared major. HELP!
I turned 18 in September. Got a new car! Bye bye buggie :(
My sister moved back home :)
I got a new pump, the Animas Ping! It's pink. I still miss my Cozmo.
The Endo and I are talking CGMS. I'm skeptical, he's progressive. We'll see what happens at my next appointment in March.

Don't worry D-peeps, I've been keeping up with you. How awesome is it that Kerri and Chris are having a baby? I'm so excited for them. And from everything else that I'm reading it seems that most of you are doing well.

Also Oprah's having a show tomorrow about Diabetes....I wonder if it will be informative or just more BS (and not the blood sugar kind) about how sugar and fat is going to kill us all because (Type 2) Diabetes is on the rise!

Anywho. I guess I'll see ya when I see ya! Happy belated new year!

Set your DVR's

This past weekend I caught a wonderful special on the Discovery Health channel called Diabetes: Demystifying the Myths. It was perhaps the most comprehensive and well explained presentation on Diabetes in general, but it really defined so many of the differences between Type 1 and Type 2. Topics like, "Diabetes is caused by eating to much sugar" and "Because you have Diabetes you can't have any sugar," were demystified in detail including how these things applied to Type 1 or Type 2. They talked pumps, exercise, eating habits, diagnosis stories, and emotions. From Gary Hall Jr. to a Pre-Diabetic to a Type 1 man and his Type 1 father, the most impressive thing had to be the varying faces of Diabetes the program showed. If you have ever thought, "if only I could summarize life with Diabetes in the perfect way" this is the program for you. If you have the chance it's definitely worth the hour out of your day, and I would encourage you to share it with others to spread education. You can click the link above for the scheduled airing times.

463 words.

That's how many words came before the words "Type 2 Diabetes" in this article, which was featured on Yahoo's front page. So once again "diabetes" is caused by obesity my friends, and I guess as "diabetics" we should all sign up for gastric bypass! UGH.

'"We have traditionally considered diabetes to be a chronic, progressive disease," said Cummings of the University of Washington in Seattle. "But these operations really do represent a realistic hope for curing most patients."' What a joke!

Email the Doctor & A Party!

Hat tip to Bernard. If you would like to email the misinforming Dr. Robert Rizza who I spotlighted in yesterday's post. Please feel free to send your feelings to him at rizzaDOTrobertATmayoDOTedu. Who knows, maybe if we all do this they will edit the horrible video or just take it down. Then there will be one less video to add to the world's confusion when it comes to the word Diabetes. I've decided that this will be my tactic from now on. Spot a diabetes error. Point it out to the blogosphere and I will be writing letters to the offenders. So feel free to join me if you ever have the time. What can it hurt? Nothing. What could it change? Everything.

Tonight, I will be celebrating my best friend's 17th birthday! It makes me feel really old. I know I am only 16 and I am complaining about getting old. Maybe the right word is SCARY. It feels like just yesterday we were carpooling to middle school. Now she can drive, and I am about to get my license. By this time next year we will probably both be thinking about where to go for college. It freaks me out. Oh and this will be the first party that Orin and I will attend wearing a dress. Let's just hope I don't have an experience like Kerri.

I can NOT believe this...

First, this morning I watch a relatively good interview with Dr. Tim Johnson & his wife on Good Morning America, about her Type 1 Diabetes. She was diagnosed when she was in her 30's, a poster adult for LADA. It was pretty much factually accurate, she showed her pump, tested her blood sugar on the air, they talked about a cure, hypoglycemia, etc.
I was thinking alright, go GMA!

Then I went to checked out the website after the show like they direct you to do.
I stumbled upon ABC's On Call + Diabetes.

And this is the part where I hop onto my soapbox.

So I looked around, and found this, which pissed me off. So according to this guy diabetes is caused by diet. Wow, I didn't know that doctor, so you are telling me that when I was 5 I was not following the right diet and I ended up skeleton skinny and this caused my (type 1) diabetes? Please, can you just say Type 2 before diabetes. It's an extra 2 syllables, I'm sure it won't kill you and all your other medical professional friends! I get the fact that Type 2 is the more prevalent disease, but that doesn't mean you can put us all under that same big blue "diabetes" umbrella. Also, some Type 2's are not even overweight!!! I could go on for days...
Now I will step off my soapbox.

From their lips to your ears.

Oh Halle! Why???



And now The View is getting in on the action...I won't knock them for at least saying something about Diabetes Awareness Month. But way to add to the confusion Babs and company, it can be corrected? News to me Babs! They didn't even say anything about Type 1 Diabetes.

PS. I broke the YouTube rules so they might get deleted at some point. I would love to see what your reaction is after not only reading Halle's words, but hearing her say them. Plus what do you think about the View? Yay or Nay?

Perez has it right!

Okay so we all know that Halle Berry has cured her Type 1 Diabetes. But Perez Hilton has proven her wrong! Leave it to a Celebrity gossip blogger to set the facts straight, well sort of. The funny thing is people are trying to say that the media misinterpreted her words. Not true at all, she said something very similar to this on Bravo's Inside the Actor's Studio.

By the way it's my 1 week Pump-iversary.

Pump Update. Days 14 & 15.

3 days down and diabetes researchers only know how many more to go. So I left you off at the party, which went surprisingly well. Although the pizza sent me way up, because I experimented with a combination bolus and didn’t get it right. But the 265 I hit after the pizza is the highest I have been, so I won’t complain. Saturday and Sunday I woke up to numbers under 150 for the first time since ever. Today I was 203 at breakfast, but I think that is because I have a sore throat. I have definitely learned that when it comes to sites, “when in doubt rip it out!” The Friday to Sunday evening site hurt a bit every once in awhile, but I decided to keep it in. Not a good choice, it is now a little raised, but I am putting antibiotic ointment and band aids on it. If it persists I guess that will be a trip to the doctor, I hate doctors (but that is a post for another time). I had to take the extra insulin pen out of my kit, because I almost did a correction with it out of habit. Not taking shots is definitely the biggest adjustment, not that I miss them. For me it is so automatic to check my blood sugar, do the math quickly in my head, and dial up the pen. No longer am I a human calculator, I am now a professional button presser. I thought it would be hard to trust the pump with the math, but I have actually stopped doing the count in my head already. I cannot wait to see what my HbA1c is at the one month check up. Oh I forgot to mention, tomorrow I get to go to a Stevie Wonder concert. At the time the tickets were purchased we all (parental units and I) thought that it would be better not to leave me alone. Since I would only be on the pump for 5 days. Little did we know the transition would be relatively uneventful. You see my mom really, really loves Stevie and I didn’t want to be the reason why she didn’t get to see him live in concert. So tomorrow I will be rockin’ out to the Motown sound…

Picture time:

Day 14

As I was watching TV Sunday morning, a sad melody started to play from the speakers. Then a little boy said, "My mom pricked my finger". A little girl then said, "And it really really hurt". The scene changed and a little boy said, "I am 11 years old, and my mom says I have had over 11,000 shots." I heard these words and realized that I am one of these kids. That those words could easily come from my mouth too. No child should have to say those words or think about things like that.

There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

Day 15

This is our huge bowl of Halloween candy. It has been sitting on our dining room table for a week. As a diabetic, it is not that I can not have candy. I believe you can have anything in moderation. But that is where the problem comes, it is so tempting. I haven't had too much, but I can't wait for the kids to show up and take it away. For me it really is a trick or treat. Trick myself into not wanting it or treat myself with only a piece or two.

There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

Day 13 - LBDB

Today's Photo:
Since I am now using an insulin pump, my CDE suggested that I carry extra pump supplies. She said to use the at least one of everything rule. At least one infusion set, 1 insulin cartridge, an extra battery, a few syringes, IV prep wipes, and my current vial of insulin (depending on the weather), and extra test strips. Some people have little black dresses, I now have 3 little black diabetes bags.

There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

So the party was fine, no lows, no over eating. All though I was tempted by the towers of pizza I stuck to 2 slices and 2 pumpkin cookies that I made with Splenda. Everyone had a good time. Only one person asked about my pump, and she thought it was my iPod. I told her we would talk about what it was some other time. I wasn't super comfortable disclosing my diabetes in a group of people where I only know a few very well. As the only people at the party who know I am diabetic are the girl who asked about it, who also happened to be the host, and her mom. I just find it very annoying to have the diabetes spot light shone on me, and I didn't want to hear any of that "my grandma has diabetes crap". I also think if it had not been my first day on the pump I would have been slightly more comfortable giving that standard, I have type 1 diabetes education session. Pump post and double picture day Monday! Have a great weekend.

Halloween Party! and Day 11

Well as you know (well who ever reads this on a regular basis would know) tomorrow is the first day I will have insulin in my pump. At 10 I will hop in the Town & Country with my mom and drive up to Baltimore for the final step! I'm more than ready for this. Let's just say it's a day no one in my family thought we would ever get to. Mostly because I am the most stubborn person ever. Okay but on to the real excitement. Tomorrow evening I will be attending a Halloween party at a friend's house. She lives about half an hour away. My parents plan to even go out to dinner near her house, since it is my dad's birthday, just to give me an extra hour or so with them close by. I don't think I will be spending the night, but I know that a party on my first day of pumping is probably testing the waters a little too much. I'm sure I can keep everything in control, I will check my blood sugars regularly and even get my friends to remind me. My doctor and pump trainer didn't seem to think this was a huge deal. They basically said if you are afraid of doing things while on the pump, it isn't giving you the freedom that you should gain from it. I know there will definitely be enough sugar there to correct any possible lows, and I will be careful to monitor how much I eat. I will bring extra everything, an insulin pen just in case. The works. So I am basically looking for any suggestions. Anything to watch out for, whatever you can come up with.

Diabetes 365

Tomorrow I will be attending a Halloween party at a friend's house. I agreed to help her decorate so I went out and got a few things. But I also always remember that most of my friends do not drink diet soda, so I thought I should bring along my own. I have certain friends that I know will always have diet soda in their fridge, this girl is not one of them. It doesn't bother me to have to make a bottle of diet soda a part of my party supplies. This is just another way as a person with diabetes that I must adapt to the way diabetes makes me different.

There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

Day 9 - Sneaky D.

Diabetes has a certain way of showing up where it is not wanted. As I was putting away laundry today I found a tiny spot of dried blood on the waist band of one of my skirts. I assume it happened when I gave myself an injection under a table in a restaurant. At the time I never noticed any bleeding. I hope I can get the stain out, otherwise it will just be another constant reminder that I am a person with Type 1 Diabetes. In order to take care of myself I have to take injections of insulin. Sometimes this means little spots of blood will show up in unwanted places.

There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

If you can't see the little spot click on the picture or check it out at the Diabetes365 Group on Flickr where I added a little note to point it out (don't forget to see my pictures you have to sign in).

Day 8 - Plastic Pancreas

Today my mom and I went to our pump training session at my endocrinologist's office. If you had asked me even a year ago if I would consider an insulin pump, the answer would have been NO! Over the past few months I have realized that the pump would be the only true way for me to mimic what a normal pancreas should do. A pump is not the right therapy for everyone. An insulin pump is not a cure, it is only another delivery method. I will wear the pump for 4 days with saline, to get used to this new method. Then start on insulin this Friday. In the meantime I will still be taking multiple daily injections. I do not need this device because I have a "bad case of diabetes". I hope that I do not have to be on a pump for 11 years like I was on multiple daily injections. I hope a cure comes sooner. But until there is a cure this is what I will do.

There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

From Penny & Bernard, go write Ellen a letter suggesting she feature something about November being Diabetes Awareness Month and November 14th being World Diabetes Day on her show!
I can't write her because I am not 18, but I will ask my mom to do it for me!

Day 6 - Waiting

I received my Cozmo Insulin Pump in the mail over 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately because my doctor's office didn't have any available appointments until this Monday, I have 2 boxes of pump supplies just waiting in my living room. I never thought I would be someone who wanted to be on a pump. Now that I feel that pumping is the right decision for me, I can't wait until my appointment Monday. An insulin pump is just one of the insulin delivery options a person with diabetes has. Pumping is not right for everyone, but at this point in time I feel it is right for me.

There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

Day 5 - Meter Evolution

These are all of the meters I have owned since my diagnosis in 1996. The one on the far left was a "gift" from the hospital. They gave us 2, one for school and one for home. Don't get me wrong I love gadgets just as much as the next 16 year old kid, but if I could I would not have these. I monitor my blood glucose up to 15 times a day. It used to hurt, now it's just normal. I hope there will be a day when no child has to do this. A time when it will not become normal for anyone. A day when finger pricks are a thing of the past.
There is no cure for Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

Yet.

Check out the Diabetes 365 Project.

So Sick.

I am so sick of the misinformation television provides to people who already know little or nothing about diabetes in general. Today as I sat down with my mom to watch an Oprah show about getting your kids to eat healthy, I was interested. By the end of the show I was just pissed. The part about the food was great. Then Dr. Oz comes out and starts talking about the fact that this generation will be the first generation to not out live their parents. He states obesity as the cause, then moves on to the fact that, "50% of Latino kids and 40% of Black kids will develop diabetes in their lifetime". Gee thanks Dr. Oz but what type of diabetes? Does the average American even know there are 2 types? I know he is talking about Type 2, but you don't get to a Type 2 with there being a Type 1 preceeding it. If you just say diabetes I know you aren't talking about me or the other 10% of diabetics who have Type 1, but the rest of America probably doesn't. When you tell America that "kids" are going to develop diabetes TELL THEM TYPE 2! I was a kid that developed diabetes, TYPE 1 DIABETES! My parents didn't feed me too much candy, fatty foods, cupcakes, junk food, or anything else you want to blame for diabetes (TYPE 2). I was a healthy kid who got sick, who got so thin not fat. So please do NOT group me in with that category of over eating American kids. Do NOT blame my parents for feeding me the wrong thing. Do NOT play the food police for me. I didn't do anything to cause this. Go learn about the TWO types of diabetes, before you open your mouth to tell me all the things that I can do to change this, to make it go away, to loose the weight, what could have been done to prevent it. Is it that hard to just say Type 1 or 2 Diabetes?

(I have already sent Oprah.com a few angry messages about this.)
(If you commented on my last 2 posts, my replies are in the comments of those posts.)

Oh They're Not Talking About Me.

In a recent Democratic Presidential Debate 2 Candidates, Dodd and Richardson, said they had plans to cure diabetes while in office. So of course my ears perked up when I heard this. But then words like prevention, obesity, and vending machines in schools came out of Dodd's and Richardson's mouth. I realized, they weren't talking about me and the other 5-10% of diabetics who have Type 1. Theye were talking about those glossy magazine adds for medication and those catchy commercials featuring overweight Type 2 diabetics. If Mr. Richardson or Mr. Dodd knew anything they would know that Diabetes in general is an umbrella term. They should have stated that they were talking about Type 2 Diabetes, because as far as I know these prevention plans and reduction soft drinks in schools, would not have helped me. As a bouncing 4-5 year old girl I was not drinking soda, and I was definitely not overweight. If anything at the onset of my Type 1 I was underweight and all I drank was a continuous stream of water. I can not believe the ignorance of some people who want to be the leaders of our country. They both sort of mentitioned stem cell research, but not in a way that made me believe they knew there is any other type of diabetes except type 2. The sad thing is they have researchers and people behind them that should be telling them the true facts, but instead they are allowed to make blanket statements and give misinformation to the uneducated public. THERE ARE more than TWO TYPES OF DIABETES!!!! And I wish ONE candidate was smart enough to know this and say they were planning for a cure for me and all of the other type 1's as well as the type 2's!