Happy Thanksgiving - From My Family (and Dot's) to Yours!

Happy Thanksgiving - From my family (and Dot's) to yours!






Be Thankful, enjoy the day, and bolus baby bolus!

And Now......A BLAST FROM OUR DIABETES PAST - Brought to You By Kelly's Mom

Things have been a bit hectic in life as of late, my apologies for not posting in a bit!

Any-who, was cleaning out a closet at my mom's (as I'm trying to be a good daughter) and because the crap in said closet was literally making it difficult for the coats to hang properly. Being a child of the depression, it takes much convincing for my mother to throw anything out!

But because of that,.......LOOK WHAT I FOUND......

NO WAY!!!

I opened it up and...........

OMG!!! A blast from the Diabetes Past!
A Blood Sugar BOOM BOX & complete with fancy display case~

And...

The expiration date 3/1/1990

Sleek AND sorta portable, weighing less than a pound and only minutes for a semi-accurate glucose reading!

Includes Operators Manual with 44 pages of instructions
ANDA SUPER HELPFULInstructional Cassette &
Lancing Device!

On this Thanksgiving Eve, I'm SOOOOO grateful for Diabetes Technology!!

New post is up on the Diabetes O.C. - "What If" You Decide to Stop Over & Take a Look?

My new post is up on the Diabetes OC. Please take a moment to check it out and let me know if it made you smile and or think! ;)

Team Type 1's Joe Eldridge - Quite Diabetesalicious if I do Say so Myself!

Top Photo: Joe speaks - I know it's dark, but some parts turned OK~
2nd Photo: Me and Joe, just hanging out - What I won't do for my readers!

Wednesday night was quite Diabetesalicious in “The Big Book of Kelly”. I (and about 40 others) had the pleasure of attending a Thomas Jefferson University’s division of Endocrinology Department Seminar/ Q & A with Joe Eldridge, C0-Founder and Professional Cyclist for Team Type 1. Joe’s story was both inspiring and interesting. Diagnosed with Type 1 at the age of 10, Joe never let it stop him from doing the things he loved.
He competed as a Striker on Jr. Soccer teams that traveled across the U.S and was the Place Kicker for his High School Football team and also competed in Triathlons.

Joe went of to College and attended Auburn University. Like most of us who attended college, Joe struggled with maintaining a good A1c his first year on his own.
But Joe fell in love his sophomore year…. with a light blue Trek Bike and became hooked on the sport.

One day he met fellow student and Cyclist Phil Southerland - that meeting and a bet invloving a Burrito, changed both his life and the way he managed his diabetes forever. In a nut shell, Joe realized that not only was Phil a great cyclist, but he was T1 diabetic who controlled his diabetes and won his races because of his tight control.

They began practicing together and started placing bets (this is where the burrito comes in) on who would have the best Blood Sugar after practice. The loser had to buy lunch. Joe bought a lot of lunches at first, but finally, Joe became a micro-manger of his glucose, and Phil was forced to pay up.

After college, and against a wall of skepticism larger than the famed Manayunk Wall
(which the team would also conquer) Joe co-founded Team Type 1 with Phil Southerland and they entered their first race, “ The Race Across America.”

Because they were a team of diabetics, no one thought they could win, let alone place. But Team t1 proved them all wrong, with a team that consisted of 8 racers and a 30 person crew, TT1 cycled over 3,053 miles and placed 2nd overall...only 5 minutes behind first place. They’d come pretty damn close to overtaking a team that had never been beaten.

What I really liked about Joe’s talk was that wasn’t preachy at all, he understood diabetes burnout, and the frustration of having a high blood sugar for no apparent reason.

Joe stressed that having D- buddies helped to elevate both issues (this statement in particular made me think of dblogville, and how we all support one another daily.) Instead of reacting to the high blood glucose, Joe acted by taking the steps to both acknowledge the BS high and then correct it. So many of us have stressed out about the unexplained highs and have let it ruin or day.

Joe’s attitude was “ A high blood sugar is just a number, so let’s fix it and make it right.” I think every diabetic out there needs to remember that fact, myself included.

Joe also talked about maintaining a BS of around 160 for workouts and race days. How many of us have had to defend our workout numbers to John Q. Public? It was wonderful to hear a professional athlete say what all of us in dBlogville have written about in the past.
Knowing what glucose numbers work for us during a workout, without having to defend it to the t3’s in our life.

Joe answered questions and was quite approachable to any all who attended the event afterwards. A down to earth man with an extraordinary athletic ability and a positive attitude towards the Big D as well!

If Joe (or any member of Team Type 1) makes an appearance in your area, do yourself a favor and go listen to what he has to say. His outlook on life and diabetes is inspiring and positive. So much so in fact , that yours truly has signed up for a spin class that starts next week! More on that to follow! ;)

The evening was sponsored by The Kostic Foundation, Omnipod, and Sanofi Aventis and all 3 sponsors provided those who attended with an evening filled with an awesome speaker, great info on their company, and a fabulous dinner spread!

Because lets face it people, if your going to have a group of diabetics at your event, the food better be fantastic! ;)

2nd Post up on the Diabetes O.C. - and it "POPS"

So my second post is up on the Diabetes OC - and dare I say it's got a bit of a "POP" to it! ;)
Guys, let me know what you think.

So I'm Guest Host, I mean Guest Blogger at The Diabetes O.C. this week.....

So, I'm the Guest Host ( I mean Guest Blogger) over at The Diabetes O.C. this week.
Be sure to stop on over there take a look! I'll be blogging both here and there - it should be interesting and it will definitely be hectic, that's for sure! A big Diabetesaliciousness Shout Out to Gina for believing in me -THANKS GINA!

Also, Thanks to all the kind wishes regarding my Mom. She has a long road ahead of her in the next few months with several tough surgeries and a long recovery. All your thoughts and prayers are not only appreciated, but also mean the world to me and my family.

Here's to World Diabetes Day.....and Oh, Yeah - The Winner of my WDD Contest~

Here’s to World Diabetes Day and every single person effected with this disease.
Here’s to everyone spreading the truth about Diabetes, not the fallacies!

Here’s to Jane and Joe Six-pack realizing the differences between t1& t2, educating themselves on our disease- and never, ever asking a person with diabetes, if “we are indeed allowed to eat that?”

Here’s to all of us owning our disease instead of Diabetes owning us.

Here’s to the Children with Diabetes who are wise beyond their years and to their parents who are always there them, 24X7.

Here’s to the siblings of all the Children and adults Diabetics. Thank you for looking out for us, even when we torture you for it.

Here’s to all of friends – Thanks for always accepting who we are, faulty pancreas and all.

Here’s to the research for a cure in our life time -lord knows we need one!

Here’s to celebrating who we are as both diabetics and people. Each of us are individual pieces of art. Imperfect, yet perfect in our own way, and who bring something unique and wonderful to the table of Life.

As promised, here are the results of my world Diabetes Day Contest. I gotta be honest, this was really hard for me, because I truly wanted everyone who entered to win.

Thank GOD my mom did the choosing, because I was REALLY TORN and if I had my way, everyone would have received a WELLalarm.


So, here's what went down - sans the crazy work schedule and prepping for my mom's Doctor's appt this afternoon - we are finding about her surgery to day - please keep your fingers and toes crossed!

First – I went and took a picture of my self all in blue – to show that I was wearing the color of the day.

I then wrote everyone’s name down on individual pieces of paper, cut & folded said pieces of paper to place in my trusty DESA sports cap.


Then, I filled my DESA Hat with the “HOPES: of all
who entered the contest.



Next, I had my mom reach inside the hat and pick the winner.
AND THE WINNER IS...............

TA- DA

The winner is Karen from Bitter-Sweet Diabetes, whose hope was to always HAVE HOPE.

CONGRATS KAREN! And to everyone else who wrote such heartfelt, funny, inspiring, and straight from the heart hopes for World Diabetes Day. I truly thank each of you for your participation, your inspiring words, and your friendship! - YOU ALL ROCK IN MY BOOK!

World Diabetes Day - Hodge Podge of Stuff & More to Come

Before I rush off to that thing called work, I wanted to give a quick recap of some WWD events.

Diabetesaliciousness is having a WDD giveaway (see previous post

enter your hopes for World Diabetes Day for the chance to win a WELLalarm, plus a free year of service.

NYC: World Diabetes Day Young Voices : LIfe With Diabetes Youth Forum - 11:30 until 3:30 p.m. at the ESPN ZONE in Times Square @ 1472 Broadway - RSVP 240-662-2112 or RSVP@discovery.com.

In Philadelphia, Temple School of Podiatric Medicine will be celebrating World Diabetes Day with a host of events, and various city monuments will be lit up blue. For more info, click here.
Also Lee-Ann will be presenting with something super terrific, so if your in the area - stop by and give her your support!

To find out what's happening in your area, checkout the WDD website.

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE CONTEST AND CHECK IN WITH YOU LATER FOR UPDATES TO THIS POST!

World Diabetes Day - Celebrating with a Contest - Because I Bring a Bit of the Party with Me Where ever I go!

Unfortunately due to health issues with my mother (she’s going to have surgery very soon and I need to stay with her on Friday) I will be unable to attend WDD festivities in New York - WDD Young Voices or Temple U's event in Philadelphia.


BUT – I can still celebrate the day in my own special way, and with your help.

In honor of World Diabetes Day I’ve decided to have a CONTEST.
Something positive; hopefully fun, most certainly diabetes centric, and totally Diabetesalicious!

MY challenge to you and your great brain is really quite simple.

Write a sentence or two that describes your hopes for World Diabetes Day.

Diabetesaliciousness will award the winner a super fab and functional Silver WELLalarm Circle Health I.D charm & chain, plus a year of Platinum Service.


Special shout out goes to Stephanie Cion, founder of WELLalarm, who so graciously donated the prize – ‘THANKS!”

F.Y.I Stephanie has worked out a deal with her manufacturer and the Silver Circle Health Charm is now $120, plus a free year of service – VERY COOL.
"Way to negotiate for your consumers Steph!'

Here’s how contest goes down.

I’ll take everyone’s submissions (which you can leave in the comments section of this post - you can email me your name and address via my email in the Contact section of this blog) and through the most advanced & cutting edge scientific technology available (printing said “hopes”, cutting them up into individual pieces, putting them in my official DESA (Diabetes, Exercise, & Sports Association) baseball hat, and allow an independent third party (my mom) to pick the winner, whose named will be announced on November 14th, 2008 World Diabetes Day.

Submission deadline is midnight Thursday, November 13.

The Contest winner will be announced on November 14, 2008 World Diabetes Day.

For those of you who don’t win, you and all your friends (diabetic or not) can still receive $15 off your purchase of a WELLalarm until the end of November by writing “Diabetes” as your discount code – so Diabetesaliciousness winner or not – you still got that going for you!

Veterans Day

My Father John Kunik, Sr.
WWII


To all Veterans of all the wars,
THANK-YOU

Picture of my families shop, which was "Closed for the duration of the war,"
because my father and his brother Bill were overseas.

D-Blog Day, Blogaversary, and Halle B

So today is D-Blog Day – and by sheer coincidence, it’s also the one-year of my blog Diabetesaliciousness, which I find really “ironical” and very strange.

The whole reason I started blogging was because I’d read the infamous Halle Barry Statement regarding diabetes while I was catching up with Perez Hilton's blog. After days of commenting, along with hundreds of others on Perez’s post - 655 comments to be exact,
I became so angry. I Googled to find out who Halle's Publicist was, and called said Publicist's L.A. and NYC offices. After several rounds of voicemail tag, she & I spoke.

She basically said,“Halle was misquoted, the Actor’s Studio did a butcher job on the editing, and that Halle was upset, that I was upset – but never comments on her health publicly.”

After that phone call, I became so incensed, I decided to start my own blog.

When I wrote my first post, I had no ideal what I was getting into, or what I was actually doing. I relied solely blind faith and I’m so glad I did!

127 posts later, I’m still not actually sure what it is I’m doing. But, I Do KNOW what being a member of the Diabetes O.C. has given me. It’s given me friends; laughter, information and knowledge regarding my disease, a stronger voice and confidence regarding my proficiency as a t1, and a soapbox to stand on.

Thank-you dBlogville, for sharing all the good, the bad, and the diabetes of it all. I love each and everyone of you, and appreciate your words more that you could ever know.

And thank-you Meredith O'Sullivan (Halle Berry’s Publicist) for doing your job and refusing to give me a straight answer – which of course, made me so nuts that I started to blog.

Thank you Halle for, well,.....YOU KNOW. Maybe someday you and I can actually talk about the whole thing because I'd really love to hear your side, instead of your Publicist's spin on things. I think we all would.

Oh, Yes He Did!

I started to cry, I was so happy when I found out Obama was elected – my sister called me up and was crying as well. Through her tears she said,“The country did the right thing and the world respects us. The right man won.”


Change is hard, change is needed, and change is scary. Change happened right before our eyes last night– it was amazing!!!

Now, regardless of what side of the isle you sit on – all of us have to work together along with the new administration to put the United States back on top.

I Voted Today.....

DID YOU?