Way Back Wednesday: Summoning The Diabetes Gods

I originally wrote the following post way back on 5/4/2011, a lot has changed in my life since then, but not my affinity for calling out to the Diabetes Gods whenever I need them.

Hope you can relate to the following and I hope it makes you smile!
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I'm not religious, but I am highly spiritual & highly spirited - Just ask the people at Readers Digest & "The Bible Cure for Diabetes" shmuck who thought prayer was the way to cure diabetes!

I was raised Catholic by a Protestant mother and a Catholic father who later found out that there was more than a very good chance that he was part Jewish on his father's side.

I take a little bit from all the religions and try my best to be a good person. 

I believe in praying and I believe in giving thanks. 

Personally, I think the Dali Lama is a wise man, and I love that he wants people to focus on their similarities, not their differences. Regardless of whether or not their differences involve religion, politics, or the age old Mets vs Yankees fans conundrum! 

I find religion in songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Let It Be," and "Private Universe."

I feel religion in nature - the ocean takes my breath away and flowers make me happy,

and I find the congregation I feel most at home in is The Church Of Helping Others. 

But every now in then I call on "The Diabetes Gods," especially when my numbers or wonky or I'm contemplating pasta. And just so we're clear, I'm not calling them to cure or fix my diabetes. I'm calling on them purely for entertainment.~

These deities only exist in my imagination of course, but they help me smile just the same.

The make me laugh, which helps me to cope & get on with the business of getting on with my life.

Summoning the Diabetes Gods goes something like this:

Goddess of the Bolus & Basal Rates, PLEASE help me figure out this lasagna in all it's cheesy glory!

God of the everlasting Insulin Pump Battery - Please don't let my battery crap out before I get home!

Most times I'm more generic re: which Diabetes God I'm referring to and include them all by say something along the lines of: Hey Diabetes Gods, PLEASE stop my numbers from going all batshit and help my correction bolus to get my blood sugars back in normal range! 

OR: Hey Diabetes Gods, I'm making a ceremonial offering to you in the form of a Crumbs Bake Shop cupcake - Hope you'll be pleased with both the cupcake and my bolus to cover said cupcake! 

Sidebar: This one is a personal favorite! 

What can I say, I also find my religion in humor, and damn if calling on the Diabetes Gods every now and then doesn't make me LOL as I'm figuring out my diabetes math, bolus and or temporary basal rate!

And before people get all judgmental on me, I also pray to the God of found Parking Spaces, The Goddess of 5 lbs lost, The Rocket Surgeon God and the God Of The Good Tailor!

Diabetes, Pointing Fingers And Switching Hands~

 I check my blood sugar a lot  - a hell of a lot. 

And for some reason even though I’m left handed, I prefer to use my left pointer finger when I check - which doesn’t make sense, and I'm totally aware of that. 

Today I looked down at my keyboard and took a good look at my dominant hand against the silver and black of my laptop. 

My left pointer finger looks like a dirty, Jackson Pollack wannabes
attempt at body art gone wrong.

My little hand (did I mention I have freakishly small hands?) was riddled with so many lancet marks and covered with calluses, that the tips of my fingers actually looked dirty, even though they were scrubbed clean. 

And my left pointer finger looked like a dirty, Jackson Pollack wannabes attempt at body art gone wrong. 

And right at that moment I knew that I had to stop checking my blood sugar on left pointer and middle fingers. 

And so that's what I'm going to do.

It's funny (and little weird for those sans D,) that people with diabetes develop certain habits when it comes to our diabetes. 

Things like developing favorite sides for infusion sites and preferring certain fingers or hands when we check our glucose. 
Part habit, part comfort, part, superstition? 
Who the hell knows?  

Having to change things can be strange, no matter whether it's changing insulin pumps, switching insulin brands, or using different fingers to test our glucose.

But eventually, we do because we have to. 

And so I am~  

Sidebar: Does anyone know a good left handed guitar teacher because I've already got the calluses down pat! 

Spare A Rose, Save A Child

$5 dollars is all it takes~

I love “Spare A Rose.” 

I love that for the cost of 1 rose, ($5) you can provide one month (as in one bottle of life saving insulin) and save the life of a child with diabetes who is in desperate need of insulin. 

I know what it’s like to worry about not having enough money to pay of insulin or diabetes supplies - I’m lucky, I have insurance and a network of diabetes friends who are always there for me. 

But not everyone is so lucky. So instead of buying your loved one a dozen roses this Valentines Day, buy them 11 roses and donate $5 to SpareARose, via IDF's Life For A Child program. 

Your $5 donation allows Life For A Child to provide one month of insulin for a child who needs it.

And now your donation will have double the impact, because The Helmsley Charitable Trust has graciously agreed to match all new donations .

Your $5 donation becomes a ten dollars donation, and one insulin bottle automatically becomes two.

 Your $10 donation is instantly matched and becomes $20, and two bottles of insulin becomes becomes four, and so on. 

Your donation is tax deductible and you will be provided with card to print out to give to someone special. 

And if you're looking for a Valentine’s Day gift for your child’s teacher, best friend, or fellow book club members, Spare A Rose is the way to go! 

Click HERE to #SpareARose, save a child~

It's Ok To Be Different In Life.... And Diabetes~

As a t1 for 35+ years, and on insulin pump therapy for 15 of those years, I added Metformin ER to my daily regiment at my Endo's request last March because of weight gain and insulin resistance.  
And initially it helped re: my weight and utilizing my insulin more efficiently. 
I stopped taking the Met in December, after noticing that my hair was falling out. 
The same thing happened in 2008 when I first tried metformin, but this time around, I was told that Metformin ER was different - and that to stop if I noticed adverse affects.  

I kept working hard and going with the flow, sans the metformin ER and the clumps of hair on the carpet. 

If diabetes has taught me anything, it's that we have to have a good working relationship with our healthcare professionals and we have to keep trying new things. 
Here's what happened at my last Endo appointment. FTR: It's all good~ 

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After I checked in to Dr. J’s office, I was given a copy of my labs. 

My a1c had gone from 7.3 at the end of October to 6.9 as of January 31st.

Kidneys and cholesterol were good, so was my blood pressure, and depending on what scale (my scale vs the Endo's scale,) you went by, I’d lost between 3 and 4 lbs since December. 

When Dr. J walked in the exam room he was excited and dare I say, downright giddy.

We chatted about everything and he kept telling me how proud he was of me - which not made me feel validated, it made me feel like I could do anything! 

Finally, he looked at me, raised eyebrow and said: You are different than other people Kelly.

Me: Yep, I'm weird.

Dr. J: Noooo, being different is a good thing. It's OK to be different in life... and diabetes. 

Most people drop weight on metformin and you did. And then you went off it and lost another 3 to 4 pounds - during the holidays.

Most people have no issues re: metformin and hair loss, but you do - and I’m very sorry about that. Is it growing in? 

Me: I hope so. It’s certainly not falling out in clumps anymore. 

Dr. J: You’re hair looks good today - very good.

Me: THANKS.

Dr. J: Everyone is different when it comes to diabetes and treating their diabetes, and you are a good reminder of that - I need to remember that about you - and everyone else.

OK, so tell me what you did. Did you exercise more?

Me: Well...., I had wrist surgery on December 13th, so not really. I had to be careful and didn’t begin low impact walks again until January.

But I was running around a lot during the holidays.

As far as food, I watched, but I still had Thanksgiving pie and my share of Christmas cookies. 

Dr. J: THAT’S GOOD.

Me: I tried eating more whole foods and less processed. I don’t know - I tried my best and tried to go with the flow.

Dr. J: Clearly that's working for you. 

Me: I need to exercise more, and I can’t wait to get the OK to do push-ups. 

Dr. J: It will happen. Also, it’s clear to me Apidra works well with your system and your insulin pump. 

Me: It definitely made a difference re: spikes. 

Dr. J: Did you experience any lows on the Apidra? 

Me: Yep, the first week I had daily middle of the night lows and it was learning curve, but I figured it out.

Next Dr. J proceeded to go over each one of my labs with me and again, he kept telling me how proud he was. 

Dr. J's always been understanding, has always worked with me when it comes to my diabetes, and all that goes with it, including diabetes burnout. 

The past couple years  have been a struggle and he's worked with me every step of the way. And having a healthcare professional on my side and in my corner has made a huge difference. 

Me: I want to drop more weight. 

Dr. Jay: You’ve lost 16 lbs, you’re going in the right direction. 

Me: It’s taken a while. But what if... 

Dr. J: Don’t worry about the “what-ifs,” keep doing what you’re doing and if we need to tweak, we will. Right now, don’t change a thing. 

Then he gave me some insulin samples,(including Apidra,) and told me to keep in touch with him re: any issues or needed tweaks, and told me to schedule my next appointment for early June. 

And for the first time in a very long while, I left my endo without the weight of diabetes pulling me down. 

I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next four months. 

Maybe I’ll need some tweaks, maybe I won’t. 

I have no idea which which way the scale or my a1c will go.

And that’s OK. Much like my pancreas, I am not perfect. 

But I am tenacious and I have an Endo who listens to what I have to say and works with me.

And we will continue to figure it out, together.