Diabetes In The Wild At The Harvest Moon Party~

Friday night I received an invite via text to a Saturday night Harvest Moon party, promising good people, good fun, and a beautiful view of the moon.

Sidebar: Tonight (September 24th,) is the official Harvest Moon for the Americas - but it’s pouring buckets in my neck of the woods so I’m not sure I’ll see it. 

But I digress. 

Cut to Saturday night. I drove over to the party, parked my car and with pumpkin bread in hand, walked through the front door and into the kitchen - where I was immediately greeted with hugs and by people I haven’t seen in ages, while simultaneously being introduced to new faces. 

Thanks to kismet, I had two “diabetes in the wild,” encounters with two kick-ass women with personal and professional connections to diabetes. 

"Diabetes in the wild," encounter number one occurred outside on the deck - where my friend was talking to a young woman. I didn't know anyone out and the deck and felt like a dork. My friend motioned for me to come over. I did, he introduced us and mentioned that I wrote a Diabetes Blog. 

Turns out she was a grade school teacher who had a student with t1. 

She told me how she’d become aware of all things diabetes related and was learning more everyday. 

We talked about growing up with diabetes, she asked me about my low and high blood sugar tells and I told her.

Two weeks into the school year and this woman knew a lot about t1 and clearly wanted to learn more. Quite frankly, I WAS IMPRESSED. 

And IMO, her t1 student was lucky to have her as both a teacher and a friend. 

I gave Teacher Lady a few resources including CWD and Coco The Monkey.  

HELLO KISMET. As soon as I mentioned Coco, I remembered that I had a set of Coco books in my trunk. 

Sidebar: I was going to give the books to a local t1, but she already had them - so the books had been living in my trunk for a month.

I went out to my car; searched my trunk and found the Coco books, went back inside and handed them over. Teacher Lady couldn't wait to check them out over the weekend and then read them to her class!  

We exchanged numbers and I told her to keep in touch.

Later on in the evening, when I was bolusing via my Omnipod PDM for some crazy delicious autumn leaf sugar cookies, Teacher Lady walked over and said to me on the sly: You good? 

I told her I was and we both laughed. Girlfriend had my back and didn’t blink twice about me bolusing for cookies.

The second “diabetes in the wild” moment occurred later on in the kitchen, when I met a mom of a t1. dMama's daughter was now a mother herself and had lived with diabetes for over 3 decades. 

Like magnets to steal, we started talking about all things diabetes related. 

We discussed surviving the Diabetes Dark Ages, and dMama told me that the very first glucose meter her daughter ever used cost over a thousand dollars and wasn’t covered by insurance.

And I could totally relate. 

We discussed scar tissue, diabetes idiosyncrasies, the cost of insulin, and everything in between. We talked about diabetes challenges - back in the diabetes dark ages and ones we struggle with in real time.

I told dMama about the Diabetes Online Community and peer support and gave her some links and info I thought her and her daughter would find helpful. 

Once again I found myself exchanging contact information with someone who “got it.” 

As I put the key in the ignition, I looked up at the moon, partially hidden by deep purple and navy night clouds, and thought about how we are all connected - and how once again, diabetes proves it. 

The amazing kick-ass women I’d met both live near me, each with personal and professional connections to diabetes, and I’d never met either one of them until now - even though we shared mutual friends. 

Bottom Line: The universe is big, the world is smaller than we think - the world of diabetes - even smaller. The moon is magic, the universe knows what it’s doing - and we are meant to meet exactly when we do. 

World Diabetes Day 2016

I apologize for the radio silence this past week - there was some stuff going on in my country, the United States - I’ll leave it at that. 

######

Today, Monday November 14th, 2016 is Word Diabetes Day - I’ve lived with T1 for 39 years, and I’ve known (and loved,) many people who didn’t survive the diabetes dark ages - or whose lives were severely shortened because of those diabetes dark days. 

We are so damn lucky and blessed! 
I/we survived and are surrounded and inspired daily, by a global diabetes online community. A community that has our backs and keeps fighting for every single person living with diabetes on the planet.

November 14th is also the 125th birthday of Dr. Banting and I keeping thinking of how I wouldn’t be here (and neither would you, or someone you love,)  if Dr. Banting & Company hadn’t discovered insulin. 

And not just me - most of my immediate family wouldn't be here, because my late father was diagnosed with t1 in the early 1950s. 

If insulin hadn’t been discovered and if dad hadn’t had access to it- my father would have died as a very young man - and my branch of the Kunik Family tree would have a been a small twig. 
Same goes for my dad's two younger sister's who were diagnosed in the 1940s - they wouldn't have survived, therefore my cousins never would have been born.

Last night our friend Renza from Diabetogenic in Australia ,broke the news to those of us in this hemisphere, that Google finally dedicated a Google Doodle to our hero Dr. Banting. 

As long as I’ve been a member of the Diabetes Online Community - since 2007 to be exact. My blogaversary was on November 9th - lots of things were going down in the U.S. that day and I didn’t write about this year, but I digress. 

Back to the story, since I became a member of the DOC family in “07,” the DOC has been petitioning for a #WDD Google Doodle - and now we have one!

Dr. Banting and World Diabetes Day are Google Doodlefied! 

Today I will be doing my Big Blue Test , participating in the 5th annual, 24 hour World Diabetes Day, twitter chat - #WWDchat16 for those of you who only speak in hashtags. HUGE thanks to Cherise over at DCaf - for making this chat happen!
 I will be hosting the 7pm to 8pm hour tonight :) 

I will make a donation to IDF’s Life For A Child, an d I will do my best to help as many diabetes orgs as I can. 

Speaking of diabetes orgs, Kerri over at sixuntilme has a wonderful breakdown of ways you can help others living with diabetes this month and every month - and how others living with diabetes can help you - click HERE, now.  

We are on this together - now and forever! 

Bedtime High Blood Sugars & Finding Comfort & Support Via The DOC ~

I had a late dinner last night -it was a dinner I eat at least once a week - and usually everything is cool. USUALLY.
######
It started out to be a good night, it really did. I was feeling all sorts of peppy and my blood sugar was 125 before dinner - YAY ME. 
Speaking of dinner, it was one of my favorites - a homemade Greek yogurt, cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, spicy dip that yours truly made from scratch, accompanied fresh famers market veggies and Food Should Taste Good, Multigrain Gluten Free Chips. 

I have this very same meal at least week during the summer, sometimes twice a week  - except sometimes the dip is made with huge handfuls of fresh basil or dill instead of cilantro and Cayenne pepper instead of jalapeño. But..., I digress. 
It’s a simple meal that makes me feel like I’m indulging because of exceptional the crunch factor, except I’m not indulging.
 The FSTG chips are easy for me to bolus for - 18 grams of carbs - for 10 chips, times 2 = 36 grams of carbs for the chips. The veggies (sweet peppers, celery and organic carrots,) added extra crunch and yumminess to the mix and very little carbs - not to mention the whole, “being healthy,” thing. 
The Greek yogurt was 7 grams of carbs for 5.3 ounces, which in this case was half the dip.
Normally I bolus between 45 and 50 grams and I’m usually right on target for the rest of the night. 

Except... last night I wasn’t. 

I bolused for/prepped my meal, brought it in front of the TV to eat and yes, I know, I shouldn’t eat in front of the TV, but I wanted to watch episode 5 of the PBS, Masterpiece Theater’s much acclaimed and totally awesome series, Poldark  via the on-demand.
Sidebar: Don’t even get me started on Poldark - I’M OBSESSED. 
A couple hours later I checked my blood sugar and was 220 - not terrible. Not great, but not terrible. 
I gave myself a correction bolus and went about my business. 
An hour later I was ready for bed - I could barely keep my eyes open and I was thirsty. 
Not a great sign in Kelly’s Big Book of D -and probably not your Big Book of D, either. 
So I checked again and my blood sugar was 359.
Then I tested again and it was 361 - And Kelly was not happy. 
In fact I uttered a string of four letter words that would make sailor blush and gave myself a 5.4 unit correction bolus - and of course, as soon as the last unit cleared my insulin pump’s screen, I immediately thought that I should have changed my infusion site BEFORE I gave the correction bolus - even thought the site was less then three days old.
20 some minutes later I tested again and it was 418 - not what I wanted to see. 
I switched out my 2 day old infusion site and gave myself another correction bolus of 2.5 units, tested for ketones (I had a “small,” amount,) drank a huge glass of water and I waited I also peed because high blood sugars and water not only = ketones, they also = peeing like a race horse. But you already know that. 
I was so flipping tired and  I just wanted to go to bed. Actually, I was already in bed and had my meter and test strips next me, the bedroom-lights out, the hallway light on and my iPhone in hand. 
 It was almost midnight and I was afraid of falling asleep before I knew that it was OK to actually sleep. So I logged onto Facebook and posted the following status: 

And as long as I’m being honest, it was great to talk with people who ‘got it” while I waited for my blood sugar to start going down. 

Talking and connecting with others kept me calm, because sometimes - at least in my case, being upset about a high blood sugar can keep that bg elevated. 
Talking with some DOC pals was not only great medicine, it was incredibly comforting. 
Some of the folks in the FB thread were dealing with the same thing, others were dealing with low blood sugars, and some were dealing with normal blood sugars, but knew what I was feeling and offered their comfort because they knew I needed it. 
Some were type 3s and didn’t have diabetes at all, but offered their support just the same. How beautiful is that!
And I appreciated the comfort and the conversation so much. 
Sidebar & FTR: I would have post the others Facebook comments, but I haven’t asked them yet - I don't like to post other peoples thoughts without asking. 

30 minutes later my blood sugar was 369 and things were returning to normal. 
I feel asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and I woke up with a blood sugar of 101 and feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. 
I also felt damn thankful for the Diabetes Online Community for not only “getting it,” but for being there for and with me when I was feeling alone and at my most vulnerable. 
THANKS GUYS.

Xoxoxo