The First Time I...

Day 28

The First Time I… Write a post about the first time you did something. What is it? What was it like? What did you learn from it?


I remember the first time I put on an insulin pump.  Someone from Medtronic came to my house to train me on it.  We were in the family room at my parent's house on the couch.  I was a little bit shaky since it was something very new for me to try out.  She told me to check my blood sugar because she had just been with a client who was shaky and they thought it was because she was nervous, but it was because she was low!  I wasn't low, so we went ahead and put it in.  It felt weird having something on my stomach.  Funny thing is that now it feels weird if I'm not wearing it.  It was a whole new experience for me since I had just been taking shots for years.  It was exciting to be able to go out to eat and not have to freak anyone out by taking a shot...all I had to do was press a couple buttons.  It was wonderful!  

Challenges and Victories

Day 27

5 Challenges; 5 Small Victories. Make a list of the 5 most difficult parts of your health focus. Make another top 5 list for the little, good things (small victories) that keep you going.


Challenges:
1.  Carb Counting
2.  Health Insurance
3.  Keeping bloodsugars where they ought to be
4.  Not feeling well when High or Low
5.  Exercising


Victories:
1.  Good A1C levels
2.  Awesome doctors
3.  Friends
4.  Family
5.  The Gospel

Health tagline

Day 26

Health tagline. Give yourself, your blog, your condition, or some aspect of your health a tagline. Make sure it’s catchy!


"Diabetics:  Naturally sweet."


I think that is the best that I am going to come up with.  

Third Person Post

Day 25

Third person post. Write about a memory you have but describe it using the third person. Use as many sensory images (sights, sounds, textures, etc) as you can. Don’t use “I” or “me” unless you include dialogue.


Allison was on her way to work one day and she needed to stop off in Orem to drop off some surveys at the data entry place.  As soon as she pulled into the parking lot her pump started to vibrate...she wasn't sure what it was alarming for because she wasn't wearing her sensor. Then she checked it out...she didn't have any insulin left.  Allison had forgotten that the night before just before she went to bed, her pump alarmed that her insulin was low.  She had figured that she would take care of that in the morning, but had completely forgotten.  She had to text her boss and let him know that she was going to be late and turned around to go home.  She changed her set and got to work.  


Not a very exciting story, but I figured that shows how annoying forgetting something as easy as an alarm can be!

Health Mascot

Day 24

Health Mascot. Give yourself, your condition, or your health focus a mascot. Is it a real person? Fictional? Mythical being? Describe them. Bonus points if you provide a visual!


So...the first thing that I visualize when I think of a mascot for diabetes is someone running around in a huge syringe outfit doing back flips and taking pictures with little kids. I don't know that that will be accepted very well in the community...I mean come on...there are people out there who faint when they see a syringe...I guess a better option would be a vial of insulin?  That's not very exciting.  


A human sized pancreas? 


Visualize that one....


 Gross.


I'm out of ideas.

Free Day

Day 23

Health Activist Choice Day 23! Write about whatever you like.


Right now I am actually reading this book called "A Single Voice" by Kristen Oaks.  It is a church book that Ashlee was really enjoying and told me I should read.  So, of course, I jumped on that.  It is a book basically talking about how to get through life, especially when you are single.  This morning as I was reading, this quote stood out to me:


"Sadly, a few often spoke of how they wished that this life were over and that they could return to their Heavenly Father and be free of their pain and loneliness."  


I read this and thought about how people don't just feel that way because of being single, but they can also feel that way because of health issues.  I know that there have been plenty of times in my life where I thought it would just be so much easier to die and not have to worry about my diabetes ever again.  In the afterlife, there is no diabetes.  I wouldn't have to think about it all the time, I wouldn't have to feel sick when I don't give myself the correct amount of insulin.  I wouldn't have to worry about always having food on me and my pump and my blood checker, etc etc etc.  Death is a much faster way of getting rid of diabetes than waiting around for that miracle cure.  


Now, don't get me wrong, I am not suicidal.  I love my life and I am excited for the things that are coming up.  Plus you can't say that you haven't felt the same way when going through a trial in your life!  


The chapter continues on to talk about how the trials that we are given in this life help us to better understand others in their trials.  Let people know that we aren't alone in what we are going through.  Isn't that at least part of the reason behind these 30 post in 30 days?  People with health problems are coming together and sharing what their life is life...and we are reading each other's blogs and finding out that we are not alone.  We may have different trials going on in our lives, but we aren't alone in that feeling.  


It is empowering.  

The Things We Forget

Day 22

The Things We Forget. Visit http://thingsweforget.blogspot.com/ and make your own version of a short memo reminder. Where would you post it?


I'm really not witty enough to come up with something when I am asked to, so instead I have stolen a memo reminder from the scriptures:

Helaman 5:12

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

I really should probably post this on my forehead.  Well, actually, I wouldn't be able to see that during the day, so maybe on the back of my hand or something.  

A few things come to mind when I think about this scripture in relation do diabetes/health.  The first is from when I was first diagnosed...how much I was helped in my time of need.  It is true that if you build your foundation, there is no way that you can fall.  Plus, when things keep coming up...because life is never going to be easy, you can still know that you are not going to fall.  

Plus, I know that if I am following the Word of Wisdom the way that I am supposed to, then I am talking care of my body.  It means that I am eating the way I should and getting the nutrients that I need.  This also includes testing my blood sugar regularly and taking the time to figure out the correct amount of insulin I should give myself so that I can stay in range.  I know I'm not the best at doing all of this all the time, but at least I can say that I am trying!

Sometimes we forget that we are a child of God.

Miracle Cure.

Miracle Cure. Write a news-style article on a miracle cure. What’s the cure? How do you get the cure? Be sure to include a disclaimer  ;)

I don't really feel like being creative tonight and writing a news-style article.  Really, I don't care what the cure is, I would just want to know how to get it.  But, to be honest with everyone and myself, I've never thought that the cure was going to come in my lifetime.  I know that is rather pesimistic of me, but I just don't see it.  I know that lab rats in far off places have been cured of diabetes with some whatever thing, but I'm not a lab rat, so I don't get to try it out. 

I would love for the cure to come in my lifetime and would jump at the chance to be a part of that and do hope that it happens.  If not in my lifetime, then at least during Kyra's life time. 

I remember when I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I got some newsletter that had new amazing things that were on the verge of being approved by the FDA, like inhaled insulin or a watch that tells you your blood sugar all the time so you never have to prick your finger ever again.  That was nearly 18 years ago and my watch still can't tell me what my blood sugar is.  Heck, sometimes it doesn't tell me the correct date....but that one is my fault...sometimes I get lazy.

I really don't mean to sound like debbie downer, especially when there have been so many great break throughs.  I have a fantastic insulin pump and we all know how much I love my sensor.  There are so many people hard at work trying to make the lives of diabetics better and I am very grateful for that!

Health Madlib Poem

Health Madlib Poem. Go to: http://languageisavirus.com/cgi-bin/madlibs.pl and fill in the parts of speech and the site will generate a poem for you. Feel free to post the Madlib or edit it to make it better.


incredibly i have never washed, well beyond


any Hawaii, your test strips have their bloody:

in your most fat blood tester are things which draw me,

or which i cannot drink because they are too extreme



your sticky look sideways will uncower me

though i have run myself as cat,

you sleep always pool by pool myself as cell phone pass out

(chewing often, again) her fast Taco Bell



or if your Shania Twain be to bark me, i and

my Crystal Ball will eat very upstairs, slowly,

as when the rock of this Hawaii study

the bedroom yesterday everywhere pricking;



nothing which we are to drink in this Istanbul hop

the Lisa of your prickly syringe: whose church

swim me with the cow of its Santa Clause,

pokeing Bowling Alley and doctor's office with each siting



(i do not freak out what it is about you that cry

and guess; only something in me sweat

the boardshorts of your test strips is squishy than all cell phone)

Petaluma, not even the flip flops, has such smelly insulin pump



- Allison & e.e. cummings

5 Dinner Guests.

5 Dinner Guests. Who are 5 people you’d love to have dinner with (living or deceased) and why?

 

Shania Twain:  My sister, Jennifer, and I always used to say that we wanted to be Shania Twain when we grew up.  I think this sparked from us watching one of her concerts on TV and we just thought she was amazing.  Not to mention the fact that she has a son named Asa (pronounced Asia) and I have a cat named Asia.  We clearly have good taste.

 

Halle Berry:  She is diabetic and hot...what more could you ask for?  She also seems to keep her diabetes pretty under wraps, I'd love to hear her actually talk about it and how she deals with it.

 

George W. Bush:  Some of you might hate me, but I really like George Bush.  I think that he is a sincerely good guy.  I would love to be able to hear the reasoning behind some of the things he did, because we may complain about the decisions a president makes, but we don't have the whole story behind it.

 

Steve Irwin:  Hero.  I love Steve Irwin.  I cried when he died.  This is the crocodile hunter.  He was especially amazing to me the years that I worked in the wildlife museum.  He was so inspiring and not scared of anything!

 

Wilmer Murray:  My grandpa died when I was two years old.  So it is that kind of situation where I know I have met him, but I don't remember a thing about him.  So, it would be nice to know something about someone that I'm related to and have met before.  Rumor has it that he doesn't talk a lot, but maybe he'd have a few things to say to his youngest grandchild.

Open a Book.

Open a Book. Choose a book and open it to a random page and point to a phrase. Use that phrase to get you writing today. Free write for 15-20 without stopping.

 

" 'So why do I hate my life?'  He went through the paces of the practices and games.  He liked teaching the boys in his toon, and they followed him loyally.  He had the respect of everyone, and he was treated with deference in his evening practices.  Commanders came to study what he did.  other soldiers approached his table at mess and asked permission to sit down.  Even the teachers were respectful.  He had so much damn respect he wanted to scream."

 

I got this one out of my favorite book, Ender's Game.  I usually don't like to read books over again, but this is one that every so often I will read.  You can ask previous roommates who have lived with me while reading it, I have a hard time putting it down!  Such a good book, and I'm not a sci-fi person! 

 

I thought this paragraph was interesting.  He starts off by saying that he hates his life, but goes on to talk about how how well life is actually going for him.  Other people want to be him, and yet, he doesn't even want to be himself.  He had too much of something that he worked for and that was driving him crazy.

 

Sometimes you try and try for something so hard thinking that once you actually get it, you will be happy.  Then you get it and you find that you aren't happy, or as happy as you thought you were going to be. 

 

Sometimes you just have to go out and find your happiness.  Get yourself out of the situation that you are in, take a leap and find what makes you happy.

 

And sometimes you just have to "love the one you're with" and find the things to love, inspite of a bad situation.  This is probably the on that would relate best to diabetes, since you can't really get rid of it.  I can either hate my life for having diabetes, or I can make the most of it.  Learn from it.  Teach others about it. 

 

And then sometimes you I can have so much diabetes that I want to scream as well...

Learned the Hard Way

Learned the Hard Way. What’s a lesson you learned the hard way? Write about it for 15 today.

The lesson I learned the hard way just recently was that if I am second guessing the place where I am inserting my sensor, then I should probably pay attention to that!

A few weeks ago it was time for me to change my sensor.  I ripped out the old one and prepped for a new one.  As I put the inserter against the skin on my stomach I thought to my self "Self, you should move where you are going to put this into down or over."  I didn't listen to Self and just decided to put it in.  When it went in, there was a lot of blood that filled up inside of it, but I figured it would clot and I would be fine.  So, I put the tape over it and decided I'd check it later.  30 minutes later I look down at it and there is blood filling up on top of the sensor touching the tape.  This doesn't look so good.  Finally I decide to just take it out.  I took the tape off and there was a goo of blood sitting on top of where it is inserted.  I removed the sensor and all of a sudden blood started just POURING out of this tiny little hole...POURING.  It dripped down onto my pants and I had to cup underneath it to try to catch it.  I was walking to the sink in the kitchen with blood just spurting out and dripping down onto the floor.  I grabbed a kitchen towel, the first thing I could find, and held it against the tiny hole with so much blood coming out.  A minute or two later I took it away and it was still spurting blood and the towel was bloody.  Gross.  I sat down on a chair and just decided that I would hold it there until it stopped.  I started thinking about what would happen if I bled to death...haha...clearly not thinking straight.  Thought about who I should call to come over if it never stopped bleeding..still not thinking straight.  But after about 30 minutes I finally checked again and it had stopped.  There was blood all over the towel, my clothes and the kitchen.  I had a nice bruise on my stomach for the next few days.  I figure I must have hit something, but wow, that was crazy!  Anyway, thankful to be alive...next time I'll switch where I'm inserting it!

Pinboard

Pinboard. Create a pinterest board for your health focus. Pin 3 things. What did you pin? Share the images in a post and explain why you chose them.

 

I don't have pinterest.

 

But today I felt like I had a whole new health problem.  One that just wouldn't go away.  I mean, seriously, can this be chronic?  It is driving me crazy.  I've had the hiccups all day long. 

 

I don't get the hiccups very often, but when I do, it is like a full day of hiccups.  Just as soon as they go away, they are back again.  Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me?  Because I can't get the hiccups just once, they follow me around for the rest of the day.  I'm scared to open my mouth, because at any time a really loud hiccup could come out!  Then when they actually do go away, you feel like you should be doing something...you should still be hiccupping. 

 

Oh wow, they just went away.

 

Anyway, so I'm not going to "pin" any pictures, but I'll post some pictures and tell you why instead.

 

 

This is a picture of a cat, this cat has diabetes.  This cat and I have that in common.  Actually, a friend of mine growing up had a cat that had diabetes...that was the first time I had heard of an animal having it.  I guess animals aren't immune to it.  I hope my kitty doesn't ever get it...

 

 

Uhm....A.  I'm not sure how this dog moves.  B.  Pretty sure this dog will have type 2 diabetes.  How does a dog get that fat?!

 

Every so often I watch scrubs...above is the character named Turk.  I have a slight crush on him.  He has diabetes, although I just looked it up online and it says that he has type 2...interesting choice for the show? 

Writing with Style

Writing with Style. What’s your writing style? Do words just flow from your mind to your fingertips? Do you like handwriting first? Do you plan your posts? Title first or last? Where do you write best?

 

Uhm...pretty much what you see is what you get.  I don't know if I have a writing style.  As it comes into my mind, it goes onto the keys and then onto my screen.  There is no way that I would ever do any sort of handwriting my posts first...I don't like to use a pen/pencil and paper.  Typing is so much faster and easier!  My posts are planned, by WEGO, with these daily posts for a month.  The title is the title of whatever they ask me to write about.  I write the best on my computer...

 

I think I answered all of the questions.  I don't know how to somehow connect this with diabetes? 

 

A friend came over last night and brought with her some pizza.  She got the meat lovers pizza, which made me very happy!  BUT, this pizza just kills me everytime!  I don't know what it is, but my blood sugar is so high forever after this.  Not to mention the fact that I forgot to do any sort of a dual wave bolus with it.  I really should have, but totally forgot to.  I took a bunch of insulin before going to bed and woke up in the morning high.  You would think that the alarm on my sensor would have woken me up to tell me to take more insulin, but I'm pretty sure that I just turned that off in my sleep!  Oh well...back to normal again...well...a little high since I had waffles for lunch...almost time for dinner now!  It seems like just as soon as I get my blood sugar starting to go normal again, it is time to eat and screw it up again! 

My Dream Day

My Dream Day. Describe your ideal day. How would you spend your time? Who would you spend it with? Have you had this day? If not – how could you make it happen?

 

April 25th, because it's not too hot and not too cold, all you need is a light jacket!

 

My dream day would start off in bed.  I would wake up naturally, without an alarm.  Then I would fall back asleep again for another hour.  When I woke up again, I would probably spend another couple of hours in bed reading.  After that I would get out of bed, take a nice long hot shower and get ready for the day.  Magically, my chef would appear with breakfast.  French toast.  With sausages.  Then I would log onto my computer and book a trip with some friends to England.  Once that was all squared away, I would drive over to my doctor's office.  He would then give me a shot that magically cured diabetes.  I would then hand over all of my diabetes supplies, grab two more of those magical shots (only two because Meri's boys would have already had the shots because they would have been part of the clinical trial and would be cured already) and catch a flight to California where I would give the shots to Lisa and Kyra.  Then My family and I would head down to southern California and celebrate by going to Six Flags.  We would have the park to ourselves of course.  Any of you are invited as well.  After a lovely warm day at Six Flags we would head back up to Northern California.  On the way up there, I would get a call with a job offer in the Bay Area for the best job in the world paying tons of money.  Then I would go sit on the swing in the backyard of my parent's house petting my cat until I went to bed.  My parents would be so thrilled with my life that they would give me their bed. 

 

Was this supposed to be realistic? 

 

Who wants to give me a job in the Bay Area?  :)

 

Oh, and world peace.

10 Things I Couldn’t Live Without.

10 Things I Couldn’t Live Without. Write a list of the 10 things you need (or love) most.

 

Nail Clippers.  Dead serious.  I have paper thin nails and if one chips then I spend the rest of the day trying to rip at it until it is all even again, but we all know that that can't happen, so basically I rip until I can get myself to a pair of nail clippers and make everything even and smooth again.  Drives me nuts otherwise.  OCD?  Maybe.

 

How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days.  Hands down the best movie to quote from.  Karlie and I will still randomly text each other quotes from that movie.  If I ever quote a movie and say "where is that from" nine times out of ten, you can say How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days and you'd be right.  "You let it die!"  HA!

 

Hoodies.  If I could, I'd probably get married in a hoodie.  I mean seriously, it has everything.  Warmth.  Comfort, drawstrings, a pouch...who didn't want to be a kangaroo in another life?  Not because of the kangarooness, but because you had an extra little pouch to put things in?  mmmm....hoodies.

 

My straightener.  I am not one of those people who can jump out of the shower and run a comb through my hair and leave for the day.  I must dry my hair and straighten it.  LOVE straighteners.  It makes my life so much easier.  I am so lucky to live in a day of electricity!

 

My bed.  MY bed.  I love my bed.  It is so comfortable.  I never want to get out of it.  Never.  I did a post one time dedicated to how wonderful my bed is.  Because it is.  I really don't think that there is a more comforting place than one's bed.  The only other bed that is more comfortable than mine is my parent's bed.  Oh my goodness.  If my bed is a cloud, then theirs is whatever is above a cloud.  If only I could kick my parents out of their bed while I'm at home. 

 

My phone.  You can use your cell phone for so many things now!  I mean, seriously.  I have a relaxation app that I can turn on if I can't fall asleep.  I can text a friend (or pretend to text a friend) to get out of awkward situations.  Pay my bills, search the internet, talk to people (but not really since I hate talking on the phone, texting is what I do best), check the weather, play games with my sister, send pictures, etc etc etc.  I feel naked if I forget my phone.  I was waiting for my sister to pick me up at the airport a couple weeks ago and wondered how people used to do that without phones?! 

 

My car.  We all know that I'm a control freak.  I like to be able to come and go as I please.  Nuff said.

 

Insulin.  I think this is obvious.  I would have been dead a long time ago without my diabetes supplies.  Besides, I spend all my money on diabetes stuff, so that's what I must love the most, right??

 

Family.  I really think I would die without my family.  Seriously, I am a very lucky little girl.  I have parents and siblings who support me and love me no matter what I say or do.  When life is crappy and your friends just aren't or can't be there for you, family is. 

 

The Gospel.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what keeps me going.  In the world that we live in today, I am so lucky that I have a testimony.  When all else fails, I can fall to my knees and pray to my Heavenly Father and know that everything is going to work out, that I know the gospel is true.  The scriptures give me strength and comfort.  He has never failed to carry me through my trials, for this, I am grateful for.

Stream of Consciousness Day.

Stream of Consciousness Day. Start with the sentence “This morning I looked in the mirror...” just write, don’t stop, don’t edit. Post!

 

This morning I looked in the mirror and my first thought was that men are obviously the more beautiful sex.  They don't have to do anything to look good in the morning.  Women have to paint themselves up to look halfway decent and then two hours into the day their mascara is running and they need to hide that shiney forehead!  It takes most women an hour to get ready for the day...men take 5 minutes!  How is this even fair? 

 

I'm sure the meaning of this post is to go deeper than that.

 

hmph.

 

I looked into the mirror today and saws the open door to the bathroom.  With no roommates, that door is almost never closed.  I also saw the towel that hangs on the door that I don't use because it is there for when Ashlee comes and spends the night.

 

In the mirror I also saw the reflection of my new purple hair dryer.  I bought it with the Costco gift card my friend Traci gave me for my birthday.  The reflection of my Chi hair straightener...my old roommate Katie introduced me to this beauty...who has had a bad hair day since hair straighteners became common?

 

I saw my little plastic organizer.  This holds my makeup and any other random little bathroom things.  I've had this little box for about ten years.  I saw my Seabreeze face wash.  I have been using the same thing since high school, because my sisters used it then too.  I was that kind of a little sister.  When my sisters started collecting shot glasses, I did too.  When they listened to oldies, I got into oldies, when they put glow in the dark stars up in their rooms, I did too. 

 

When I looked into the mirror, I also saw someone staring back at me.  Someone who has my mom's color hair and my dad's feet.  Someone who hopes that someday she can have the compassion of her oldest sister, Lisa...the smarts of her brother, Lyle, the ability to find joy in the small things in life like her sister Susannah, and the ability to think outside the box like her sister, Jennifer. 

 

I saw someone who has A LOT of little dots on her fingers from testing blood sugar.  Someone who has scars on her tummy from infusion sets.  Someone with boxes and bumps and tape and tubes all over the place.  Someone who still has her eyesight and limbs. 

 

In that same person I saw someone who has so many blessings and so much to look forward to in the future.  Someone who can make it through these rough times and someone who is grateful for the support of family and friends who keep her going every day. 

 

 

Replay

hmmm....I already did today's dedicate a song to your health issue...you can see that here if you would like:

http://www.allisonkatemurray.blogspot.com/2011/11/this-ones-for-you-baby-30-health-posts.html

Still agree with it!

Dear 16 Year Old Me

Dear 16-year-old-me. Write a letter to yourself at age 16. What would you tell yourself? What would you make your younger self aware of?

Hmmm....I already did Dear 18 year old me last time.  If you want to read that one, click here:  http://www.allisonkatemurray.blogspot.com/2011/11/dear-18-year-old-me-30-health-post-in.html

Instead, I'm going to write about BEING 16 year old me.  I got my license on my 16th birthday.  I remember going into the office at school to talk to mom before taking my driving test, she told me not to be sad if I didn't pass.  I told her I would be fine.  It was an overcast day and had rained some, I remember this because my hair in my license picture is a little bit frizzy.  I passed with flying colors!

My parents let me drive the Mazda 323...his name was Jack and he had a sunroof. 

(Picture was taken before I was 16)

I was a sophomore in high school.  This was the first year that Jenn was gone away at school in Hawaii so I had the house to myself basically.  This was the year that I first started as a docent in the Petaluma Wildlife Museum. 

I wanted to go to college at BYU and had the sweatshirts to prove it.

This was a slightly rebelious year in seminary...my teacher didn't like me much.  I don't know why he always had me at a table with Brett, but pretty sure he and I just joked around thole time. 

I think Brett took me on my first real/legal date this year?  I think it was a double date...we went to the movies...he got pulled over and freaked out, it was pretty funny. 

Had a crush on Shea.

I was still growing my orange hair out from using Sun-In.

I got my first real job at TCBY.  It was the best job ever and I was there for a month.  I called one Sunday to get my schedule for the week and they told me the store was closing, I said I just wanted to get my schedule real quick...they said...no, the store is closing for good.  Went and found another job...Corning Revere...loved working there.

Had awesome friends and "The Mooners" was created...

I was a youth leader at girls camp that year.  I absolutley fell in love with the girls of the RP 3rd and 4th wards that Crystal and I were over.  We were the Smurfettes.  Susannah came home from her mission the day that I received my Tree award and gave it to me....her up at the podium was the first time I had seen her in a year and a half.

Lisa announced that she was pregnant...9 months later, we got Kyra :)

I had almost 5 years of diabetes under my belt.  The newness had worn off.  I had a pump.  I was threatened all the time that if I didn't have good blood sugars that the car would be taken away from me.  Two of my best friends couldn't stand the sight of blood.  My friends at school, when I was acting low, would ask if I was ok and I would promptly start to tear up and say that I was fine...they then would tell me to test my sugar and to eat something. 

By 16...we were all pretty used to this diabetic life. 

The Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge 2012 (#HAWMC)

Stay Calm and Carry On

Keep calm and carry on. Write (and create) your own Keep Calm and Carry On poster. Can you make it about your condition? Then go to (http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/) and actually make an image to post to your blog.

This is another one that I don't quite get.  I went to that website and I guess I get it now, but I'm not that creative. 

So I will write about keeping calm. 

Sometimes when I feel low, I don't think I'm all that low.  Then I test my blood sugar and see where I'm at.  Then all of a sudden the world is going to end if I don't eat everything in the house.  Then after I eat everything in the house in 2.5 seconds, and check my blood sugar and it has gone down, then I feel that I have to find something else to eat.  So much for staying calm and being patient.  So, then I stuff myself again.  I still feel low.  Still eating.  Mind you, I really could have just eaten a slice of bread and been fine.  But no, I'm irrational.  The more I eat the faster my blood sugar level will go up is my thought.  So I keep eating everything in sight, not even thinking of the carb counting that I should be doing.  Then I test my blood sugar again.  100.  Sigh of relief, but I still feel low. 

Eat more. 

Test again. 

300. 

Awesome. 

So much for staying calm!

Conversations

Best conversation I had this week. Try writing script-style (or with dialogue) today to recap an awesome conversation you had this week.

I don't really know where to go with this one.  This week?  About diabetes?  I don't think that I had an awesome conversation.  So, I'll tell about a different one.

The details on this are a little fuzzy because it was a while ago and because my blood sugar was low at the time.  But, this one time I was in the family room with my two roommates, and I knew I was low, but I didn't want to do anything about it.  We got to talking and one roommate said something and my reply was "go to hell."  The other roommate got up, walked to the pantry and got some fruit snacks out, threw them to me and told me to eat them. 

Apparently I was acting low.

I ate them. 

Half an hour later I apologized for telling my roommate to go to hell.

Apparently I don't act like myself sometimes when I'm low!

The Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge 2012 (#HAWMC)

Just Allison

Health Activist Choice! Write about what you want today.

Hmmm...I kinda did that in my last post. 

I'll talk aboutl ast night then.

Last night I went to hang out with two very good friends of mine.  We were doing dinner and a movie.  They invited another friend of theirs who is very nice.  At one point during the movie, my friend moved and hit my insulin pump and we just kinda joked about it.  The friend overheard and started asking lots of questions about my diabetes.  Now, usually I like to answer these questions, but sometimes I get in a mode where I really just want to enjoy what I'm doing and not have to think about diabetes.  I'm sure it was frustrating for her that my answers were pretty short and not very informative, but sometimes I just want to sit back and watch a movie and enjoy what I am doing, without diabetes getting in the way. 

Just another moment where I wanted to be JUST Allison.

Haiku This.

Health haiku. Write a haiku about your health focus. 5 syllables/7 syllables/5 syllables. Write as many as you like.

No.  I disagree with writing any sort of poetry...and reading it as well.  I'm going to write about insurance.

Insurance can drive me crazy.  I'm very very grateful to have insurance, don't get me wrong, but it can drive me batty.  The thing on my mind lately with insurance is that you have to go with whatever brands they cover, not with what you work with the best. 

I grew up with Kaiser and Kaiser covered Minimed and Lifescan products.  LOVE all these products.  Then I was under my own insurance.  Covered the same stuff.  Awesome.  Then my work changed insurances and they wouldn't cover the specific insulin I was on, so I had to pay the higher premium to get the one that worked best for me.  (Which we found out later it didn't matter...it was just one vial of insulin that was bad...but that's a story for another day)  They covered different strips so I had to get a different blood testing meter...one that did not talk to my pump.  But when I got my sensor, my Dr. wanted me to use the meter that talked to my pump so I paid the higher premium for the other strips, but by this point we realized that I could use either insulin, so I started using the one that was covered by the new insurance.  So, at this point I'm still using the stuff that I used to with Kaiser, that I loved, just paying much more for it!

Then when I got let go at work and got a job at a different place, I had to wait two months before having insurance again, since I didn't want to pay 450 a month to have cobra.  Awesome.  Now I have to deal with setting up my new insurance.  I am very grateful to have health insurance again, but now my insurance covers strips and a meter that I have never even heard of before.  Who knows what else I am going to have to change.

Maybe it is just me, but I really like to use my certain brands that work well for me, that work together with all of my medical supplies.  I wish that insurance didn't dictate what I'm allowed to use. 

BUT I'm just glad to have insurance again and that nothing bad happened for those two months without health insurance!