October Bits and Bytes

I've been hiding in the real world diabetes community and my twitter feed and blogging reflects that with silence. So in lieu of skipping all the fun stuff, here's some of the major highlights:

Today:
I volunteered at a JDRF Walk for a Cure on the Jersey Shore. My friend and I were in charge of signing up Government Relations Advocates. I got 3 actual signups but I spoke to several dozen people who were already advocates. Warmed my heart. Only down side to the day has been the perpetual gluco-coaster I've been riding. My bloodsugar hasn't been this high in a while. I think someone swapped my insulin for water. I may also blame the bagel I ate (avoiding carbs is so difficult with free food)
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Late September:
Since I've hit 4 years with my Paradigm 722, I got a call a few weeks ago about upgrading. A week later, I was notified about the latest FDA approval for the Minimed 530G (aka the fancy closer to artificial pancreas pump). I'm a little skeptical but trying to be open minded. So far (before actually having it on my doorstep), my only big complaint is that Minimed's CGM transmitter is still shaped like a seashell. I've been spoiled by the relatively well adherence of my Dexcom sensors, but maybe this time I'll figure out some D-ninja skills for taping it down. The ETA for my new pump is another week or two.
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Late September:
I lost my Dexcom CGM receiver, Eggy, on campus one night. After retracing my steps, inspecting the lecture hall, and tearing apart every possible spot, I dishearteningly gave into his permanent disappearance. I'm still convinced he's stealthily hiding in my car or room, but I called Dexcom up to have them send me a new receiver.  I have enough sensors in stock that it was silly not to follow through with that option. Now that I may be transitioning to a MM CGM, I feel EVEN more silly. Oh well.
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Late August:
I'm not in love with my new doctor but I don't have any reason to be offended by her. She's very matter-of-factual. I was a little turned off by meeting/reviewing my history with a med student before I met her but that's the blessing/curse of teaching hospitals. I love helping students, but for a doctor I'm going to see 2-3 times a year, I wish she had built some of a rapport with me before inviting a student in. We discussed stuff. She filled my prescriptions. Very transactional. We'll see what happens in 6 months.

Things My Blood Sugar Should Not Equal

1. My age
2. Number of hours in the day
3. Almost the speed limit in school zones
4. A TV show staring Kiefer Sutherland
5. Total number of ribs in the human body
6. The number of carats in pure gold
7. Yotta
8. The atomic number of chromium
9. Players on the field in a Canadian football game
10. Total number of pieces in a game of Checkers

And yet, this surprised me today:

After a few double takes, I rechecked 4 times with two meters: 28, 26, 29, 25.

Of course, this occurred in the two hours I was waiting before calibrating Eggy. No symptoms. I felt a little funny but wasn't suspecting a low at all. No shaking until 20 minutes later when treated with a few gulps of orange juice. Oh diabetes, you get stranger and stranger everyday.

Bullet Points: Catching Up

So it's been a little more than a month since I've last posted and way too much stuff has happened. I promise to come back and write real posts about some of this stuff but for now, all you get is the abbreviated version:

• I finished my first year of doctoral classes.
• Many, many all nighters
• May have given myself a stomach ulcer (not really)
• I love seeing old friends.
• Somethings never change
• Especially in NYC
• Time flies!
• A neighbor backed into my rear passenger side door.
• No human damage
• Car still drives
• Mostly other driver's fault (Insurance split it 80%-20%)
• My doctors suspect I have developed Diabetes Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN).
• Almost 15 years complication free
• Intermittent numbness in my feet
• Diverging opinions between two primary care physicians
• Started taking a B-complex vitamin
• Still investigating my next steps
• I spent 12 hours in the ER.
• Somehow double bolused too much insulin when out with friends
• Extreme disorientation
• Blood sugar of 28 mg/dl & unresponsive for 30 minutes while in the ER
• My friends are awesome at taking care of me

I'm sure there's more stuff but those are the things that are glaring in my mind. Oh yea, in case you missed it, I was Fan of the Week over at the Blue Heel Society. Check them out, because they're awesome.

The New, The Old, and the Restless

The New: I ventured to the Sanofi US Headquarters on Monday for a super tiny focus group with Joslin Diabetes Educators for a new training program: "Are You on the Road to Living Well with Diabetes?" Most of my excitement stemmed from the fact that I found out about all of this through Twitter. While I thought the material was pretty repetitive, I realize that they're hitting their target audience (newly diagnosed / searching for better control) really well. I did learn a few things here and there, and I love their new analogies for diabetes control. Plus, there's a magic number for your microalbumin that you should know: under 30 for happy kidneys. I spent the better part of the session trying to keep myself from blurting out answers to questions for the program mangers and hug the other people in the session (must pretend to be polite, right?). The really cool part was that I got a free HbA1c just for answering some questions. My results show that I'm still at the same spot (6.2) even though I'm eating differently and working out more. I'm much happier about that, because I'm doing it without being low 24/7. Curious to see about my cholesterol levels with the new diet but my lipid panel must wait until June.

The Old: My car is all better. No check engine light. I'm not sure if I can feel a difference in how it drives (or if I'm supposed to) but I will find out very quickly in the next week with copious hours driving from state to state (it's spring break, don't cha know?). Despite the many hours in my car, I still have a ton of work to get done so that's going to be... interesting?

The Restless: I WANT TO KICK MY BUTT INTO GEAR. To do anything. I don't know what's up with my motivation lately. I want to scream. I want to run and jump and tumble. I want to accomplish something. Any recommendations on how to do so would be helpful.

Lemon Laws

I spent my Friday morning waiting for three hours to find out what was wrong with my car. The waiting rooms at automobile dealerships kind of remind me of the waiting rooms of doctor's offices. It's especially bad when medical issues arise while at a car dealership but more on that later...

In the United States, the have laws to protect consumers who buy new cars from manufacturing defaults. No process is perfect. With thousands of parts going into creating one machine, there's just an inherent chance for something to go wrong because of part defects when putting something together on a factory line. They're called Lemon Laws. They vary from state to state but essentially covers any performance problems in a new car in the first few weeks.

Now I've been having some issued with a evaporation purge valve in my fuel line. It's been going on for about a year. It just decides to not play nice once in a while. Doesn't seriously affect the car's performance (as far as I know) but it does keep the car from passing the NH state inspection next week. Usually they test this valve and it tests out fine. Every dealer I've shown it to has said if it keeps acting up, to replace it. Me being stubborn, I won't replace it until the tests definitively say this part is broken. Much to my chagrin, the test on Friday declared this valve broken. Unfortunately, my car is well past the lemon law stage.

Apparently, there is no Lemon Law for body parts. I'd gladly swap my pancreas out but I guess I'll just keep rocking my pancreas impersonation skills.

Breaks and Vacations

I just finished my last exam of the semester today. Cell biology will never haunt me again unless I have to retake it (let's all cross our fingers for me!). Technically, I have the next four weeks off. In reality, I should spend some large portion of that time writing grant proposals, reading research papers, figuring out where I want to go in the future, and the steps I need to take to get there.

School vacations always threw me off. Either I'd want to do nothing but relax and then get bored of being a slug only to pick up a tutoring job or research position, or I'd have grandiose plans to read novels or build things that I couldn't during the semester and instead end up sleeping my time away.

I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family that I miss like crazy. To rock climbing with my old crew at least once. To sleeping for eight hours guilt free. To getting some exercise regularly on purpose. Oh yeah, and seeing my endocrinologist to check up on my diabetes, which makes me think of another kind of vacation...

For 10 of the 14 years I've had diabetes, I've never taken a purposeful break from my pump. Yes, I've squeezed in a few dozen shots of insulin when my pumps broken (which I think has only happened 3 or 4 times). And yes, I've occasionally taken shots to tide me over between site changes. With my recent adventures in rotating infusion sites (fairly unsuccessfully, I think), I've been thinking more about just putting my pump away in a drawer for a while. But the thought of that scares me, just a little.

My schedule is... well kind of a nightmare. It's inconsistent. Everyday is different just by the virtue of my classes and visiting lecturers and the nature of research. I've gotten used to being able to dial up or down my basal rates for stress or exercise and extend a bolus for crazy food combinations. I always thought being on shots required more... discipline than I have. Take a shot of long acting twice a day everyday at the same time. Take multiple shots of short acting for all the food consumed for meals and snacks. Which makes me wonder about how much I'd like popping out a pen or a shot when I take just one measely unit for those lectures with free snacks outside where I grab a tiny plate of melon, even if I just ate lunch or dinner is in an hour. It's easy when it's a button. Not so easy when it's a shot.

My mother would never understand why I'd ever take a break. She thinks that my insulin pump is the greatest thing since sliced bread and has always advocated giving pumps to kids even when they were hesitant to give them to teenagers. But I've been making my own decisions about diabetes for a few years now. That shouldn't really be a factor but it's bouncing through my head.

Just cause I'm taking a break from my pump (hypothetically) wouldn't mean I'm taking a break from Eggy (my CGM) so any fear of lows or highs from being on multiple daily injections should be nonexistent. Right?

Maybe I'm over thinking this, and it's just something I have to try. Or maybe I've been stuck with my pump for so long that I'm too comfortable to let go.

Monkey Wrenches

Life has a funny way of putting obstacles in front of you in order to see how high you can jump. This week is not particularly pleasant for me because of a Cell Biology exam I have on Thursday followed by a poster presentation with a fellow graduate student on Friday. This is kind of the norm of graduate school so I can't say that I'm terribly surprised, but I am a little disappointed to not be more out and about advocating for the American Diabetes Month. I've had to give up my facebook and Twitter feeds for a few days and it's kinda killing me (Yes, I'm one of those poorpeople who's addicted to social media...). I still read a few here and there but doing my best to stay focus is sooo difficult even when I'm in the "zone".

In the moments in between studying and programming and sleeping and sometimes eating, I've managed to at least participate and get the word out about a few really awesome Diabetes Awareness activities everyone with diabetes (and without) should know about. For instance...

• The BIG blue Test! or the big BLUE test! or the big blue TEST! (see what I did there?)
  I was in NYC helping out while they were shooting this awesome chick. (yea I'm hiding somewhere in those group shots). You don't have to have diabetes to participate. You just have to move. What's the reward? IMPROVING YOUR HEALTH! and SAVING LIVES! In the good old US of A and across the globe. All you have to do is exercise for 15 minutes. No silly signing up either! Check it out at www.bigbluetest.org
• Blue Fridays! With awesome giveaways! Even doable on rainy days! Bonus points if you wear blue everyday?! (okay, no more rhyming. I promise)
  Every Friday in November, wear a little or a lot of blue to raise awareness! In your hair, on your nails, with your friends...T-shirts, socks, and bathrobes will do too! Check out the Facebook page here! and follow #bluefriday on Twitter!
• Team Type 1's Run Across America
  If there were ever a group of people I'd follow off a cliff, it would probably these 10 (or 11) guys. Phil Southerland (the CEO) is a great guy, and he's a constant reminder that diabetes doesn't hold any of us down from surpassing our dreams. This group of diabetic athletes is running from coast to coast, and they are estimated to land in NYC on November 14th!
• Blood Sugar Testing Flash Mob in Times Square
  I'm gonna try my darnedest to make it out to Times Square for a Blood Sugar Testing Flash Mob in Times Square on noon on Sunday, Novemeber 13th in front of the Kodak screen. If you can't make it, help out this fantastic young man by sending a picture of you and your friend Diabetes to kodak@aerva.com to be there in spirit!
• World Diabetes Day Postcard Exchange
  Art is always therapeutic, but in this case, it's doubly so because I get to reach out to someone. I was assigned an awesome PWD (or their family, friends, and awesome associates). I get make some art for them. And then I'll get one. Let's hope it's something that doesn't turn out like those finger paints when I was three...
• World Diabetes Day
  Blue Monuments. Diabetes Awareness Events. Reach Out and Hug A Diabetic Events... I may be trapped in class all day, but I'll do something awesome for it all on my own if I have to!

Alright. I have another story to share but it's going to have to wait. Wish me luck on my test.

It's Been a While...

So I haven't written in a while. Not really for a lack of ideas or thoughts (cause if you ask, I have exactly 10 or so rolling around my head at any given moment), but more so a lack of time at my laptop, energy, and organization. Because 2 or 3 sentences makes a tweet and not a blog. And while I love bullet points, they don't help my writing skills blossom. But alas, my mind just breaks down from all the clutter rolling around in there.

I managed to pull out not just ONE, but TWO infusion sets placed on my thighs within exactly 3 hours of each other last week. I think there was something wrong with the adhesive after they ventured into the great outdoors with me for a night. But considering I typically "accidentally" tear out a site once every 6 months, I was quite angry cause I despise changing my infusion sites. Plus, it screws up my rotation schedules for "landing zones".

Another first for me (today in fact) was the first time I misplaced my insulin. I'm on a pump. I change my site & reservoir every 3/4 days, but I always keep my medical bag packed especially when I'm travelling (read DRIVING everywhere). I was panicking after I noticed that my Novolog was missing for the bag when my reservoir was running on EMPTY just after eating a large dinner at 8pm at my parents. I guess that as I was hectically putting in extra infusion sets in the bag, it rolled out. Insulin 5 hours aways doesn't help me now. Absent-vial-syndrome hasn't EVER happened to me before. Thankfully, the CVS by my parents is open til 10pm and they had enough in stock to fill my prescriptions. Crisis averted.

I'm on the hunt for a cool diabetes shirt that says "Even though I don't look sick, I still deserve a cure for diabetes" preferably before the Non-Communincable Disease Summit in NYC (I'm going and you should too! More info here!). Anyone know someone who sells one already? Otherwise, I'm totally hitting up http://diabetees.spreadshirt.com/ to make me one (because I really want to order half their website already). Anyone else interested?