June 30th, 2010 by

Steve at Without Envy broke my heart by answering, by way of poetry, the letters I wrote to BSparl while she was growing inside of me.  I’m very honored to be sharing his words with you guys today, as I read them to myself over and over again in the hospital, waiting patiently for my daughter to arrive.

*   *   *

The Child’s Reply to Her Mother

Dear Mommy,

Were the world imperfect and only so cozy
compared to your big pregnant belly,
I would wish for these moments to last,
To be as close as I am to you now.

But Sound lends music to eager ears;
Thoughts turn from angst and guiltless fears;
And Galileo falls quiet;
This child inside you stirs.

Old Winter has gone, and blossoming flowers,
Bibs, small dresses and candy pacifiers, are sprung in baby showers;
While monitors, cultures, and blood pressure cuffs,
Hold but a whisper’s attention.

Fluids and proteins, and peeing in hats,
Headaches, fat feet and carpel tunnel wraps,
Will soon give way to the soft touch of your hand;
This child inside you stirs.

But could nature embrace, and wrap tenderly
The same tender love you’ve woven for me,
In your arms do I wish for these moments to last,
To be as close as I am to you now.

Love,
Baby

Written by Steve, who blogs at Without Envy.  Please visit his site and appreciate his fine writing!

Source: Six Until Me.

June 30th, 2010 by

Thirty-seven diabetes bloggers and online advocates convened here in Florida today, hosted by Roche Diabetes, for the second annual Social Media Summit — a rare in-person gathering where we can exchange ideas over advocacy efforts and discuss how we’d like to “change the world,” or at least diabetes care in the United States.

This year, representatives [...]

Source: AmyT

June 29th, 2010 by

The other day, Chris and I were discussing the origins of the word "lunch."  (This spawned from a conversation about the literal nature of the word "breakfast" – breaking the fast.  We are word nerds.  And very boring to go for long car rides with.)  Our guesses were denied and confirmed by a quick Google search from my KerriBerry.

But a Yahoo! answers thing came up as part of the Google search, so I clicked through out of pure curiosity.  Because when the question is "Can I have a unicorn for breakfast?", one must find out the answer.  And when I saw it, I couldn’t stop laughing.  Seriously.  I couldn’t even read it out loud to Chris without cracking up at the last part and causing him to lean over as he was driving and say, "What?  What’s that last part?"

Call me immature (I double-dog-dare you) or call me goofy, but the mental image of a unicorn tree made my day.  The sun rises and this young Yahoo! answerer stumbles out into their front yard and plucks a bright, glittery unicorn from the tree for their healthy breakfast before the Sweet Pickles bus comes to take them to school.

Unicorns for breakfast.  

This is what happens when sleep is replaced by coffee.

Source: Six Until Me.

June 29th, 2010 by

There were a number of encouraging news announcements this week here in Florida about progress on the JDRF’s Artificial Pancreas Project.  The most prominent of those is today’s unveiling of the results of the STAR 3 Trial (Sensor-Augmented Pump Therapy for A1c Reduction) that showed adults, teens and children achieving a 4x reduction in A1C [...]

Source: AmyT

June 28th, 2010 by

Yesterday morning, a new infusion set shunked its way into my life.  It was on the right hand side of my hip, and when it went in, it burned.  When I pulled the needle out to leave the plastic cannula inside, the site burned again.

"Yowza.  That was a frigging stinger," I muttered to myself, trying to get out of the house in time to meet my dad for lunch.  But I didn’t pay the pain much mind because a site change isn’t always cozy.  Sometimes the sites just sting.  Sometimes they don’t.  (Now that "Almond Joys have nuts.  Mounds don’t." song is stuck in my head.)

I bolus for a protein bar (still has 17 grams of carbs) and we drive down to meet my dad.  En route to his house, I test and a cocky 423 mg/dl shows up on the meter screen.

"What in tarnation is that all about?"  I asked, substituting something less Yosemite Sam in for "tarnation."  "That protein bar kicked my rear end."

Chalking it up to diabetes being diabetes, I used my pump to correct the blood sugar and we continued to drive.  About an hour later, I tested again and saw the same 400 mg/dl range grin back at me.  Patience tossed, I grabbed my insulin pen and injected a correction dose of insulin.

Forty-five minutes later, I was coming down.

Ninety minutes later, I was back on the upswing.

Hours later, after spending a summer day hanging out in the 400’s, with insulin injections and some desperate pump corrections, I was back at home and I ripped out the site.  To see this:

Wicked bent cannula.

I had no idea the site was crapped out because it didn’t hurt after the initial insertion, the pump wasn’t sirening with a no delivery alarm, and I kept taking manual injections, so it was hard to tell what was actually bringing my blood sugar down.  Making matters more confusing was that the injections actually made me low at one point, causing me to have renewed faith in the stupid infusion set.  (So no, I wasn’t being stubborn, for once.  I actually thought the site was working. Until I treated a low with dinner, and bolused for dinner using the pump, and ended up at 400 again.  And then I threw paper, which was an ineffective way to show anger because paper just sort of floats along happily and doesn’t give a satisfying ‘thud.’)

New site had me from 400 to 90 mg/dl in about two hours. 

I do not like when technical difficulties pop in and make a mess of things.

Source: Six Until Me.

June 28th, 2010 by

I have lots of news from the the huge expo floor of this year’s annual American Diabetes Association annual conference this week. To start off, one of the most impressive new devices I saw was indeed the new Jewel Pump from Debiotech out of Lausanne, Switzerland. My friend and colleague Dr. Rich Jackson of the [...]

Source: AmyT

June 25th, 2010 by

The Internet has so much STUFF.  And it’s not all diabetes-related. (Even though you’d be hard-pressed to believe otherwise, if you hacked in to my Google searches throughout the week.  Actually, if you hacked into my searches, you’d think that I’m devoid of rational thought, because this morning I was telling a story to BSparl about how monkeys in the jungle organize their bananas, which prompted me to Google "can bananas be organized," and I found a whole list of famous monkeys.)

So here’s some STUFF that I’ve come across this week, as part of another Friday Six:

1.  I remember hearing a bunch of children’s songs when I was a babysitter in high school, but nothing as awesome as Eric Herman’s Elephant Song.  I’ve watched the video about ten times already (three times when BSparl was asleep, so I can’t even use her as an excuse) and the song is permanently embedded in my head.  He has no idea, but he’s going to be a very prominent part of BSparl’s musical landscape.  Him … and The Beastie Boys.

2.  It’s a known fact that PWDs are their own brand of superheroes.  And thankfully, our own Chris Bishop has created the most badass blogroll of all time, depicting different diabetes bloggers as members of comic lore.  (And the best part is that we all look foxy, despite c-sections. ) Check out his Diabetic SuperHeroes blogroll and marvel (ha!) at his creation!

3.  And in the diabetic mommy "good news" file, Nic at A Sweet Journey Into Motherhood has given birth to her healthy and absolutely gorgeous son.  Please be sure to skip on over there and see his beautiful pictures and give Nic some comments of congratulations.

4.  Also, I wanted to share some good news from the Sparling front.  Chris has been working with M. Night Shymalan on an upcoming project, and I’m excited that I can finally tell you guys.  More details are at Deadline New York, if you want to click through.  We’re excited, and as always, proud to share with the d-community!!

5.  This is kind of nerdy to include, but I really think it’s neat.  The Boon bottle drying rack makes my kitchen look like I actually have some undead greenery in it.  Which is a unique and rare moment for a plant-murderer like me.  (See also:  The Experiment that failed miserably.)  I like this thing – it’s bright, cheery, and keeps the baby bottles from smelling odd because they didn’t dry properly and therefore forcing me to wash them before I use them.  (No, this isn’t a paid endorsement.  And yes, I purchased this myself at my local Target, where dreams are born.  Love Target.)

6.  And lastly, have you guys checked out the Australian forum, Reality Check?  Well the forums have bloomed into a whole website, called the Type 1 Diabetes Network.  The forums are still there, but there’s a whole pile of information for a newly diagnosed diabetic or a veteran one, including a great "starter kit" that can has resources for any PWD.

And now I’m off to find more famous monkeys.  Have a good weekend!

Source: Six Until Me.