My "Word In Your Hand" entry.

I have taken a long time to send in my “Word In You Hand” entry. Many of you who know me know that it takes me about 1000 tries doing something until I am satisfied with it. The funny thing is it is never about perfection but “perfection” to me.

Not the normal perfect that is for sure. But, in my head there is an image and it takes a while for the rest of my brain to find it. Once I do then I will run with it.

Okay enough about my craziness. Here is some serious info about the project taken right from the website so as to not mess it up.

Leading up to World Diabetes Day (Nov. 14), we are preparing a project called "Word In Your Hand.” It's VERY EASY to participate.

1) Write a word in your hand describing how you feel about diabetes.
2) Take a photo, showing the hand with the word.
3) Post it to the photos section of TuDiabetes.com.

If you don’t know about TuDiabetes then you should definitely click there after you read this. (Sorry Manny but when they get to your site they will never come back to see me! LOL)

So friends here is my entry and keep in mind, this is just because most of my life with the “D” made me feel this way more then anything.

I could not resist and decided to make another one just because, the first was a “then” and this is a “NOW!!!”

RAWR!!!!!

Weight Watchers - Update

I was sure I was going to gain since I missed last weeks meeting but I lost a smidge!

Lost 1.8
Total lost-19.6

Woot!

Diabetes & Sex

Those two don’t go together like “ramma lamma lamma da ding a da dingy dong” but two things that unfortunately have to be dealt with at the same time for many of us.

On the dLife website, there is a great diabetes and sex quiz for you to take. I have to admit that the first few questions had me laughing at the obviously incorrect choices. For me, there is no better way to learn then through a little laughter.

Those of you that are over 18 should check it out.

Sex is such a taboo subject here in the US of A for some reason. It is nice to be able to discuss it as adults and face up to some of the scary facts and possibilities that diabetes puts in our way.

I hate that diabetes wants to seep into every facet of our lives and threatens to ruin things. Like a silent bully.

Here’s to putting up a good fight against diabetes and winning!

And here’s to life long sex!

But still no cigarettes.

:)

It's Like Christmas in September

Without the wrapping paper of course.

Today when I got home my pump supplies were waiting for me on my porch. 3 months worth. Perfect timing. I changed my set this morning and used my very last one. Insurance sucks sometimes but at least it over now until another three months passes.

I am a fan of always being prepared and not have another infusion set around or another reservoir is scary for me. I was nervous this morning getting ready to change my set at work because I kept remembering the time my set got all folded and stuck in the Quickserter thingamabob.

Luckily all worked out swimmingly for a change.

The only cool thing is that I always list IV Prep pads on my order and insurance always pays for it so that is like a little bonus.

Do you think I should sneak a few CGMS sensors on the next order? LOL

You Tube Tuesday #39

Now I do not watch a lot of football but this is one of the best plays I have ever seen!

Enjoy!

Give Me a "B"!!!! Give me an "L" .........

Give me an "O"!!!! Okay, that is gonna take way to long. I will skip ahead.

WHAT'S THAT SPELL???

BLOGABETES

Blogabetes is a cool new project that our good friends at dLife put together and they have asked little ole me to be a part of it.

I was floored when I was first asked a few months ago and I did pretty well at keeping it all a secret. I feel totally honored to be blogging with some of the coolest writers I know in the OC and some others that I had not met before!

Here is a link to dLife and frankly, if you have not checked out the dLife site yet then "boo on you" because it is chock full of resourcey goodness and you know how us D-folk love the resources!

On the right side I will proudly display a Blogabetes banner that will link to the main Blogabetes section of the dLife website. You can read mine and many others posts. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I am really excited about this project and feel so blessed to be apart of it,

sincerely.

Friday Follow-Ups

- Gillian is doing better but not completely well. She had a doctors appointment and we were told she would have to stay home for the rest of the week. It is quite a challenge when both my wife and I work. Luckily God made grandma’s that rock. Thanks Gram!

- I will not make my Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow due to a meeting I must be at very very early tomorrow and very very far away. My home scale says I have lost a few more BUT I will wait for the official word for the WW scale.

- I am down to 2 infusion sets. My doctor finally sent in a new prescription for my pump supply BUT Medtronic also needs a referral from my insurance company and that has not happened. I call. I complain. I get transferred. You all know how this crap goes. I am ready to try and hold off site changes for as long as I can. Any suggestions about this would be appreciated. I do not want to spend the money for sets unless I have to. Luckily, pump supplies are shipped out of Northridge which gets to me the next day via UPS. It finally pays to live on the West Coast.

- I have pictures of a very sweet Football Field Goal I made out of PVC pipe and a can of spray paint. It was for a company meeting. Think of that T.V. show “The Office.” Yeah, I kind of work there.

- I have a blackberry now. I have used to post a couple of Twitter tweets and my Weight Watchers update last week. I do not know how I lived without it. It is so very sweet. My daughter said, “dad, your phone is sikk.” The kids say that means good but I have to misspell it to be really cool. I don’t know if I get that but whatever.

Have a great and safe weekend!

My Sad Little Rose

I hate being sick.

That is probably something we all say when we’re battling a cold or flu. The only good thing about getting sick is remembering to appreciate our health and how very great feeling very great is!

But I would be sick everyday of the year if it meant my children did not have to ever get sick. I hate being sick but I absolutely hate with every ounce of my being my kids getting sick. It drives me nuts to see them suffer. I want to scoop them up and make it all go away. But of course, I cannot.

With that my little Gillian Rose has a cold. Her doctor said that she needs to pay better attention to her body because she was very congested and didn’t really convey that to us. The problem with Gillian’s colds is that her asthma loves to help advance all colds into bronchitis as soon as possible. A few years ago she ended up in the hospital for a few days with pneumonia. That was the worst.

Seeing a little arm with a big IV in it made me so sad. And the one thing I remember more then anything was how she never really cried. I mean, the nurses would wake her up all night for blood tests and urine samples and she would moan a little and grunt here and there but she never freaked out or cried. I was shocked. She was my little 6 year old trooper.

Jasmine and I would sit with her. Laugh with her and kept assuring her that the stuff the doctors were doing were necessary for her health. It was a little heartbreaking for her because she missed my sisters wedding. She did cry a little about that but that was different then crying about what you would figure a little girl in a big scary hospital would be crying about.

She held it together so much better then Jasmine and I did. We would fall apart in the parking lot every time we left. Never in front of her though. We never wanted to scare her. She’s a tough little cookie.

The day she came home, our surrogate family member Lisa and my son decided to put up a “Welcome Home” banner in her room. They also decorated it for her with streamers and balloons. When she got home and saw her room her eyes lit up! She got the huge smile on her face and she slowly took it all in. Then she looked up at me and I finally saw it.

All of the fear. All of the frustration. All of the stuff she was feeling in the hospital was all there. Her big beautiful eyes began filling and spilling tears. I am sure they were sad and happy ones in there. She ran into my arms and we all started crying. For me, all of mine were happy tears and still are because we got through it.

I think she realized also how very great it is to feel very great.

You Tube Tuesday #38

I have not stopped singing this song since I first watched this video over the weekend.

SO YUMMY! SO YUMMY!

ENJOY!

Weight Watchers Update

A loss of 1.8 pounds. Not a bunch but still a loss.

Total lost - 17.8

Holiday Cards to Help People with Diabetes

Here is info on a great way to help people with diabetes and purchase some fantastic Holiday Cards! Please check it out.




Eighty-three-year-old Isabel from Virginia entered the contest because her father had diabetes. Fifteen-year-old Dana from Colorado entered because she lives with diabetes every day. Although they live hundreds of miles away from each other and are separated in age by generations, both artists wanted to make a difference in the lives of others with diabetes and entered their artwork in the dLife Foundation's Holiday Cards for a Cause contest. Theirs are two of the 10 winning entries.

All of the proceeds from this program will benefit adults and children who have diabetes. Contest participants were people who have diabetes or who dedicated their artwork to someone else's battle against the disease. The 10 winning cards, including those created by Virginia and Dana, can be viewed and ordered at www.dLifefoundation.org/greetingcards.

The dLife Foundation ( www.dlifefoundation.org) supports individuals in need of diabetes care now including supplies, education, and motivational programs, through organizations, foundations and camps dedicated to diabetes. The dLife Foundation partnered with More Than Cards to create the cards for the winning entries and also many other holiday cards and items for sale on the website.

The dLife Foundation is the official charity of dLife.

Settled...

Only after eating two (that is correct 2) complete vials of glucose tabs did I start to feel better.

Scott was not joking. I crashed and I crashed hard. I was terrified. That would be the first time I really thought I was going to pass out.

One good thing comes from this. I will be sure and ask Dr. F Bomb for a Glucagon prescription.

The Slow Decent.

I am home. It is 5:16pm. I am at 224.

Still feel like crap.

More water and Master P suggested .3 units.

Sky High on Humpday

I cannot come down! I have changed my sets and reservoirs and my BG had not dipped below 375 all day. OMG, I woke up a little high at 153 but I am not sure what is going on. I just changed this last set at lunch so I am riding out the correction Master P suggested for my skyrocket number of 486!!! I swear I bolused for everything and counted every carb! Maybe stress?

I feel awful. My head is killing me and I just want to close my eyes and go to sleep.

Two and a half hours of work left. I wish I could speed it up.

So sluggish. I hurts to look around the office. And so flipping thirsty. Ugh.

I am gonna check the BG in a half an hour and see where I am at.

You Tube Tuesday #37 - SUPERSIZED!!!!

I have 3 clips to share today.

#1 - Short but sweet. (by Sweet I mean sick.)
If you think this is funny then you are as twisted as I am.



#2 - The Absent Minded Waiter
I have been trying to find this clip for a while now. This is classic Steve Martin humor not to mention some other great comedians. Buck Henry and Teri Garr are two of my favorites. Enjoy.



#3 - This is just total eye candy (without raising your BG).
This was suggested to me by a BAD blog reader (and a friend irl) and this is just freaking cool! I can't imagine how long it took to film/plan/edit this thing.

Three Sets and a Goodbye.

Last Saturday was hot. I mean “Africa hot.” Surface of the sun hot. Here is a picture I took with my camera phone.

That would be an outside temperature in the AM. It only went up from there. Yuck!

Being that it was “Africa Hot” I decided to wear the very cool (both in style and temp) Dashiki (dah-shee-kee) my friend Lisa brought for me from Africa!

Off we went to meet my sisters at our Mom’s house to help her load up her moving truck. Yup, my mom is moving two states away to New Mexico.

Last year one of my 3 sisters moved her family to New Mexico for a new beginning. She has loved it and we loved visiting earlier this year. So now my mom is heading out to begin her adventure in the Land of Enchantment.

As soon as we got to her house we began taking boxes out to the driveway to stage for the arrival of the U-Haul. Unfortunately the U-Haul truck was not going to be available until after 10 so we thought if we had everything outside and ready to go, we would be able to get things done quickly. After every two trips from the house to the driveway we would have to stop and cool off inside. It was insane. I think I went about an hour before I lost my first infusion set. I was hot, I pulled my shirt up a down a few times to create some sort of a self propelled cooling cyclone within my shirt and the site just fell out. I did not tug it and I did not feel it. I just saw it dangling from my pocket. Lovely.

The truck arrived and we are all ready. Everything was outside and ready to go. Before we started I realized that my Dashiki was soaked. It looked like I went swimming in it. My sisters fiancé gave me a t-shirt to change into and guess what happened when I pulled the Dashiki off?

*Plop.*

That is what it was like. Not *Yank* or *Pull* but *Plop.* GRRRRRR I am just happy that I had a few extra infusion sets with me. My Satchel of Strength paid off again! Who cares how many people say it’s a Man Purse.

After all the loading of trucks and infusing of sets it was time to say goodbye. I tried my best to hold back tears since I did not want this to be a sad moment for mom. Some slipped through but all and all, it was not a weepy as I thought it would be. Since we all know that this is going to make Mom’s life a lot better none of us are too upset. She has always put us kids first so it is about time she does something for herself. To better her situation.

We already have a trip planned for Thanksgiving and she is coming out for Christmas.

It will be good. It is good. Mom is in a better situation. That is what matters.

I still miss her.

You Tube Tuesday #36

Is it just me or is this jingle a little too "smoooooth" (say it in your best Barry White impersonation) for the product? It made me laugh so I thought I would share it with y'all.

Enjoy.

WW Update - The "Whoa" Weigh In

5.6 lost. Whoa.

I am at a total loss of 16.3 pounds. That's heavier than my bowling ball.

Whoa.