Seasons of Love

Accomplishments Big and Small -Thursday 5/16 Link List

Today's Prompt: We don’t always realize it, but each one of us had come a long way since diabetes first came into our life. It doesn’t matter if it’s been 5 weeks, 5 years or 50 years, you’ve done something outstanding diabetes-wise. So today let’s share the greatest accomplishment you've made in terms of dealing with your (or your loved one’s) diabetes.

5 weeks, 5 years, 50 years... I'm somewhere in between.
I'm going on 23 years into this.
Nearly 1200 weeks, over 8,000 days now, with a chronic disease.
How many days do I have left to go? What have I done so far?
Is having kids my ultimate accomplishment?
Will I ever see a Joslin medal?
Am I halfway through my life with diabetes? Or am I just beginning?
What will I do yet?
How do you measure?

In the words of Innigo Montoya, "No, there is too much. Let me sum up."
And let me do it in an ever-so lovable and slightly cheesy, Broadway style.

12 Million 29 Thousand 8 Hundred Minutes
12 Million 29 Thousand since my start
12 Million 29 Thousand 8 Hundred Minutes
How do you measure a diabetic heart?

In doctors, in blood tests,
In midnights, in cups of coffee,
In carb counts, in shots, in laughter, in strife,
In 12 Million 29 Thousand 8 Hundred minutes.
How do you measure my diabetic life?

How about love? How about love?
How about love? Measure in love
Seasons of love, seasons of love.

12 Million 29 Thousand 8 Hundred Minutes
12 Million 29 Thousand rises and falls
12 Million 29 Thousand 8 Hundred Minutes
How do you measure a hundred thousand close calls?

In truths that she learned,
Or in times that she cried,
In babies she birthed,
Or the way that she'll die?

It's time now, to sing out though the story never ends
I want to celebrate the love and support of my online friends.

Remember the love
(Oh, you got to, you got to remember the love)
Remember the love
(You know that life is a gift from up above)
Remember the love
(Share love, give love, spread love)
Measure in love
(Measure, measure your life in love)

Seasons of love
Seasons of love
(Measure your life, measure your life in love)

That's how I measure mine.

Orange Colored Sky

Today's Prompt: Day to Day. Write about something ordinary that’s inspiring to you, something simple, perhaps overlooked, that fuels your activism. Today’s post was recommended by Abigail of http://hiddencourage.wordpress.com/

I was walking along, minding my business,
when out of an orange-colored sky,
FLASH, BAM, ALAKAZAM,
wonderful you walked by...

The ordinary thing that fuels my advocacy is when I run into you in my daily life.

You might be the guy who installs my dining room flooring. You might be my labor and delivery nurse at the hospital. You might be my dental assistant last Saturday. But you're out there in everyone I meet.

I would never know you have diabetes except for I can't shut up about mine and that prompts you to tell me about yours. It frustrates you. Your numbers suck. You don't know what to eat. You don't think your doctor is helping you. You live with it. You live through it. But you're just treading water.

I tell you about what we are out here doing via social media. I give you my card and I circle the url for TuDiabetes.org. I might scribble my endo's name and phone number at the top. I might tell you about a particular blog I think you'd relate to.

But the most important thing I do is tell you not to blame yourself for where you are in your diabetes management. As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

There I was at the dentist after a ten year absence. Ten years, seriously, since I'd been in. I'd been letting it slide. My teeth seemed fine. It was a medical thing I could shuffle to the back of my health closet and not think about. But it was time I got back on track. I'll go back in six months, too. I'm not going to chastise myself for the absence - it won't accomplish anything constructive. Instead, I'm going to congratulate myself for the return. Prodigal son, etc, etc.

It's what I urged my dental assistant to do. Don't beat yourself up because your numbers are high and your meds don't seem to work anymore. Start fresh. Find a new doctor. Get online. Share with others. Find out you're not in this alone. Then decide how far you want to take it.

As I said in a DHF board meeting last year, I believe what the online community offers is that there are opportunities here for each of us to Learn Something, Do Something, & Change Something. It's up to you how far you want to take it.

But meeting you always gives me a little punch. A jolt. A flash bam alakazam. This is why I do what I do.

And speaking of what I do, here's a little orangey jolt of fun.

Confirmation Screens

Since many people are curious about the additional confirmation screens on the Omnipod, I thought I would post a video and a few screen shots of said screens.

Video of a Blood Glucose check and Meal Bolus on the new Omnipod system:

T:slim in Action - Correction Bolus

I was disconnected for longer than I intended this morning (forgot to reconnect after my shower), so I checked my blood sugar and took a correction bolus. And I did it all on video. Spooooky.

Okay, not spooky. But it's Halloween and I had to acknowledge it. What will be spooky is my post-trick-or-treating-barbecue-feasting-with-friends blood sugar tonight.

Cloth Diapering

I go back and forth with my relationship with cloth. It's a lot easier than people think it is, but, admittedly, it's not as easy as disposable diapering. When we go on vacation, I take disposables. They're convenient and require no thought or preparation.

But the thought of how much waste a single baby's diapers contribute to a landfill is a staggering one for me. And we spent a lot less money on high-end cloth than if we had gone with all disposable. That sold Hubster on it. It paid for itself in about 5-6 months - and now we are using them on a second kid.

I've been cloth diapering since July of 2010, so nearly two years. I've learned a lot about what I like and what I love. And a lot of friends ask me a lot of questions about it.

So I've decided to make a few short videos to show how I make it work for our family.

My Changing Table Set-Up

My Cleaning System

What else would you like to know?