Diabetes Blog Week, Day 2

Diabetes Blog Week, Day 2, "One Great Thing"

 Today's Topic:

Living with diabetes (or caring for someone who lives with it) sure does take a lot of work, and it’s easy to be hard on ourselves if we aren’t “perfect”.  But today it’s time to give ourselves some much deserved credit.  Tell us about just one diabetes thing you (or your loved one) does spectacularly!  Fasting blood sugar checks, oral meds sorted and ready, something always on hand to treat a low, or anything that you do for diabetes.  Nothing is too big or too small to celebrate doing well! 

I am going to make myself uncomfortable and do two things that I abhor. The first and admittedly easier part, I'm going to write to the prompt. Second and much more difficult, I'm going to unapologetically say nice stuff about myself.

• I think I do a good job of sharing what it's like to be a parent of a child with type I diabetes. I see being this transparent as a public service and it makes me proud that Arden's Day helps people.
   
• I can basal away a high or low BG in a way that makes me feel like dropping confetti on my own head.
   
• Arden's A1c is in range.
   
• It still remains to be seen but I truly believe that the greatest thing that I will ever do (as it relates to diabetes and excluding caring for Arden) is to imagine 'Arden's Day Gives'

Thanks to @alsophil for our logo!

The interactions that I've had on this blog led me to believe that while there are many obstacles that we all face while living with type I diabetes, one of them bothered me more then the rest. I was startled by the number of voices that I heard online that want devices to help them manage their type I but can not, even though a great many of them are insured, afford to use them. After much soul searching and some timely input from others I came to the conclusion that I could be the one to effect this issue and we set about forming a non profit to do just that. 

On April 17, 2012 'Arden's Day Gives" was granted it's incorporation status from the state of New Jersey and we are currently in the process of applying for charitable status from the federal government. The process is a long and complicated one but we are making our way through it quite nicely. 

I hope Arden's Day Gives can serve as an example to you that your thoughts are only one physical action away from being tangible. I took a word on a digital page and turned it into an entity for good. Though ADG is still just a FaceBook page that's under construction, a twitter account and a URL that doesn't point anywhere yet, it is closer to helping the children in our community that need it most then it may appear. 

So far what I've done amounts to not much more then a raised seal on some paperwork but that's just the part that you can touch. In the feeling world, in the place where hope lives, it's already "great"!

I hope that you can follow Arden's Day Gives at one or all of the ways that I provided above. Very soon we will launch a website at www.ardensdaygives.org, be announcing our board members and with some luck be in possession of a 501(c)3 distinction by the end of the year. After that we will seek support from where ever we can find it and then go about doing the work of getting insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors to the children that want and need them.

http://twitter.com/ArdensDayGives

http://www.facebook.com/ArdensDayGives

Diabetes Blog Week 2012

It's that time of year again... Diabetes Blog Week is upon us. Each day of blog week diabetes bloggers all around the world sit down and write from a prompt found at 'Bitter Sweet'.

Diabetes Blog Week, Day 2, "Find a Friend"

Today's topic is:

It seems the most popular thing about Diabetes Blog Week is that it helps us find blogs we weren’t reading yet and connect with some new blog friends.  With that in mind, let’s kick off Diabetes Blog Week by making some new connections.  Think about the d-blogs you read that you think we may not know about and introduce us to one that you love!!  Let’s all find a new friend today! 

Today's prompt makes me think about how sharing on the internet was once thought of. At one time no one gave their real name online, opting to go by a nom de plume for secrets sake. If you've been online for any measure of time you have undoubtedly corresponded with Boba Fett's Uncle_987642 or partygirl_5678930987 at least once.

Today it seems like everyone is online and between FaceBook and blogs like this one it can feel like they all share everything about themselves. In the circles I exist in through my computer knowing full names and the places where people that you've never met in person live is common. Folks list their phone numbers on FaceBook and give out their email addresses like they were balloons at a fair. It all seems so normal now to most.

but not everyone...

People like me who share some of the more personal moments in their lives can lose sight of the fact that not everyone is as comfortable as we are doing so. In my mind the DOC is made up of the blogs, PodCasts and web sites that I'm aware of. That's the physical place that I imagine in my head. It's populated by the people that run, write and talk about diabetes in this digital world but it's life force is all of the people that read and follow. I certainly can't be aware of each and every blog and there is no true way for me to quantify the real number of people that read and benefit from them but I imagine that number to be large but not nearly as large as it could or perhaps should be.

As a group we are all very comfortable with computers and smart phones and it's no issue for those of us that share to be transparent in front of the world wide web. However, there is a larger number of us that can't or don't want to say hello. Those people are being well served by reading what the rest put into the world and that's not just okay, it's fabulous! 

I'm never going to meet most of you and I'm quite sure that a great many of you that read this will never take any sort of physical form in front of me whether that means an avatar or a handshake. So to all of you that will forever look like a tick mark on the counter that measures how many people visit Arden's Day I say, "hello friend even though we don't talk, I'm comforted that you are there".

**If you've gotten this far you are likely wondering why I didn't seem to write to the prompt. The short answer is that I don't do well in that situation... I don't write well to prompts but I do love Diabetes Blog Week! Stop back tomorrow to see how I'll loosely connect Tuesday's topic to something I want to say...

Update on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 12:00PM by Scott Benner

You are but a click away from reading my Day 2 post from Diabetes Blog Week 2012...

Arden's retinal nerve looks good

Let me first say I'm thrilled that, "Arden's retinal nerve looks good". I'm super happy in fact that this is the third year running that I've heard those words. However, it is difficult even in the face of such good news not to dwell for a moment on the bigger picture. Arden visits a pediatric ophthalmologist yearly because she has type I diabetes not because we are super careful parents with an unlimited insurance policy. She visits because her endo fears that her eyes may be beautiful little ticking time-bombs. 

"Ten years" the doc says. "We don't usually see complications until ten years after diagnosis". Every year she says the same thing to me as if it's of some comfort. Each time she says those words I I think the same thing, "She'll only be twelve then". This year the doctor must have seen the sadness in my face when she spoke those words because she followed up with, "but they'll be all kinds of new stuff by then, treatments, procedures..." I hope she didn't think that felt in any way comforting to me.

It hit me hardest this year as we walked out of the exam room. Arden was rockin her temp shades and making the best of the day. She knows we visit this doctor because of her type I but that's really the extent of her grasp on the situation. She doesn't know that we come every year hoping to not hear that her vision has been compromised by diabetes but she'll figure that out soon enough. Thankfully, for now that's only our burden to shoulder. 

For today, I'm just happy that Arden gets to treat this visit like a day off from school and a chance to try and overcome those ugly sunglasses with her good attitude and sense of style.

If you or your child has type I diabetes and aren't currently seeing an ophthalmologist as a regular part of your care... please start as soon as you can. Ignoring your future is far worse then existing for a few moments in an unpleasant present.

Floaters: Do they let kids name ailments now?

I never really talk about myself on Arden's Day. In my mind I mostly talk about the reactions, feelings and discoveries that I have related to living with type I diabetes. You may disagree, I may be wrong but either way, I'm going to talk about myself today.

I don't really ever get sick. I remember having bronchitis very badly once as a child, maybe around ten years old. My iron got very low once a few years ago, I ignored it forever, I'm pretty sure that the doctor thought I had cancer but it ended up being something very small and easily rectified. The thing is, I lived for nearly a year with so little iron in my system that by the time I turned up in the doctor's office he told me with not a tinge of joking in his voice, "I can't believe you can stand". I wasn't just standing, I was getting up at all hours of the night with Arden's type I, completing my tasks around the house, taking kids to sports and writing this blog. My point is that even when my body is completely taxed and then some... I keep going.

My experience with type I has taught me not to take my uncommon constitution for granted and I promised myself after the 'Iron incident' that I wouldn't ignore not feeling well ever again, if not for myself then out of respect for the lives that all of you lead.

Last week I was having a catch with Arden late one afternoon, the sky was grey and flat, we were passing the time while Cole warmed up for his baseball game. Arden has been expanding her softball skills and she is now catching fly balls that are much higher then I imagined she'd be able to handle at her age. I noticed that when I would tilt my head up suddenly to throw the ball that translucent worm shaped images would appear in my sight and then float away. Next I saw a spot do the same thing, one shape looked a lot like a DNA sequence. Varied shapes, see through but visible like when they make something 'look' invisible in a sci-fi movie. I was instantly terrified. My vision has for my entire life been 20/15. I see in contrast, color and sharpness in a way that would perhaps be indefinable to a person who needs glasses. Now suddenly I was worried that I was going blind, had a tumor or ya know, cancer...

Turns out I have floaters. No, not bits of pooh that won't go down when you flush but shapes that float through your vision. The doc says that in my case they come with age (wow was that tough to hear). I know becasue I called and made an appointment to see him exactly fifteen minutes after I noticed the shapes. I considered ignoring it to see if it would go away but then I thought that there was no way that I'd let one of my kids or Kelly ignore something like this and I called from the baseball field.

I'm writing this long tale of basically no woe because I owe my new attitude to all of you. There may be nothing more scary then hearing bad health news about your child but you all stand up bravely and hear things far worse then floaters each and every day. I do it with my children and I wanted to take this first personal opportunity to act well on my own behalf. I must say that I was proud of myself for not turning, pardon the pun, a blind eye to my situation but I'm even prouder of each and every one of you for doing the same in far more frightening circumstances.

I don't want to link to a bunch of info that I can't substantiate as accurate but I was told that floaters can occur naturally with age or they can be a sign of something far worse and serious that can be contained if caught early enough. Please seek medical attention without delay if you experience any issues with your sight. Mine, as it is described at the bottom of this page, is never to be taken as medical advice. Always contact a doctor when your health is in question.

The iOS compatible iBGStar meter has arrived

Sanofi-aventis has been out in front in terms of their connection with the diabetes online community for some time now. From the DiabetesMine Design Challenge to their human presence on twitter, Sanofi is continually showing us that they are committed to being a positive part of the community.

Today with the announcement of the iBGStar blood glucose meter they've brought the first iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch compatible meter to market. Is that exciting? Damn right it is but not completely for the reasons that you may think.

I haven't used or touched the iBGStar yet so I can't tell you the first thing about how well it works but I do know two things; I believe that Sanofi is committed to helping the DOC and they would be foolish to introduce this meter before it was ready for prime time. I expect that when I do have the chance to see the meter in person, I'll be impressed.

So if I haven't used it... why I'm I writing about it?

Simple... What Sanofi has done today is bigger then a meter, what they've done is throw down the gauntlet. Much like when Apple first introduced the iPhone, the release of this product says, "no more clunky technology that looks like it's from a 1976 sci-fi movie". Prior to the iPhone our cell phones were terrible and why were they? Because the companies that manufactured them had no reason to do anything about it. We were all using our flip phones and no one was complaining. That of course didn't mean that it wasn't possible to make something better, just that it didn't make sense for the companies to put the time, money or effort into making them better. That business model worked just fine and would still be in use today if Apple didn't raise the bar.

In my mind that's what Sanofi did today, they raised the bar. In the short-term that means there is a new meter on the market that fits better into our new iPhone lives. In the long-term, well, that's where we all benefit. I'd bet that right now there are meetings going on at every device manufacturer in the country and they are all wondering what they need to do to keep up... and that's great news for all of us that live with diabetes.

If you want to read a hands-on account of the iBGStar, there are probably plenty but I'd start with Allison's over at DiabetesMine. When you finish reading her write up you'll see the names of some other great D-bloggers that were at a launch event yesterday and I bet they will have their thoughts online very soon.

If you think back to what the first smartphone looked like or even consider how much the iPhone has changed since it's launch, then you'll be as excited as I am to wonder what blood glucose testing will look like in just a few years. It's my contention that none of these advancements happen until someone goes first. So for that alone... I say, "thank you" Sanofi!