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Entries in Diabetes Awareness Month (13)

Saturday
Nov302013

Your Favorite Posts: November 2013

Diabetes Awareness Month 2013 was the most popular month in the six year history of Arden's Day, surpassing April 2013 (The month my first book was released). 

After Arden's Day first appeared online in 2007, it took one year to reach 1,000 views and I was so amazed that I grabbed a screen capture to mark the occasion - a lot has changed since then.

The top five blog posts from November 2013 (ranked by views)

The Air Left The Room

When Things Go Wrong, They Go Wrong

The Blood WOn't Come Out: Day of Diabetes Deeper Look

Lace Up 4 Diabetes Shoe Laces GiveAway

Snuffleupabolus

 

Facebook

Most months, the popular posts on the site differ from what is popular on the Facebook page. This month however they were very similar, with the exception of this post (I think it was the picture that people loved)- After School low, meet Ben and Jerrys.

...and my announcement that I'll be reviewing the Prep Pad made many of you very happy (I'm excited too!).

Twitter

The most popular topics on Twitter had to do with the Novo Nordisk shoe laces giveaway and my 'Day of Diabetes' tweets.

 

Thank you all so very much for your continued support and for fervently reading the site. The guy who took that screen capture of the thousandth page hit... he would have fallen off his chair if he saw how many of you read Arden's Day in November of 2013. Seriously, I'm staggered, thank you!

Arden's Day is on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and Google+. I follow back and love hearing from all of you through these various social media channels. Stop bye and say hello. I'm @ArdensDay or ArdensDay in all places.


Now for a shameless plug: My parenting book, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad' is available everywhere that books are sold and would make a perfect holiday gift for the readers in your life.

 

Tuesday
Nov262013

And the winner is: Diabetes Circle Laces

Arden picks the winner of our Diabetes Circles Shoe Laces giveaway...

Thank you to everyone for sharing and entering!

Monday
Nov182013

Lace Up 4 Diabetes Shoe Laces Giveaway

 

Novo Nordisk's #LaceUp4Diabetes campaign has been a huge success and I don't think that it's a big secret as to why, shoe laces adorn with blue diabetes circles are super %&*@ing amazing!

I was lucky enough to receive laces from Novo last week. My wife Kelly has a pair on her sneakers, Arden has a pair on her purple Vans and I would like it very much if one of you had the last pair.

Entries will be accepted until midnight EST on November 24th. To enter just share this page somewhere on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc) and then leave a comment on this blog post that includes your email address (Your comment is your entry). Good luck!

 

The fine print: One winner will be chosen at random by Arden using the time honored method of pulling a slip of paper from a paper bag. If the winner doesn't respond to email in a reasonable amount of time, Arden will re-pick. Giveaway is limited to U.S and Canadian residents. 


 

Monday
Nov112013

Only One Thing Better Than a Great Book...

There's only One Thing Better Than a Great Book... A great book that's on sale!

Spry Publishing (My publisher) is offering their catalog of diabetes books, from DOC members that you know and love, at 50% off this week in honor of Diabetes Awareness Month. I know what you're thinking, "50%... that's almost half!".

Books by Moira McCarthy from Despite Diabetes - Leighann Calentine from D-Mom Blog - Gary Scheiner, yes, that Gary Scheiner - Susan Weiner, whose diabetes organizer just landed on shelves and me.

 

So from now until November 15, these books are available at a tidy discount when you buy them directly from Spry's website, www.sprypubdiabetes.com and use coupon code: Diabetes50

Raising Teens with Diabetes: A Survival Guide for Parents - Moira McCarthy

Kids First, Diabetes Second - Leighann Calentine

Until There Is A Cure - Gary Scheiner

The Complete Diabetes Organizer - Susan Weiner

Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad - Scott Benner

Tuesday
Nov052013

The air left the room

In honor of my promise to be as open as possible for Diabetes Awareness Month, I'm going to tell a story that I may not have shared otherwise.

Last night I spoke to a lovely group of woman at their Federation Woman's Clubs meeting. I was invited to speak about publishing, my writing process and to tell some stories from my book. The group was wonderful, engaged and we were having a grand time when I said this in the course of a story, "...my daughter Arden was diagnosed with type I diabetes that year".

The air left the room.

I paused and my first inclination was to say, "No, it's alright... she's doing great" and because of the situation, that's exactly what I did. But it's not "alright", is it?

So this post is for anyone that doesn't know what a day in the life of a person living with diabetes is like... This one is for Awareness Month.

Insulin is fantastic, insulin keeps my daughter alive. - It's also very dangerous. If a person were to take too much insulin, they could die. My daughter takes insulin between ten and twenty times every twenty-four hours. I think about that constantly. Please understand, I'm not burdened by it most days but the thought is with me always.

Imagine if you had to remember to breath or consciously tell your heart to beat... that's what it feels like to love someone or live with, type I diabetes.

When I open my eyes in the morning diabetes is my first thought, I think about it when I'm walking to the bathroom at four in the morning, while I'm driving, grocery shopping, watching television, waiting in a line for a movie - when I wash the dishes, take my dog outside... I think about it so much that it feels like I drank a bottle of diabetes and then tried to eat - everything tastes like diabetes. It permeates life.

I consider diabetes with every decision that I make. Travel in a car, meals, sleep, I even think about it as Arden says, "I'm going to go get the mail". The mail. I stop and think about where her blood sugar is, before she walks to the street to get our mail - something that takes two minutes. Because, what if that's when we miscalculated her insulin. It has to happen some time, right? No one is perfect and not every carb is created equal, eventually we are going to bolus too much and she is going to experience a low blood glucose. Will that moment merely bring on rapid hunger, will she get dizzy, become disoriented? Will she have a seizure? What if no one is there?

I don't know either, so I think about diabetes all of the time in an effort to stay a half of a step ahead of this disease that doesn't seem to follow the same path twice. Yet, when the air left the room I said, "No, it's alright... she's doing great", because Arden is doing great - but I just wish that everyone knew what that meant, in our terms.