Wednesday, May 31, 2006

CNN Type 1 Video

The CNN site has a short video (1:36 minutes) about four famous type 1 PWDs: Halley Berry, Elliot Yamin, Adam Morrison and Gary Hall. Go to the CNN video site, in the Search Videos box enter 'Living with Diabetes'. It will be the only one returned from the search. Click and view.

(Sorry for the hassle on this, due to the CNN video viewer I couldn't insert a direct link).

Monday, May 29, 2006

The Blood Donation



Last weeks blood donation went off without a hitch. I thought my T1DM status would flag me for some 'off to the side' questions outside the battery of normal ones. It didn’t. In fact, noone seemed to care.

My goal was to go into the donation process with a bG as close to 100 as possible. I was almost thwarted in this as I awoke Saturday with a bG of 221. After administering a correction bolus and eating a modest breakfast I was off. At an in route stoplight I took a reading – 75. I had about 15 minutes of IOB from the correction bolus and an hours worth from breakfast. I did a quick check-in with my hypo sensors, but everything felt fine. I was a little concerned nonetheless

Fortunately, shortly after beginning the reading/sign-your-life-away process a lady came around asking if we wanted anything to drink. I immediately snagged a small OJ (21 grams of carb) and relaxed.

The rest of the time was uneventful. I gleened some tips from Ryan Bruner in his post about donating. Because of his dehydration issues I took it upon myself to drink plenty of fluids the day before as well as that morning. I filled the bag in a little over 10 minutes. I felt slightly dizzy upon initially standing, but otherwise I was fine.

My readings have been pretty erratic this week, but I actually think this has more to do with allergies and the sickeningly sweet smelling shrub blooming beside our house (and all over town) than it does with blood donation.

My advice is to give if you can. It seems the general consensus, around here anyway, is the available supply of clean donors is dwindling. This may be the reason they’re now allowing T1DMs to donate. I don’t really know. Regardless, I hope this small act will help someone in their own health crisis.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

IE7 vs Blogger

I’m not sure where the problem is, but I created another post in blogger, I went to save it and it was lost. This is at least the second time this has happened and it’s getting very frustrating. I think the solution is to compose in something else then cut-and-paste into blogger to see if this won’t help the situation. Actually, I think the problem lies between the Microsoft browser and Google owned blogger.

About three weeks ago I downloaded the beta version of IE7. Last week I noticed after performing a Google search and selecting a link., the back button does not take you back to the Google search but to the page you were viewing prior to that. It did not work this way in IE6.

To say Microsoft and Google are less than friends would be an understatement. Microsoft is poised to release some new tools shortly and Google is also making headway into markets not heretofore explored. Regardless of their animosity towards one another, I’m tired of loosing posts.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Given' Blood?

I received an email yesterday concerning the blood drive our church is sponsoring. I've always wanted to give and everytime I've inquired about it, I've been met with a negative response due to the diabetes issue.

There was a number to call on the email so just for grins I gave it a ring. The person to whom I spoke said as long as your blood sugar was reasonably stable and your sliding scale hadn't changed in the last couple of weeks type 1's are good to go.

Wow, after all the years of hearing 'no' I'm finally hearing 'yes'. So now I'm in a quandry. Do I give or not?

So this morning I'm wondering if any other type 1's have given and if you experienced any adverse effects. Whether you have or haven't I'd love to hear your opinion.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Smiling --- well mostly?!


Monday I went by my endo's to drop off a couple of vials of blood. Yesterday was the big day... the results are in.

OK, I'm pleased, but not as jubilant as I wanted to be or thought I would be. I had hoped with all the exercise from the jb100 (today is day 78, btw) I was fully expecting (or hoping really hard) for a below 7 reading. Unfortunately it was just not to be. A 7.3 is all I could pull off. I guess this is OK considering my last couple have been in the 7.8 to 7.9 range, but I would really like to see this drop below 7... consistantly.

I think my problem is I refrain from using quite enough insulin. The reason I do this is my reluctance to gain weight. My main problem comes in the afternoons. Since I work from home I have easy access to the kitchen. I go into the kitchen to refill my coffee cup or tea glass and while I'm there I pick. Oh not much. Just 2-3, maybe 5 grams of carb. A pinch of this or a corner of that. Not really enough for a bolus or at least I think, but then my pre-dinner bG is a little high. Obviously I need to take care of this issue, either quite picking or pick and bolus for it. My NP recommended I raise my afternoon basal by .1, so I'll try that.

Also on the mixed results front, the jb100 helped me get my HDL up nicely. Unfortunately, my LDL is also up a little, so it's back on the statin for me.