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Month: January 2012

New Diabetes Movie: The Longest Swim

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

I was sent a link to check out this movie from somebody else who has diabetes.  The movie right now is looking for funding, which is why it is listed on Kick Starter.  I know that I am very critical of any movie that is based around diabetes because we all want them to get it right.  This is based on a true story, and the person with diabetes in the movie was involved in the process of the movie making.  I have embedded it below, also will include a link.

Here is the quick synopsis.  Two guys, best friends, one diabetic, one not.  They are out at a cabin.  Friend with diabetes has a high blood sugar before he goes to bed and takes insulin to correct.  Non-diabetic friend finds him having a seizure because his sugar went too low in the middle of the night.  There’s only one way to get help…. swim across the lake.

Let me know your thoughts, opinions, feedback, etc.  If you feel it’s a good movie, I encourage you to support and share the video.

Here is the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/224084921/the-longest-swim-movie

Here is the video:

Blogging Taking a Back Seat

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Obviously one of my main goals for 2012 has not been accomplished.  I wanted to try and post something every day for the entire year.  I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t think it was going to be this hard.  I also didn’t expect as many distractions as I have had over the last couple of weeks.  There’s been carnivals, fairs, festivals, sporting events, work, and just about anything else other than time to sit down and write.  A lot of my time lately has been spent planning.  My home office now has 4 whiteboards that are completely filled and each one is filled with ideas for it’s own project.  I have a bad habit of jumping into things without planning them out properly, so I wanted to make sure that I plan my moves a little better in 2012, so that’s what I have been doing.

I haven’t been very active on Twitter or blog reading either, so I feel so damn out of it.  It’s almost impossible to get through my Google reader anymore, but hey I am trying.  I am back to reading books again, so that takes away most of my time for reading blog posts.  I am trying to stay up to date with everybody, so if you receive an e-mail from me trying to catch up, it’s because I just want to be able to catch up with you and have not really had a chance to read every blog post.

Unfortunately, my diabetes has been taking a back seat to my business life and financial life.  I have not been blogging and tweeting about diabetes, but have been financial planning, business planning, and life planning.  It has also led me to not test as much and not put on a new Dexcom.  Ya know, because it takes a whole 30 seconds to do it!

I am about to go through a total life changing event, so I have been stressed the hell out, which is one of the reasons for the massive planning, but I am beginning to feel comfortable enough with the change and am getting back to this blogging stuff.

I hope every one else has been having a great time.

DOC Help Needed – Diabetes and Dialysis

Chris Stocker

From time to time we all get e-mails or comments from our blogs.  This is one that I received the other day and I really had no idea how to answer it.  I responded and asked if I had their permission to post the e-mail to my blog.  I am not going to include their name or e-mail address, but if you have any information, than please comment or e-mail me directly so I can put you in touch with them.

This is what the DOC is all about, so let’s help somebody out.

Thanks in advance.

 

Message body:

Both my brother and I are diabeatic. Howver, my brother lost the use of his kidneys and is on dyalsis three (3) per week.  It makes him sick for those three days.

The Endro is recommending (pushing) him to use the home dyalsis machine (I don’t know tghe correct term) that cleans the blood while he sleeps.

What do you know about this method?  Have you tried it?  Have your friends tried it?  Would you recommend.

Sunday Weigh-In

Chris Stocker

Starting this year, I will be posting my Sunday weight.  It is the only day of the week that I am going to weigh myself.  I am going to let everybody know how overweight I am, so hopefully it motivates me to lose it even more.

Today’s weigh-in:

274

Still Sick, Just like 2 years ago

Chris Stocker

It’s official, my ears are totally clogged and I can barely hear out of them.  I am tired, I am exhausted, and I just want to sleep.

This blog post is not very interesting, sorry.

I used to always laugh at my dad when he got sick, because he never did, but when he did, he acted like a little child.  Reason I am telling you this, is because Amanda says that I am the same exact way.

Going to bed.

Diabetes Sick Days Suck

Chris Stocker

I have been sick lately, and it sucks.  It makes it even worse that my blood sugars are all over the place the last 48 hours because of me being sicks.  Diabetes sick days suck!  As soon as I start feeling sick, I automatically start thinking of the diabetes sick day check list from the Diabetes for Dummies book that I read in one day after my diagnosis.  I never remember all of the items on the checklist, but there are a few things that stick out to me.  The number one thing being that my blood sugar can stay high during the whole time that I am sick.

That’s exactly how it’s been the last few days.  My throat started to get sore and then my ear started to hurt a little bit.  Not good, because this is exactly what happened a couple of ears ago when I had the blocked eustachian tube and had clogged ears for a few weeks.

Anyway, back to this diabetes sick day stuff.  I am not wearing my Dexcom right now because I wanted to relax in a nice warm bath when I started to feel sick, so I took the Dexcom off.  I have been testing my sugar more often though, and I haven’t been able to get it below 200 since I started feeling sick.

I have also been extremely tired lately.  And since I write most of my blog posts at night, I am getting extremely tired in the middle of this post.  More later on being sick.

Calling All Ohio-ans

Chris Stocker

Well, DOC, I received an e-mail the other day from a reader and I want to reach out to all of you, particularly the ones that live in Ohio, near Dayton.  Please read the e-mail below that I received.  I would love to help them get local help and possibly a meet up with somebody in that area:

 

“I was told In April of 2010 I had type 2 diabetes.  I lost insurance right after that.  I have never taken any medication.  I have meters but I dont take my readings.  Although I am a smart person I am acting ignorant toward this disease.  I am having visual problems now and stifness in fingers when I lay down.  I dont know how to change my mindset.  I want to live but i have no motivation to face this desease like I should. Plus having no insurance does not help..”

Well, DOC, do what you do best.  Please comment or e-mail me your contact info so I can pass along.

Thanks in advance.

Cleaning Out my Closet

Chris Stocker

This weekend is going to be filled with a lot of cleaning.  Taking down all the Christmas decorations and then trying to pack away all the new Christmas things we bought after Christmas is going to be lots of fun.  Why?  Because I have nowhere to store any of this crap.  I decided that there is some room in my storage area that is currently filled with clothes that I fit into 2 years ago, that I have been holding on to waiting to fit back into them.  Guess what?  Those clothes are going away.

It’s time for me to clean out my closet.  I have been saying for two years that I am going to fit back into these clothes, and I just haven’t been able to do it.  Then I started to think, if I do lose enough weight to get back to that size, then I am going to reward myself with buying brand new clothes.  I have probably close to 10 pairs of shorts, 20 shirts and several pair of jeans.  I’ll pass some of them along to Amanda’s brothers or my father, and then the rest of it will go to Goodwill stores.

Sometimes you just have to cut your ties with things and move on to better things.

I’ll let you know next week if I actually got rid of all this stuff.

If You Want It, Go and Get It

Chris Stocker

The other day I saw a tweet from Rob Dyrdek, from MTV’s Rob & Big and Fantasy Factory.  I don’t remember the exact tweet, but I remember that I re-phrased it on Facebook and it has had me thinking about the tweet ever since then.  Basically, this is what I said, “There’s two types of people you can be.  Those that bitch about the shit you don’t have, or those that work hard to get the things you want.  I know which I am, which will you be?”

Ever since then, I have really been thinking about it.  Not just in my personal life, but in the business side of things as well. I then started relating it to my diabetes as well.  I always talk about how I want certain things related to diabetes, and I want to do certain things.  Well, it’s time to stop talking about them and doing them.  So, here are the top five things that I want and will work my ass off until I get to it.

  1. Omnipod – I’ve been saying for a long time that I want an Omnipod.  I have ripped out so many infusion sets from my wire being caught on the arm of my office chair.  Or a hassle to connect and disconnect when I’m at the beach and I want to go into the water.  The one and only reason that I am not using an Omnipod right now has nothing to do with insurance or coverage.  It is because I use too much insulin.  I would be changing sets every single day.  In order to cut down on my insulin usage, I need to lose weight.  When I was 60 pounds lighter when I was first diagnosed, I was using only about half of the insulin that I am using now.  I WILL work my ass off to lose that weight, so I can start using an OmniPod
  2. A1C below 6.5% – I am definitely not a fan of the A1C, nor do I get too upset when I see a high number.  I know the number is important and it gauges how the last 90 days went, but I know that I can always improve it.  Well, I want it to be below 6.5%.  This is something that is in my control and bitching and complaining about it is not going to accomplish anything.  Losing weight, eating better ,exercising, wearing my Dexcom constantly, are all actions that I can take to accomplish this.  I WILL work my ass off to lower my A1C to below 6.5%
  3. New Jeans – I don’t just want any kind of new jeans, but I want new jeans at the old size I used to wear.  I am not setting any unrealistic goal here.  I want to fit into the size jeans I was wearing about a year or maybe two years ago.  There is nothing better than losing weight back into an old wardrobe.  I have done it before, but I just went back and ate myself right back into the heavy wardrobe again.  I WILL work my ass off to be able to buy new, smaller jeans.
  4. Attend More Events – This year, I really want to attend more diabetes events.  The main reason that I haven’t been able to go to as many as I want to is because of financial reasons.  That will be the same issue this year, but I am working on ways for that not to be as much of an issue.  The few events that I do get to travel to every year are amazing.  I love spending time with everybody that I talk to online and meeting new people at these events.  I WILL work my ass off to be able to attend more events this year.
  5. Make a Difference in my Community – I have plans on being more active with my local government and local leaders on becoming more active with them and getting diabetes in front of their faces a bit more.  I was able to start on this last year, but did not have a lot of success, so I WILL work my ass off this year in order to make a difference in my community.
That’s it.  That’s a lot of things that I want to do that I kept talking about, and I have put some plans together to be able to get this stuff accomplished.
I’ll do a follow up shortly to see how I have done.

New Year New Diet

Chris Stocker

2012 brings the opportunity to start fresh and start new things.  Every year I set a few goals, and last years goals I did not do a good job in accomplishing them.  As I stated yesterday, I plan on setting smaller goals throughout the year that lead up to the big 2012 total goal.  Today, I am going to talk about the dieting goals that I have.

During my last visit to the endo, I spoke with the nurse practitioner and the dietician about me losing weight.  They mentioned that I should go on a 2 week vegan diet and that I would lose a healthy amount of weight during that 2 week time frame.  I shot down the idea of a vegan diet right away.  So, since I can’t just jump right not that, I’ve decided to cut MOST meats out of my diet.  The only meat that I am going to eat is chicken.  That means no more burgers, no more hot dogs, no more turkey, no more pork, sausage, bacon…. chicken only.  I am also going to cut out cheese and high fat foods.  No more mayo, no more cheese, no more ranch dressing, etc.

Within this 2 weeks, I am also cutting out fast food.  Once I reach this 2 week goal, I will be going camping, so I know for a fact that I will be eating poorly, so that is going to be my reward for reaching a short term goal.

One goal that Amanda and I made together was to not eat out anymore, well at least not as much.  So I will be cooking more often.  I have a lot of recipes that I have tweaked that are healthy that I can’t wait to make.  I am looking for a good recipe for tuna fish and chicken salad.  I am cutting out mayo, and that was what I used to make it awesome.  Mayo and relish and onions.  Anybody know of a good alternative and a healthier solution?

Let me know.

Thanks.