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Category: Diabetes Awareness

I’m Taking My Diabetes Talents to Tallahassee

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

First, for those that don’t know, I live in Florida. For those that do know, Tallahassee is the state capital. This is where the state capitol is and also where our Governor lives. Now that I have schooled you all on some crazy Florida social studies, let me tell you what I am talking about. I have been working closely with some local government representatives here and they have been able to get me in front of some “importnat people” up in the state capitol. I am very excited and have a long list of things that I want to talk about and open up the dialogue about. If you live in Florida and have some concerns, please let me know what they are and I will try my best and get those covered as well.

This is very gratifying and shows that if you work hard at something, it will pay off. You have to be persistent as well. I literlly have been sending 1,000’s of e-mails a month to different representatives, hell ones in areas that I don’t even live in. I’m hoping that these meetings go well, and that we can use this as some momentum for DC and if so, I will be marching proudly up the national Capitol building.

Well folks, it is Friday, so this is going to be a short post, but, since it is Friday I must leave you with this clip.

How to Take the Online to the Offline

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Last week during DSMA a question was asked about how we can do more to create more offline efforts and offline communications.  My biggest efforts for the offline world are communicating with JDRF and ADA local chapters and trying to get them to communicate together and work together for a larger goal of getting people with diabetes the information that they need.  One piece of that information being access to the DOC.  How do we go about this?  It sounds all fun and dandy to have the JDRF tell every single person they talk to about the DOC, but how do we do it?

 

Unfortunately, these local chapters have national “rules” that they have to follow and they can’t just add something into their newsletter that is “endorsing” something unless they have approval.  So the first part that I would recommend is to reach out and just simply explain what it is that you are trying to accomplish and see how they react.  If they don’t respond via e-mail or letter or phone call, then try again.  These offices are under-resourced and sometimes it may take a while to get back to something because they just don’t have the manpower to get things done in a timely manner (which is why volunteers are such a huge deal to them).  If after a few attempts, they are not responsive then you have to take it to the next level.

Call them out…… politely….. on Twitter or Facebook and just ask them to participate themselves a few times in DSMA or just comment on some blog posts and lurk around on Twitter.  Once they see for themselves how amazing this community is, then they will be more responsive to your ideas.  Do not make enemies with them, they are some of the few friends that you have on your side, if you work it the right way.  Be friendly and be willing to work with them.  See if there are events that you can volunteer at and be able to speak with some of the attendees.  This is a way to get your foot in the door and help build a larger relationship.

Once you have established relationships with both, it is now time to try and get the parties together and start having them communicate a little bit.  I know that this is like asking a Democrat and Republican to agree with each other during an election year, but at the end of the day there is a common goal, to what is best for the majority.  The majority in this situation is the people with diabetes that are directly affected by the decisions that these organizations make.

The best advice that I can give is to not give up.  Do not give up on the local chapters.  That is where you are going to make the biggest impact.  National change comes from local outrage.  Do not settle for something that doesn’t work.  Strive for the best.  You must be willing compromise however, because not everything is going to turn out exactly the way that you want, but keep at it!

Another thing that you can do is constantly remind your endo or any other HCP about the DOC and how beneficial it is.  Doctors usually care about their patients enough that they want them to have access to support.  I know there are some legal issues that may arise with this having to do with a doctor referring a patient somewhere and then something going wrong.  However, it doesn’t hurt to try.  I am lucky enough to have an endo that is type 1 diabetic myself, so I am excited for the next time that I see her to try and get her involved.  Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts I haven’t seen my doctor in almost 6-7 months and I won’t see her again until November because of how booked the both of us are.  Not good, I know it sucks, but that’s for another blog post.

Where Are You Obama?

Chris Stocker

Today’s post is going to very short and simple.  Today, a letter to President Barack Obama was published asking him to take a leading role in the UN NCD Summit in September of 2011.  This letter has over 80 signatures from people all over the diabetes community.  Below is a link to the slideshare version of the letter for you to easily share.

I encourage you to do the following with this letter:

  1. Post it on Twitter and anytime you see somebody else post it, Retweet it.
  2. Post it on your Facebook account and ask others to share it
  3. Share it with colleagues
  4. Share it with friends and family
  5. Print it and mail a copy or two yourself if you want
  6. E-mail it to your local representative and ask for their help in moving it up the chain
  7. E-mail your state reps and do the same
  8. E-mail it to the Diabetes Caucus
  9. Once you reach this step, go back to Step 1

And here is the link:

We ask President Obama to take a leading role in the UN NCD Summit, Sept. 2011 

 

Misconception of Diabetes

Chris Stocker 3 Comments

At the complex where my new office is located, there is a Yogurtland that just recently opened.  Since this place has opened, myself and a few co-workers, the Yogurt Crew, have frequented this place about 3 days a week.  When walking back from today’s yogurt visit the subject of me drinking so much soda was brought up.  My boss who is part of the crew was talking about how the amount of soda that I drink is not healthy, and that I could get myself to stop drinking it if I wanted to.  The only problem is, is that I don’t want to.  I said, “I have diabetes, I have bigger health problems than diet coke.”

The next part of the conversation was talking about how I can’t stand when people spread misconceptions about diabetes.  I mentioned how I can’t stand Dr. Oz and one of my life goals is to get his show off the air and his books, shows, radio segments all put to rest.  When asked why, I had a few examples, but basically just said that he spreads misconceptions about diabetes.  And that by controlling your diet you can cure diabetes.  I said that this statement is just 100% totally not true, however, part of the Yogurt crew mentioned that, this statement has some truth to it and there is information out there that can prove that diet can cure diabetes.  I mentioned that, I have type 1 diabetes, no matter what I do with my diet, my diabetes isn’t going anywhere.  Even with type 2 diabetes, a diet isn’t just going to fix things.

After a little explanation about the situation, I was able to educate them on this situation that they didn’t really know a lot about.  I also explained that type 1 and type 2 get grouped together and people think that if I just lost weight, I wouldn’t be diabetic anymore.  I am diabetic because I’m overweight idea.  This is one reason that people don’t see diabetes as such a brutal disease and that it doesn’t get the respect that other diseases have.  I’ve never heard someone say, “If you just exercise more and eat better your cancer will go away.”  This is one reason why diabetes doesn’t get the funding that it should.

This is something that is very important to me, and I’m sure it is with you all also.  Ronnie Gregory posted something today about diabetes being public.  My diabetes is very public.  One of the co-workers in the Yogurt Crew also today said to me, “I know Chris, you’re diabetic., during a conversation when I was talking about health related issues.  And I said, “exactly, I want everybody to know every day that I have diabetes.”  This is the only way that people are going to respect the disease.  Wear diabetes on your sleeve, don’t hide your diabetes, share your diabetes stories, share the bad stories, share the good stories, called yourself a diabetic, call yourself a person with diabetes, call yourself an asshole if you want, I don’t care.  But any way that the word of diabetes can be spread without the misconceptions, the better.

What are some of the reasons that you may not want your co-workers or people to know that you have diabetes?

Please comment.

Meetings Scheduled with Local Government Reps

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Following up with what I posted last night about the e-mail response from US Senator Bill Nelson, I wanted to get feedback from the DOC about your success and failures of reaching out to your local reps.  I have some meetings coming up with local reps, and I don’t know exactly what I am going to do.  I told them before setting meetings, that I don’t have all the answers or all of the best ideas for, but just getting an opportunity to bring diabetes to somebody with some power is what is most important.

On a local level there is not much that can be done.  I am meeting with the local city reps, so I can’t ask for their help in getting funding for the FDA to proceed with research on the artificial pancreas.  But I will be asking them to be more involved in local JDRF and ADA events.  If need be, I will speak to large groups of locals about diabetes and get some truth to these people instead of the false “facts” that they are hearing on Oprah and Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz.

I am asking for your help DOC…what items have you had success with on a local level.

I look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions.

E-mail Response from US Senator Nelson (D-FL)

Chris Stocker

A few weeks ago I was inspired by a social media victory when a fellow DOC member had written a letter to their representative and eventually they were granted a meeting with him.  After that, I decided to send an e-mail to every single one of my reps.  Whether it was on a national level (to discuss FDA and the artificial pancreas) State reps, and even the most local reps.  I received quick responses from most of the local reps within 48-72 hours.  I did not hear anything back from the two Senators….until today.  And let’s just say, I wasn’t very happy with the response.

First, I could tell that it was an automated response, and most likely not even from him.  The first two sentences mentioned my concerns about the FDA and the artificial pancreas and funding for diabetes research.  After those two sentences, it went straight into campaign rhetoric.  It was mentioned that he will take this into consideration, but his main focus is working on a budget that will help reduce the national debt and work on funding for public education.  So, basically you’re saying that theres no room or no time left of yours to deal with the diabetes issue?

That is why you, as a Senator, have a lot of aides.  Because you may not have the time personally to deal with this issue directly, but one of your aides can speak with people about diabetes, and some of the major issues that are out there and then during one of your meetings, it can be discussed.

I was not a fan of Senator Nelson to begin with, but as the one with power, I had to reach out to him.  I always said that, it doesn’t matter on a Federal level, your voice is never heard.  Unfortunately, this is another example of that happening.  When you are ready to discuss the importance of diabetes Mr. Senator, I will be hear with an open mind wanting to discuss what you can do to better the lives of the millions of diabetics out there.

Thanks.

Diabetes Police…Thank You

Chris Stocker

Thank You Diabetes Police

So we all know what the diabetes police are and we have all had our experiences with the diabetes police.  I had an experience last week with some of my co-workers when talking about what I just ate for lunch.  It’s funny because it was on Thursday, the day after dsma last week when we were discussing what and how we react to these circumstances.  We were walking back from lunch and I said that I was stuffed and the one co-worker asked what I ate and I said that I just ate a bunch of pasta, and helaughed and said, you must be the worst diabetic ever.  He was joking and mentioning that I eat a lot of pizza, pasta, donuts, coffee, energy drinks, etc.  I took this time to educate them on insulin pumps, and taking insulin and I can eat anything that I want to, except that I have to take insulin because my body doesn’t make it and yours does.

I also explained the diabetes police to them and that it doesn’t bother me when it happens because I like the opportunity to explain things and educate people on this disease, the more people that know the better we all are.  We also talked about how they would answer the question.  I mentioned that I may just start answering those questions on whether or not I can eat something, “Should you really be eating that also?”  If it’s something that I shouldn’t eat, then it is probably something that you shouldn’t eat either. And vice-versa.

But, as you see in the title of today’s post, I am saying Thank You to the Diabetes Police.  Why such an absurd thing may you ask?  Because they are making me realize how bad of a diabetic I really am!  Why am I eating 2 donuts every Friday when people bring them in, on top of the breakfast that I already ate, then going and eating a slice or two of pizza at lunch, and then maybe another donut in the afternoon.  I shouldn’t be eating like that, and when they question me, it’s almost like, ya know what, you are right, I shouldn’t be doing this and I am going stop eating this food.

Yesterday was a great day of living this new lifestyle.  High fiber breakfast, a salad for lunch, a small little high fiber snack, a small sub with some mac and cheese for dinner, a 2-mile walk and then strawberries and kiwi for dessert.  This is the start of hopefully a long-term lifestyle change.  I definitely need to do more exercise than just walking, but it is better than nothing at all. A good Monday and I am hoping that it leads to a good day today and tomorrow, and so forth.

Have a great day ya’ll.

Seriously, Still Only Diet Coke

Chris Stocker

I know that I posted about something like this about a year ago and it has not changed. I went out to eat recently and I asked if they had anything other then diet coke that was diet and they said unsweetened iced tea and i said what else and they had nothing other than water. What is it going to take to get a diet orange soda or diet root beer or diet sprite or diet anything else?

There are a few places that do offer it and i eat at these places a lot more frequently then I do places that don’t offer anything other than diet coke.

I don’t want to get too much into this again because it is going to irritate me and i am flying home tonight so i want to be in a good mood.

Have a great rest of the week. I am really trying to post everyday so I hope i can still get some done while being at home.

World Diabetes Day

Chris Stocker

So today is World Diabetes Day.  Wow.  That is all I can say right now. I can’t believe that it came up on us this freaking fast.  Today I am going to be talking to my grandmother about her diabetes and things that she can do to help control her blood sugar numbers a little better, while wearing a blue shirt all day.  That is what I am going to be doing today to celebrate WDD.  I did a lot leading up to this day, so I take this day as like the celebration and you just sit back and enjoy it and watch it and see the wonderful things that everyone else is doing.  And not to mention try and catch up on the dblogday posts.

Well, today’s post is going to be short because there is too much reading out there to be done.

Happy World Diabetes Day everybody.

WDD Sneaking Up Fast

Chris Stocker

Wow, I can’t believe that it is already November 10 and World Diabetes Day is just a few days away.  Why does it seem like every year WDD just sneaks up on me and I haven’t done half of the things that I wanted to do for it.  One thing that I wanted to do for the month of November was to post every single day and continue to try and spread awareness of diabetes and how you can live a normal, happy, positive life with diabetes.  It is hard at times to pull others in the community together to celebrate World Diabetes Day, and we all are making decisions to honor this day our own way.

I have decided that I am going to spend my day a little different.  I believe that I present my voice and my opinion and advocacy for diabetes pretty much everyday.  So I’ve decided that I am going to relax on this day and celebrate with my loved ones with the disease that I have.  I support all the different activities that are going on and would love to participate in a lot of them, but this year it is just going to be a time of reflecting the good things that diabetes has brought me in my life.  Basically, I would have never moved to Florida if it wasn’t for diabetes and I wouldn’t have ever met my future wife for that matter.

What are you doing in your area for WDD?