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Month: November 2009

How NaBloPoMo Has Changed My Diabetes Outlook

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Making the commitment to post at least once a day for the whole month of November is tough, really tough.  I am not going to lie, it has been overwhelming.  For a few reasons, such as not having anything interesting to say everyday, being busy, not used to posting on Saturday and Sunday, and that’s pretty much it.  Hmm… you know what that kind of sounds like?  Managing my diabetes.  It’s not always fun and interesting, too busy to check sugars, and not being as good with management of Saturday and Sunday’s.

NaBloPoMo has taught me a lesson about diabetes management.  If you are determined, you can get it done.  It’s an everyday thing and if you skip a day, you lose, you don’t win.  It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.  Slow and steady, one post at a time, one blood sugar check at a time.  Plan out your post topics, plan out your meal / exercise plans.  Isn’t it funny how something like this NaBloPoMo can change your life?  Thanks Kerri for introducing NaBloPoMo to me.

Diabetes is a lifetime commitment.  For some guys that can be a very scary word, women as well.  You start to get the shakes and lightheaded and freak out and just want to run away when you are you are committed to something for life.  It’s going to have it’s ups and downs, highs and lows (literally), but at the end of the day, if you take care of what you need to, it will all be ok.  I know I’m now going into how this is like a relationship now, but with diabetes, NaBloPoMo and relationships, they all have some similar concepts and it makes it easier to think about controlling my diabetes.

Well you all have a great weekend I have a lot of stuff to get done today.  There’s good news in the employment category, but some bad news along with it.  Will post about it in a few days.

Take care everyone!

4 Essentials of Managing My Diabetes

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

We all have our favorite meter’s, pumps, syringes, glucose tabs, CGM’s, and whatever else you use to manage your diabetes.  Here are my top 4 essentials to managing my diabetes.

Medtronic Minimed Paradigm 722Insulin Pump

This is my insulin pump of choice at this time.  It is the one that I was given when I first got the pump 5 years ago, well it was a Paradigm 712 at that time, but I upgraded to the 722 at the beginning of the year.  I don’t have any issues with the pump, but there are some things that I do like with the other ones as well.  This pump is my life right now.  I would not be able to manage my diabetes as easily without it.  I did MDI and it just didn’t work for me, I eat too frequently and eat at random times that just make it best for me to use a pump and bolus at any given time.

Freestyle Lite MeterFreestyle Meter

For a very long time I used all One Touch products.  That stopped about a year ago when I received a Freestyle Lite meter, and I haven’t switched to another since then.  I absolutely love this meter.  I never have any problems, it’s small and the best part about it is the light it has.  I test more frequently, especially at night because of this light.  I would never test at 3 am because I didn’t want to turn the light on because then I can never go back to sleep.  With this meter, I can just turn on the light on the meter, test, and go back to bed.  I do use other meters in different situations.  I use a True2Go meter when I am traveling or golfing because it carries easier.  I look forward to trying out the Contour USB, who knows, that may become the new meter of choice, we shall see.CGM

Minimed CGM

Even though I don’t use this as often as I should, when I do, it helps me out tremendously.  My average BG levels are about 20-30 points lower when I use it.  It comes down to dealing with the pain of inserting a new sensor.  That is the number one reason that I hate to put it on because quite honestly, it hurts.  The needle is extremely long, so that’s not a plus either.  Once it’s on and calibrated I love it.

SkittlesSkittles

You may be wondering why this is one of my essentials.  Well, it’s because this is the most comfortable item that I like to use.  When I eat a bag of Skittles(the small bag shown here), I know how much it will bring up my sugar, which means that I don’t overeat.  When I am eating other things like glucose tabs or orange juice or whatever else, I don’t know how much it will raise my sugar, so then usually my sugar is way too high at that point then.

Thank You Diabetes Community

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

I have been unemployed for going on my second full week.  Working for a diabetes supply company for almost 3 years kept me connected to the diabetes industry on an everyday basis.  Now I am a lot closer to the diabetes community because working for a supply company kept a guard up between myself and a lot of you.  I have a job interview today around 11 so I am very excited about it, as well as nervous, I’m not used to interviewing.

I think that I learn more and get news faster now from the online community than when I worked inside the industry.  I was worried that I may be on the outside of a lot of things, but the complete opposite has been true and I thank the whole diabetes community.  This is a short post today because I do have to get ready for the interview today.  That means ironing, ironing, and ironing.  It takes me about 3 or 4 tries to finally get the wrinkles out, I’m not so good with an iron.

Have a great day ya’ll

Contour USB Meter – I Want One

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

First, my plan to start with the CGM yesterday didn’t go so well.  I did not have stable blood sugars for more than an hour yesterday, so I knew it’s not good to start a new sensor when my sugars are fluctuating.  So, we will have to try again today.  I’ve had a few bad diabetes days in the last 2-3 days.  My blood sugars haven’t been that bad, but also not that good.  I have had 3 sites fall out, I don’t know why they aren’t sticking.  I think it’s because my insertion device is not working properly.  I have another device, but of course I have no idea where it’s at, why would I know.

Today is going to be a long day.  I have a lot of work to get done, a lot of cleaning, a lot of laundry, and some ironing to do because I have an interview tomorrow.  I’m nervous because it’s the same office that my roommate works at, so I need to make sure that I am on my best game so I don’t make him look like a donkey(chose this word instead of the other to keep it pg), for him referring me.  Do you know how hard this is going to be?  There is a 24 hour marathon of college basketball going on todayon ESPN which is going to make it hard for me to concentration.  Plus, since this is the 3rd Tuesday that I have been unemployed, every Tuesday is a Law and Order: SVU marathon.  I have been probably never blogged about this before, but this is my favorite show.  Quick side note on SVU and how it became my favorite show.  Back in my freshman year of college I had a huge paper that was due the next day, what a surprise and I was working on it for like 3 hours straight without a break.  Then I decided to take a break and watch SVU for the first time, but I would mute the tv during commercials and do my paper for 5 minutes, then 5 minutes at the next commercial.  I did this for about 4 episodes of SVU and not only got my paper down, but read 3 chapters of a text book.  This than became the only way that I would do homework and reading, watch SVU or another show if it wasn’t on, mute the tv and then read.  I found that my attention span was only about 5 minutes anyway, so it worked out best.

Wow, sorry about that side not there.  I have seen a few people blogging about the Bayer Contour USB.  I freaking want one!  Can I call Nick Jonas to get one?  My little nieces (actually my cousins, but my aunt is more like a sister to me, so I have called them my nieces for 10 years, but now that I have an actual niece, my brother’s daughter, I’m not sure if I can still do that), they watch the Jonas brothers so that’s a good enough connection to them I think.  It looks so cool that you just test and then plug it right into the computer.  I never upload my sugars to the computer, ever.  I don’t have the USB cable for my Freestyle Lite, if I had one, I probably would.  My doctor’s office has every single one of them at her’s so when I go she just uploads them.

[As I’m typing this sentence a brand new episode of SVU is starting, pause while I watch the opening minute of it]

How many people have used the USB Contour already?  What are your thoughts, are there any bad ones of it yet?

Does anybody know how much it costs, or how much it is going to cost?

Using CGM, First Time in Two Months

Chris Stocker

Today I have decided to wear my sensor for the first time in almost two months.  I had it charging all night long because it wasn’t even connected to the charger during that 2 months.  I am not even sure if the sensors are still good because I know that they have  short expiration date.  Oh well, I will still use it and see how it goes.  I better change the battery in my pump though because I think it is almost at half life and the sensor kills the battery within a few days, even when it’s a brand new one.  I use the Medtronic CGMS just in case you didn’t remember.

I have a doctor’s appointment coming up in a few weeks and she really wants to see the results from the CGM and she usually only looks at the 2-3 weeks prior, so this is good enough amount of time for her to see, and also for me not to get in trouble again for not doing it.  I also have to get my A1C down next week, which I am not looking forward to because I don’t think that it is going to be a good number.  I have managed my sugars pretty well the last 3 months, but there have just been some random highs here and there that just concern me.

Today is also Monday, so we all know what that means, time to start the diet again.  I had coffee to start off the morning, but didn’t eat anything.  For lunch I am going to have a salad and a little bit of left over pasta.  Tonight for dinner I am going to a banquet for the football league that I coached this year.  There is going to be a lot of different random food because I believe it is a pot luck type style.  My assistant coach and myself are supposed to bring pizza, so I’ll be bringing whatever pizza is on sale, the kids won’t care, they will love it either way.

The afternoon today is also going to consist of more job hunting and submitting resume’s online.  I’m not just looking for a regular 9-5 but also some contract or telecommuting type jobs as well for CSI Marketing Solutions.  I haven’t been real aggressive in looking for clients, but I think it’s about time that I start to do that.

Well have a good week everybody.

Another High at the Movies

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

I’m not used to blogging on Sunday’s but I really want to accomplish this one post a day for a whole month thing.  I am actually going to try and continue to do this, not just for this month, but for the year, and then forever.  You just start to run out of things to talk about.  But today I want to talk about a really bad high that I had on Thursday night.

I went to a premiere for the new movie Pirate Radio and tested my sugar before I went in, 170.  Last time I went to the movies, I was over 400, so I didn’t want that to happen again.  As for the movie, two thumbs up.  It was one of the funnier movies that I have seen in a long time, definitely was not expecting it to be so funny, but it was.  After the movie I didn’t check my sugar because my meter was in the car and I thought we would just go right home after the movie.  Except, my tummy was telling me that I needed some food.

We were up in City Place in West Palm Beach, FL, which is a beautiful place if you’re ever in the area, so we decided to go to Cheeburger-Cheeburger.  Now, you can’t go there and not get a milkshake, so I got a strawberry cheesecake with Reese’s Piece’s mixed in, best shake I have ever had.  I also had a cheeseburger, not a big one, and some fries and onion rings.  I took around 25 unit bolus, but my site was stinging a little when the insulin was going on, so that usually means that something is wrong.  When I got home and tested, my suspicions were true.  Blood sugar 475.

I changed my infusion set and bolused for the correction, when I woke up I was a 117.  I felt like crap in the morning though because when I go to bed really high and wake up low or normal, it just messes with my body.  But I am happy that the sugar came back down.

Happy Sunday people.

1 Day Until World Diabetes Day

Chris Stocker

Ok, so I did jinx myself with yesterday’s post.  Thursday night I hit 375 on the meter.  I knew this was going to happen.  From now on, I will never mention ever again when my blood sugars have been good because as soon as I do that, it ends up shooting up sky high and going out of control for a few days.  Well tomorrow is the big day.  There is going to be so much going on and so many people doing so many wonderful things, that it’s going to be great.  I am going to enjoy my world diabetes day 2009.

World Diabetes Day means a lot to me.  It is basically the only day, other then my birthday, that involves me.  I am going to handle World Diabetes Day a little different than probably everybody else.  I am so happy with what everyone has planned and has done leading up to this day.  For me, I’m not going to do anything, I am just going to sit back and relax and enjoy my WDD.  Why would I do such a thing if I am such a diabetes advocate you may ask?  Because I want to continue to do this every single day of every single month, so on WDD I am going to take a break, take a little vacation if you will.

I will participate in the Big Blue Test, even though I will be restricted on the amount of exercise I can do because I will be driving most likely at that time because I have some places that I have to go to.  Thank you all advanced for everything that you are all doing for WDD.

My Diabetes Has Been Easy As To Manage As Of Late

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Controlling my diabetes over the last few days has been…. easy.  I don’t think that I have ever said that before, but it has been.  I’ve been eating not that great, but have been counting carbs almost dead on because I have had only 1 or 2 sugars over 200 this whole week.  I did this before and as soon as I made a comment about it my sugars went off the charts for about a week straight, so I have contemplated writing this or not because I don’t want it to happen again.

On the other hand, it feels so damn good to be able to say that it has been easy.  I test, I eat, I test and it’s still normal.  No infusion set mess ups, no low reservoirs when I am not at home, no running out of test strips, no low battery warnings on the pump, I can’t complain at all!  In fact, it even let me meet a new diabetic today. I was at Starbucks (since I’ve been unemployed the last week I go to coffee shops and do work) and someone saw my insulin pump and told me that their wife was diabetic and was thinking about switching to an insulin pump and he hasn’t talked to a pumper face-to-face yet, so it was a great help to him.  Thank you diabetes for giving me this opportunity to help somebody out.

I have not won the so-called war against diabetes yet, but I am sure kicking the $&!# out of it right now.

How Diabetes Has Changed Me

Chris Stocker

I was diagnosed in April of 2004, that’s almost 6 years ago.  Diabetes has changed me in so many ways, even though I always say that I am not going to let this disease affect me and control me.  Well in reality it has controlled me and affected me, but in positive ways.  Of course there are some thing that I don’t like about the disease that I have to do, but overall they have made me more health conscience, it has introduced me to so many new great people, and it has changed my outlook on life.

Going back to my high school years and freshman year of college before I was diagnosed, I had a completely different outlook on life.  I didn’t care about things as much, I didn’t appreciate the little things in life.  I would always say, “whatever, I’ll do it tomorrow” or talk about things that  will do in 5-10 years from now.  The night I was diagnosed that all changed.  I then started talking about doing things that same day because you never know what could happen.  I know that goes for anybody, not just somebody with diabetes, but it really sunk into my brain at that time.  I have become a little impatient at times, especially when it comes to work and making a lot of money because I want to travel the world and I want to do it now!  I don’t want to do it later on in life because you never know what may happen in the future.

Since diagnosis I have become a lot more health conscience.  Sure, I may not always eat as well as I should, but at least now I know what the complications are.  I used to eat a burger and fries, well probably 3-4 burgers and fries and a milkshake and didn’t think anything of it, because I was young, skinny, and worked out everyday so what did it matter.  I never thought about the fat getting stuck in my arteries and clogging my veins that could lead to heart problems later on in life.  Now, before I decided to eat that burger, fries and shake, which I do at times, I at least think about the consequences and what I will need to do to make up for eating that meal.

I also made a decision to become an expert in the field of diabetes and know everything about this disease that I could.  My definition of expert here does not mean knowing how to do research in the field, but to become a diabetes management expert.  If I can manage my blood sugars and keep my A1C at good levels, then in my mind I am an expert.  I have read more books about diabetes then I have any other field of category of books.  I read blogs, articles, magazines, journals, essays, whatever is out there to better myself and to possibly lower my A1C but just a tenth of a point.

The people that I have met, whether just online or in person, have been incredible.  I have learned so much more about diabetes than these books could ever tell me.  Other d-bloggers have made me feel comfortable living with diabetes.  At times when I thought I was the only one in the world that was going through this stuff, they made me realize that I wasn’t the only one.  Also, they made me stop feeling sorry for myself.  There were times that I would get down and feel sorry for myself and want a pity party because I was the lonely diabetic that nobody knew what I was going through.  Shut up Chris and get over it.  You’re diabetic and so are millions of other people.  But now I was able to connect with these people and a lot of them have become personal friends.

These are a few of the ways that diabetes has changed me and I am thankful for these things.  They outweigh some of the negative things that may have changed my life, like checking my blood sugar, worrying about what the food I’m about to eat will do to my blood sugar, and counting carbs.  But these are all things that I do to manage my diabetes, so in my mind they are good things to do because I have become healthier since my diagnosis.

I hope everyone else can see the positives of diabetes and focus more on them, then the negatives that are out there.