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Category: Living Normally with Diabetes

My 3 Month Diabetes Burnout Hiatus

Chris Stocker

The last couple of months have gone by quick. It feels like the last 90 days has been about 2-3 weeks. Summers for me are always a very time consuming few months.  My work actually picks up during that time period, my wife is off for the entire summer and I do a lot of traveling… just like most people do.  This summer, however, has had a lot more traveling than normal, so I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with blogging and tweeting and advocating and everything else that I normally do on a daily basis.

And ya know what?  It felt so damn good to take this break.  There have been plenty of times where I just felt overwhelmed with trying to keep up with all of the diabetes related initiatives that are always going on.  I came to a point where I felt that I was doing something just to do it and I didn’t really have that much emotion or passion for whatever I was promoting or helping out with.  I have a stack of about 5-6 diabetes related books that I just couldn’t read anymore because it was just too much diabetes.

After 10 years, these last few months have been my first real exposure to diabetes burnout.  I just couldn’t take anymore diabetes other than the daily activities that I had to do to maintain a decent blood sugar.  Do I want to go to the park with my nieces or read another post about the Scientific Sessions? Should I go out to the bar with my friends or write another post about my insulin pump? Should I hang out with my family and watch a movie together or chat online with others about diabetes?

To me, these answers were pretty damn easy to make over the last few months.

But, over the last few days, I have been missing it.  I have began getting that itch again that I need to do something, I need to write something, I need to fight for something.

So, here I am.  My batteries have been re-charged and I am ready to go.  I know better than to just jump head first and go full speed ahead right away, but I am slowly getting more involved again and I hope y’all haven’t forgotten me too much!

I look forward to connecting and talking with you all again on a more frequent basis.

SunFest with the Insulin Pump

Chris Stocker

This past week was SunFest down here in south Florida.  It is a 4-5 day event with a lot of music from artists of all genre.  There is also a pretty large art festival too.  I believe that it started off as a large art festival and then music was added at a later time.  Anyway, I had never been to SunFest before because I am not a fan of music festivals. I love country music concerts, but don’t like festivals.  This is the first year that SunFest had a country music lineup, so of course I wasn’t going to miss that….plus I had a Groupon.

SunFest in south Florida just sounds hot and sweaty and muggy.  In the past, when I was using an insulin pump, my infusion sets usually fall off because of how much I sweat in these situations, so I was a little worried about the infusion set falling off and having to insert a new one in that crowded place.  Fortunately, it was overcast and raining off and on (which was ironic because David Nail was there and one of his hit songs as ‘Let It Rain’).

The infusion set stayed in the whole time and the CGM was working great, so I had a good feeling about the day.

The day consisted of only a few beers, some french fries, a cheesesteak, some rice and pineapple chicken, and a few other snacks along the way.  It’s SunFest, you have to have some unhealthy food!

I was a lot happier being on the pump than I would have been on MDI. It was a lot easier to take my insulin exactly when I needed, I had the CGM telling me when I was going low or high, and it was the perfect combination.  It made me remember why I used to say that I would never go back to MDI when I was on the pump.

It’s coming up on summer concert season, so there will be more of these stories to come.

 

A Decade with Diabetes

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

So today is my 10 year Diaversary. I’ve been living with diabetes for a decade now.  That feels very weird to say.  It almost doesn’t even seem real.

Growing up and not knowing anything about diabetes, there are a lot of things I always dreamed and thought that I would do when I got older and I had no idea that I would be doing those with diabetes.

Turning 21 and going out with all of my friends….with a BG meter and insulin pump.

Moving in with my now wife….and having a storage area in the closet for my diabetes supplies.

Getting married….at that time with a syringe and vial of insulin in my tux pocket.

Going on a honeymoon….. with a package of syringes and lots of insulin.

Having kids….and worrying about if my child will also have diabetes.

And many, many more life events that occurred during these past 10 years.

Every year around this time, I think back on the night that I went to the hospital and think about the couple of months leading to me being rushed to the ER and think about if I knew then what I knew now. This is the number one reason why I am so adamant about getting general diabetes information to the public, so they never get to an 858 blood sugar and almost go into a coma without even knowing what is going on.

I’ve told my diagnosis story plenty of times, but a brief version goes like this. For 2-3 months before being diagnosed, I had every single possible symptom of high blood sugars that existed.  I was drinking water like a boss and going to the bathroom every 5 minutes. I felt bad for my college roommate at the time because I was getting 20 times during the night to go to the bathroom.

On a Friday night at college, I was sick all day long and vomited at least 5-6 times. Finally around 9 p.m. while getting sick again in the community bathroom on the 7th floor of the dorms, a friend of mine from across the hall was in the bathroom at same time and said he was taking me to the hospital because I “looked like death” and that’s when the phone call to my parents happened and I was taken to the ER with an 858 blood sugar.

Two interactions from the ER that night replay in my head almost every single day.  First, when the triage nurse pricked my finger and said that I need to be rushed to a bed right away because the meter wouldn’t even give her a reading. At that time, I had no idea what that even meant.  The second interaction is when the ER doctor walked in and said, “Chris, you have type 1 diabetes”

And that’s when my new life began.

I have learned so much about this disease in these 10 years. It shocks me how many people living with type 1 diabetes barely even know enough about their diabetes to manage it.  I’ve met so many incredible people that have been such a positive influence on my life and motivate me to manage my diabetes better.  Hell, I would have never met my wife if it wasn’t for being diagnosed with diabetes.

One decade down, many more to go.

 

 

Officially Making the Switch to Verio

Chris Stocker

So today is the day that I am officially making the switch to the Verio meter.  Over the last two years I have used about 5-6 different meters.  This was primarily because I didn’t have insurance and I was using strips from anywhere that I can get them.  With having insurance now, I had more of a choice, but not a choice of anything that I wanted because of the costs.  The strips for the Contour USB were about $150 for a 90 day supply but the Verio strips were only $25 for 90 days, so that’s what I chose.

I’ve been using up all of my old OT and Contour strips over the last couple of weeks and while I was in Vegas, but I’m all out.

This will be a little short lived though because I will be starting a trial period of the Medtronic 530G shortly.

I Do

Chris Stocker 7 Comments

Last Saturday Amanda and I finally got married. If you haven’t seen me tweeting or writing much over the past couple of weeks, this has been why.  There is so much planning to go into a wedding, but then the last 24-48 hours it seems that nothing is done.  It’s almost like an A1C, you put all this effort and management into it for 3 months and then it happens and it seems like you haven’t done anything to improve it.

My sugar was a bit high throughout the day from stress and nerves, but it didn’t go over 250.  I had some Skittles in my tux pocket just in case that low blood sugar decided to pop up.

In the end, diabetes did not get in the way of one single thing on this special day.

dance i-do

30 Days and Counting

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

30 Days from today I will be marrying the love of my life. Before that day comes, there is a massive weight loss plan that I am looking to execute as close to the plan as I can. I have lost several pounds since I started at the gym two months ago, but nowhere near where I wanted to, so the next 30 days are going to be intense.

I wanted to be 30 pounds lighter, but 30 pounds in 30 days is not going to happen. I’m sure I can buy one of those pills or those books that promise me that I can lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but I’m not sure if I will be alive on that 31st day.

This is going to be a stressful 30 days, so I’m sure the gym will be a relief from the days leading up to the wedding.

Being an Entrepreneur with Type 1 Diabetes

Chris Stocker

EntrepreneurAs some or most, or even none of you may know, I own CSI Marketing Solutions.  Owning my own business has been one of my dreams since I was a kid.  It is extremely cliche to hear from just about every entrepreneur, “I had a lemonade stand when I was 6, hustling in the neighborhood.”  Yes, I did have a lemonade stand, but majority of kids had a lemonade stand when they were kids.  I never knew exactly what sort of business I wanted to own, even going into college.  Until about my junior year of college I wanted to have my own financial advising firm, but obviously that never happened. Read More

Nine Year Diaversary

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

It’s been nine years since I was diagnosed with diabetes.  It seems like almost yesterday when I was racing down the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the back seat of my parents car going to the emergency room with that 858 blood sugar.  Every year I look back and reflect at all the positives that have come from diabetes.  We can easily look at the negatives of being diagnosed with diabetes, but that brings you down and puts you in a bad mood, so it’s the positives that I try to always reflect on.

In these nine years I have:

  • Gone from MDI to wearing a Pump
  • Gone from testing 10 times a day to wearing a CGM
  • Gone from never hearing of blogging to writing a blog
  • Gone from working as a marketing assistant for a diabetes company to owning my own marketing company
  • Gone from knowing 1-2 people with diabetes to thousands
  • Gone from thinking I was alone in this fight against diabetes to realizing that was nowhere near the truth
  • Gone from not traveling and speaking at conferences / meetings to being invited to hundreds of them

Most importantly, I moved to a new state after diagnosis and met the love of my life and am getting married in 3 months.

Here’s looking back at those nine years and looking forward to many more.

Happy New Year 2013

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Happy New Year everybody.  I am a firm believer that if you needed the calendar to switch from December 31, 2012 to January 01, 2013 just to get your life changed, you are already behind on your goals.  However, if you have set goals for 2013, I wish you the best of luck on being successful on those changes.

Kerri wrote a post the other day about bringing balance into her life.  I think that is the best word that I could use to explain where I am looking to take my life in 2013.  I typically break down my goals into three words for the year, and each of those three words are broken down into the three areas of my life (diabetes, work, family).  I was struggling finding three words this year, and when I read the post that I mentioned above, I knew that all three words could be summed up by the one world, balance.

I need balance in my diabetes because my blood sugars are all over the place.  Bringing balance to this area will help all aspects of my life.

Bringing balance into my work is needed because after taking the step in 2012 to run my business full time, as opposed to just a freelancer, things have grown at a fast pace and balancing the work and organization that goes along with it can be demanding and difficult.

My work and family also go hand in hand because in 2012 I was working 12-16 hours a day, six days a week.  That did not leave me with a lot of time to spend with Amanda or to travel to see my family. 2013 is bringing a wedding for Amanda and myself, and hopefully a lot more traveling to see my family more frequently.  I need balance to be able to make it all work.

Grow a business, connect more with family, all while obtaining better blood sugar readings.

I’ve Gone Missing

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Hey y’all it’s me! Do you remember me?  I know, you are probably shocked that you are seeing a post coming from in your feed reader or seeing a new #dblog post from me in Twitter.  If you have been reading this blog for the past five years, then you will know that I take these sort of breaks from time to time.  Writing this blog is not a job for me, but it’s something that I enjoy doing to help others who may be going through the same things that I have gone through.  Fortunately, I have a full-time job, which is owning and operating an online marketing company, which takes up about 15 hours a day.  There are certain periods of time when writing a blog post is the last thing on the list and it gets passed up on.

I have recently began a new work flow / project management system and have set aside a certain amount of time that is for writing only.  I am not allowed to do any “work” during this time, but just write.

With that being said, I hope that I will never have to write a post like this again.

I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on as well. So for those of you that are bloggers and you see 4-5 comments from me within a short amount of time, don’t worry, it’s not a robot, it’s me.