Skip to main content

Working at Home with Diabetes

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

You may remember last week I write about how I left my job at an interactive marketing agency to go back to running my own company full time.  There are a lot of risks that I have taken in doing so, but all risks that I am willing to deal with in order to reap the rewards.  One of the positive outcomes that I am already starting to see is better control of my diabetes.  Working at home with diabetes has become a lot easier for me than working away from home in an office.

First, all my supplies are right here.  There were plenty of times in the past when an infusion set fell out, and I forgot to pack a few extras in my bag and had to drive all the way back home.  Now, everything is either in the room I am working in or the next room over.  If an infusion set is bad or has fell out, no big deal, I have more right here with me.

The next diabetes related item that has improved is my eating habits.  I have been very strict with keeping a tight schedule while working at home and continue to have a lunch break from 12-1.  There is no more eating out because I “forgot my lunch at home.”  If there were no left overs from the night before, than I can simply spend the time to make a nice, healthy lunch as opposed to going out and grabbing a slice of pizza or a sub.  That is only lunch, dinner is an even better story.  Before, I wasn’t getting up until after 7 p.m. and I was always so tired to make a nice dinner.  Well, I typically end my day at 5:30 in order to start cooking dinner for when Amanda gets home from work.  We have been done eating and cleaning by 7 in the first week of doing this.

Next on the list of things that have been going better since I began working at home is the increase in exercise.  My exercise bike is 10 feet from my desk.  I have found myself just getting on the bike and riding for 30-45 minutes once a day.  There is no more excuses that I don’t have time to do it and that I am too tired to do it after I get home from work.  Starting tomorrow, I am actually going to begin riding the bike in the morning and get a good hour workout in before the day even gets started.

Finally, my blood sugars have been better because I am testing more, and honestly, I am just not as stressed out.  My blood sugars would get high throughout the day because I was so stressed at work.  Then, I would come home, and still have about another 4-6 hours worth of work to do and I wasn’t getting to bed until about 3 a.m.  This just was not good on my blood sugars at all.  I am also sleeping a lot better too.  I have gone to sleep by 11, almost everyday in this past week.  That is most likely due to change tonight, since I have a few deadlines for tomorrow.

Looks like the health reasons for going back to working from home and running my own company again are slowly taking shape.  The financial reasons, well, let’s just hope they stay on track as well.

Have a great night everybody.

Friends for Life 2012

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

This is going to be my second Friends for Life conference.  But, it is going to feel like the first.  The reason is because the first Friends for Life that I attended was about three years ago, but I had gone as a vendor.  I was able to attend a lot of different sessions and interact with a lot of other PWD’s anyway.  I was blown away by how amazing this event truly is.  So, now that I am going this year not as a vendor, but just someone with diabetes, I can’t wait.  I am also bringing my girlfriend Amanda.  This is going to be the first time that she is traveling with me for a diabetes related event.  She has gone to local JDRF walks and events, but never travelled to anything with this many people.  I am excited for her to meet all the wonderful people that I know and speak to, but also want her to talk to some of the spouses of PWD’s.

When I first heard about Children with Diabetes and Friends for Life I thought that it was a gathering for younger kids and more like a summer camp for kids.  After I attended and saw how many older people there were and how much interaction there was, it was amazing.  It’s also great to be there and try and talk to the young ones and let them know that they can’t be discouraged because they have diabetes, because they can still do things that they want to do.

So, this is me telling you, that you should attend Friends for Life.  I will mention one small negative about the event, is that it is during the July 4th holiday.  I typically do picnics and beach on July 4th, but this year I am going to celebrate it in Disney and see how that goes.  However, the first opening keynote is not until the morning of July 5th, so you can still be there for all of the sessions and be home for July 4th if that is a concern.

Please follow the links and get registered today! Children with Diabetes – Friends for Life 2012

Have a happy Blue Friday.

 

 

 

 

Five Reasons You Should Vote Cherise for a Shorty Award

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Last night during #dsma, Bennet from Your Diabetes May Vary was very adamant about everybody voting for Cherise for a Shorty Award.  I do not blame him at all.  Let’s look at all the reasons why you should stop what you are doing right this second and go vote for Cherise.

  1. She is the nicest person you will ever meet.  I have never met somebody that has so much care for everybody around them like she does.  I can specifically remember a moment in San Diego when I first met Cherise and somebody was crying while talking about diabetes.  She left her chair, walked across the room and gave that person a hug.
  2. She is dedicated.  She is on time every Wednesday night for #dsma.  On time every Thursday night for #dsma live.  She has topics prepared for #dsma chats.  She is dedicated to the diabetes community and making sure that things are ready to be moved along.
  3. She started #dsma….. need I say more?
  4. She is willing to help with anything.  If you have an idea or want to try and get something started, you can go to her and she will be behind you and help you where she can.
  5. She’s an army wife.  That by itself is a totally badass part of her life.
Honestly, we can go on and on and on about how awesome and reasons for why you should vote for Cherise, but enough….. just go and do it.

Just click this link – http://shortyawards.com/Diabetic_Iz_Me

Some Pretty Damn Big Life Changes

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Today is February 1, 2012.  Not only is today about flipping over those calendars to the next month and doing a drumroll before seeing what the next picture or phrase or which cheerleader is going to be on the next month (or am I the only one that does that?).  Today is a very serious day for me.  A day of change.

As some of you may know, I own my own business, CSI Marketing Solutions, LLC.  Also, as some of you may know, I have been working at an agency for about 18 months.  This digital agency is voted best place to work just about every year and received hundreds of other awards a year.  It truly is an amazing place to work.  However, I have had a few opportunities come up over the past few weeks or months that requires a lot more of my time.  So, I have made the decision, starting today, to go back to running my business full time.

Before making this decision, there were so many different things that went through my head.  How am I going to pay rent?  How am I going to make my car payment?  How can I afford anything?  And most importantly, how am I going to get health insurance?  Then I started playing the what-if game.  What if I don’t have enough clients and I don’t make enough money to pay my bills and then I lose everything I have.  A good friend of mine said, “..you can’t play the what if game.  For every negative what if you come up with, there’s a positive what if on the other side. So you can go all night on the what if’s.”

I also felt that by making this decision to be able to make my own hours I can get more things in life accomplished.  For one, I can now go to the gym at lunch time or in the morning and begin to get back into shape and lose weight again.  Next, I no longer have an hour long commute each way, so I can be home earlier and I can eat dinner and be ready for bed earlier.  I can also spend more time being more involved in the DOC.

So, let me quickly get into the health insurance issue.  I am entitled to COBRA for 18 months, and the costs of it are about 1/3 of what I thought it was going to be, so I am extremely happy about that.

So, that is where I am.  Moral of the story?  If you want something, do it.  Stop thinking about it constantly and stressing about it and going back and forth.  Weigh your options, and make the best choice for yourself.

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.