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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.

2012 Goals – Not Resolutions

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

2012 is here.  I can’t believe it, but it is here.  I have not set any sort of resolutions in several years, but I do set goals.  No, they are not the same thing.  My resolutions always tended to be things that I am going to change about myself.  My goals are all about making myself better and reaching a new level.  So there are a few goals that I have for the entire year, but mainly the goals I have will be weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.

First goal…. 2 weeks of a vegetarian diet.  I was going to do 2 weeks Vegan, but I do not think that I can do it.  I do not want to set unrealistic goals either.  If I can get through the 2 weeks of a vegetarian diet, then I will attempt the vegan at another point.

My second goal is to post every single day this year.  That’s right, from January 1 – December 31.  It will be tough, but I am going to do it.

My next goal will be a quarterly one (even though it involves day to day management), but I want to lower my A1C each of the 4 times I get it done this year.

There are multiple other goals that I have, that involve weight, exercise, work, financial and advocating, but there are too many to list out here.

I hope everyone has a great 2012.

My Awesome Endo Office Appointment

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

I had my endo appointment last Friday and I haven’t had much of a chance to post about it, so here we go.

I knew going into the appointment that I wouldn’t be meeting with my actual endo that day because she was out of the office, but I would be meeting with a nurse that I’ve known from a past career and ventures that I have done.  A quick background and explanation of that.  I used to travel to a lot of local diabetes event when I worked for a horrible company.  One of the events that I regularly attended was a CEU class that was taught by a diabetes educator and an MSRNP.  This MSRNP is now part of my official diabetes team.

Going into this appointment, I already knew how much respect I had for this medical professional.  Then our first conversation about my specific health issues began, and the respect grew even more.

First, we did not have my Dexcom graphs because their office computer was not working properly with the Dexcom software.  And I use a Mac so was not able to get the results ready before the meeting.  I explained what I was seeing in the results and explained that I noticed a large spike in my blood sugar right after I ate.  I told her that I felt it was because I was not taking my insulin enough time before I was eating.  She agreed.  We worked out a schedule and set a goal in trying to take my insulin 10-15 minutes before I actually eat.  She recommended that I set an alarm on my phone about 15-20 minutes before the times that I normally eat.  I said that this might work because I eat breakfast at 8 a.m. every day, lunch at 12-12:30 and dinner at 7.  I’ve set the alarms and so far they have worked 🙂

The next item we looked at was when she asked me why I was over-riding all of the bolus suggestions from the bolus wizard from the Medtronic pump.  My earlier suspicions were confirmed.  Since I am taking a lot of insulin and I have a 3:1 carb ratio, I’ve been taking more than 25 units at almost every meal.  If I have to take 32 units because of a meal and a correction, my pump maxes out at 25, so it looks like I am over-riding it, but I’m not, I’m just taking the max amount allowed.  Then once that 25 is finished, I have to take the remaining insulin….which never happens because I always forget.  So, there lies a problem.  She said that she never thought about that before and that’s something that Medtronic should fix.  I agree…Medtronic, you should fix that.

Next topic of discussion… where my Dexcom all the time.  Next topic.

Dual wave bolus.  I hardly ever use this, but I have been trying to learn, test and try it more often.  We discussed the 80-20 rule and went over a study from the ADA Scientific Sessions in San Diego about a possible 70-30 rule.  I loved the fact that during my appointment we spoke about studies and I actually remembered hearing something about that during the time the Sessions were going on.

The final part of the appointment was changing my basal rates to get my nighttime / morning sugars to a reasonable level.  My basal rates are ridiculously high, I really need to bring them down.  This is where the conversation moved to talking about my weight and dieting. She mentioned that if I can just cut out some of the meat that I eat, that I could potentially cut down on the amount of body fat that I have.  I am trying this at lunch, but it is damn hard for me.

Once the appointment was over, I started talking to her about the diabetes community and blogging and tweeting and the advocacy and all that fun stuff.  Then she hit me with one of the ideas that she has had, and I told her that I will do what I can to help her.  Her idea is that when she is going to speak to kids with diabetes, or the camps, or whatever group of kids she is working with, they are always in a classroom setting learning about diabetes.  She wants to get the kids active.  Her idea is to create a basketball team, a baseball team, a cheerleading team, some sort of team that can go and compete against others.  Not just any others, but children with diabetes from a different area.  It’s basically like a travel league team, but for diabetics.  I think it’s an awesome idea…. awesome I say.

Get back to me after the New Year and we’ll see how well all of this has been going for me.

Dexcom One Month Later

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

It’s been about a month since I received my Dexcom and I absolutely love it.  I have only worn it about 12-13 days in the month that I have had it because once a sensor comes out, I tend to get lazy and not put a new one in for a few days.  I need to stop this habit.  I need to try a new location because the two times I tried it on my stomach, it has fallen out within 5-7 days because of intense workouts that I have been doing.  The stickiness is just no competition for the sweat.

I am going to try the sensor on the outside part of my thigh and see how that works. Hopefully that will be my go-to location.  I also have some IV 3000 that I can use for when it begins to peel off my body.

There has definitely been some huge positives that have come out of the Dexcom experience.  The most important thing, I have noticed that after every single meal I eat, no matter what it is, my blood sugar goes above 200 and then comes back down within that 2-3 hours afterwards that I would normally be testing again.  I never knew these spikes were occurring, only when they would stay high once I tested again.

There are not many negatives that I have about the Dexcom.  But there is one major main.  The software is not Mac compatible!!!!  I only use Macs, I don’t use PC’s, I refuse to.  I do have a virtual machine on my Mac that runs Windows, but I use it once every 4-6 months, so when I go to turn it on, it takes several hours just to update all of the Windows service packs and updates and all the other BS that goes with owning a Windows machine.

Dexcom, if you are listening, please create a Mac compatible software.  I think you will make the members of the DOC very happy if you did.

Other than that, Dex, you are my friend and you have taught me a lot in such a short period of time.

Thank You for Your Donation to Diabetes Research Institute

Chris Stocker

I mentioned back in late October and early in November that I would be donating the commissions in November from my Amazon affiliate link to the Diabetes Research Institute.  First, I want to say thank you for those that remembered to click the little Amazon button down below (right now it’s a Steve Jobs banner) to give me the commission.  The Amazon commission is not a lot, around 3-5% of purchase price.  But I am proud to say that I will be donating $50 in honor of the DOC to the Diabetes Research Institute.

I know $50 does not sound like a lot of money in the big scheme of things, but it’s definitely a lot more than what I thought it would be.  So, in order to reach my larger goal of $1,000 by December 2012, I will be continuing this donation offer.  This is how it works:

  1. You want to buy something from Amazon
  2. From my blog, on the lower right hand corner there will be an Amazon banner (it will change depending on which book I am reading at that time)
  3. Once you click on it, it will take you to Amazon.com
  4. You purchase just like you normally would, no codes needed
  5. The DRI donation fund will receive a 3-5% donation of your purchase price
Pretty simple huh?  So if you’re buying online for  Christmas this year, why not have a percentage of it be donated to the Diabetes Research Institute?
*This post is not sponsored by anybody but my own decisions.  The Diabetes Research Institute is where I choose to donate this money to because of my own personal experiences and opinions.  Any other questions…. e-mail me.

Dear Jay Cutler – Letter to Jay

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Some of you have seen lately that I have been tweeting about Jay Cutler and my dream and goal of interviewing him.  So here is an open letter to Mr. Jay Cutler himself.

Dear Jay Cutler,

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.  It is not very often that somebody considers somebody else close to their own age a role model.  I can honestly say that I am one of those people.  I am truly inspired everyday by your actions of being an NFL quarterback with type 1 diabetes.  Why is this so inspirational to me?  Here’s a little background.

I played QB my entire life.  Had scholarship opportunities to Rutgers before a serious knee injury and ended up playing D-3 ball for a year.  During that year, towards the end of the season, I had began to feel extremely tired and drained of all energy.  I was also drinking a lot of water and gatorade and just didn’t have an appetite.  I started to see a big drop in the output I was getting on the field and in the gym.  Long story short, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a few months later.

So, I understand playing QB with diabetes, but can’t understand doing it at such a high level of the NFL.  For the fact that I am a type 1 QB, and you are an NFL type 1 quarterback has intrigued me to have a goal of interviewing you since you were diagnosed.

I am a Jay Cutler fan, except when you play the Eagles because let’s face it, I’m from Philly and you know nothing comes between Philly and the Eagles.  I believe that the media judges and puts you out to be something you are not.

As “groupie” as this letter sounds, it is an honest letter coming from a guy who is inspired by your hard work ethic and what you do for the diabetes community.

So, I end this letter with, Jay Cutler, will you grant me an interview opportunity?

Thank you.

Chris Stocker

FDA Releases Draft Guidance for Artificial Pancreas

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Yesterday was a big step in the process of an artificial pancreas.  You may have your opinions of an artificial pancreas, and that it’s not a cure.  You’re right, it is not a cure, but if it makes your life as a diabetic better, than I am all for it.  This thing is long, so if you don’t like to read long documents, than just wait a few days for the experts to go through it.  The JDRF will be releasing some expert notes and reviews of this draft in the next few weeks.

JDRF CEO and President Jeffrey Brewer is quoted as saying:

“Our initial review of the draft AP guidance indicates that the FDA has been responsive and listened to the recommendations of leading clinicians and researchers in the type 1 diabetes field.  It also appears that the draft guidance lays out a rapid timetable to move from inpatient trials to outpatient trials to prove the AP’s safety and efficacy, and if that turns out to be the case it is good news.”

You can find this guidance document for the artificial pancreas over at the FDA.