Skip to main content

Black Friday = No Sleep

Chris Stocker

Well, it is about 8 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  I am typing this blog post on my iPhone, so it will be short because I can’t type a long post on my phone, but I am not at home so I must do this.  I have not yet slept from the day before.  I went to the Sawgrass Mills at midnight to attack the stores.  Then at 5 Target was opening so I needed to get there.  I really wanted to get a Flip cam, but there weren’t any on sale, so I decided not to buy one.

My sugars were a little higher throughout the night because of the no sleep thing, and a lot of caffeine, so far 2 coffees and an energy drink, so quite honestly, I feel like crap, no other way to describe it.

I am going to end this blog before I start to ramble because of not sleeping for the last 24 hours.

Have a great Fight It Friday everybody.

Happy Turkey Day – I Mean Extreme Bolus Day

Chris Stocker

Well it’s Thanksgiving morning, so Happy Thanksgiving ya’ll.  This post is going to be short and sweet, but not too sweet, so you won’t have to bolus for it.

Today I am going to consume a lot of insulin.  There is no way around it.  I will try to eat healthy, but it won’t work, I already know this.  So today I give thanks to insulin, insulin pumps, and infusion sets.

Without all these today, this day would suck.

So, it’s off to the in-laws for some good ole’ food.

Take care ya’ll.

Rainy Day on My Beach Day

Chris Stocker

I have had planned for almost a week to go to the beach today.  Today is the first day that Amanda is completely done with her student teaching, so to celebrate a day off together we were going to go to the beach.  Well at about 5 a.m. this morning we were awoken by the loudest thunder I have ever heard.  And about 30 minutes later I heard it again and could have sworn it sounded like it struck our building unit.

Then for the rest of the day it was pretty much ugly and nasty and raining.  When it finally stopped raining, there was no point in going to the beach because it was just so soggy and wet outside.  So that really sucks, so now here I am stuck inside all day.  Good news however is that tonight I am sitting in the box seats at the Panthers game with free buffet style food.  Not sure how good of an idea that is the night before Thanksgiving.

Since I am moving soon, I am going to take today to start the packing process.  I don’t have many boxes right now, but I just want to get everything organized and then just throw it in a box.  I’ll clear out a corner in my room and dust everything off and then put it into groups, so then when I get a box it’s all good to go.  I am going to count how many random used strips I find laying around the house when I move, I have been here for a little over a year, so my guess is going to be around 100 strips I find.

Any takers, high / low?

Well, you all have a wonderful day.

You’re Hired – Time to Refresh My Skills

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Yesterday I received a Contour USB in the mail (Disclosure).  I haven’t had enough time to play around with it yet.  So, I will give a full review of it as soon as I go through all 25 samples strips, as of right now, I love it, but I will go into more depth at that time.  Today is going to be a long day.  I will begin working 40 hours a week in an office setting again, hopefully starting on Monday.  I haven’t been hired as a full time employee, but rather CSI Marketing Solutions, LLC has been hired as a consultant agency.  This is good because I enjoy the work I will be doing and my company is finally picking up.  The bad news is that there is no insurance offered through this, so I will have to pick up Cobra at the end of the month.

I haven’t received my paperwork for Cobra yet, but I should be receiving it soon in order to get it all started.  I have a lot of work to do today, a lot of refreshing on some things I will need to do on my new job.  Remember those classes you took in college where you sat there and said, “this is so stupid, I will never need to know this stuff in real life” so then you just faded away and started thinking about how awesome this weekend’s homecoming party was going to be?  Fast forward 4 years – “Hey Chris, you need to know this stuff in order to get paid!”

I’m going to spend majority of the day at Barnes and Noble, it’s crazy how much work I actually get done there.

So until tomorrow, talk to you soon.

A New Week, A Lot of Work

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

A new week, a lot of work.  I decided to take kind of a 3 day weekend from working on things.  I turned my laptop on for about 30 minutes since Friday and that was to just write blog posts of Saturday and Sunday.  So now I have a lot to catch up on.  I have created a new exercise plan as well and I am going to stick to it.  If I can dedicate 30 minutes a day to write a blog post every day, I can dedicate 30 minutes a day to exercising as well.  I’ve put on too much weight over the last 3 weeks.  I just need to get back down to a manageable level of weight, basically so I can fit into all of the clothes that I don’t fit into anymore.

Last night’s game with the Bears and Eagles was a great game.  We won and that was awesome, but it was also great to see Cutler throw a touchdown for Diabetes as well.  The best part of the game last night was when it was over.  McNabb went over to Cutler and pulled him away from the cameras and talked him for several minutes.  This gave me the chills.  Cutler isn’t playing that great right now, but neither are his teammates (as a former QB myself, I could tell a lot of receivers were running wrong patterns and it’s not always his fault).  And the city is going to start turning their back on Cutler and McNabb of all people know how that feels.  I think that was a stand up classy thing for McNabb to do.

Moving on, my niece will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, I can’t believe that.  Tomorrow is also the birthday of the twins.  When I refer to “the 11.13.09 002twins” this is what I mean.  My aunt, who was more like a sister to me, has 4 little girls, and they have called me Uncle Chris since day 1 and I have called them my nieces, so I still call them my nieces even though they are really cousins.  Confusing?  I know.  Here is a most recent photo I have my new niece.

Well, now it’s time to get back to work.  Have a great, short week.

Cutler, McNabb – Two Diabetes Advocates

Chris Stocker

Anybody who has read this blog before has probably noticed a few things about me.  I’m diabetic, I’m originally from Philadelphia, and I love the Eagles more than just about anything.  Tonight they play Jay Cutler and Da Bears.  As you all know Cutler is diabetic.  A little less known fact is that Donovan McNabb is a huge diabetes advocate as well.  He runs a large diabetes children’s camp in Pennsylvania every year and puts a lot of money towards research.  So tonight’s game is meaningful in a lot of different ways.  McNabb and Cutler are good friends because of the diabetes link, plus they are both quarterbacks.  Obviously, I want the Eagles to win every game and would never cheer against them.  Cutler however, has the Touchdowns for Diabetes campaign going on with Eli Lilly.

Basically, every touchdown he throws money goes towards diabetes.  That sounds like a good idea to me, except that the way Jay has played this year, there may be a cure already if they gave money for every interception he’s thrown (he’s thrown the most in the NFL).  So, in tonight’s game I would love to see the Eagles shut the Bear’s out.  However, if they don’t, then I would want every touchdown to be a Cutler touchdown pass, no other forms of touchdowns.

I have called out Cutler before in my blog and I will again right now, but on a different level.  Relax and calm down Jay, play like you know how to play and get us some money for diabetes.

Big Day of Shopping Today

Chris Stocker

Today I am going to the Sawgrass Mills, in about 20 minutes, so I don’t have much time to type this post, but I want to get it in as fast as I can, so sorry if there is any grammar or spelling errors.  I need to go so I can get some new “dress” clothes.  At my previous job there was not really a dress code, I went to work in beach shorts, a tee and usually flip-flops, and a backwards hat.  I had some stuff that I wore to conferences or meeting  days or whenever I had to dress up, but not enough.  And since I’ve been unemployed I have put a lot of weight on, even though I have so much more time for exercising, but that’s a different story for a different day.

I hate going shopping.  For one, I hate spending money, I wish I didn’t have to spend money ever, like I’m sure we all do.  I hate trying clothes on because of my pump.  You have to connect / disconnect, make sure it doesn’t fall out of your pocket.  Then clothes don’t fit because I just ate at the food court about 10 minutes before that.  I just hate it.  Now, take me to look at new shoes and you can’t get me out of the place.

Well, Amanda is ready to go now, so that ends this post.  Have a great weekend all.

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