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Life is what happens- Type 1 Diabetes
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. John Lennon, “Beautiful Boy“ Do you ever think back about those things you were planning to do when you were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes? I know many of us can recite where and when we were diagnosed from memory. I know I can, “Disney world, June 1974 ” I remember it like it was just yesterday. I was 17 and getting ready for a life of politics. I thought I wanted to go to Washington to join a high powered political consultant and manage campaigns for other...
read moreBe Positive?
Has anyone ever told you to be positive when you feel ill? Often in my life this has happened. Usually my blood sugar is so high I cannot see, or my joints hurt so badly I can barely walk. But just be positive. Really, be positive? I have nothing against being positive. I want to be positive. I want to be happy, chipper, full of life. A fellow blogger once said my blogs needed to be more upbeat if I wanted an audience. Maybe they are correct, after all I could use more readers. But here is the thing I write how I feel and some days I feel...
read moreDriving in Reverse
How is your driving these days? Not the car, or truck, but your diabetic driving. How is that going? Have you stopped your diabetic drive and wondered where it is going? I know sometimes when I have examined my diabetic driving I have found I was driving in reverse. You know what I mean by driving in reverse? That is, you feel burned out, overwhelmed, overtaxed, fed up with the whole mess. Driving in reverse There is a terrific story and metaphor about driving in reverse. It comes to us from the author Sherman Alexie, and was first expressed...
read moreShould a man be tested for osteoporosis?
I thought so. My doctor thought so, but the medical assistant as I checked out said men do not get osteoporosis and wondered why I got tested. She, like way too many, was completely misinformed. Men do get osteoporosis. Granted, most of the risk factors for osteoporosis are female specific. These include early menopause, thinness or small frame, being postmenopausal and particularly having had early menopause, and abnormal absence of menstrual periods (amenorrhea) (NIH). Risk Factors But not all risk factors relate to women. There...
read moreMisplaced?
Oh, how many times since I was diagnosed with RA or diabetes have I felt misplaced? If you have been struggling with RA or diabetes for a while like me, then it has to be a lot. I feel misplaced when it is sunny and bright and I feel awful and just cannot go outside. I feel it when others are eating ice cream, my blood sugar is soaring and I cannot bring myself to even look at it. I feel misplaced, when my eyes are blurry, my hands hurt or my feet are swollen like two balloons. I am misplaced when my back, jaw, arms and knees feel like I...
read moreTUdiabetes interview with Scott Johnson
Interview conducted June 30, 2015 By Rick Phillips
read moreFive Stages of Acceptance
I have been a person with diabetes more than 40 years, and I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) for about 15 years. During that time I have come to understand that disease is as much an emotional journey as a physical one. The emotional journey is often a twisted road with many detours. I believe it is one all people with chronic disease must undertake in order to maximize their life. It is generally agreed that there are five stages of grief. Readers might ask how being diagnosed with a chronic disease equates to grief. Grief occurs anytime...
read morePoppa Palooza 2015
This past Sunday (June 21, 2015) my family and I celebrated Poppa Palooza. You ask what is Poppa Palooza? Well it is a combination of my 58th birthday (commonly known as date of gift), Father’s day, my dianniversary, longest day of the year, and first day of summer. It was and is a remarkable day. These confluence of events occurs every seven years and is always cause for extra celebration. Since it is so rare I want to explain. Poppa First thing to know is that I am Poppa. I have been called many things in my life, but Poppa is the name I...
read moreChasing Bubbles
Have you ever felt like you are chasing bubbles? Good grief I feel like I am chasing bubbles all the time. Diabetes Bubbles This morning at 2:30 AM my pump alarmed and let me know that my blood sugar has broken the bank. In other words, I was over 250 and rising. Yet last night I was low after riding my bicycle, and slipping to 58. Ugh. So today was a rebound high, but it was high none the less. Folks sometimes advise that we not treat rebound highs. For me a high is a high and I hate highs. They make me feel yucky and besides the CGM would...
read moreI used to love spring rains.
I especially loved the gentle water falling that would soak my yard and that sound so pleasant on the roof. This was especially true as a boy when I would camp out. There is something dangerous yet tamed about being inside a canvass tent with the gentle rain falling on the fabric. It was soothing for my spirit to hear those rain drops. In 1973 and 1974 I had the privilege of backpacking in New Mexico the first year for 12 days and the second for a full month. (People who know my history probably find that interesting since I was diagnosed...
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