Monday, August 13, 2007

A Birthday, A Poetry Slam, and A New Outlook








Dorkabetic is one year old already! How the time flies! A year ago, I was vowing to make changes, and I started in the right direction, but never really finished. However, in the meantime I've found more support, help and insight than I ever could have imagined here on the good ol' DiabetesOC. Thanks to my readers and my supporters. I keep going because of you guys.


In other news, where the heck have I been?


Why, at the 2007 National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas! Had there been free Wi-Fi at the hotel (instead of paying an arm and a leg for it every day, or $6.00 for 15 minutes in the lobby) I may have updated while I was there. First of all, Team Wilmington Delaware came in 52 out of 75! This is a personal best for any team from Delaware. We were just .3 points from placing first in our second bout, and had we pulled that one off, we would have been 31 out of 75. I'm proud of my team, proud of my friends, and proud to be a part of something so freakin' cool. I have so many new ideas floating in my head now. I can't wait to get them out and turn them into something. Also, almost all of my team climbed into bed for a video blog post, but for some reason I can't get it posted right now. I'll try and get it up in the next day or so for your giggling pleasure.

Had a visit with Nancy the NP today, the first I've seen her in ages. It's all my own fault. I am trying to nail down a routine that will finally become routine for me. I am going to try Symlin again, to see how that goes. Any tips will be greatly appreciated. I am going to also try and get more regular excercise. My wonderful hubby is going to try and exercise WITH me, because we both could really use it. Perhaps after we move sometime in the fall we can join a gym together, or the Y or something. For now, I plan on splitting my time between Curves (with just me) and the workout room at our apartment complex with Matt.

I am more than ready for improvements. Having my uncle moved to a home because of his rapidly-progressing HIV (the symptoms of which he ignored for a long time...) has sparked me to do some thinking. I have an invisible disease, but it's time it becomes more visible in my life. I can't ignore things anymore. I don't want to end up with problems that come on sooner than necessary. You might even start seeing some more posts around here analyizing numbers and other raw diabetes data.

As I move into another year of Dorkabetic, I hope I can move into a year of improving A1c's and an improving outlook on my diabetes in general. I hope that you're all looking forward to coming along on the ride with me.



3 comments:

  1. Hannah -

    Please send me an email. I have some advice for you... xx

    N

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Hannah,
    Happy 1st birthday, dorkabetic! Your post made me cry--maybe because I'm on my period, or maybe because what you said resonated with some deep part of me. I started a while ago in the right direction of making changes, seeing a CDE and new Endo, NP and joining a gym, but somehow, I self-sabbotage so damn well and have a hard time sticking with anything for very long that I don't particularly like (like exercising and seeing docs), so my sense of responsibility to myself and my diabetes waned, as it often does.

    Recently finding the diabetes OC has renewed my faith in myself and reading your blog and others makes me feel less alone, less guilty, less like a "bad" diabetic and a "bad" person, and more like a frickin' normal human being who isn't perfect.

    Awesome job on the poetry slam! I am a poet, but rather shy, so while I've always dreamed of being in a poetry slam, I've never had the guts to do it. I admire you. I'd love to read some of your stuff--or better yet, post a video of you doing your thang' on your blog (if you already have, forgive me, I'm new to your site). :)

    Rock on, Amylia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy dorkabirthday

    For Symlin my advice is start with a low dose and gradually work up. Better to underdose with insulin, because Symlin lows are HARD to treat. I'm up to about 20 units (from 5) and now I'm reducing my insulin by 25% and taking it over 2 hours. And many times that essentially gives me a flat curve.

    Then again, I can get lousy lows like the one I'm battling as I type. (I've been 55 for over 25 minutes and it's a drag.)

    Good for you, I hope this goes well.

    ReplyDelete

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