"Coming Down", as sung by My A1C

I've lately found I have a good rapport with my female health care providers.  Dr. M (my endocrinologist) and I get along fabulously.  At my last visit at my primary care doc's office, Kate, who is an amazing nurse practitioner, and the office nurse both remarked that they like when I come in to see them because I make them laugh.  I think being able to be yourself around your healthcare team is a huge key to success. 

Today, I went to Dr. M's office for a checkup.  She is a very nice woman, usually on the perky side, always willing to answer my questions and often smiling at my jokes, as hinted at above.  This is good, because I'm usually nervous when I go to the endo.  Not for anything she's doing wrong, mind you.  It's just me.  Thoughts of bad A1C's or surprise bad results on other lab work make me anxious.  

I've been told a million times that I am more than an A1C.  I am more than just diabetes.  Usually, this isn't an issue for me.  I live my life, I get along, and if diabetes tries to throw me a curveball, I do my best to catch it.  But when you're staring down the barrel of an endocrinologist appointment, it's easy to catalog all the things you haven't done right, all the things that could have been so much better if you just tried.  You worry.  You wonder what all the neglect is actually doing to your body on the inside.

I have said it here a zillion times:  I am a diabetes blogger.  I am not a model diabetes patient.  I don't have an amazing A1C.  Compared to some people, I may take "a lot" of insulin.  I am definitely not getting enough exercise.  I'm not a role model--I'm just a person who is here to share her experience, to find support, oh, and to mouth off when I feel like it.  Does the world need my 2 cents about living with diabetes?  I like to think so.  I enjoy being able to lend my unique perspective to the world.

I was able to start breathing the sighs of relief early in this appointment.  My blood pressure was great.  My weight was not really any different from last visit.  The nurse didn't even make a face when my BG reading was 235 mg/dl after lunch.  Dr. M came in pretty promptly, and we started talking about doing basal tests before we make any adjustments.  We talked about how I want to continue with the Symlin, even though I had taken a break from it.  We talked about her belly!  She's expecting her second child in January.  Then I talked about the biggie.

I told her I've been thinking about a Dexcom.  She said that normally, when people want to get an insulin pump and they haven't had one before, she doesn't just let them contact the company to ask about one.  She said she likes to meet with her patients and make sure they get the training they'll actually need.  Dr. M then told me for somebody considering a CGM and a sensor, she's quite happy to write a prescription for the system without any kind of preparatory visits.  She also reassured me that if I want to get a continuous glucose monitor, the Dexcom is the way to go.  She told me it wouldn't hurt if I also find some kind of exercise that I really like and start doing it.

So I have a plan for the next few months.  I won't see Dr. M again until April, when she is back from maternity leave. 

The biggest surprise today?  The in-office A1C test.  My last A1C was 9.8.  I know, nothing to cheer about, something to improve.  Today's A1C?  9.0!  Again, not perfect, but enough to make me do a little happy dance.  That's almost down a full point!  I was smiling; Dr. M was smiling and told me that was actually a great job and way better than she expected to see given some of my numbers we had been talking about.  It may be a tiny victory, but it's a victory for me nonetheless.

As Dr. M and I said our goodbyes, she told me to keep up the good work.  She then also added, "But make sure you really enjoy your Thanksgiving!"  I told her I was looking forward to the pie.  "And you should!" she said. 


I know I need to do some serious basal tests, but you know what's amazing?  When your endocrinologist acknowledges that you shouldn't guilt yourself along through a holiday.  I may just drink a toast to Dr. M with my turkey on Thursday. 

And in case you need a reference, here is the theme song to my A1C today:

Na-No-Oh-No.

Well, gang, I blew it.  One busy weekend of running about and having a grand adventure plus a bunch of homework to catch up on means I have neglected a couple of days' worth of blog posts.  So much for a post a day.  Sigh.

It's okay, though.  It's still National Diabetes Awareness Month, I'm still ready to write, so please, do stick around, won't you?

Give Diabetes, Not JDRF, The Finger

So in the aftermath of yesterday's Type 1 Day, I've seen all kinds of cool things.  We got a shoutout on Twitter from comedian Chelsea Handler.  Mary McCormack, who plays the lead character on USA's In Plain Sight set up a donation page for the JDRF.  If that's not enough, check page three to see a donation from Edward Norton.  Yes, that Edward Norton.  (The first rule of JDRF Club is you don't talk about how you donated to JDRF Club?)  Hell, members of the DOC were featured on MSNBC today!  So proud of all of you, by the way. 

But there is one thing I've noticed in the aftermath that I find to be negative, and that's people's negative attitudes about giving diabetes the finger.  I've seen a couple people saying they found the idea mildly offensive, or they wouldn't want to share this idea with their children.

I don't think telling kids to give diabetes "the finger" was the idea in this campaign.  I'm not saying I'm a marketing professional exactly, but a large portion of my eduation was focused that way.  You don't start a campaign without knowing your target audience.  Many of us in the DOC have remarked time and again that we want the JDRF to remember all of us with Type 1.  Kids with juvenile type 1 diabetes grow up to be adults with type 1 diabetes.  I saw a statistic somewhere online that half of all new diagnoses of T1 are adults. NEWSFLASH: Adults (such as those of us in the DOC) were probably the main target of this campaign!  Maybe older kids as well, who can get in on the joke without actually being offensive. 

"Meg", the star of the Type 1 Day viral video ads, is clearly a young adult.  The ad itself is a commerical parodying 50's and early 60's-style advertising.  This ad is not really aimed at a child, though there is nothing harmful for a child to see in it.  It's obvious to me that the target audience was more like Type 3's, and of course, all the adults with Type 1 that the JDRF has been trying to better serve lately.  JDRF even has a downloadable Type 1 Toolkit for Adults.  For the record, "Meg" looks like the kind of person I'd choose to be pals with.

Maybe this just has something to do with the fact that I have rosy, chubby cheeks, and I enjoy making cheesy faces.  Like this one below.  Also, if anyone is paying attention out there, "Meg", I love your dress!  Where did you get it?  I too have an affinity for flippy skirts and black with bright colors, see?

I could be giving diabetes the finger in this photo and you'd never know it!

And guess what?  I may look cute and bubbly, but I want to give type 1 the finger, and not a big foam one.  Anytime one of us on the DOC says "Duck Fiabetes" on Twitter, we really want to say the other thing, don't we?  Grown-ups, haven't you wanted to just tell diabetes to fuck off?  For me, it's at least once a day.  I personally want to cheer the JDRF for this viral campaign, because it makes me smile and it's real talk for what grown-ups with diabetes think about, presented in a lighthearted way. 

I think the JDRF did this campaign the right way.  Notice how it doesn't have the glossy production values of some of their other videos.  This was not exactly meant to run side-by-side with Nick Jonas and sincere appeals for donations. 

I say we all give diabetes the finger.  Whatever finger we want to.  But I guess if you're too young to get into a rated-R movie without an adult, you may want to stick to the big blue foam ones.  At least cover your finger of choice with a big blue foam one so Mom, Dad and Grandma don't find out. Keep it real, kids.