Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Post #180...on ice!

Wow, 180 postings so far. Not bad, considering how sporadically I update this thing sometimes.

For those of you curious from yesterday, no, the stupid phone call still did not come. I still have until about 6pm to get the call, but it would be even MORE stupid if the call didn't come this week. I was promised. Grrr.

In happy diabetes-friendly news, if you live in one of the many eastern states where you can find Rita's Italian Ices, you already know how tasty they are, and how guilty you can feel eating them. However, Rita's now has a few different varieties of sugar-free ices! They're not entirely carb-free, as they contain some kind of sugar alcohol, but according to the nutritional info on their website, they all clock in at just under 6 grams of carbs a cup, no matter what cup size you get. There are mere fractions that separate the carbs in a regular from the carbs in a large.

I happened to get myself a regular-sized SF cherry today and brought it home. Looking up the number of carbs, I did a little happy dance for how few I found there. I wished I had bought a larger size, but shrugged it off and happily chowed down.

Oh water ice, you make me very happy.

Now if only the phone would ring.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Bumping My Own Stuff

Hey guys, I don't tend to cross-promote my own posts around here, but I made a post this weekend that I absolutely had a ball writing, and since I know a lot of folks read more during the week than on weekends, I thought I'd bring it back to everyone's attention. Follow the link for a laugh.

Let's just say I happened to watch a Lifetime movie, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head from rolling so much.


Meanwhile, it's not every day your diabetes educator buys you a high-fat, delicious lunch. Today I had a cheesesteak, thanks to Gary, and learned more about advanced bolusing features. But Hannah, you say, haven't you been pumping for something like 8 years? Why do you need to learn about that stuff? It's simple--I need to know it. When I got my first pump, nobody I worked with in my medical team seemed interested in tweaking temp basals or combination boluses. When I got my second pump, it was kind of a rocky time for seeing a doctor at all. It was towards the end of college and into my move to Delaware. Besides, the majority of endos, in my experience, are only interested in your pump basics--your regular basals and boluses.

So now, I'll be playing around with temp basal rates, for example a temp rate for eating out at a restaurant, a temp rate for if I drink any alcohol, etc. I'm also going to try and use the combination bolus on a more regular basis. Who eats a lot of pasta and rice? Oh, yes, that'd be me. I think in the next couple of weeks I'll try toying around with Symlin again. I've had excellent results with it in the past. I just have to keep it up!

I was hoping to share some cool news with you all today, but I am still waiting on a phone call that I seemed certain of. Maybe tomorrow. Go read my other post! :)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

A Lunch Lost

It seems appropriate to preface this post with a quote from Family Guy. I tried to find a video clip and failed miserably, so you'll just have to imagine the whole thing. Keep in mind this little snippet has a big ol' laugh track behind it...

Announcer: We now return to Girlfriends, on Lifetime.
Woman 1: Barry was over last night and he--
Woman 2: Don't tell me.
Both: He left the toilet seat up!
(laughs)
Woman 2: Oh, I ran into Frank. It's funny, he fought in Vietnam, he's an exorcist, but there is one thing that terrifies him.
Both: Commitment!
(laughs)
Woman 1: Oh, Midge. You're my 3rd best friend in the whole world.
Woman 2: 3rd? Who're the first 2?
Woman 1: Ben and Jerry!
(laughs)
Announcer: Lifetime. Television for idiots.

So here's the deal: has anyone seen any part of this horrible movie called "A Family Lost" on Lifetime? Oh good golly I wanna bottle this thing and sell it as a Cheez Whiz alternative, and I could only stomach about 15 minutes of it, hence the title above.

It's Saturday. I'm in between watching hockey games. I pause on Lifetime for no good reason, and I wonder what's going on. There's a woman talking to her boyfriend, and her snippy 13-year-old (are there any other kinds?) runs off to IM someone goodbye. They are leaving for a trip to Alaska. I begin to wonder what the issues are in this particular piece of Lifetime gold. Is the girl talking to a pedophile? Is mom's boyfriend a pedophile? Or just a regular psychopath? After the girl clicks her laptop closed, we hear a beeping noise. She lifts her shirt so we can see what seems to be a big, white circular piece of tape with a wire running into a fanny pack that she's wearing. It's stuck a few inches from her belly button. She unzips the fanny pack, and we see what appears at a quick glance to be a OneTouch UltraSmart meter lying face up on top of something.

"No!" I squeal aloud. "No way! Is she? Really?"

"What are you freaking out about over there?" asks Matt from his post at his computer on the opposite side of the stairs.

"Don't bother coming over. I know you're going to hate it already, but I am totally watching a Lifetime movie where this girl seems to be diabetic, and I think she's gonna get involved with a pedophile!"

"Oh God," he answers.

"This is blog comedy gold!" I cry out, and actually pick up a notebook and start scribbling quotes so I can fill you all in on how awful this really is.

The mother and daughter are packing up the car, and in true diabetes mom fashion, she checks with her daughter to make sure her diabetes supplies are in order. Which, is fairly realistic, except this is how it goes:

Mom: Do you have your pump?
Kid: (dramatically sighing, as all TV teenagers do in TV movies) Yes. (dramatically rolling her eyes)
Mom: Hey now, you know that pump helps you monitor your blood sugar better than ever!

It's no wonder people think that when you get an insulin pump, you're set for life. Apparently they monitor your blood sugar...and they do it MORE accurately than your meter, which is still in your pump-toting fanny pack. And, um, "Do you have your pump?" Generally speaking, I don't think most moms of kids with diabetes need to ask them if they have their actual pump. All accessories relating to the pump, yes, but the thing itself? I'm going to assume no. Moms, feel free to correct me if necessary.

It comes out that mom's new boyfriend helped pay for the pump. I wonder if maybe this movie has nothing to do with pedophilia, but everything to do with divorced moms with no health insurance, which wouldn't make the movie NEARLY so awful. Then the mom asks the daughter if she remembered to bolus.

For what? I ask myself. We didn't see her eat, and we didn't actually see her meter give her a blood glucose reading. Plus, isn't this pump supposed to monitor her blood sugar, therefore giving her the correct amount of insulin automatically? Maybe they did do their homework after all.

Foiled again! The daughter replies with, "Ugh, do I have to wear this thing all the time?" I think it's made pretty clear to type 1 kids that yes, you have to wear your pump all the freakin' time. What a whiny brat. Daughter shall hereby be known as Brat.

Boyfriend is going to meet up with Mom and Brat in Alaska. Mom and Brat get on plane. Attractive stranger also gets on plane. Brat gets snippy again with Mom. Big surprise. Mom, giving her best teeth-gritting grin, says, "Claire, what is with you today?" Brat does not answer. I assume it's high blood sugar. Lord knows that's when I get really testy. Attractive Stranger strikes up a convo with Brat, and he distracts her with some kind of a men's celebrity magazine. The dude on the cover is either the Attractive Stranger himself or some kind of eerie combination of one of the Jonas Brothers and Jorge Ramon, a stylist I've seen on some TLC makeover shows like 10 Years Younger. Why does he have a magazine that a teenager wants to look at? Maybe this dude is the pedophile I've been waiting for!

Brat quickly tires of the magazine, probably because it contains, like, ugh, actual, like words. Ew. You can't expect her to like, want to read? She's, ugh, like thirteen? She wanders off to the tiny private plane's cockpit and starts interrogating the poor pilot. What does this button do?

Attractive Stranger strikes up a conversation with Mom. She gazes deeply into his handsome eyes, perhaps her bosom is heaving beneath her conservative suburban soccer mom sweater. He says, "I notice your daughter is wearing a medical device. Is it serious?"

"It's her insulin pump for type 1 diabetes," Mom answers. "It's not easy, but we make the best of it." Amazingly, something sage from an otherwise ridiculous bit of television.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit: What does that button do? What is that light for?

That light means something is wrong! Oh noes! The plane is gonna crash! Everyone get in your seat and put your head in your lap and...

I am honestly waiting for the kid to instantly have a low blood sugar and a seizure at the same time as the plane is going down.

I can't take it anymore. I have to change the channel. I have to come over here to the computer desk and look for a plot synopsis. Turns out, the Boyfriend is going to come to everyone's rescue, but oh ho! He's actually a psychopath who is going to kill them all for the government secrets he's hidden in the lame-o teddy bear backpack he gave to the Brat in the car-loading scene! And he's not afraid to take her insulin as a means to get what he wants!

I am so sad to be missing this piece of riveting television. I think the thing I hate the most about Lifetime movies is that they take 2 whole hours. I just want to see the trashiest bits, one after the other. I want to see if we see the Brat's insulin pump. I want to watch the Boyfriend wildly waving his plastic gun about, holding a vial of Humalog hostage. It's your call as to whether the vial is wearing a tiny blindfold. Can't I just get the soap opera version of this in an hour? I want the Brat to have some kind of "insulin reaction/shock/coma/diabetic ketoacidosis" whatever the writers decide to name it so we can see if they did 3 minutes of research on Wikipedia about diabetes.

If you happen to see "A Family Lost" on Lifetime, make sure you can quickly zap back and forth to it while some better TV show's commercials are on. I think it would be good for an eye roll, a laugh, and maybe a bit of a bratty attitude for anyone who knows anything about Type 1.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Brutal Honest Tea

Strolling through my grocery store of choice yesterday, I happened to take a trip through the organic and natural foods section. There I found plenty of interesting and tasty-looking delights, including some that made me giggle, such as a line of gluten-free frozen foods from a company called Amy's Kitchen, which of course I found amusing because the Amy most of us d-bloggers know best would most likely appreciate some gluten-free mac-n-cheese every now and then. Heck, her name is literally all over it!

Of course, there was Pirate's Booty and other organic and natural delights, but I found myself taken with the tea section. I am definitely a tea drinker, though I'm not a habitual one. I don't drink it every single day, but I know it's delicious, and it's also a habit that might be fun to pick up again. I love mint tea especially, and while I was in Austin over the summer, I had some really tasty hibiscus tea. I got to try bubble tea for the first time about 2 weeks ago. (And for those of you keeping track, no, I don't know how much sugar it had in it, but the sample was about 2-3 tablespoons of tea with like 3 balls of tapioca, and I had been walking all afternoon. Get over it!) None of the tasty tea bags were on sale, which I suppose isn't the end of the world. The weather is warm and I wanted some iced tea anyway.

I moved on to the rack of bottled teas and drinks, noticing Tazo was on special. Yes, I am aware that Tazo is owned by everyone's favorite mondo-conglomo-coffee giant, Starbucks, but last summer they made a diet mint mojito green tea that was to die for. Every time I was at the convenience store that stocked it, I bought a bottle. I scanned the Tazo, every variety, black tea, green tea, herbal tea...no diet. Not a single one. I started to look over the other healthy bottled teas, and I got irritated.

The problem with "natural" teas, in my opinion, is that every one seems to pride itself on being free of artificial sweeteners. Only a handful of them are completely unsweetened. Most of them contain...that's right...SUGAR! I guess that's great and all if you don't want to pollute your hippie children with chemical sweets, but dammit, I want my Splenda! Or aspartame! I'd rather not have saccharin, but it's better than nothing. I like my iced tea sweet, so if I'm going to buy it in a convenient, already bottled format, I want it to be the way I like it.

Granted, maybe I shouldn't be looking for diet tea in the organic/natural foods section, but still...I want some diet, sweet, tasty tea.

Now, I appreciate that Honest Tea makes a lot of their teas "just a tad sweet", meaning the entire 16 oz. bottle has only between 18 and 30 grams of carbs, all of which come from real sugar, not corn syrup. It means once in a while, I wouldn't feel guilty about indulging. But when I'm thirsty, I don't really want to down something that will only make me super-thirsty later because of the nasty high blood sugar it will cause me if I don't take my insulin fast enough.

I just want a bottle of fancy, high quality tea that tastes better than the overly-fake-fruity flavors of diet Lipton or diet Snapple. Granted, I like both of those, but there are so many better-quality bottled teas on the market right now for the non-diet-drinkers, when will the rest of us get our chance? There are like 85 new varieties of diet soda, it seems, but when do we get some new varieties of diet tea?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Relief.

Thank you, kind federal government, for the tax return. It was really just what we needed. Certainly, there are a lot of things that you do that I do not always agree with, but having some extra cash is great because finally, I can get that PA driver's license and get the car registered and inspected. Then I no longer have to worry about the fact that I've been driving around for 3 months on an expired DE tag. At least I'm insured in PA. Sigh.

No thanks to the state government of Delaware, to whom we owe 400 big ones. If you want to know what the disadvantage is to living in a state without sales tax, there you go.

Also, I have been able to buy myself some new clothes for the warmer weather. There are older clothes I'm just not fond of that I will be getting rid of in exchange, probably taking them down to the local thrift store as a donation. I am still searching for some good capri pants/bermudas.

I am also still shopping around for an even more elusive outfit than the interview outfit--the SECOND interview outfit. I already know I'll be having one for the interview I went on yesterday; the HR guy called and told me so. Yay! Exciting! However, I know I don't want to wear the same outfit I showed up in the first time. I'm just trying to find a different top to wear with my suit, maybe a skirt instead of my black pants. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be as elusive as the previous outfit searches...you all remember the Christmas party dress search and the suit search.

I am getting back into a routine of going to Curves with regularity. I hope to work up to my previous best of three times a week, maybe building up to 4 or 5. I think it may be easier to go work out once I finally get a job because I can just stop by on my way home every day. Throw those sweats and sneaks in the backseat of my car. I don't really like obsessing about my body, but I know there are some lumpy bits in my thighs that go away if I work out regularly, and I know there are some steep blood sugars that also go away if I exercise. There are tons of good reasons to do it.

Spring has finally sprung around here. I'm in the mood to get some flowers and plant them. We have boxes along our deck and some space out front. Maybe this coming weekend.

My spirits are really lifted this week.

What good has spring done for you so far?

Thursday, April 17, 2008

My Many Loves

So I was all, "Uhhhh I don't know what to post about today" until I read this post by Allison. I have decided to take on the challenge myself, so here it goes.

The rules: Make a list of your loves. The only catch? You can’t include a single person you know on your list. No “I love the way my husband laughs” or “I love hearing my little girl call for me.” It’ll be tough, I know. But this particular little exercise is about stripping away everyone who defines you and figuring out what you (not his partner; not their mother/daughter/sister/friend) love.

I love reading. If I go into a bookstore, I love the smell of all the new books. If I go into a library, I love the fact that it somehow brings me comfort. Back in elementary school, I would sneak extra books in so I could read them in between classwork assignments, and sometimes I'd even read them when I should have been paying attention to other things, like, say, a math lesson. I'm still not so good at math. I love magazines, websites, blogs.

I love writing. I love opening up a brand new notebook and putting something on paper, and if I run out of inspiration, sometimes I can find new inspiration by starting in a fresh notebook. I love being able to keep this blog. I love knowing that my words alone can make a difference. I love it when a good story comes together. I love poems that make the audience laugh, think and then laugh again.

I love a good drive with the windows open and/or the top down on a sunny day, whether I'm driving or not. I love going to cities and people watching there. I love being able to feel the vibe of a place I'm visiting. I'm a terrible swimmer, but I love the water. Sitting or walking by it seems so peaceful and refreshing. I love the relaxed feeling I get in a pool or a hot tub. I love looking at waterfalls. I love the beach. Maybe it's all because I'm an Aquarius?

I love the arts. Sure, you know that I love writing and reading, but I love the theater, music, museums. I love when an image has an impact on me. I love the amped-up feeling I get after seeing a really great play or musical. I love concerts--the energy, the music, the prime people watching, the dancing.

I love cute animals. Petting cats makes me happy. If I have a crappy day, I love going to the pet store and looking at the animals. Puppies, kittens, bunnies, guinea pigs...they can improve my outlook somehow. I love the zoo, too!

I love a great glucose reading. I love watching a great movie or a TV show. I love a delicious dinner, or lunch, or breakfast. I love going to diners. I love cream chipped beef on toast, which is apparently somewhat of a regional favorite in Pennsylvania. I love playing video games, even if I suck at them. I love a really great-fitting pair of pants or a particularly flippy skirt. I love wearing makeup, even though I don't always do it regularly, and I especially love a bright, crazy eye color or lipstick shade, but not in combination unless there's an 80's theme party or something. I love the smell of vanilla. I love lime-flavored anything.

I love Scrabble and Spades. I love hugs and helping others. I love coffee and tea. I love diet soda. I love string cheese. I love to laugh. I love taking pictures that others compliment. I love zines, even though I've never made one myself. I still love swingsets and sock puppets and stuffed animals.

I love having a big brain, and I love using it. I love writing meme posts sometimes so the readership can learn more about what makes me tick. I love so much more than I can fit in this meme right now!

So...what do you love?

Monday, April 14, 2008

Quiet Things That No One Knows

You wouldn't know about it just to look at me. On the surface, I'm a bubbly, perky, frequently sarcastic 20-something writer. I like bright colors. I like performing my poetry for people. I like listening to indie rock, punk, and a zillion other kinds of music. I love movies. I drive a Saturn. I have a great husband, and I still sometimes develop a crush on every other guy I meet.

Some people have been surprised to find out that I have diabetes. Others have known it all along, like my friends whose parents began stocking diet sodas and low-sugar snacks, knowing I'd be coming to hang out with their kid, wanting me to just feel normal, happy and welcomed.

Sometimes, it gets tiresome having to explain to various folks what kind of diabetes I actually have, trying to sum up how I take care of myself in a one-and-a-half minute statement, but I still don't mind telling my friends. They occasionally apologize for prying, or for asking too many questions, but I am always happy to know that the people I'm closest to really care about me. They care enough to know what it is I have to go through every day. They want to know what to do if there's an emergency, because usually, the only diabetes most people know about, at least in my personal experience, is a relative's Type 2. They are surprised and intrigued to know how Type 1 is so much different.

No, I can't be cured by eating cinnamon-coated broccoli. No, I can't be cured by losing weight and exercising, but that never hurts. And really, no diabetic can ever be fully "cured" anyway, at least not now. Drugs won't make my pancreas work. I'm a different breed.

I'd never heard of diabetes when I was diagnosed in 1990. I was 8 years old, less than two months from starting 3rd grade. I don't really remember much about my diagnosis. I know I was horribly sick, in full-blown DKA, and my veins were collapsed so they had to put my IV in by making an incision in my ankle. I still have the one-inch scar there to prove it. I remember everyone sending me balloons and get-well-soon gifts. I remember receiving stuffed animals, a snow globe, sets of markers to color with. I remember being woken up constantly for a nurse to take some blood or give me a finger stick--some of the nurses had worked with my aunt or my grandmother in the past, and would chat with me, while others would just tell me what a brave little solider I was. I remember spending one morning hyperventilating because something was wrong with my potassium levels, and how scared I was at that moment, because no one seemed to be able to explain to me what was going on.

I think that lack of understanding was the most frustrating part of my diagnosis. There are two distinct memories I have from that time. One was being pushed in my wheelchair up and down a set of ramps downstairs at the hospital, which I thought was just the most fun thing I could possibly do. The other, was one day, my mom was sitting at my bedside, and I just remember her crying and crying. I said to her, thinking I was so sage in my 8-year-old wisdom, "Mom, I'm still here. You're crying like somebody died."

She misheard me, and responded, with even MORE tears in her eyes, "No, honey, you're not going to die."

I realized now that I cannot even begin to imagine what my Mom was going through then. I was young enough and bright enough that it was easy for me to accept my diagnosis: you have diabetes, you're going to do all these strange, foreign and sometimes painful things if you want to feel good, be healthy, and live a long life. I was sold, and I knew I was lucky. I was fortunate enough to have a condition that would allow me to keep living, just so long as I took care of myself. I was frustrated one day because an older person asked me if I had "the sugar". What the? was all I could think. I became quickly acquainted with the concepts of forbidden foods, and I could read a food label faster than any other elementary school kid that I knew. I knew, even at an early age, that most people didn't understand diabetes very well. When you were young, at least back then, most people were correct to assume that you needed shots.

My doubts, anger and frustration with my own diabetes didn't come until much later, and I am still dealing with them now. They are the reasons why I took a chance on a different company's insulin pump. They are the reasons why I sought out the services of a really great, proactive CDE. They are sometimes the reasons why I need to take anti-depressants. Now that I'm older, I realize how frustrating explaining one's diabetes can be, especially when type 2 gets all the publicity, and the type 1 publicity features lots of cute little kids, because let's face it, it's the combo of their adorable mugs and their grown-up bravery that draws the donations.

I don't want diabetes to always be a part of my life. I don't want it to have to be a part of anyone's life. I know how to live with it, but I want to know what it's like to live without it as an adult. I remember a few short years of my life without checking my glucose, or having an endocrinologist, or taking insulin, but I don't always count on those things ever happening. I want to see a cure, or at least a closed-loop system in my lifetime.

My name is Hannah. I have type 1 diabetes, and I want others out there to know that it's not always easy. That's why I write this blog--to share all aspects of my life with diabetes, to know that I'm not alone by sharing in a community, and to give hope to those anonymous lurker parents and kids out there. We can live really great, healthy lives with Type 1 Diabetes.

We are all just waiting for the day when we can simply live great, healthy lives.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Procrastination.

I should be cleaning right now. My father- and brother-in-law are coming tonight for a visit, and the place, as usual, is kind of a wreck. Instead, I shall procrastinate because I haven't blogged enough this week, as I've mentioned previously.

I've had 3 job interviews this week alone, with three more next week and one the following Monday. I am one in-demand lady! You know, sometimes my worries about the job search seem silly, like, "What if I'm asked to take more than one of these jobs, and then I have to make a decision? What if I can't decide? What if neither of them is good? What if both of them are great?" Matt says I need to stop worrying, because really, all of those are good things. I tend to agree, but I'm a worrier by nature.

I don't want to say too much about anything right now, but I will say that a lot of the jobs I'm interviewing for seem pretty decent, and one sounds like a dream job. But of course, how many other dream jobs have I not gotten in the past few months. You see my dilemma. Everybody just think positive things for me! Gooooo dream job! Really, it sounds so great that if on the off chance I'd land another job first, then have it offered to me later, I'd leave the first job.

I can only hope it would be that good. I haven't met with the company yet.

My new pump is awesome so far. I think today I may have to put in a new cartridge. All that practicing yesterday at Gary's lost me several units of insulin, but thankfully, it was the office's, not anything that I paid for! I am using Apidra in it at the moment. As Gary tends to do, he presented me with the opportunity to use it, and I said, "Sure, I'll try it!" I'm somewhat experimental like that. I think I am loving the Cozmo already because it makes me more conscious of what I'm doing.

The MiniMed had a manual bolus option that I think I was abusing. Too often I was guessing how much insulin I'd need for a meal, or even worse, I'd guess that my blood sugar was high on feeling alone and I'd bolus a bit. I realize now that I think I spent more time than I was aware of thinking, "Pick a number! Any number!" The Cozmo forces me to bolus based on only carbs and corrections. Plus, knowing how flexible my dosing options are means I don't feel like occasionally ignoring my snacks. So what if I need a huge bolus? I have the convenience of being able to deliver it all at once. I have options on how I want the bolus delivered, how long it's going to take. If I need a temp basal, I can pick from a list of temp basals with names that I give them!

Best of all, and lucky for me, my #1 support person wears the exact same pump. I can't stop raving about my Cozmo! Ack!

I best be off...the living room desperately needs picked up and the desk is buried in 2 inches of stuff. Plus, I need to go load up a cartridge and check my glucose. I hope everybody out there has a sweet weekend (ha, get it?) planned.

Come back on Monday and Raise Your Voice!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

It's A Pump!

So far, I love this lil guy! Of course, it's been less than 12 hours, but still. I delivered a lunch bolus and a correction in no time flat. This thing is, to quote Nigel after telling him about the quickness of the delivery, the "speed metal of insulin pumps"! Rock and roll!!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Mini's Last Stand

Where have I been? I haven't updated in a few days.

I've been...

1.) interviewing for jobs
2.) getting my taxes done
3.) running a ton of errands
4.) playing too much Animal Crossing: Wild World on Nintendo DS (anybody wanna visit each other's towns?)
5.) trying to figure out where that funky smell in the living room/dining room is coming from.
6.) getting ready to start on my Cozmo!

That's right, tomorrow is Training Day (with Gary, not with Denzel)! 9am, I'll be in Gary's office with a bagful of Cozmo stuff, ready to learn and start anew. It came on Monday, all shiny and blue in its brightly colored box. The user's manual is a lot bigger than I was expecting. I am still not sure if I'll be using the CozMonitor along with it, but I do have the RF adapter for the computer and the CozManager software, but I think Gary has something else I can use in the software department. We'll see what he says tomorrow. I am completely thrilled that I will finally be able to deliver the correct boluses, basal rates, and carb ratios without having to do math in my head or whip out a calculator!

Why? Minimed only has boluses up to 25 units, and carb ratios are only as low as 1 unit :3 grams. My carb ratio is currently 1:2.5 (resistant much? moi?), so you can see why I have some issues.

My poor Minimed is not going down without a fight, however. Three 'No Delivery' alarms yesterday for no reason. I think he knows something's up. I haven't let on that he's being replaced--hopefully he can't read! Me and my ol' pump pal have had a great 4 year run. Now it's time for the new kid to step up to the plate. I have nothing against Medtronic Minimed. I've been satisfied with their products until their ideas of what were good amounts/ratios no longer fit with my own body's needs.

I kind of compare it to someone saying, "Hey, you can keep driving that ol' Saturn of yours around town, or we could give you this nice new Honda Civic Hybrid for no charge!"

I just wish the deal came with an actual Civic Hybrid. Oh well--my little Saturn is still my chariot.

Can't wait to update you all on the NEW PUMP SITUATION! Woo hoo!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Things Don't Always Work Out, and That's Cool

I'll get the bad news out of the way. I didn't get the cool job I was hoping for, but my seeing awesome bands yesterday completely made up for it. It was truly the best concert I've been to in months.

Had a phone screen for another job today. Applied for two or three more. It's the weekend, and I'm not going to dwell on the bad stuff.

On the positives, after all the dancing, bouncing and bopping I did last night (3 bands' worth--over two, possibly three hours!), I woke up with a nice BG of 94! Yay! Speaking of bands, my hubby and my roommate are in one. They are playing again tonight, so it'll be nice to hang out/rock out with some friends. Here they are in action, almost a year ago. They've since added a second drummer for super-heaviness. Nigel's on the left, Matt's on the right, JW is the percussionist, or the guy in the middle, whichever you prefer.

Pre-Revolution: Mojo 13 5.5.07


Silly weekend pop quiz question: if you were going to start a diabetes-themed band, what would you name it, and what kind of music would you play? (And no, your answer cannot be 'The Jonas Brothers'!)

Thursday, April 3, 2008

"They Can Knock All of My Doors Down, but I Won't Say a Word..."

I've said it before, but it's always worth repeating: I love music. I can get pretty passionate about my favorite bands. In college, I wrote plenty of music reviews for the school newspaper, attempting (sometimes in vain) to get the otherwise indifferent kids at our college to listen to something besides what they were hearing on the radio.

I try not to be an indie snob, you know, one of those people who thinks anything on a major label is trash. I try to keep an open mind about whatever it is that I'm listening to. I think I was even chided slightly by some of you readers once for not listing a country band in my list of favorite bands.

All in all, if there were no music in my life, I'd be one unhappy Hannah. It's been kind of a grey, cloudy week here mentally, so I am beyond excited that I get to go catch one of my favorite bands tonight at a bar in Philadelphia, Murder by Death. Murder by Death is hard to describe, but in short, they play almost alt-country, dark Americana punk. I say "punk" because as a band, they seem to just continue to sneer at anyone's idea of what they are.

Every time I've seen MBD, they've been opening or co-headlining with some other band that has fans who don't seem to get it. They were there to see Thursday or This Day Forward, they were there to mosh and scream, and suddenly this band comes out on the stage with a cello player and a singer who sounds reminiscent of Johnny Cash. The thing that I think is really great about MBD is that they get themselves invited to be on all these crazy tours--it's not some label-specific pairing. There is a mutual appreciation between all these bands, and sometimes that just goes over your average sixteen-year-old emo kid's head. Curious? Check out this video:



All I know is this music makes me happy from my head to my toes, which will be collectively bobbing and tapping for most of the evening. No job yet? No problem. It can wait for another day because I'm going to be surrounded by sounds that I love and the friends I most want to share them with. It's a beautiful thing.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

On Hold.

I keep staring at the phone, occasionally shooting a glare in its general direction. Why? Because it's not ringing.

When it does ring, it's not who I'm hoping to hear from.

I want my phone to ring. I want it to be Smiths Medical calling to say that the insurance company has come to their senses.

Yeah, I haven't mentioned that yet, but my insurance will cover my new pump at 100%, but they don't want to pay for a new pump at all if the one I have is still working. Sure, it works, but not in a way that's any longer optimal for me. I came up with a list of anything that could potentially be "wrong" with it. Yes, it still basically does what I need it to, but the fact that my pump has a high-pitched hum when you turn on the backlight is a bit of a concern. Sometimes the motor sounds a little old and grindy. I hope these facts will convince my insurance that I need a new pump ASAP.

I want it to ring, and I want it to be someone telling me that I'm hired. I had a great interview just before Easter, and I am still clinging to the hope that I'm the one they want. I feel like this is one of those jobs where rejection will certainly cause me some tears. I thought things went perfectly. I'm just hoping this organization agrees with me.

When my phone rings, I want it to be my husband, because I could use some cheering up right about now.

And when the heck is the dentist's office going to call me? If they don't call back, they took all my insurance info for nothing. Woo hoo.

It's amazing how one little object can feel like the very thing keeping your entire life on hold.

Edit, 12:25pm: Smiths called! The insurance is paying for my pump, and it's coming Monday! YAAAYYY!