Mad

Anyone who watches financial, or political news lately - this link is worth your time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08

JDRF Kick-off speech.

It was an emotional afternoon on Tuesday. As I stated in my previous post, my father invited me to speak at the luncheon for his hospital's JDRF kick off luncheon.

As my dad said it best: "I didn't think it would be such an emotional day."

The JDRF representative who was there introduced herself and "the cause," and then played a video of a montage of interviews with local Las Vegas diabetics, none of whom were over the age of 11.

It was very difficult for me to watch these young children faced with the same disease that I have. I could relate to them on a level that I never thought a video could make me realize. Add to that the excellent production quality, wonderful editing, and slow piano music in the background, and it was The Perfect Storm of emotion for me.

I'm not much of a outwardly emotional person, but by the end of the video, my eyes were already pretty glazed up.

Next up was my father who spoke of the shock involved when their son was diagnosed, and how it has effected the entire family.

Hearing my dad talk was just piling on the tears.

By the time I got up to the podium following my dad's speech, I had tears streaming down my face. I was a mess.

It made it hard for me to read the words I had prepared, let alone even get out the few words I had to say. I won't count this is one of my most successful speeches, but I absolutely will count it as my most heartfelt presentation ever.

The speech:

What does it mean to be diabetic?

My father, whom many of you may of may not know is Michael Mericle, graciously asked me if I would speak to a group of his colleagues about what it means to be a diabetic. It’s an interesting question, and not one I’ve put a particular amount of thought into in my life. I’ve never thought much about what makes a diabetic unique when compared to someone with a normal functioning pancreas. The differences are subtle, and I hope I can share some of my experience with you.

Diabetes mellitus derives it’s name from the Ancient Greek term meaning literally “to pass through urine.” Diabetes mellitus is characterized by the loss of insulin producing beta cells of the islets of Langerhans.in the pancreas.

I’m talking to doctors and medical professionals though, and you already learned this in your Anatomy and Physiology classes.

So what does it really mean to be diabetic?

I’ve been a diabetic now for just over 13 years, or 4800 days.

That means I’ve tested my blood glucose using test strips somewhere in the neighborhood of 24,500 times.

I’ve given myself almost 15000 injections of insulin.

I’ve never been hospitalized.

I still have all functioning limbs.

I don’t wear glasses.

I have all my original organs.

I have full feeling in my fingers and toes.

I can run a mile in under 6 minutes.

I can bench press my body weight and I can squat over 300 lbs

These might all sound like trivial accomplishments, for a 31 year old, but they are milestones when you are a diabetic.

So, what does it mean to be a diabetic?

Being diabetic means going to bed with a blood glucose reading of 115 and waking up with it being 240 and not having a clue what happened over the course of the night.

Being diabetic means taking 4 units of insulin to lower the 240 blood sugar and testing 2 hours later to see that it’s now 215.

Being diabetic means taking 4 more units and testing 2 hours later and having a reading of 65, and realizing it’s going to be a long day.

Being diabetic means carrying peanut butter crackers and juice boxes with you all the time, and having to explain to your 3 year old daughter that those are “for daddy” – they aren’t snacks.

Being diabetic means waking up to a blood glucose of 115 and not going low overnight means today is going to be a good day!

Being diabetic means waking up at 3 am confused and disoriented and getting upset when you get to the fridge because you can’t find the orange juice you so desperately need to treat a hypo - because it’s hiding behind the Pepsi your friends brought over because they think diet soda tastes bad.

Being diabetic means arguing with a drink vendor at an amusement park on a hot day because you’re too indignant to pay a dollar for a cup of ice, just to keep you insulin from getting hot.

Being diabetic means a bed time glucose reading of 70 means you’re going to be up for a little longer than you wanted to.

Being diabetic means having some of the worst blood sugar days when you’re paying the most attention to your diet and your insulin…, and having some of the best when you could care less that you’re a diabetic.

Being diabetic means drinking straight vodka, not margaritas or mai tais.

Being diabetic means learning the hard way that foods containing sorbitol should be consumed judiciously.

Being diabetic means saying “SCREW IT – I’M HAVING THE MILKSHAKE” – knowing that it’s going to ruin the rest of the day.

Being diabetic means always holding out hope for a cure, but never really expecting it to happen.

Being diabetic means being aware of your body, the highs and the lows. Discerning when you’re “real people sick” and when you’re “diabetic sick.”

Being diabetic means you appreciate life differently, sometimes cautiously, but it means NEVER letting your disease control your life and never letting your guard down.

My sister has a writeup and pictures over hyah

Continuous Glucose Monitoring System - a first review

Well, it's been a week since I got Pumpified. It's time for me to sit down and share my thoughts. But first, an interesting item.

My father is the Director of Rehabilitation for a local hospital. Last week he received an e-mail from some of the other members of his hospital stating that their facility was to become a corporate sponsor for the JDRF walk, beginning next year. Since the annual JDRF walk is coming up here in Las Vegas, that means there is to be a group of people visiting their hospital as a show of gratitude for the involvement.

It was asked if there would be any of the directors who would be interested in meeting with these people during a luncheon and speaking session. My father, who along with much of my family, is a significant donor to the JDRF said he would love to speak, and - in fact - has a son who is diabetic and just that day is receiving his first insulin pump.

Low and behold, now I get roped into this and get to meet the people who are helping out one of my favorite (and most personal) causes. My father asked that I give a speech in front of a small-ish group of Executive Board and JDRF members.... yes, a speech. Me, who has a propensity to drop the f-bomb a little too frequently has been asked to be a representative of a community that I only loosely feel a part of.

I've already started drafting my speech, but it doesn't look like I'll have Mac's Keynote (their Powerpoint alternative) to hide behind, so I'll have to convert it to be audio-friendly. And not include any f-bombs.

So... back to the reason for posting. My first pump - and CGMS.

The weeks leading up to my pump were filled with a lot of anxiety, excitement and READING - oh my the reading. A very sincere HT to the many bloggers who have already shared, and continue to share their experiences with the pump.

First and foremost - the pump. Getting over the anxiety of the first canula insertion was ok - I have been around needles before, so that wasn't a big deal. What I wasn't used to was the hyper-sensitivity that I would have about the tube that is now connected to me 24/7. It's like I all of a sudden grew a fragile appendage which only existed to be bumped, yanked on, or worse - yanked out. I'm doubly paranoid about it because it is also my life line.

I wasn't prepared for this heightened awareness. I'm sure it will fade as I get more and more used to wearing my pancreas like a real man (on my pants).

My blood sugars have been remarkably good. I may need to adjust my basal rate slightly to remove some of the "creeping" that I'm observing, but overall, the spikes that I readily saw with the CGMS (as written previously) have lessened dramatically. I won't say it's perfect, as I can still jack myself up very easily by mis-counting carbs, but overall, the "direct injection" system seems to be MUCH more effecient in its delivery.

The CGMS. I have mixed emotions about this. The sensors for the Minimed system are ... well.. I'm not going to Splenda-coat this - they're shitty. I'm sure there's a lot of technology and a lot of hard work that went into the design of the transmitter / sensor combination, but seriously - GET SOME FUCKING TAPE THAT STICKS.

I've had the CGMS strapped to me for a week now, each sensor is designed to last for one week. As of an hour ago, I'm on my 4th sensor.

I attribute much of the problems I'm experiencing to the overall "wonky design" of the sensor. It is affixed at a point with an abysmally small amount of medical tape (did I mention the tape sucks?) and then is left hanging. Imagine having something about the size and weight of three quarters affixed to your body with a small wire on one side, and a piece of tape about the same size.

This "floppy" design means the wire is constantly moving in your skin, causing irritation, leading to a desire to rip the dastardly thing out after about two days.

I've been taping down the sensor with a combination of tegaderm and medical tape, but it still likes to wiggle more that I desire it to.

All things considered, the data that the sensor gives me is fun to watch. There are periods where its accuracy is lacking, but for the most part, it is within 10-20 mg/dl of my BG readings.

In summary: pumping good, sensor hurty and not sticky - but gives good data.

I give the pump a B+, and the sensor a C-. There is a lot of low hanging fruit that Medtronic could address with the senors. Hopefully the next generation of them will have a better design.

True stories

My daughter thinks that all phone can take pictures. Today she grabbed my desk phone, pointed the back on the phone at me and said, "daddy, say cheese!"

The people on speed dial were really confused.

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For the past six months, I have an old trash can that I've been putting out with the garbage every week. The sanitation employees still haven't taken it. They must think I'm a dickhead for putting out an empty trash all the time.