Advice Needed

Over the weekend I attended the ADA Diabetes Expo here is sunny Southern California. My main reason for going was to hang out with my friends Jaimie and Cherise and their kids. We also met up with Jenny who is a twitter pal of ours so I had lots of reasons to go.

I have been to one of these before and it was a total let down. A lot of people looking for free stuff. A lot of things for the newly diagnosed which is great for them but for me, it always was a let down.

This one was no different.

I understand that the epidemic is in Type 2 diabetes and not Type 1 although our numbers are on the rise. Still, I always feel so out of place at diabetes conventions, events, and classes because they tend to focus on Type 2 stuff. We do have many things in common but still we have different diseases.

Don’t get me wrong Type 2’s I have all the love for you! It is just kind of a bummer because I sometimes get the sense that there is some big wig somewhere saying, “Well those type 1’s can never get off of insulin so lets pump up the type 2’s. At least they have a chance of avoiding the dreaded shots!”

When someone gets diagnosed with type 2 the first thing they want to know is how they can avoid shots. “Yeah but if I exercise and eat right I won’t have to take shots right?” That question gets thrown my way a lot and I guess I would ask it too. It just sucks because I have no choice.

Type 1’s have no choice.

Alright, this is going where I did not mean it to but I believe everything happens for a reason so I will not delete my rambling above and carry on.

**Back at the expo**

So Jaimie was talking to a representative from Medtronic and I saw her reference me to the rep. I walked over to meet her and here is how the conversation went.

“Hi I’m George.”

“I’m Kelly. So which model are you using?” Jaimie told her that I was a Minimed user.

“The 722.”

“Oh do you have the sensors?”

“I do not.”

“How come?” When she said this I almost slapped her. I mean, I thought, “really is she asking me this?”

“Well, I was speaking to a representative a while ago about it but I have not heard back from her so I have no clue what is going on.”

“Which insurance do you have?”

“Blue Cross.”

“Oh well they’ll cover it. As long as you are a type 1 and have at least 3 lows under 50 in a month.”

“I do and I know. I sent all that stuff in. Apparently the problem is with my medical group and not insurance. But I have no clue what is going on.”

“Which medical group is it?” I noticed her voice got quiet.

“Bright Medical Group.”

“Wait. What is your name?”

“George Simmons.”

“George! It’s Kelly! I am the sales rep you have been emailing!”

No flipping way.

And then it began. I told her how I was upset that I never heard back from her or the inside rep helping me. I explained to her that an email saying, “I am still working on it” is better then no response. I told her that I felt no love from Medtronic and that I was really upset.

She was very apologetic and assured me she would get back to me as soon as possible and that I was at the top of her inbox with a Red Flag on it so she would check on it for me first thing.

I still have not heard from her.

So now do I tell Decom to stop what they are doing? Do I tell Minimed to stop what they are doing (now that I guess they are actually still working on it) or do I just sit back and let them duke it out?

I need advice please, oh great and wise OC.

You Tube Tuesday #117

Here is an awesome version of an awesome song! 

Enjoy.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Ipod Shuffle

Cara posted a challenge to the Diabetes Online Community earlier this week. Today my good friend Karen posted her list and I wanted to join in. So below is the first 20 songs my iPod decided to shuffle in. I have also added my commentary since I can never seem to shut my mouth.

Cara’s hope is that in doing this we will learn a little more about each other.

I hope this goes good because you may not like me when you are done with this list.

1. By My Side – Godspell Soundtrack - This CD has become my life lately. Funny that this is the first in my list.
2. Beercan – Beck – This is off of Mellow Gold and it a total dance song. Love. It!
3. When I Come Around – Green Day – There is a funny theme happening.
4. Salute Your Solution – The Raconteurs – Jack White can really do no wrong in my book.
5. I Could Sing of Your Love Forever – Delirious? – Oh I feel like dancing. It’s foolishness, I know.
6. Anxiety – Black Eyed Peas – Why have I not deleted this song? LOL
7. Planet Earth – Duran Duran – The band so good they named them twice.
8. This is How We Do It – Montell Jordan – This, my friends, is a JAM!
9. Into the Mystic – Van Morrison – He is one of my favorite singers of all time.
10. With Rejoicing Hearts – Jaime Cortez – This guy came to my sister’s church and performed this song among others. It was awesome.
11. You Are My King (Amazing Love) – Newsboys – There is a lot of Christian songs shuffled in. A sign?
12. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2 – Bono is a hero of mine.
13. Island in the Sun – Weezer – I always forget how much I like them.
14. I Want It That Way – Backstreet Boys – And there it is! Hey, I WORK this song on Karaoke.
15. Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy – Glen Hansard – From one of my favorite films, “Once.”
16. Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve – Ahh, this brings back memories.
17. Is There Any Love in Your Heart? – Lenny Kravitz – This is from back when Lenny was a good musican imho.
18. Whip It – Devo – This is the strangest shuffle ever.
19. No Vaseline – Ice Cube – Yeah, he was not so nice to the fella’s from NWA but then again, I don’t think they were nice back.
20. Devil Inside – INXS – Kick is such a great album.

When you look at the first song on this list and the last one, I think you get a good picture of who I am. Not perfect. Good and Bad. This is actually a really good representation of who I am. Very eclectic and all over the place, like a DJ with ADD.

I would love to read your lists. If you have time over the weekend do one of your own and post a comment so I can check it out!

Thanks Cara for the great idea!

Echo Box

Last night Sara, Scott, and myself hopped on a little website called tokbox.com to check it out.

I heard from my good friend Ron that Tok Box was a site where you can hold video chat rooms. I thought it would be a cool idea to try a diabetes meet up online but wanted to test it out first with a few people.

The site was pretty straight forward and the video quality was a lot better then I thought it would be. After figuring out that we all needed headphones on to kill the echo from our speaker sound being caught by our mic which in turn came through the speakers which was picked up again by the mic who came through the speakers again…(That is the formula for insane echo) and there is always the buffering factor that tmana informed me about because she is awesome like that. ;)

Sara noticed that we could Tweet an invite right from the chat room. We sent a tweet and BAM, people started to join in.

IT WAS AWESOME!

Rachel, Windy, Kelly, Ninnifur, Major Bedhead, Cherise, Jaimie, Amy, tmana, Landileigh, Tim, and Mike were all in there are one point. It was awesome and a lot crazy because the echo was out of control.

Tim (aka "The Most Awesome, Feared, and Revered Timbabetic") snapped a cool picture from his desktop. Check it out.

And hopefully Sara will have some video up. I saw that idea on her brain. : )

I hope to plan more Diabetes meet-ups online like this. It felt so good to hang out and meet so many of my online friends. I know we cannot all travel the globe to meet up in real life and this was almost as cool as a real life meet up.

Having Diabetes made me feel alone for so long and this was another way to bring this community a little closer. I hope we can do this again.

I have to say……

I I I I I Lu Lu Lu Lu Ved Ved ed ed ddd I I I iii t It it it it tt.

"I Broke My G-String!"

These are all some quotations from me these last few days. I think it will give you a sense of my life.

“I feel so sick to my stomach”

“Honestly, I am so tired I could lay down on the floor right here and sleep. And cry. Cry myself to sleep.”

“I am so hungry I could eat my own foot.”

“I think my hair is almost long enough for an ‘up-do’”

“My brain will not shut off at night.”

“Some things freak me out. Like that little clip on your finger that measures oxygen. Seriously, how the hell does that work?”

“I would fling poo at her. If I was a monkey I mean. I would not fling poo as a human but as a monkey, poo would be flung.”

“A day of nothing would be so good right now.”

“You have perfected the taco shell.”

“I may pee the bed tonight. That is how tired I am.”

“The little rectangular one on the right! PLEASE step on that one!”

“Can we eat somewhere that does NOT have a commercial on TV?”

“I love you iPhone.”

**FYI - The title of this post was spoken at Church Band practice when my guitar string broke. The G string. Sorry for the visual.