Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 7:00AM This is the first clip I have ever chosen with nudity in it. By nudity I mean this crazy dude's bottom, from far away (thankfully).
It was just too funny not to share.
Enjoy!
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 9:47AM Last night was a good night.
I had the best time working with my family on our Diabetes Art Day projects.
Hopefully by now you have heard about this awesome event going on all over the Diabetes Online Community. And if you haven’t you need to read this post from Lee Ann Thill.
I should tell you that I had no clue what to do for this day but I did know that I wanted to do something. I never studied art but whenever I had an assignment in school to do something artsy, I always loved it.
My daughter Gillian has always loved and enjoyed art. She likes to paint, draw, color, and even do abstract sort of things out who knows what. She has a good eye for color and her brain works in a way that is so different that I enjoy hearing her interpretation of things. She is our little Monet.
Yesterday we went to the Wal-Mart (Yikes, that store is insane) and picked up a couple of small canvases and some paint brushes. Gillian has water colors, acrylics, and pastels at home. The entire time we were in the store and in line, I was trying to decide what I was going to do. Still nothing came to my head.
When we got home we laid out all of our supplies and I sat there with a sketch pad sheet in my hand. Staring at the blank space before I attempted to let my mind drift and let my pencil start to draw but I could not bring myself to put the tip of the pencil on the paper. It was awful. I was stuck and I hadn’t even started!
I went back to Lee Ann’s blog since she is the originator of Diabetes Art Day and thought I would check around on her site for some help, and did I ever find it!
Check out these posts!
So You Say You Aren’t An Artist?
After reading those posts I realized that I just needed to start and see what happened. The belief that what ever you make is art and it’s exactly what it is supposed to be was the way I always felt but for some reason I was going in with the thought that it had to be perfect. It turns out that whatever you make is perfect. Even if what you ended up with is not what you meant to. I think there is a reason for that if you look inside deep enough.
So first I started with pastels and I loved getting my fingers into the art. Rubbing and blending colors made my brain come alive. I was so inspired and excited and really loved how what I made came out. It felt so good and it felt so simple. The image poured out of me. I stepped back and looked at it and searched for the flaws. There were many.
I saw lines that spilled into other lines, things looked messy and some of the color was way too dark for what I wanted. I was upset.
Gillian looks at it and say, “I love it! It came out perfect.”
She was right. It did. I saw it again and my eyes just took it all in. The process, the inspiration, the reason. All of it was there and it was perfect.
All 4 of us made something and I went so far as to break out some paints and do something else. I want to do more tonight. Being able to create art is such a good feeling because you get something out that wasn’t in you and you learn a little something about yourself in the process. So awesome.
Anyhow, I hope you all participate and those of you with families, have them hop in too. I learned a lot of how my family deals with my disease and the fears they have about it. It was extremely eye opening and lead to some serious conversations about diabetes.
Last night was a good night.
Friday, August 27, 2010 at 7:00AM Please participate, there is a point.
Take a nice deep breath. As deep as you can.
Now let it out slowly.
Again, a nice slow breath in.
And now out, slowly.
In again.
Feel the cool clean air in your lungs.
And now out.
Feel how relaxed you are knowing you are getting fresh air!
Tomorrow I am going to celebrate 4 years of smoke free breathing. A big hug to all of you who have also quit and those of you who still smoke, know that I never thought I could quit, but I did.
Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 10:17AM On Tuesday I had my appointment with the ENT (I refuse to type Otolaryngologist) and an appointment with my Endo.
When I got to the ENT I was starting to feel very nervous. I had never seen this kind of doctor before and was not sure what to expect. I snapped a picture from the waiting room and was called in soon after.
Inside the exam room I was overjoyed to see pictures of necks, nasal passages, and ears. Such a nice change from the typical full body picture of “How Diabetes Affects Your Body” and the “Foot Sores” one. Yuck!
When the doctor came in I could tell this was not a “warm fuzzy” kind of a guy which is fine so I shut off “wacky ninja” and turned on “serious diabetical guy.” He asked me to explain what I was feeling and once again I felt like a psycho trying to explain the sensation in my head. I could tell my words were not working for him because he has that “WTH?” look on his face. I hate that.
After I shut up he looked in my ears, in my nose (so gross feeling), and down my throat. Wow, E.N.T. NO DOUBT! Check, check and check!
He took me into another room to test the pressure in my ears. He put was felt like a squishy ear bud in my ear and then it blew air into my ear. It was a horrible feeling having this little ear bud turn on me and plug my ears up. And then I am supposed to let him do this to my other ear? Oh well, I let him and it all looked normal.
Then he had me sit in this sound proof room and put on some headsets. You know the drill, hear the beep, press the button, softer beep, yadda yadda.
Those results were also normal.
“Well, everything seems to be fine with your ear. Take care.” He extended his hand out to me and frankly, I felt like I was wasting his time. I paused for a second feeling like I was getting voted off the island or something and finally shook his hand and left.
“Now what do I do? Do I go to my Primary Care doc or to the Endo’s or should I go back to the Neurologist?” I was frantic and no clue what to do. When I get like that I call my brother Scott. He helps through this stuff.
“I think you should go to the neurologist. She is the one who has done all the testing and she sent you to the ENT.” Scott is always right on.
I agreed and although my Endo appointment was not for another hour I decided to head over and see if they would take me early.
They did.
My Endo was out of town but I saw the PA that works with him and she is pretty great. She has another girl with her who seemed to be an intern or a student or something. Anyhow, the PA was in that mode you get into when you are training a student, that “I am going to ask everything I know and show this kid how it’s done” mode. It was semi annoying but when she got confused about my pump settings and I took the reigns, I sort of slipped into that mode myself! HAHA
We made some adjustments to my basals and I told her that I would only drink diet sodapop with dinner when I am hope. I was not going to give up sodapop during the day. For two weeks, in the name of science I am going to lay off half of my soda intake to see if my BG’s are affected at all.
Anyhow, we scheduled another appointment in two weeks and I left. As I started walking down the hall I though to myself, “self, your neurologist is in this building. Why don’t you hop in the lift and see if she is in?” My self is sometimes smarter then I am.
Up I went in the elevator and walked into yet another waiting room. I signed us because you just have to and I waited for my name to be called. When it was I explained to the receptionist that the ENT gave me clean bill of ENT health and that I was not sure what the next step should be. She told me that my neurologist was not in the office but that she was make sure she calls me as soon as possible. I thanked her and went on my marry way.
That was three different Doctor’s offices in one day. A record I hope not to repeat and the inspiration of this post title.
I have not heard from the Neurologist yet so I am going to give her one more day before I get crazy and call back.
Until then I am learning to live with this weird “head thing.”
I hope it won’t be for much longer.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 7:20AM If you follow me on Twitter you are probably familiar with my tweeted pictures of all the waiting rooms I sit in. Typically the text says "waiting" and attached will be a picture I took with my phone of the waiting room.
At the lab, my endo, or even Dr. F-bomb I always try and snap a picture of the waiting room for whatever reason.
Well yesterday morning I was happy to see a picture from my friend Sara Knicks of her endo's waiting room. When I saw it I started cracking up but then I thought, "we spend a lot of time at the doctors, I wish other people would post pictures too."
A few tweets back and forth and the plan was set.
A Flickr group called Waiting With Diabetes has been created and we are asking PWD's to post pictures of their doctors waiting rooms for any diabetes related visit.
The URL is http://www.flickr.com/groups/waitingwithdiabetes/
Here's the real description...
As diabetics we spend a lot of time at the doctors. For the next year, let's all take a picture of our waiting rooms every time we have a diabetes related appointment.So take a picture (at your own risk), post the date, and whatever else you want to share about the picture and let's see just how much time is spent Waiting With Diabetes.
So that's it! After you sign in and pay your copayment, but before you open that magazine, snap a picture of chairs, the table, or whatever. Just make sure you don't get caught. And also try not to get people in the picture too. Most people don't like strangers taking pictures of them.
I hope you join in the fun!
