WAKE UP!!!!!!

So, about 4 years ago I started occasionally waking up in the middle of the night with a searing pain on my feet. I swear it felt as if someone mistakenly thought my foot was a hunk of pine and decided to test out their wood burning kit on it! OUCH!

I went to the doctor and he said, "Oh you have diabetic neuropathy." So I say, "Ok, what do we do for that?" "Um, pretty much nothing" HUH?

My doctor told me that basically, 60% of diabetics have this and well, sorry dude it comes with the territory. No help, no medicine, no surgery. nada. except of course the burning.

As if Diabeties wasn't enough. I mean, I know I did not order the package deal so WTF? (can you tell I am a bit touchy on this subject?)

After a few deep breaths and counting to 10 a few hundred times, I realized that this was just another one of the complications that I face having the Bete.

Years later it continues to get worse so about 6 months ago my last doctor, who I no longer see, gave me some medicine to take for the neuropathy that he said would help. Now, I don't drive a forklift at work but honestly, I am scared to work a spoon while on this crap! It made me feel a little like Jabba the Hut (all squishy and blobbish) and I sounded a lot like that guy from Fat Albert (Haybee Buh-Baybee). It was awful and I refuse to turn myself into even more of a blubbering idiot so I guess I enjoy the pain :(

The newest problem is numbness. In between the small grenades going off under my feet now and then there is this wonderful tingling numbness that is going on all day and all night. I told my newest Dr. and he says, "I feel a pulse so you are fine."

So, the day I don't feel a pulse is when I lose all my piggies? Is that how it works? Isn't there some treatment or some way to prevent it from getting any worse? I would love some feedback on this. I am concerned but no one really seems to think its a big deal.

Except the one that has Roast Beef, he is worried!

I've been Tagged!

Being a newbie blogger I am unfamiliar with this but being a kid at heart, I know what being tagged is so here it goes!

Four Jobs I've had in my Life:
Blockbuster video
Usher at the Pantages Theater
Driver at a Restaurant Supply company
IT Manager

Four movies I can watch over and over:
The Color Purple
Pulp Fiction
Top Secret
The Princess Bride

Four places I have lived:
Walnut, CA
Temple City, CA
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Whittier, CA
(I love SoCal! What can I say?)

Four TV shows I love to watch:
24
Arrested Development
Lost
The X-Files (I miss you Mulder and Scully)

Four places I have been on vacation:
Sydney, Australia
Cuzco, Peru
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Orlando, Florida (WDW - we are coming back soon!)

Four of my favorite foods:
Chicken Cesar Salad
Chili Rellenos
Tortellini
Louisiana Hot Links

Four websites I visit daily:
http://www.Techeblog.com - Cool Techy Gadgets and stuff
http://www.Digg.com - Social Bookmarking site - Very cool
http://www.CNN.com - News (duh)
http://www.ebaumsworld.com - Funny stuff but PG-13

Four places I would rather be right now:
Las Vegas
Coco Beach, Mulege, Mexico
Asleep
The Happiest Place on Earth, with my family!

Random Thoughts

I love my iPod! It is fantastic being able to take 1700 of my favorite songs and Podcasts with me wherever I go. I plug it into the stereo in the garage (The Simmons Gym) and rock out, I have little speakers on my desk at work, a stereo in my bedroom with an iPod input on it, and of course in my car. AND I always have my earbuds with me in case me and my Pod need some alone time.

Now I should share with you that I received my iPod from freeipods.com. Some may call this a scam and I guess I could somewhat agree with that but not a rip off.

It works like this, sign up on the site, sign up for an offer, and get 5 unique people to sign up for an offer. That’s it and after you have completed all of that you get a new iPod in the mail. Now, the part that gets scary is if you sign up for let’s say a free teeth whitening kit, it will cost you around 5 bucks shipping to get it. Then, if you like the sample, do nothing and in 7 days they will send you the full kit using your credit card and costing only 60 bucks! So, the key is to make sure you cancel as soon as you receive credit from the site showing that you have completed an offer. If you forget to cancel then you will be out some more money but you will have teeth whiter than snow. I just wanted to let you all know that it does work but unfortunately I am getting nothing for this little plug.

Speaking of plugs and iPods, I must mention my favorite Podcast called Diabetic Feed. I stumbled across it a few months back just wanted to see if there was a Podcast all about diabetes. I was shocked to see that my search came up with a few hits. So far, DF is my favorite. Each week it is chock full of diabeticy goodness, from news to tips to great interviews! I love it and look forward to my drive home each Monday night when I listen to the new episodes.

I have to tell you that the first few times I listened to it, I got very depressed. I felt alone, destined to be blind, limbless, and on dialysis. I felt sorry for myself and would always end up holding back tears each time I heard the ending tag line of “have a healthy week.”

Why? Because I know I am not healthy? Because I have a disease? Because I have no hope and no one in my life like me? Because the majority of diabetics are Type 2’s and I am rare?

But then a funny thing happened. I found that I was not alone at all. I found these fantastic blogs online about Type 1’s like me. I heard about advances and new drugs to help and all these scientists working on a cure. I started this little blog of my own to document my weight loss challenge but I have actually found that it’s a great forum to share my feelings and hopefully help someone who may be feeling the same way I was. The best thing about writing this blog is that I have met some new friends. My ‘bete buddies!

It’s cool just knowing that there is a community out there that I can connect with. Who knew that for 15 years, I have been missing out on my “peeps” (as my son would say) and taking comfort in knowing that I am not alone.

So I guess the points of this post are get an iPod, listen to Diabetic Feed (even if you are not diabetic, education is good!), start your own blog if you feel so inclined, and lastly post a comment! I love to meet new friends, ‘Bete buddy or not!

Don't believe the slogan!!!!

I received a call last Friday that I was needed to do a presentation to a hospital in Las Vegas on the 31st. I was set up to fly in, do the presentation, and fly out. This is all for work by the way. Now, I always get nervous about these sorts of trips. I am not fearful of flying; my fear is the rest of the trip.

Will I make it to the airport on time? Did my son leave his Laser Tag gun in the bottom of my carry-on? Am gonna end up in a back room somewhere with nothing but bright lights and latex gloves? I am usually freaked out until I get in my seat on the plane and then I quickly fall asleep, even before take off. And of course, I made it to Ontario Airport with enough time to go over my presentation about 100 times and triple count the number of hand-outs I needed.

The flight was delayed as soon as I got on the runway. The pilot received a call that Las Vegas had too many planes coming in and we would have to wait for a slot for about a half an hour. No biggie. I was in the Emergency Exit aisle and was trying my best to stay awake for a while. I do enjoy take off. That is always kind of cool. Anyhow, we only waited about 15 minutes before we had clearance to take off and we were in Vegas after about 5 songs on my iPod.

I met up with our salesmen at Baggage Claim and we headed off to pick up lunch for all of the guests that were going to be there. 30 in all! We went to this little but awesome deli and picked up some great sandwiches. I decided to go with a chicken salad sangwich (like my mother would say) and was very excited about having a chaser to those awesome peanuts I chowed down on the plane.

The presentation went well despite all the butterflies in my tummy. As soon as all of the guests left the auditorium, my associates and I decided to finally dig in to our meal. I went into the bathroom and checked my blood sugar. OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! 1 for the first prick that was not enough blood, 1 for the second prick that felt more like a stabbing, and 1 for my blood sugar when I saw how high it was! I took a healthy shot of insulin and headed back into the auditorium to eat. Well, after the 2nd bite of my sandwich, I thought I was going to get sick. I cannot describe what it tasted like because I don’t want to lose my lunch! Let’s just say that I will not order Chicken Salad for a while. One of the salesmen with me offered half of his sandwich to me since he could tell that I was not digging on mine.

Oh my gooses! This sandwich had pastrami, turkey, roast beef, and I think rainbows and happiness were cooked in there too! It was an awesome sandwich. I was so happy and inhaled the thing as quickly as I could just in case the sunshiny magical goodness within the sandwich might escape or something!

After a Diet Pepsi and a quick packing of my laptop, projector, and countless cables, we headed off to the airport for me to catch my flight home. As soon as I got into the terminal, my tie was off, my top button unbuttoned, and I was ready for my 30 minute nap on the plane. Wait a minute, I have plenty of time for a beer and a smoke so I headed off to a nearby bar in the terminal for a few sins before I left Sin City. I rarely ever drink beer BTW, Vegas brings out the worst in me and most I guess.

After I landed and drove home I rested and my wife had prepared a great meal, as usual (she is quite the chef!). Well, I checked my Blood and WOAH!

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS DOES NOT ALWAYS STAY IN VEGAS!!!!!!!!

When will I figure out that no matter where I go my Diabetes goes? I know it seems silly but I can’t be the only one who makes this mistake sometimes.

On a good note I lost more weight! The old scale read 210 to me this morning!!! I love her, she is a good scale and has been good to me. I should buy her something huh?