You Tube Tuesday #174

We have a dog, Theodore (Teddy) Jasper Simmons, who is a big part of our family. He is a sweet guy and very lovable. We love our dog.

Seeing a dog hurting is tough. I will tell you that the dog in this video is freed from his situation but the ending is a surprise. 

Enjoy.

My Other Story

Yesterday at church I was asked to tell “My Story.” Now I am very comfortable talking about my diabetes story to all of you all the time. I try to do it almost daily but my faith story and how I finally accepted God into my life is a story I have not told here. So I figured since I could tell it in church I should share it will you too.

Now I was not raised in the church. At a very young age my grandmother taught me the Lord's prayer but that was all the religion I knew. My grandma was one of those people that praised God when the sun came out and when it rained. She was always saying "God bless you" to me and my sisters and I always thought it was strange since it was not always after a sneeze. I knew about God but I did not know him. In fact, when I got older, I was the first to debate His existence. I would argue that the bible was just a book of stories that contradicted itself time and time again but the whole time I had never even opened a bible. I can only look back and think that it was fear that made me act that way. Fear of conforming or fear of the unknown. I am not sure. Maybe it was because my life had been rough and didn't think I saw God's grace in it.

When I was just out of high school my father died. He was 43 years old and seemed to be in good health. I was very close to my Dad and still miss him everyday. It was a difficult time for me since I was just going to move out of the house and begin my life. Now my role model was gone. I was so angry and sad all at once that I turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain. For months I was secretly passing out each night instead of going to sleep. I would spend my nights alone with a bottle of booze instead of going out with friends or visiting family. Nothing mattered to me except numbing the pain of a broken heart. I felt like a part of me was gone and that there was this gaping hole in me.

Then one day I came up with a plan. I figured the only way I was going to fill this void was to find someone who would be a father figure to me. Surely one of my friend’s dad's would adopt me and treat me as his own. But that never happened. It was pretty pathetic. I would visit my friends houses and spend more time chatting with their parents then my friends! Needless to say, it didn't work. 

Then I started dating a girl who would later become my wife. She had an uncle who I really connected with and we became good friends. He was very involved in his church but I didn't mind much. I just ignored it when he would bring God up since it was a small price to pay for this new father figure in my life. He would invite me to bible studies and stuff and I would always have an excuse. For years this went on and I never gave in.

Then one day he called me up and invited me to go to this 2 day men's convention thing called Promise Keepers. Have any of your ever heard of that? He told me it was church thing but I figured, I owe it to him since I always flake. Plus, it would be cool just to hang out with him. So I agreed.

What happened at that event was life changing. The first day I stuck to him like glue. I was terrified. I was listening to the speakers but felt very uncomfortable. Like a stinging in my stomach that I could not identify. I felt like crying. That night I told my fiance a little about the experience. She didn't ask too much about it becuase she could tell that I did not want to talk about it much.

At around noon the second day I felt this feeling I had not felt in a long time. In fact, at first I could not even pinpoint the feeling. It was like something inside me was whole again. Like my heart was not void of the spot my dad filled. I told my wife's uncle that I was going to go for a walk and went back into the stadium to hear some musicians playing. When I was standing there on the floor of the Colussium it hit me. Like rain pouring over me I could feel the Holy Spirit filling me up. The pain of my dad's death was gone. It was as if I was finally complete and could now begin my life. I understood that I will and have always had a father. God is and will always be my father and when that realization hit me, so did the fact that tears were pouring down my face. I hadn't felt so totally safe, so complete, and so happy before in my life and I had only God to thank.

I knew at that point that I would praise the Lord when the sun shined and when the rain fell. I would thank Him for all of life's struggles knowing that with His help, I can handle anything.

And that is my "other story.

Medieval Angle

This is my CGM routine. I put my sensor on before I go to bed but do not start the sensor until morning. Why? A few D friends of mine suggested it as a way of avoiding the 2 hour wait time to get the sensor “wet” before it wants its first calibration. This way when I wake up and start the sensor it almost immediately asks for its first calibration. So easy! Plus I know my BG is pretty stable or at least not changing rapidly.

Monday night I put my sensor in on my thigh and went to bed. Tuesday morning fired it up and it immediately asked for a calibration. All was good.

Fast forward to my car ride to work. I am about 10 minutes into my commute when I hear the low alarm go off. I pulled my pump out of my pock to show 2 down arrows with a BG of 56. At a stop light I pulled out my One Touch and tested. I was 178. I cleared the alarm and continued my drive to work.

When I got in it was still dropping on the CGM although my BG was not low at all. I tried to calibrate the sensor to the correct BG and it gave me a bad sensor error. I pulled it out and tried again Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning was the same routine and the same outcome. My guess was that the sensor was not in correctly or something. So I put my finger on the sensor and pushed in for the rest of the drive to work.

By the time I got to my office I had double up arrows so I knew that my theory was correct. The sensor needed to be in deeper.

Here is the thing. Minimed’s CGM inserter has feet on it that put the needle for the sensor in you at a 45° angle. When I was trained on using it I was told to use a 60° angle. I thought that was what I was doing but I don’t break out the protractor to be sure. Call me lazy.

So last night I decided to try once again but this time I was going to get medieval and just fire that baby in deep. It worked! Did it hurt? Do ninja’s love bacon? HECK YES! It hurt and it bled and it stung but I did it and it worked.

Now my CGM and finger sticks are quite close in numbers but was it worth it? I think so.

You know, we put up with a lot of crap just to know what is going on with our bodies. And our bodies pay the price either for not checking and destroying them internally or by jabbing them with needles of different sizes destroying them on the outside. I guess there is no winning.

One big “win” would be for Minimed to make an insertion device that would insure a proper angle, like the Dexcom does so we don’t have to feel like we are stabbing ourselves with an embroidery needle to get it right.

Anyhow, for those of you on Minimed CGM, if you run into this problem check the angle of the sensor, that may be the issue.

The Feed

When I was first looking to change my ways and make diabetes a priority in my life I found a podcast called Diabetic Feed.

Back in 2005 after receiving an A1C of 12.5 and winning a battle with DKA I decided I needed to try and find some other way to keep diabetes on my mind. I was a big fan of podcasts since I could easily listen to them on the way home from work each day on my iPod. I figured I would see what diabetes Podcasts I could find. When I searched, the only one at that time was Diabetic Feed.

The first few shows I listened too talked about topics like Neuropathy, new insulin pumps, new treatments, and even some diabetes blogs.

I am sure I had never read a blog before that time. I was not even sure what a blog was but when I heard that there were several diabetes blogs out on the web I knew I needed to check them out.

I read Kerri’s blog first and them some others and realized for the first time that I was not alone. That I could be apart of a community that understands one another and is willing to be there for each other.

That was when I started my blog, and the rest as they say is D-history.

So now I am happy to say that after a 4 year hiatus, Diabetic Feed is back! Episode 35 is available for download on their site or via iTunes. I hope you will check it out. Not only do you hear about diabetes in the news, research, products, and medicine, but you will also hear great interviews from people you know and some people you don’t. All apart of this big Diabetes web both online and off.

So follow them on Twitter, and check them out on Facebook. There are some great podcasts out there about diabetes but I would love for you to check out the one that is closest to my heart because in a lot of ways, it saved my life.

Thank you Christel and John. 

You Tube Tuesday #173

I hope you all had a great 3-day weekend!

This clip was an easy pick for me. iPad + Magic = Awesome!

Enjoy!