Lets Do This!

 As an Advocare Distributer and a type 1 diabetic I understand the importance of  living a healthy life style. That Being said, for the entire month of May any profits I make from distributing Advocare products will be donated directly to the JDRF. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation helps to improve lives and research a cure for type 1 diabetes. I have set a goal to raise $500. So lets SPARK   into action! Whether you are ready to start off your day with Spark   ,jump start your weight loss with the 24 Day Challenge, hit the gym with Rehydrate , or gain a general sense of  wellness, lets work together to improve our own lives while making a difference for others. To start shopping click here.  I will post  updates often! If you have any questions  please feel free to ask them here or email me at robyngleason@yahoo.com. Thank you very much!  LETS DO THIS!

REALITY CHECK

Well Thursday I went to my eye doctor for a yearly diabetic eye exam. F They did all the usual eye doctor things, made me read off  letters, look in some sort of machine, check the pressure in my eyes, and then have my eyes dilated. The doctor came in asked some questions, check my eyes out a little, and then told me I had great vision! So far so good. Then he began  what seemed to be burning the eyes out of my skull by using whatever tools he used and some sort of light that seemed as bright as the sun. He started with my left eye,  made me look all directions then moved on to the right eye. He spent twice as long checking out this eye. I knew something wasn't right. Then  I heard it. He proceeded to explain that I have a tiny spot in my left eye.  Mild diabetic retinopathy.   He explained that it was very mild and that it may even go away if  I keep my blood sugars under control. Lets face it, you hear about these kinds of things that could happen when you have diabetes but you never really think they are going to happen to you. I asked him several questions. He also told me  that it is very common considering  I have had type 1 diabetes for 15 years now. He also explained  that 80% of  people living with diabetes for 15 years have retinopathy. I left and as soon as I got home I sobbed.  It is a reality check knowing that many years of not being in control has caught up with me but I also feel very lucky that this is the only complication this far. I refuse to let diabetes take my eye sight. I plan on doing everything in my power to kick its butt!

CGM,WALKS,CUPCAKES!

Well hello there! This last week has been a little crazy so I thought i would take a few minutes to share it with you!

• Yesterday I finalized the order for my teams shirts for the American Diabetes Association Step Out Walk! I was so happy to have a local business sponsor our team and pay for our shirts in full!!! Yipee!! The hardest part about this was getting several team members who had yet to register to finally register! The walk is only ten days away people! Lets get moving! I am also pleased to announce that out team is currently in seventh place and that only includes online donations from two team members!! I cant wait to see our teams final total! Oh and last time I checked the weather is going to be PERFECT!!!I cant wait!!!

• Not this past Thursday but the Thursday before I got to wear this bad boy pictured above for 72 hrs.It is a Medtronic continuous glucose monitor.For those of you who dont know basically it records my blood sugar all the freakin time while I am wearing it. Then the Dr. pops it to a computer and downloads all my blood sugars so he can make adjustments to my insulin doses.Yes, I still have to check my glucose with my meter. lol. So first of all I am not sure why i picked the weekend to wear this thing! On Friday i participated in a 2hr Zumba Fitness marathon for charity and I almost sweated the poor thing off lol. Thank god I still had a box of IV3000 tape left over from my pumping days. Lord only know why I held onto them for the last six years! Then over the same weekend our refrigerator was acting up so my usual diet was not in full swing. I consumed a lot of peanut butter.(not that I don't usually) I LOVE peanut butter.mmmmmm, Also because of the zumba marathon I didn't eat dinner til almost 9pm! So im sure the journel I turned in with the cgm looked a lil nuts! But on a happier not I loved wearing this. I couldnt feel it and it felt like I had a little spy connected to me. I made better food choices and it forced me to stay in better control! Hopefully I will be pumping here again soon and will get to wear this all the time :). 

• Following wearing the CGM. I made a stupid mistake. Last week I had to cover at the other office all week. I was all out of my routine! On Thursday I woke up, tested my bg which was 127, ate some yogurt, did my humolog and went to work. I felt high all morning. When I had a chance to to check my bg it was 312! How?! I had done the right dose of humolog! Then it hit me! I forgot to take my morning dose of lantus(I do lantus am and pm now)!  How could I forget that! I was so mad at myself! I guess I must have gotten caught up in the change of my normal work routine! Luckily I did corrective insulin and was back down in no time!Also on a side note check out Panera's nutrional facts! There food is more carb loaded then it seems!

Just a little bit of the craziness going on around here lately! Oh and I would love it if anyone reading this has any ideas for a creative banner our team is going to carry during the walk! Pleas feel free to share them here! I know there are alot of creative people in the DOC! P.S our teams mascot is a cupcake!!!

IF I DIDN'T LAUGH ABOUT DIABETES THEN I WOULD GO INSANE

This post is my September entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival.  If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2011/september-dsma-blog-carnival/“

• If  I  didn't laugh about the way I get angry when people(aka my mother) try to talk to me when I'm trying to concentrate on stuffing my face to treat a very low blood sugar, I would probably need a glucagon because instead of eating I would  be yelling at her for interrupting my love a fare with my snack of choice.
•  If I didn't laugh about the insane amount of  D- supplies I have and the amount of space it takes up in my room I would probably feel the need to sign myself up for one those hoarding TV shows.
• If I didn't laugh about never feeling totally prepared or perfect for my usual endo check up I would probably catch a serious case of Diabetes Burn Out. 
• If I dint laugh about "the little things" that make my diabetes go on a roller coaster ride (stress, sunburn, extra snack, exercise, over sleeping, just being to lazy to check my blood sugar etc.). I would probably have to live in some kind of bubble or in a padded room with nothing to do or no one to talk to.  
• If  I didn't laugh at The Diabetes Police I would probably say what ever comes to mind at the time for example "maybe you should worry about your own health and lifestyle choices", or "shut up" or "I'm sorry, do you have diabetes too? No? I didnt think so."
• If I didn't laugh about the insincere comments people make about my limbs, having "the bad kind of diabetes", having children, or my life expectancy I would probably be in jail for slapping everyone in the face. 

• If I didnt laugh with, share with, and love the DOC, I would be such a sad and lonely little T1 diabetic.

 The truth is diabetes sucks! Your mind is always calculating, worrying, and planning. With a little laughter and support from each other and  our friends with fully functioning pancreases we can overcome anything!
           
               I BELIEVE LAUGHTER IS THE BEST KIND OF MEDICINE THERE IS!

LOSING THE TV REMOTE LEADS YOU TO GREAT THINGS!

OK, so I wasn't going to blog until tomorrow but something happened today that I couldn't resist waiting to share with whom ever stumbles upon this blog. I lost the remote to my TV and my TV is stuck on screen saver mode! I was so frustrated  I plopped down on my bed and pulled up twitter on my phone. I began to read some of today's new dblog posts and found myself on the you can do this project page.  Hold that thought.

I haven't known anyone with type one diabetes around my own age or had the opportunity to share anything honest about t1 in a very long time without feeling like people thought I was trying to start a "poor me" conversation. About a month ago I joined Twitter. Not knowing who to follow I searched for diabetes related twitter accounts. I stumbled upon Texting my Pancreas. Whoa! I was so happy! I though to myself this chick gets it! From there I have found the DOC! What a wonderful community! I just wanted to tell everyone about the DOC. My mom even made the comment to me "Wow. It's like you just discovered you have diabetes" lol.

Know back to  back to today. I was on the you can do this project page and I watched a few videos. Two of them really struck me . "Wow they have the same story as me" and "I have been feeling the exact same way" came to mind! I began to cry(because I am the most emotional person I know). One of the videos stated something along the lines of "If you haven't tested in three days its not to late test now"( I am going to be honest I haven't tested in about 4 days. Just going on how i feel or what I ate to dose myself.) Before watching these videos I was afraid to check my BG because I felt guilty for not checking over the last few days. As soon as the video ended I check my sugar. It was 197, could be worse!


So mainly the purpose of this blog post today is to say thank you DOC for helping me turn over a new leaf  on my diabetes control! I am overwhelmed with the amount of support, honest truth, and humor you all have to offer in dealing with our bum  pancreases! And a big big thank you to Kim from texting my pancreas for sharing in your wonderful blog and for starting the you can do this project ! I can do this! We can all do this!

My Story!

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking this out! I am new to blogging as well as the DOC so bare with me while I get the hang of this! I am Robyn and I'm 22 years old.Ive been a T1 for 14 years. I was MDI  then pumping and now MDI again. In the beginning i was in good control, went to D Camps, and really had any complaints. Just your average kid with some extra responsibilities. Well to make a long story short I became a teenager in poor control letting my pump do all the work. Also i rarely tested ever. I wanted independence and that included independence from diabetes as well. I ended up being taken in an ambulance from school and admitted for DKA. Needless to say my pump was taken away. Since then im back and forth.Sometimes doing great others days well not so much. I recently got health insurance back and I am having the basic diabetes blood work done. To be honest im freaking out! Is it wrong of me to be afraid to see my results because Im afraid that my days of uncontrolled diabetes have caught up with me? I know better. I know that in order to stay on top of it I need to have it done, Anyone else get the blood work jitters?

PS Everyone who took part in Diabetes Art Day , what fantastic entries!!!