Day 14: World Diabetes Day is blue, ba da dee ba da da ...

World Diabetes Day, you guys! I was just scrolling through my facebook feed and, not gonna lie, I got all choked up seeing those blue reports. My friends went above and beyond, dressing their kids, dressing themselves, posting pictures on my wall. It was overwhelming to see them all pull together for me, for us.

UNfortunately, I had to end the day with a little tiff on the forums regarding appropriate ways to treat people in vulnerable positions, but it was gratifying to see the community pull together against a bully, so we'll chalk that one up to another win.

Day 11: Blue Friday, casual edition/WDD Postcard Exchange

Today my office was closed for Veterans Day so I did my Blue Friday a bit more dressed down this week. I also took the chance to show off my sweet Hartford Whalers t-shirt. BRING BACK THE WHALE!

I also received and sent my WDD postcard today! I'm sad mine will be a little late but I didn't connect that there was no mail service today. Oh well. Here's what I sent:

Here's what I received. Look at the awesome detail! I had a blast picking out all the D-paraphernalia hidden in the drawing.

My postcard buddy's one word was free, as in be free to live your life however you want and don't let diabetes stand in the way of that. Great message.

And, finally, my boyfriend bought this weird ski mask at TJ Maxx tonight. It's supposed to be Batman but ... ummm ... it's blue. I'm skeptical. But perhaps I will repurpose it as a WDD superhero

Day 10: Sometimes diabetes really, really sucks and here's why

Today around 11:30 I started to feel jittery and dry-mouthed and just not right. I tested. 404 mg/dl. Well, that'd explain it. I bolused and tested again in an hour, intending to eat lunch.

375 mg/dl.

Sometimes, even if I'm high like that, I'll just bolus for it and lunch because, well, I need to get lunch done and get back to work. But I still felt so crappy and had no appetite that I battled the high blood sugar (which was coming down, just slowly, so I at least had that to hang on to) and didn't eat until 4pm when I ran out and bought a hummus/pretzel snack pack.

Now, nearly 12 hours later, I still feel like utter crap.

And I still don't know what caused it, which is the kicker. Could be that I misbolused (I don't think I did, though), could be poor absorbtion, could be (which is my suspicion) just work stress. Which all around sucks because when I'm stressed, I'm likely trying to do 5 things at once and the last thing I need is to be foggy-headed, unable to focus (on anything but water, anyway), and irritable.

Day 9: DSMA that I missed

I missed DSMA tonight so I'm going to answer the questions here and call it a day!

Q1. What are you doing to raise diabetes awareness in your community?

Honestly, it doesn't feel like much. I've been trying to post diabetes-related stuff on my Facebook this month and take every opportunity to educate. I want to be more involved, but I don't know how.

I do plan to use my blog to raise more awareness about the mental health aspects of diabetes through sharing my own stories, if that counts.

Q2. What types of awareness events do you feel are most effective? Or not effective?

If online "events" are considered, I think I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with DSMA (tonight nonwithstanding, lol) and with keeping up with the blog for Diabetes Awareness Month. I'm also good at things like Blue Fridays!

Q3. Who is your target audience when raising diabetes awareness?

The ignorant and ill-informed. The food police. The people who think we can't eat cake.

Q4. Is there such a thing as "too much" awareness?

If the message leads to people getting annoyed and rolling their eyes every time the D word comes up, yes.

Q4.5 Do you think more needs to be done throughout the year to build-up to Diabetes Awareness Month and wdd? what can we do?

YES. I want diabetes to be one of the top causes on everyone's lips. It made me so sad to get responses of "But I thought it was pancreatic cancer month?" and "It's Movember!" when I brought up Diabetes Awareness Month on November 1.

Q5. What other types of awareness events can the DOC do together to make a impact?

The JDRF ad was stirring, but there needs to be more. I want ALL people talking about it with anger and demands for a cure. I want athletes wearing baby blue shoes and painting their mohawks blue. How can we make that happen?

Day 8: More talk about hypos

Victoria Cumbow's post about the JDRF ad I talked about last week made me want to talk about some of my own scary lows.

I had my first seizure when I was about 16, 6 years after my diagnosis. I was on a family vacation down the Jersey Shore and, I'll admit it, not doing much of anything to take care of myself. Because I wasn't giving my insulin properly, I felt immune to lows. I hadn't had one in months. But I guess the combination of being on vacation, sun, heat, and increased physical activity added up and that morning, instead of waking up and suiting up for the beach, I woke up strapped to a stretcher, being carried down the motel's outdoor stairs as my family and other guests looked on.

I don't have any memory, so the story comes from what I was told after. My best friend, whom I was sharing a bed with, woke up around dawn to me banging on the window next to the bed. She grumpily asked me what I was doing, then quickly realized that I wasn't messing around.

I was having a seizure.

She called her mother in the next room, who ran in to find me lying motionless, blood trickling out of my mouth. She thought I was dead. We would later discover that I had nearly chewed through my lip during the seizure.

I've had many lows, both serious and not, since then, but that one sticks in my head. It was the first time that I realized how thin the line between life and death can be for someone with diabetes.

I don't wear a CGM at this time for many reasons, but this technology is so, so important to make available. For the thousands of parents who will never have a restful night's sleep again. For those of us experiencing a bout of unexplained overnight lows (as I have) that will not go away no matter how we mess with our insulin ratios. For peace of mind.

For making is 1 in 20,000.

Day 7: Diabetes is Stupid and Ruins Things, A Story

I skipped Sunday. Whoops. But here's a story from Sunday!

We went to see Moneyball on Sunday. We decided to go to a small theater near our apartment. One of those old-timey, two-screen deals. I purposely underate in anticipation of hot buttery popcorn.

We arrived and ... no popcorn. Sadface. Major sadface. But we were there for the movie, not the popcorn (well, maybe half and half) so I'd have to suck it up and go without. We settled in and the movie started and not too far into it ... it started.

The jittery shakes, the wandering mind, the buzzing tongue, the sweats.

Low blood sugar. I fumbled through my purse for my meter, memory catching as my fingers closed around my smaller-than-usual meter case. Damn! I had forgotten to put a new vial of strips in. I didn't need a meter to confirm, though. 18 years made me no stranger to the feeling. 95% of the time, when a diabetic is low, they know. There's no mistaking the feeling. Mild panic setting in, I tried to calm myself, groping around for glucose tablets or candy, coming up empty. Of course.

At the bottom, I found a crushed package of peanut butter crackers and stealthily opened the crinkling plastic wrapper. Greedily shoving the disintegrating crackers into my mouth, I willed myself to relax, to focus on the movie. Eventually the feeling passed and I got caught up in the movie. Which was awesome, by the way.

When we got home, I tested and found myself 55 points below where I should have been. Just as I suspected.

Now, both of the issues in this scenario were totally preventable with a little preplanning. If I had immediately replaced the vial of strips when I finished it, instead of planning to do it when I finished eating. If I had put the gummy lifesavers in this purse instead of leaving them in another.

This is the essence of diabetes. Tiny things that can have huge consequences.

Side note: Halfway through this post I started to feel low and as such I have no idea if this post even makes sense. I apologize if it's disjointed. Just call it another diabetes lesson! :)

Day 5: StereoTYPEs.

There are many types of diabetes. Type 1, type 2, LADA, gestational, and others being studied. Treatments and coping methods vary widely among the types as well as within the types. One of my diabetes advocacy hot buttons is spreading awareness of this and combating myths perpetuated by the media, celebrities, and people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of this disease. Here's a pretty good overview of the different types.

I'm a type 1. It's not the "bad" kind. I can't just "eat better." I am not "addicted to insulin." My body does not make insulin. At all. Sure, it's important for anyone to eat a healthy, balanced diet with moderation. But most anything a type 1 eats, if it contains carbohydrates, requires insulin. Type 2s can also require insulin, and it doesn't mean that they aren't trying hard enough, either. It's just a different treatment option.

I'm sure I'll post more about how to be nice to people with diabetes and not run afoul of our many pet peeves, but this one is usually at the front of my mind because not a day goes by that I don't read something or hear something that sets my teeth on edge.

I mean, would you tell a friend who was just diagnosed with lung cancer "My mom had breast cancer and she's doing just fine!"? Or a friend who was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer "Oh man, my grandpa died of prostate cancer last year ..."?

Please say no. And keep this in mind the next time you're tempted to forward another "miracle diabetes cure!!!" email.