"Shut Up!!"

I love my Endocrinologist so much! She is great! If you live in the Tampa area.... really, she's awesome. So is her staff... which is sometimes just as important!

Anyways... today I got my A1c done in the office at my quarterly check up and as the little machine shook and jiggled I sat their nervously chatting with the nurse.

She sent me into the exam room before it was ready. I opened up the Diabetes Forecast and pretended to be interested in a healthy dessert recipe....

*Knock Knock!*

"Come in!"

*big smile* "6.7!!!"

"Shut up!!! I mean.... really??"

At this point... we both may or may not have kinda done "The Running Man" together for 15-30 seconds.

My Endo took almost an entire half hour answering my questions about my CGM data charts, tweaking my basils, and explaining to me how to go on a "Pump Vacation" by going back on Lantus shots and Humalog pens for a weekend that is coming up (and I just want to be wire free for it, goshdarnit!)

So anyways... we (my family, not my endo... haha, I mean you gotta draw the line somewhere) celebrated with Mediterranean take-out. (Falafels are awesome... And so is James Taylor... who talks about falafels in this song...)

Whoa... anyways....

I'm pretty happy with a 6.7! It's a half a point lower than my last visit. I really tried to stay in range over the past couple months.... and sometimes I wanted to throw my Dexcom 7 Plus in the toilet when it said BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP over and over again at ungodly hours of the night! But having some sort of tangible success in the form of a number, that may or may not have made my doctor dance like a totally rad 80's rock star... kinda makes it worth it. :)

P90x For Diabetics: The Completion Vlog...2 Years Later

I recently noticed through my site-tracker (thanks Kerri!) that I get a lot of traffic from my P90x blogs back in 2008 and 2009 and I realized that I never wrote a review of the work out program or told everyone about the results I got after completing the program! If you don't want to spend 5 minutes watching my video, my main results were the following...

1. Lost 30 lbs over 4 1/2 months, kicked my metabolism into gear and I've kept the weight off

2. Decreased my basil rate by 20 units per day on my insulin pump over the 4 month period

3. It gave me a lot more energy and strength to chase around my kids and enjoy life! :)

I am having a slight panic attack about the decision to include before and after photos in this video, but I am definitely never running for public office, so hopefully these will never come back to bite me in the you know what! Enjoy and be kind! :)

In closing, P90x is definitely not the ONLY way to get this kind of results. Any type of commitment to daily exercise and healthy eating will give you some type of results! The more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it I'm sure! The hard part, as always, is sticking to it and not giving up! My best wishes to all of you! Cheers!

Mentoring

"More time spent with fewer people equals greater Kingdom impact." Regi Campbell

I am turning 30 in a few months (gasp) and mentoring is an a word I've recently been focusing on. Jesus began his public ministry at age 30 when he turned the water into wine at Cana. (I've always loved that he started his ministry up by hooking up the party goers. What an awesome God we serve!)

Over the past several months I have kind of felt scattered in this area and decided it was a high priority to get some principles in place to help me be more effective and efficient with my time and energy in this area. My husband is a student pastor and I am a music educator by vocation, so this is an area where having the right tools is essential to being successful in pointing people in the right direction.

I sent out an email to a few trusted and respected friends (some of them mentors to myself!) and one sent me a book called MENTOR LIKE JESUS. It is written by an elder from Northpoint Church, Regi Campbell, who has had great success mentoring groups of men over the past several years. He lays out some VERY practical ways to help with mentoring. I am not using his exact model yet, but have incorporated a lot of his ideology (which really ends up being Christ's methods with his disciples) to be more intentional with some of the girls at our church.

And low and behold, the flood gates have opened with opportunities now that my heart is in tune with the Holy Spirit's nudging on this. The Type 1 diabetic sixth grader who is trying to control his disease while not letting it control him, the fifth grade girl who has decided to get baptized and learn how to play worship songs on the piano, the two high school foster boys who are searching for acceptance and direction, the Freshman who initiated starting a youth praise band for our Wednesday night youth group meeting, the seventh grade girl who is planning a 30 Hour Famine to raise money for World Vision, and the long lost cousin in prison who is reaching out for hope and a fresh start.

I can't even explain how thankful and humbling it is to be able to be living out what you know you were born to do every day. God created us with a need to feel purpose. And when you discover what that is for your life, you start living it with a passion that you've never felt before.

2011: BLOOM

I've never officially done a word theme before. I mean it's not like I've been busy these past few years having babies, raising babies, or moving three times. *insert sarcasm here* I decided to try it out this year and have been praying for about a month that a word would come to mind for me to use as a focal point for some emotional and spiritual goals this year.

Yesterday I spent some time praying for friends, family, my community, and myself at a Prayer Journey at our church. It was a pretty powerful experience to be able to go from station to station and really spend some quiet, alone time focusing on God. Then I got to the healing table...

I always have a hard time with the healing table, because my pancreas broke when I was 7 years old. And it's still broken.

I began to pray and read some of the Scriptures that were provided at the station.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 hit me in a way it never has before.

"Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me,“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me..."

^{Here's the awesome part!!!}

^"10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

I began to cry.

I've lived with a disease where I am reminded that I have a "thorn in my flesh" almost every hour of my life. Finger pricks, set changes, carb counting, low blood sugars, high blood sugars, ketones, insurance coverage; there's always something on my mind.

But the God of the whole universe gave me His grace. His grace is manifested in me. And when I am weak in myself, I HAVE to go to Christ and receive His strength. He sustains me in all my troubles, my hurts, and my frustrations.

I have learned so much over these past few years.

2007= A year of extreme pain and learning

2008 = A year of forgiveness and letting go

2009 = A year of growing and new experiences

2010= A year of new beginnings

This year I feel I am finally ready to BLOOM. I feel rooted and thankful and excited.

I feel refreshed.

This year my children will both become school age. I will turn 30. And I will have been blessed with a "thorn in my flesh" for the 23rd year. A thorn that reminds me every day that my strength does not EVER come from myself, but ALWAYS from Him.

Happy New Year Everyone!

My Review of Dexcom Seven Plus System

Yesterday morning the FedEx man knocked on the door with my brand new Dexcom Seven Plus Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. I almost kissed him. And no, I don't know if he was handsome... I was too busy lusting after the shiny box he was holding for me. I've been researching and reading lots of other reviews of the Seven Plus model, (Bernard's and Kerri's are helpful!) and had high hopes that it would be better than the original Seven model.

I've been wearing my Dexcom Seven Plus for 24 hours now and these are my first impressions:

1. The reception between the sensor and the receiver is WAY better. With the original model I lost reception OFTEN at night when my body was nestled under the covers. With the receiver on my night stand I had a constant connection all night long.

2. The screen is better lit, clearer, and much easier to read.

3. There are more added features such as adding health levels, food, exercise, alcohol, etc to the data system.

4. The alarms are LOUD. Last night at 3 am I was awoken with a beep letting me know I was 64 mg/dl and dropping.... which is EXACTLY why I need to be wearing this machine. I was sound asleep with no symptoms, and the Dexcom woke me up way before I was unable to help myself. My husband especially likes this. I think he prefers hearing obnoxious beeps, to passed out on the floor wife.

5. I noticed in the shower this morning that the adhesive was already starting to come up a little bit around the edges... so I grabbed some leftover Tegaderm covers I had from the last time I wore the Dexcom and plastered it securely over the site. This usually helps me get a few extra days out of each sensor. With the old model, I thought it might have gotten in the way of the reception, but it is unclear. It is definitely not interfering with the new model.

Overall, I LOOOOOOOVE it. I think it is an improvement. I hope they continue to design the newer models to have a smaller receiver. And some type of quick set insertion device would be nice too. The manual needle stuff still wigs me out, even after 23 years! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Cha Cha Cha Changes!!

I need an outlet. I'll be honest. Sometimes I just need to let out my diabetic frustrations, or share some thing neat I experienced dealing with it. But other times I get things on my heart that have absolutely nothing to do with diabetes.

So... I am going to makeover this blog, but keep the name. Because after all... I have Type 1 diabetes, I experience quite the domestication-ee-ism-nist at this current season of life, and I have always been a little bit (or a lot) diva-ish.

Sometimes I may talk about living with diabetes.

Sometimes I might talk about being a Mom.

Sometimes I might just share something God's put on my heart.

And sometimes I might just tell a knock knock joke. Who knows?

But I thank you for being a friend, and thanks for reading!!

6 Things I Want People To Know About Diabetes

Happy D-blog day everyone! If you are a person without diabetes, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this! I hope you learn something useful!

6. Do not under any circumstance ask the question, "Should you be eating that?" If I'm being completely honest with you, when people ask me that question, every ounce of me wants to round house kick them to the throat. Even with good intentions, what it communicates to us is a narcissistic view that you think you know more about managing a disease that we live with day in and day out, with no weekend vacations. Trust me, if I have a muffin hanging out of my mouth on a Sunday morning at church, I've probably already done a math equation involving carb counts, blood sugar levels, fiber, stress and exercise. So in a nut shell, shut it.

5. With that being said, don't be afraid to ask diabetics honest questions about diabetes. Though it bothers me when the "diabetes police" come out to try and arrest me for my food choices, I do love it when people ask me honest questions about my diabetes or my insulin pump. I am ALL about explaining the differences in Type 1 and Type 2, explaining how my pump or glucose monitor works, helping new diabetics with recipes and giving encouragement! Advocacy is actually something that brings some peace and gratitude to the situation of dealing with a broken pancreas each day!

4. Speaking of differences, I really want the world to know the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes! So here it is cut and dry......

3. Type 1 Diabetes: It was formerly called juvenile diabetes and typically (but not always) occurs before the age of 20. People with type 1 diabetes are usually thin, and the cause of type 1 diabetes is that the pancreas, the organ that secretes insulin, is destroyed by autoantibodies, that's why people with type 1 diabetes always need insulin, either injected or through an insulin pump. Type 1 diabetes occurs in about 10-15 percent of all the diabetics in the country. It can not be reversed. There is no cure.

2. Type 2 Diabetes: Is the most common type making up 85%-90% of all diabetics. Type 2 diabetics are usually heavy, usually diagnosed after the age of 35. The cause of type 2 diabete is primarily a complicated medical condition called 'insulin resistance.' In fact, in the early stages of type 2 diabetes, there's plenty of insulin around, it just doesn't work well. To treat type 2 diabetes, doctors typically use lifestyle (diet and exercise), oral medications, and/or insulin with oral meds. (Excerpts taken from Dr. Steve Edelmen's interview on Abc.com)

5. But wait! There is one more! Type 1.5 LADA: Latent Autoimmune Disorder in Adults: A genetically-linked, hereditary autoimmune disorder that results in the body mistaking the pancreas as foreign and responds by attacking and destroying the insulin-producing beta islet cells of the pancreas. Simply stated, LADA, is an "allergy to self." In its early stages it typically presents as type 2 diabetes and is often misdiagnosed as such. However, it more closely resembles the juvenile form of type 1 diabetes, although it is not classified as the same disease.

I'm seriously proud of you if you've made it this far! Consider yourself a smart, well informed person who cares about diabetics! Seriously, go hug the nearest pancreas to you right now! Or eat a salad in celebration!

6. Lastly, INSULIN IS NOT A CURE. It is a dang good treatment, but it is far from a cure. Please contribute to worthy causes like the DRI or the JDRF who are working hard on a cure. If you can't donate, watch this video! For each view in November 2010, money will be donated to help children get lifesaving children in underprivileged countries. (Plus you get to see my friend Manny bite it on the ice, and my favorite Ninja make an awesome swoosh on the court!)

P.S. Yes, I know my numbers don't make any sense on this post, kinda like my life with diabetes!!