Monthly Archives: December 2012

Don’t try this at home.

December 10, 2012 – 9:55 am

Mostly (at least in my mind), the day revolved around this:

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Sunday was our annual holiday open house at the homestead, with nearly 40 guests, a kitchen helper, and a piano player all crammed into our little house. With all of this bolus-worthy goodness in front of me, I decided before the start that I would set a temporary basal rate to help me manage the BG’sus out of my glucose.

Sometimes, I know just enough to be dangerous.

I’ve set temp basals dozens of times in the last couple of years. They always worked out well too. Set for just the right amount of insulin, just the right amount of time. Mostly for workouts, where I set the rate for an hour or an hour and a half at 0.575 units per hour. That’s a little less than half my average basal. Once in a great while, I’ll set one that’s higher than my normal basal rate because I know I’ll be eating a bit more than usual over an extended period of time. This was one of those times.

The problem is, when you’re hosting your own party, you don’t get much of a chance to graze at the buffet. And that’s where my trouble started.

Instead of eating my way through the afternoon and being helped along by my over-basalness, I was greeting people, taking coats, taking out trash, refilling drinks, but not eating. A couple of hours in, I realized I had made a mistake.

I realized I was going a bit low (spoiler alert: nothing to worry about in the long run), and I had to cancel the temporary basal rate then get something to eat. Only… all of my temporary basals had worked great before, and I never had to cancel one early. So I didn’t know how! Never even had thought about it before.

Fortunately, I found it rather quickly, right next to the option to set the temp basal. Crisis averted.

Don’t try this at home, folks. Read up on your pump settings before you start to freelance.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Pumps | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)

Real Life Get-togethers. Not just for T1Ds anymore.

December 7, 2012 – 12:08 pm

The Great Spousal Unit and I attended an open house for Type 1s at the local JDRF headquarters this week. It’s important for me to go to these things, in part because I’ve been feeling very anti-real-life meeting lately, if that makes any sense. There’s not a good reason for that. It’s just that mostly, at the gatherings I’ve been attending, I’m the oldest person in the room. Sometimes by a lot. And as you probably know, sometimes, if people can’t immediately identify with you, they don’t want to talk to you.

So I dragged the spouse to this get-together. She wasn’t feeling too good that day, but I figured if I could get her to come, I’d have at least one person to talk to all night.

You know what? We both had a great time. We didn’t get to talk to a lot of people, but the conversations we had were meaningful. I saw someone I recognized from mentor training a few months back. We spoke to a mom whose kid was diagnosed not too long ago.

That last conversation was particularly poignant for TGSU. She got to hear, maybe for the first time, someone talking about nighttime BG checks, packing diabetes supplies as well as books and pencils for school, and managing pump settings for an active summer instead of desk-bound school days.

On our way out, we passed by her child and a couple of other kids that were there, who were drawing designs on balloons (and using the name tags from the event to write “Free Balloon” on each one—wish I had gotten a photo of that) and handing them to people as they left.

On the way home, Maureen was feeling a lot better. And she admitted to a new understanding (and perhaps empathy?) for parents of CWD (Children With Diabetes) and their never-ending labor of love for their children. All I could think of was how great it is that that kid seems to be living the kind of life they’re meant to live, even with diabetes along for the ride.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Diabetes | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

A Rare Wordless Wednesday. Co-op Advertising.

December 5, 2012 – 10:34 am

Is it just me, or does the beginning of this commercial look like a giant human Blue Circle? The first time I saw it, my eyes got real big, and then I went “Oh… it’s just a commercial”.

 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

NPR Reports on the DOC.

December 4, 2012 – 10:23 am

On Monday, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition ran a story (find it here) that talked about how People With Diabetes are connecting with others via social media. Kerri Sparling of Six Until Me was quoted, as were Dennis Urbaniak of Sanofi, Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, and Jason Bronner of the UC San Diego Medical Center.

The piece talked a little about how Kerri connected with the online community; and it also talked about her endorsement deals, her disclosure of such on her site, and whether that’s appropriate. I think the appropriateness was raised with regard to drug companies and medical technology firms, and whether they have undue influence on the people they’re supporting. And whether they are disclosing that too.

So what’s my take on the story? Was it really fair? My feeling is yes.

I’m totally okay with the story and how it was told. I think the reporter, Lauren Silverman, was trying to shine a light on all sides of the issue. That’s what should be done. However, if I may, I’d like to focus on statements made by two people in the story.

First, there was the statement by Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy: “People do not read disclosures. The FDA and [Federal Trade Commission] need to create a whole new system for disclosing when a blogger or group gets paid by pharmaceutical companies”.

Well, I do read disclosures. Maybe I’m in the minority here. But I’m interested in how someone describes their working relationship with a vendor. From what I’ve read from other bloggers so far, I have reason to believe that people are being honest when something they’re trying out is less than par, if indeed it is. Even if a drug company or medical technology firm is asking for (or hoping for) an endorsement.

That said, I certainly recognize the possibility for companies to try to overplay their hand in working with members of the DOC. I’m okay with the FDA or the Federal Trade Commission stepping in to set boundaries. But let’s not make a blanket statement that may lead people to believe that everyone’s on the take, okay? It’s more complicated than that, and so far, the bloggers and organizations that make up the DOC appear to be well behind the line of inappropriateness (wow, big words).

As far as advertising is concerned… well, we’re talking about blogs here. If you’re reading someone’s blog and you see a logo with a link to look at the latest Accu-Chek Nano® meter, you know that person or entity is being paid for it. I’m also skeptical enough to believe that people aren’t always in love with everything they’re being paid to advertise. Again, maybe I’m in the minority here, but I hope not.

The second statement I really have an issue with is this, from Jason Bronner, a doctor at the University of California San Diego Medical Center. He says: “There’s no proof in diabetes that social networking is helpful”.

I can’t speak for everyone. But I know that statement is absolutely false when it comes to my own experiences.

Through social networking, I’ve not only gotten the support that I’ve never, ever experienced in real life. I’ve also learned a great deal about products, new therapies, and yes, how to properly disclose a working relationship. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I’m in the majority on this one.

Dr. Bronner does mention later that “We know a lot of patients are on the Internet. Patients are more likely to get information from the internet than they are from the doctor”.

Well, yeah… some of us only get a few minutes every three months with our doctors. We can get hours per day via social media. So instead of “leading a study that will help determine whether social networking can actually help patients manage diabetes”, and making statements like that before your study is complete … why aren’t you researching ways that doctors, diabetes educators, and other healthcare professionals can reach out to patients through social media and actually partner with them to help them achieve their goals?

Of course, if they did, they themselves might find a couple of juicy endorsement or advertising deals.
Which I hope they would properly disclose. #sarcasmintended
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (3)

Welcome to December.

December 3, 2012 – 10:16 am

One quick diabetes-related note, then a couple of photos… I’ll have more to share on the big D later in the week.

The Great Spousal Unit and I will be attending the Maryland JDRF’s T1D Connections Open House at the chapter headquarters in Linthicum Wednesday night from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Anyone with a diagnosis or connection to a diagnosis is welcome to attend. If you’d like to be there, Click Here to RSVP.

December has begun. And I promised to share some photos as I make my way through the holiday season. The first is from the front of our house, where we got the lights up on Friday. The red, green, and blue lights you see are actually inverted tomato cages from the vegetable garden. We turn them upside down, clip them to different heights, and string the lights. They look sort of like little Christmas trees.

The second photo is from our neighborhood. Every year Santa comes and lights up the tree in one of our common areas. The neighbors who live next to the tree open their porches to everyone and share cookies and warm beverages. Despite the fact that the lighting took place toward the end of the Ravens game (which they lost anyway), we still managed to get around 200 people for the celebration.

Enjoy the start of your week.

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By StephenS | Posted in Holidays | Tagged , , | Comments (1)