Tag Archives: dsma blog carnival

March DSMA Blog Carnival: My Superhero

March 21, 2013 – 9:39 am

I’m very flattered to have been asked to be a monthly contributor for the Blog Carnival over at Diabetes Social Media Advocacy. Beginning today, you’ll start to see me over there too.

Now on to this month’s question. It comes from a DSMA Twitter Chat not too long ago:

Disney just gave you funding to create a character with diabetes. What type of character would you create? What would you want your character’s message to be for adults and children living with diabetes?

When I looked at this topic, I realized that I needed some kind of special assistance to complete my project. I’ve never been good at creating things like this. So I went to the ultimate source of knowledge in the world… the internet. I mean, hey, if it’s on the internet, it must be true, right (he said, tongue in cheek)?

I typed “How to create a superhero” into my search engine and found multiple sites that list complete how-to guides on how to create a superhero. Some even provide software to let you piece together how your superhero will look.

Most of the sites I checked covered the same ground in their online tutorials. So let’s take these tasks one at a time and apply them to our super Diahero.
 
• Origins: Where does your superhero hail from? What about this makes him or her unique?
My superhero is born from a single healthy beta cell, originating in the obscure Islet of Langerhans, home of other beta cells in our pancreases. Being able to escape from this land of origin prior to the destruction of all of his fellow beta cells, he’s able to uniquely empathize with similar individuals who have suffered the same fate.
 
• Special Powers: This is delicious. What kind of superpowers does your superhero have?
My super Diahero has an amazing mind that can deduce insulin on board, current blood glucose, and the amount of carbohydrates on your plate. Then, factoring in insulin to carb ratios, exercise, and future basal rates too, he provides the precise measurement of insulin for any scenario.

Also, my hero has a great ability to educate and slay those troublesome diabetes myths. Don’t even try to mislead, or misrepresent facts: “You can’t eat that”, “You brought this on yourself”, and “You can’t have children” are all eradicated with split-second, persuasive action. Complete enlightenment is our hero’s hallmark.
 
• Weaknesses: What is our hero’s kryptonite?
Alas, our super Diahero is susceptible to the evil twin demons known as hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. The hyperglycemia that makes him sluggish and irritable, thirsting for water but searching for the demon’s lair so BGs can be brought to mind at a healthy level. And the hypoglycemia that tries to turn his brain to mush, dulling his Special Powers until he is able to find the right combination of fast-acting carbohydrates (occasionally administered by his trusty sidekick, who sometimes takes the form of a Parent or Spouse, or another member of the League of Super Diaheros. Hey, it’s my superhero… I can create whatever I want, right?).
 
• Mission: Of course, our superhero needs a mission.
My superhero travels the world searching for other healthy beta cells in an effort to prevent those of his kind from being destroyed. And where they have been destroyed, his hope is that one day, a new, healthy Islet of Langerhans can be reborn in a Perfect Pancreas World that can live within all of us.
 
• Finally, our superhero needs a name. What’s your name?
No, really… what’s your name? Because if you’re living with diabetes, you know that living a meaningful life requires superhuman effort. You also know that it’s possible. And I hope you know that you can do it. To all my fellow People With Diabetes: You are my carb-counting, insulin-adjusting, educating, myth-busting, hypo- and hyperglycemia surviving, AWESOME Super Diaheros.
 
 
Mission accomplished.
 
 
This post is my March entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2013/march-dsma-blog-carnival-3/
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in DSMA Blog Carnival | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)

February DSMA Blog Carnival. Feel the love.

February 12, 2013 – 1:57 pm

February’s DSMA Blog Carnival invites us to feel the love… for our readers, commenters, and even our lurkers.

Write a Valentine to your readers, commenters, and lurkers!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

Dear readers, you give me a reason to keep writing. Besides my own ego, of course. By visiting my site, you help me to remember that I’m not just writing to get things out of my head and onto the information superhighway. I’m also writing to inform, to make you think, to make you laugh. I hope to continue doing so for some time.

Dear, dear commenters, you make me feel so special with your words of encouragement and support. I’ve also learned a thing or two by reading your comments. Please, please keep leaving your thoughts for me to read. This goes for you Twitterites too. Just the thought of your messages always makes me smile.

And my dear, dear, dear lurkers… please don’t feel ashamed by the creepiness of your title. I enjoy and welcome your cookies to my site. It’s so great to know that there are secret admirers of Happy-Medium.net. Know that I hold you close in my heart always. And please… if the spirit moves you, consider moving over into the commenter category.

Thank you so much for being a part of my online world, you crazy readers, commenters, and lurkers.

Your kindness and generosity is unequaled, and my appreciation for you knows no bounds.

This post is my February entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at
http://diabetessocmed.com/2013/february-dsma-blog-carnival-2/
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in DSMA Blog Carnival | Also tagged , | Comments (2)

December DSMA Blog Carnival. Diabetes in 2012.

December 21, 2012 – 10:23 am

I have the privilege of guest posting over at Diabetes Social Media Advocacy for this month’s Blog Carnival. This is the second time this year they’ve graciously put my post up on their site. And although I don’t mention it below, both times have been major highlights for me this year. Thanks DSMA!

This post is my December entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2012/december-dsma-blog-carnival-2/

(See what I did there? I didn’t wait to put the link at the bottom of my post. Just call me a rebel. Or not.)

The final installment of the DSMA Blog Carnival for 2012 is seeking input on something you might expect at this time of year:

Take a moment to reflect on diabetes in 2012 – on a personal level, on a community level, on a technological level, anything you can think of. What things stand out to you the most? What did 2012 and Diabetes mean to you? You can even take the challenge one step further, and post a collage of your Year in Diabetes!

Well, my blog only has only been around for a little over eight months now… but still, what a year.

On a personal level, 2012 can be described as the year when I became reacquainted with the diabetes community at large. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again: I spent a long, long time living my life on my own, not knowing about or paying attention to how others with diabetes were doing. That meant that, for instance, when I had a tough time managing glucose during or after working out, or I couldn’t figure out how to talk to my endocrinologist about my A1c, I thought I was the only one who ever had these problems. In the last half of 2011, I found the Diabetes Online Community and realized that I am not living in a diabetes bubble.

So I started a blog. But I continued to do a lot of reading. In doing so, I found out a lot about new products that are coming to the market. I’m just guessing here, but I think we may look back on 2012 as the year just before some big breakthroughs in diabetes care. To be sure, not every product we read about this year was given rave reviews. But some were. If you can, think back to how you saw these products reviewed this year: Tandem’s T:Slim insulin pump, Medtronic’s MySentry, Roche’s Accu-Chek Nano, the iBGStar from Sanofi, and GlucoLift glucose tabs.

What does this mean? For me, it means that there are a number of companies out there working to bring helpful products to the market that will be meaningful to people managing their lives with diabetes. Working with them in some cases are organizations that are providing input during the development phase and feedback once the product is in the marketplace. Sometimes these initiatives are resulting in better stuff; sometimes they are not. In every case, it seems, there are plenty of people in the DOC who are not shy about saying what works and what doesn’t. Whether companies embrace the idea or not, it’s pretty clear that there’s a kind of collaborative effect working to bring us better products producing better results. Or to discount wild claims about products that aren’t cutting the mustard. In future years, I’m guessing, companies will be even more aware of the power of social media as an information-sharing tool as well as a marketing tool.

My year included a visit to Maryland JDRF’s annual meeting in June. At that meeting, I heard a talk from someone with the University of Virginia’s Center for Diabetes Technology, who spoke about their work on the Artificial Pancreas Project, which JDRF is helping to fund. I got so excited about that talk that I wrote about it. Later, I was invited to an open house at the center where I learned more about the AP and even held the device in my hand. Definitely a highlight of my year. In November, the FDA released important guidance on development and testing of the Artificial Pancreas. Could 2013 (or 2014?) finally be a breakthrough year for the AP in the United States and beyond?

The Artificial Pancreas Project wasn’t the only JDRF-related event for me this year. I underwent mentor training, meeting some very dedicated individuals in the process. I rode 65 miles in the Tour de Talbot bike ride here in Maryland, which benefited JDRF and allowed me to meet Team Type 1 athlete John Anderson.

What haven’t I done? I haven’t gotten together with a support group yet. I’m trying, but I just haven’t been able to make that connection. So that’s near the top of my diabetes list for 2013.

And I don’t think I’ve done enough advocacy this year. Now, I’m still a relative newbie in the blogging landscape, so I’m still figuring out how to have a voice that extends beyond my home page. But I definitely have my eyes open for a great advocacy effort that goes beyond what I’ve accomplished so far. Blogging and Twitter are great, but they won’t last forever. And we don’t live in our hard drives (though those low glucose moments sometimes make us feel like our hard drives have crashed).

It’s been a remarkable year. I’m so excited about what this year has done for me and my diabetes. But, as always, I’m looking forward to the future, for changes that will benefit all of us. Changes that will cost us less and give us more access. Changes that will give all of us a chance to live the full, unrestricted, meaningful lives we’re meant to live.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in DSMA Blog Carnival | Also tagged , | Comments (3)

November DSMA Blog Carnival. A Review.

November 30, 2012 – 8:53 am

Just getting this in under the wire… This month’s DSMA Blog Carnival talked about Diabetes Awareness Month and World Diabetes Day, and asked the question:

What is the one thing (advocacy, grassroots) you will do different this year? How will you accomplish your task?

I saw this question after I had written the post below on November 2nd, so I’m going to show it again here and give my responses in red. Here we go…

Well, T1D Day has passed, and unfortunately, I can’t say that I have a lot to show for it. Sometimes these milestone days pass before I can make any kind of serious impact.

The good news is that it’s just the beginning of Diabetes Awareness Month. That means there are a lot of things I can still do to increase awareness and help champion our cause. So what am I doing? How do you advocate for something you feel strongly about?

First, I hate the phrase “lead by example”. Only because whenever that’s used, it seems like someone is saying that leading by example is enough. Well, it is for some. Just not me, not right now. So I want to start to lead by example. That means managing the BGs well, staying as healthy as I can, and not judging others based on their success or failure of the same. This has been an uncharacteristically difficult month in terms of keeping the BG within range. Feels like a fail, but I’ve kept after it and I’m doing better now, so it’s not a total fail.

I’m also trying to keep people informed, as much as I can. There are several D-Awareness Month initiatives out there, and I’ll be letting readers of this forum know about them as much as I can. I’ve posted and tweeted about the Big Blue Test and World Diabetes Day and other things, so I can check that off of the list.

On top of that? I got my Blue Circle merchandise from the IDF/World Diabetes Day merchandise page, and I’ll be handing out blue circle pins and bracelets to practically everyone I know this month. Almost all so far are completely unaware of Diabetes Awareness Month, World Diabetes Day, or the Blue Circle. So they get a quick info session on top of the swag. I’ve already had one person ask me about the blue circle pin I’m wearing, and that’s a good thing too. This has actually worked out pretty well. People have actually asked me about both the blue bracelet and the Blue Circle pin, and I’ve been able to take my message to people that I otherwise would not have talked to about diabetes at all. Win.

Stealing an idea from someone else in the DSMA Twitter chat this past week, I’ve started to inconspicuously place D-related reading material around the workplace. This kind of thing is generally frowned upon where I work, so I have to be careful with this strategy to avoid running afowl of the people in charge. This whole idea sounds like it has an element of danger to it, which must be why I find it so appealing. Thanks to Bea at Cranky Pancreas for this idea. Don’t know if it’s helped, but people who have no connection at all with this disease are being reminded that diabetes is a real thing and it exists. Win.

Finally, you might have noticed that I’ve updated this site, at least for November. I kinda like the blue, even though red is my favorite color. I also added the photo, showing my blue circle pin and bracelet, which I’m going to try to wear all month long. I’ve worn the pin almost every day, and the bracelet has been on my wrist the entire month. And as much as I like the color red, I’m probably going to keep the blue banner at the top for a while.

Wow, when I look back and read all of that, I realize it’s probably not that much in the way of increasing awareness. But it’s a heck of a lot more than I was doing last year, which was nothing. November has just begun, and I’m still looking for more impact. Small steps have helped me do more this year, and I feel more connected with my fellow People With Diabetes than ever before. Hope your Diabetes Awareness Month has been great.

Is there anything special that you’re doing this month? If so, feel free to let me know. I’d love for everyone to hear about it.

This post is my November entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2012/november-dsma-blog-carnival-2
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in DSMA Blog Carnival | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)

October DSMA Blog Carnival. What can diabetes educators/HCP learn from the DOC?

October 19, 2012 – 10:21 am

This month’s DSMA Blog Carnival topic asks the question:

What can diabetes educators/HCP learn from the DOC?

To begin with, they could learn that our lives are more than “How are your sugars today?” and “Have you been exercising?” and “Have you been doing okay with your diet?”. We lead real lives just like everyone else, and the DOC is a prime example of a group of people telling their real-life stories, with diabetes along for the ride.

Reading those stories can give healthcare professionals a reminder of what it’s like to live with a chronic illness every minute of every day. Let’s face it: diabetes educators, endocrinologists, nurses, phlebotomists, and office staff see so many people throughout each day and each career that it becomes easy to tune out everything that isn’t an A1c, or blood pressure, eye/foot exam, or any other clinical element. Getting a look at someone’s life via a blog or podcast can help them reintroduce the human element into their patient’s numbers.

Also, from this patient’s experience, I know that healthcare professionals can find out about the latest medical gadgetry from PWDs online. About six months ago, I asked my endo about a couple of new things that had recently hit the market. She hadn’t heard of them yet (this is totally understandable—she has many patients, not all of whom have diabetes), so I explained to her what I had read via a couple of DOC sites. A week later, she sent me an e-mail telling me she had read up on what I’d asked about and spoken with a couple of the local sales reps about the products. She also wanted to share my blog with other patients and with another HCP she works with. This wouldn’t have happened without the information being out there, and without my endo and I engaging in both online and offline dialogue.

The DOC isn’t there to get me prescriptions the doctor won’t prescribe, or to turn me on to voodoo cures (air quotes optional). But I do count on the DOC for:

Validation. I will always remember the first time I read about another PWD’s hypo experience, and the feeling I got when I realized I’m not alone on this D planet. Changed my life.

Empowerment. Stories from people just like us helps us decide that yes… we can take on that nasty low and come back strong from it. Yes… we can figure out that meal bolus, factoring in insulin on board + BG + carb count + exercise. Yes… we can have a job, a family, a life. Yes… we can do this.

Support. Just the glasses story from this past July is all I need to mention here. If you haven’t looked at this, click and find out. Enough said.

Guidance. We all have those moments when we’re not sure about the next step. Getting real-time feedback via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. from those in the know (#makessenseifyouhavediabetes) is incredibly valuable, especially during non-office hours.

Most of all, I want my healthcare professionals to know (read: understand) that the DOC is part of my overall care team. The Diabetes Online Community is not a replacement for my healthcare professionals. But the DOC is just as important.

This post is my October entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2012/october-dsma-blog-carnival-2/
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in DSMA Blog Carnival | Also tagged , , , | Comments (6)