Random Report from AADE

I'm back from LA and honestly utterly exhausted! I spent Thursday, Friday and a half of Saturday working the Bayer booth in the exhibit hall. Unlike previous events, I didn't get much of a chance to walk the hall and see what's new and exciting. I just couldn't get away from the booth! I had such positive feedback from educators regarding my book that I didn't want to tear myself away!

I did swing by the Cozmo booth and get a peek at their upcoming software upgrades. Since they are not approved yet, I'm not sure if they are public, but I can say two things: "Way Cool" and "man, I love these smart pumps that can be refined based on direct user feedback!"

I behaved and avoided the medtronic booth. I mumbled under my breath whenever I saw one of their staff (nearly every vendor dresses their reps in matching shirts, so it's easy to spot folks). By way of an update, it's been a week since the latest customer service rep promised to speak to a supervisor and call me back. No rush, I guess. It's only my credit rating we're talking about.

The Bayer booth was right next to the dLife booth, so I took the time to personally congratulate Howard Steinberg and Paula Ford-Martin on their brilliant decision to hire Kerri Morrone. They tell me it's working out quite well! dLife also had Kevin Covais of American Idol fame signing and singing on the first convention day. He was very sweet, and his mom, who I talked to for about twenty minutes, was adorable. How cool must it be to be the mom of an American Idol? And get this - Kevin and Elliott were RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER in line at the Boston auditions! Two type 1's out of thousands and thousands and they both made it to the 'big show'. Kinda cool if you ask me.

As always, the exhibit hall was crawling with Barton and Joslin alumni. It was great fun to hang out with camp friends. This time around, I had the pleasure of meeting two women I've 'known' for over a year via an online diabetes yahoo group. Margo and Stacey took the time to schlepp into the city on Saturday for lunch at 'the Pantry'. Between them, Margo and Stacey have eight kids. EIGHT. Stacey has a son and twin one-year-olds. Margo brought her adorable four year old son Pascal (we talked about trains and Monster Trucks) and her four - count them, FOUR - 18 month old daughters. A quad pregnancy with diabetes. As conference goers on the street noticed the stroller (how could you not?) I wanted to scream out, "This is a mom with diabetes!! Look at what we can do!!!" The connections and friendships I've made as a result of having diabetes never cease to amaze me!

Speaking of diabetes connections (I told you this was random, right?), I spent a lot of time at the Bayer booth with Peter Hoogenboom, this year's Dream Fund winner. Peter is currently 2/3rds of the way through a nearly 10,000 mile, 48 state bike ride. He locked his bike up in Minnesota and flew to LA for the conference, returning to resume his ride tomorrow I believe. Most of the time I stood next to him, I was really just in awe. Ten. Thousand. Miles. Seriously people, that is very very cool.

What else, what else... I ate some fancy food (taking full advantage of the fact that I did not have the kids with me, influencing restaurant choices), signed hundreds and hundreds of books (I could be a doctor my signature is so darn illegible), hung out with some Dex Com people (seriously, it is so cool to watch that blood sugar graph that displays on the dex com monitor), and all-in-all thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with grown ups. Missed the boys terribly, of course, but they managed to survive without me thanks to the charms of Chuck E Cheese, the movie theater, and the bowling alley.

One final note: travelling back was fine. I did have to show ID that matched the name on my insulin box prescription label (so DO pack that if you are travelling). I found myself having to do a set change on the plane due to an ungodly high blood sugar, and I was very nervous that someone would spot me assembling an electronic device with a liquid, but I managed to do it discreetly enough that no one freaked out. It probably helped that it was 3AM Eastern Standard Time.

That's it. My rambling report from AADE. Thanks for hanging in!