Julie Cooper, Wanda Plenn, and April Nardini

Subtitle: TV is Educational

Diabetes is often portrayed poorly on television, with story lines that include factual flaws and overly dramatic... shall we say... exaggerations. I assume that the same is true for other conditions, but since I don't have the first hand knowledge to compare fact with fiction, I can't say for sure.

As frustrating as inaccurate info is, sometimes the basics get through, and that can be a good thing. A character's illness can plant a seed of information that comes in handy down the road. Assuming, of course, that it doesn't lead one down the path of mis-self-diagnosis! TV + Google = Hypochondria (sometimes!)

So what does this have to do with Julie, Wanda, and April? All three are characters who have had appendicitis. And since I'd never had it, nor did I know anyone who'd had it, I can only assume that my basic knowledge of the symptoms comes from what I've seen on TV. The one thing that has always stuck in my mind is lower right belly pain, and pain that is worse when you push gently and let go. And that tidbit goes all the way back to the 70's and One Day at a Time.

When I woke up with a nasty stomachache in the middle of the night, I thought it was your average run of the mill bug. Dreadful, but no big deal. When the pain moved and settled into the lower right side of my belly, I got suspicious. And I must say, what little I knew about appendicitis pushed me past the usual internal "am I sick enough to go to the Emergency Room" debate. So it was off to the ER yesterday afternoon at 1PM.

By 9 I was in surgery, having my appendix removed.

Because it was caught so early, and the surgery was so uneventful, I was able to come home mid-day today and am now enjoying the perks of percoset and the benefits of bedrest (specifically, I have sole control of the upstairs TV. And it's pageant night. 'Nuff said.)

So thank you Julie, Wanda, and April, for your dramatic portrayals of appendicitis over the decades. I appreciate the heads-up!

On the diabetes front, pretty much everyone in the hospital was great. Most were very receptive to hearing about what I needed to do. We used my meter and blood sugar results for the first 8 hours (and would have used it after surgery but my lancet was left behind in the ER). They kept my pump on during the surgery, which was great because I didn't have to worry about any gaps in basal insulin, and I was able to take insulin as soon as I needed it (without having to wait for them to bring it to me). Aside from the asshole anesthesiologist who had a few ridiculous comments about my 210 blood sugar and the correction dose I had taken (he thought it was insufficient), I was in charge and didn't feel like I had to work extra hard to stay healthy, diabetes-wise.

A Little Ha Ha

My sister-in-law has had diabetes for a while, and has been using an insulin pump for about two years. She's the mom of my adorable nephew Nolan and our one and only gorgeous neice Madeleine. On top of taking care of those creatures, and herself, she works a demanding full-time retail management job.

At her last endo visit, the doctor handed her "this great new book". Yup, you guessed it, she forked over a copy of "When You're a Parent with Diabetes"! This thrills me to no end, knowing that the free copies provided courtesy of the Dream Fund are finding their way from the Bayer reps, to health care providers, and ultimately to patients.

The funny part of the story (to me, at least) is that my sister-in-law's name is Catherine Gregorio and the endo didn't catch the similarity to the author's name (Kathryn Gregorio Palmer). I'll forgive her that cluelessness this time!

Glory Enough for All

A young woman I know from my camp days is trying to track down a copy of the movie, "Glory Enough for All". For those who don't know it, that's the story of Banting & Best & others and the discovery/development of insulin.

Her library system does not have a copy.

It's no longer in production.

Any ideas?

Dining Out

I've been focusing on carb counts lately, in an effort to re-establish some better diabetes habits (and to see some better numbers). The effect has been remarkable. Turns out, when I count carbs correctly, those numbers are much much prettier. Still not perfect, but since I'm not striving for perfection, it's rather fantastic.

Counting carbs is easiest when I reach for pre-packaged food items. Unfortunately, those aren't always the most nutritional, the most satisfying, or the most interesting. I've been going heavy on the veggies in an effort to get some variety and nutrition back into my diet. The effect of a misjudged bowl of greenbeans is not nearly as dramatic as a misjudged serving of mashed potatoes.

The big challenge when it comes to food (at least for me) is dining out. My husband is a fan of your garden-variety sit-down chain restaurants, and we have lots to choose from in our area. Too many, in fact.

The other day, we were talking about going out to eat before a cub scout meeting. Given a choice between Friendly's and Applebee's (I know, some choice, eh?) I was leaning toward Applebee's if only because they have nutritional information on their menu. Or so I thought.

Thanks to my carb craziness, I actually sat down at the computer to look up the Applebee's nutrition info before going to the restaurant, figuring that I can choose my mediocre menu item just as easily from home! Well, it turns out that Applebee's doesn't have good nutritional info available. They just have a handful of items for which they provide Weight Watchers points. Does me no good!

Well, that sent me down an investigational path, on a quest to rate local restaurants based on what they tell you about their menu. I understand they don't want to scare us off by actually revealing the carb/calorie/fat counts of their delightful dining options. However, I have no qualms about rating restaurants based on how forthcoming they are with the facts.

So here, for your mid-Atlantic chain restaurant diabetic dining pleasure, is a list of what I found. Panera is by far my new favorite lunch spot. Who cares how the food tastes if you can bolus correctly?

http://www.panerabread.com - nutrition info right next to the description
http://www.chilis.com - 2 page PDF list of items and their nutrition info
http://www.unos.com - nutrition info by menu item. Also a handy list of items categorized by 'less than 30 g CHO
http://www.rubtuesdays.com - PDF file (two pages)
http://www.cheeseburgerinparadise.com - PDF of gluten free (includes "order without bun" selections. Duh.) No other nutritional info.
http://www.ocharleys.com - no info. But you can contact them for nutritional info using a form. Hahahahaha.
http://www.olivegarden.com - no info. Flags 'low fat' items,
http://www.tgifridays.com - lowcarb/lowfat list. Only 2 low carb items.
http://www.redrobin.com - nothing. I no longer care how quickly they build the one down the street.
http://www.sonicdrivein.com - link on each item page to that item's info, PDF of info, AND promotional nutrition info (OMG the raspberry banana smoothie has 104 g CHO. This is ballsy, IMHO, considering the food they serve. Hats off to them!
http://www.wawa.com - easy to access nutrition info for their sandwiches, etc AND sandwiches you 'build'
http://www.outbacksteakhouse.com - some info, but confusing. "Toast - 1 Bread Exchange and 15 Carbs". Somewhat moot, though, as it's steak :)

Featured!

Allison Blass and the folks over at diabetesteentalk.com have interviewed me about my life as a former teenager, my book, and other things. Please go check it out, even if (like me) your teen years are a distant memory.

Thank you Allison!

Huh. $93.89 won't cover it?

Note to self: when it comes to important things like just how much money is actually left in our flexible spending account, don't rely on that creature I lovingly refer to as "husband".

As the end of the year approached, we went into uber-spend mode because I was under the mistaken impression that I had oodles of FSA money to burn. Our first year using a medical flexible spending account, I had to surrender money (ouch) because we overestimated (or I under-receipted. Is that even a word? I think not, but you get the idea).

So mid-December, it was off to Lenscrafters for new glasses. For the first time in my 20 year history of wearing spectacles, I walked in and said 'yes' to every option they put in front of me. Fancy brand name frames, not from the bargain shelf? Of course! A real pair of prescription sunglasses, instead of cheesy snap on lenses? Sign me up! Anti-scratch, anti-glare, polarizing lenses? Ka-ching, and half of the leftover FSA money was spent.

Then it was off to secure a DexCom STS unit. Not available until January? Pshaw! Make it happen, oh DexCom rep - just be sure to make it happen in FY06. Except...

It turns out that after my "make me beautiful" trip to Lenscrafters... we had $93 dollars of FSA money left.

Oy. I feel so silly. Luckily, the DexCom folks were very understanding!

It is, of course, too late to up this years medical FSA account to accommodate for DexSpending. But I'll find a way to fund it, hopefully!

The Fran Question

There is a bit of brou-ha-ha going on about the recent NYT article on diabetes in the workplace. I haven't posted about the article and the quote from Fran Carpentier until now for a few reasons, not the least of which being that the entire concept terrifies me.

It's bad enough that I was rejected for life insurance recently. The idea that I could walk into an interview and be dismissed despite my qualifications simply because I have diabetes is terrifying. The subject of diabetes naturally comes up when my resume is reviewed, because a major portion of my work experience involves diabetes and all of my resume-worthy publications have the word 'diabetes' in the title.

I envision myself across the desk from a potential employer, trying to gracefully disguise my medic alert and crafting answers to questions about my diabetes-focused career that don't seem evasive yet never actually indicate that I have a chronic illnes.

Then I imagine that the person across that desk is Fran Carpentier, and I break into a cold sweat knowing that she would consider my diabetes a sufficient reason to not hire me. Despite the fact that she has acheived professional success in her chosen field (while raising a child, to boot), she would look at me and possibly assume that I can't pull it off. And that, to me, is ludicrous.

And terrifying.

Several folks have said they agree with Fran for calling attention to the challenges of diabetes. I can't get on board with that interpretation. This is a woman in the business of words. If her goal was to call attention to the struggles of people with diabetes, and to not gloss over the hard parts of living with the disease, I believe she could have (and would have) said it differently. And she may have been paraphrased or misquoted, but she has said this before (according to this post at CloseConcerns).

Why not address the issue by saying, "Knowing what it’s like to live with diabetes hour by hour, day by day, if I owned my own company I would enthusiastically support accomodations that would promote the success of people with diabetes in the workplace."

If Fran Carpentier, who knows from personal experience how successful an employee a person with diabetes can be, can honestly say that she might not hire a person with diabetes, then how can we expect the less informed, less empathetic general public to work with us? How can we expect the employer who denies a simple accomodation like cutting through a stock room to believe that people with diabetes can be productive employees?

Fran is entitled to her opinion, and entitled to broadcast it, but I'd like to shout from the rooftops that she doesn't speak for me. And I hope I never encounter her as a boss, or employers like her.

What would you say if asked about the employability of people with diabetes? Have you hired/supervised people with diabetes? How has it worked out for you?

The Bravery Question

Amy over at DiabetesMine.com has a post up today about bravery. It's one of those posts that makes me chuckle because I've had almost the exact same experience of frustration with a PWFP (person with functioning pancreas) who sees my ability to draw my own blood as brave. The phrase "you'd do it, too, if it meant staying alive" has certainly crossed my lips more than once in the past 20 plus years. Yours, too, no doubt.

Of course, it's nearly impossible to truly know what it's like to live with diabetes (and to understand that the finger pricks and injetions aren't always the hard part), so I don't fault those innocent euglycemics for their misuse of the word "brave". Before I got the damn thing, I was surely impressed with the kid at school who took shots - lacking information about what those shots were like, it struck me as pretty darn brave. And, as I commented on Amy's post, I do think it takes a bit of bravery to pierce the skin of your child's stomach, or to even fall asleep at night despite fears that their child's blood sugar could go low. I think bravery often emerges from the survival instinct - or the instinct to protect your kids at all costs. Think of the hero who finds the courage to run into a burning building to rescue a child. The every day bravery of diabetes is not as dramatic, that's for certain, but I think it's there, in quiet ways.

The post reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, “Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.” That, to me, sums up the quality most needed when living with diabetes. The ability to find a way, after a day of unrelenting highs or vicious lows, to take the damn meter out and try again.

PS: I just checked Answers.com fpr a defintion for "Brave" and the auto-generated ad at the top says Walmart.com offers a wide selection of "Brave" for sale. In case you find yourself running low.

Sixes and Sevens

Six from '06:

1. Jake wrapped up third grade beautifully, with solid grades, excellent S.O.L. scores, and an enthusiasm for history and social studies that warms my liberal arts heart. His baseball team won their big championship game. He scared the crap out of me - but survived, unharmed - a runaway kayak on Lake Willoughby. His first pinewood derby car finished second-to-last in the pack Derby but his refurbished second car took third place at the District Derby. He is sweet and smart and kind and makes me proud to be his mom nearly every single day (when he's not driving me up a wall with his pre-pre-teen ways!)

2. Ryan finally named his price to become fully potty trained (a spiderman costume. Who knew.) He learned to write his name, though he does think that R-Y-A-N spells his first, middle, and last name. Over the summer, he changed from baby to little boy. He married and broke up with three of his playmates, leaving them behind because they were mean to him (this gives me great hope for the future.) His sense of humor and love of music delight me. His mischevious nature and stubbornness both amuse and frustrate me.

3. John, about whom I rarely brag, received the top sales award given by his employer. He is a born salesman. A friend of mine once commented that John could sell chocolate to a diabetic (John has had type 1 for 38 years and used to work for Hershey). John also gracefully coached Jake's baseball team to victory, weathering the ups and downs of coaching your own kid.

4. My diabetes benefitted from the arrival of my purple Cozmo and technology which relieved the burden of poor math skills. I switched endos and learned that extraordinary endos may be few and far between, but an endo that is available after 4:30 pm and is enthusiastic about using all available tools might just be a good fit for me. Recent news of research which comes at diabetes from a different angle caught my eye and once again made me wish I was a mouse, if only for a moment.

5. My book was published in May and distributed by Bayer over the summer. I travelled to the ADA and AADE conferences and had the pleasure of speaking with hundreds of diabetes health care providers about the book and the Dream Fund. Bayer threw some pretty terrific PR resources behind the book, sponsoring a radio tour and satellite TV interviews. I delighted in the positive reviews posted on Amazon, Children with Diabetes, and the occasional random newspaper. Supportive comments left here by blog readers, along with a nomination for best non-blog resource, meant the world to me. And to cap it all off, I spotted the book on the shelf of my local Borders, and have since received reports of book sightings from Rhode Island to Oregon.

6. June, 2006, marked the 20th anniversary of my diagnosis with diabetes, giving me a chance to reflect upon my life with diabetes so far. I'd still choose life without diabetes, were that possible, but I continue to be thankful for the silver linings of life as a PWD.

Seven for '07:

1. I'm giving CGMS a try, with the goal of lowering my A1c to a more respectable number. Details and updates to follow.

2. Jake and I are travelling to Rome for a week in April. We'll be touring the city with my parents. This will be my second overseas trip, but I was a tad more carefree the first time around. Travelling with diabetes - and a 10 year old - should be interesting. But seeing Rome with my son will be fantastic.

3. Ryan will be entering kindergarten in the fall. I'm already verklempt about it.

4. My parent's house, where they've lived for 30+ years, and where I grew up, may very well sell this year, forcing me to deal with the fact that Flourtown will no longer be 'home base.' Expect an overly dramatic post when and if that happens!

5. Jake will finish fourth grade and enter fifth, ruling the school and inching ever closer to teendom. In April, I will become the mother of a Ten Year Old child. 10. Double digits. Oy.

6. I may successfully resolve my billing issue with Medtronic. I may also learn how to fly. Stay tuned.

7. My only real resolution this year is to keep writing, and to expand my writing beyond the diabetes world. I hope, by '08, to have a legitimate answer to the question people have asked me for the last six months, "so, what's you're *next* book about?"

Best wishes for a Happy New Year, and thank you for reading!