Obat Diabetes

So, 2009 will officially come to an end at 12:01 am Friday morning, and I for one, am happy to say goodbye.

Not that 2009 hasn’t been a little slice of heaven, because parts absolutely have been.

And some parts have definitely resembled Dante’s 7 layers of hell.

I don’t want to take this time to look back, because right now I’m really concentrating on looking (and moving) forward in my life.

Bottom line: I’m ready to welcome 2010 with open arms.

My wishes for 2010 are simple and matter of fact.

I want 2010 to be filled with good health, positive vibes, much love, happiness, laughter and success for myself and everyone I love, and that includes you dear Diabetesaliciousness reader.

I love you all VERY much and couldn’t have made it through this year without you!

My New Years Resolutions are not incredibly outlandish and I think they are doable.

I will remain healthy

I will do everything in life better with 1 good eye then I ever did with 2

I will get my A1C down to 6.5

I will find a job in the diabetes arena where I can help others own their diabetes

I will take Diabetesaliciousness to the next level- even though I have no ideal what the next level is or means, or how to get there

I will take Archery lessons and become a kick-ass Diazon with a bow & arrow

I will find someone who loves an accepts me for me and vice versa - and have fun in the process

2010 will be fiscally better than 2009

I will continue to learn, grow and become.

I hope your New Year's is fantastical in every way, and I hope that 2010 brings all your dreams to reality!

So I stopped by my sisters house a few weeks ago and had dinner with her family- which was fabulous and entertaining, as always.

Anyway, my 17-year-old nephew Anton (Longboard Skateboard officiando & man about town) had his friend Nick over for dinner. Nick is slightly older, also a longboard Skateboard officiando/man about town, and a type 1 PWD.

We chatted about skateboarding and the likes there of, dined on a fantastic Jewish Apple Cake (it was like a foot thick and SUPER DELICIOUS) courtesy of the Kibitz Room, and discussed our hopes for 2010.

Then Nick noticed my pump and said: I see you have an insulin pump. Cool, I have one to!

He removed his black Animas Ping from his pocket and held it up in the air for me to see.

Then I unclipped my Minimed 512 from my belt and held it up in the air.

And there we sat, our pumps hanging midair, discussing the Ping’s options (I’m seriously considering a Ping and had lots of questions) and Nick told me how much he liked his Ping. “It actually talks to my glucometer,” said Nick all proud and happy.

Then instantaneously, we each reached out (over the table and the plate of SUPER DELICIOUS Jewish Apple cake) with our insulin pumps and bumped pumps in mid air.

Anton chimed in without missing a beat: OK, I feel like I’ve just witnessed the secret handshake to a Dungeons and Dragons Diabetes meeting! You guys are total geeks.

Me: Anton, it's ain't nothing but a D-thing - pure and simple.

And it absolutely was.

Cool stuff a head in 2008!

A few months ago, I had the honor of speaking to a group of diabetic teens at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees New Jersey and boy, was I impressed!

It all started last April, when Robin Stout, an RN & CDE from Virtua Hospital called my cell. She’d heard about me from Cheryl Marco, a CDE over at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Robin wanted to know if I'd be interested in speaking to her teens about my life with the Big D, and crack a few jokes in the process. She’d read my blog and wanted to know if:

A) I’d be interested in speaking to her kids
B) Could I keep it clean?

I said yes to both and put the October date in my Calendar.

Cut to this past October, work was crazy, DRI was looming, and a standing date with Virtua was on the books in big red letters.

Robin is an amazing person. She’s not only managed to provide the teens in Burlington, Camden, and Glouster counties with a Diabetes Support Group, but she’s also managed to create a social network in which the kids can talk about everything that’s on their minds and learn about diabetes in the process.

The groups meets @ the Virtua Hospital campus in Voorhees every six weeks during the school year. The students are bused in from their schools and are provided breakfast, interesting speakers, nifty raffles, and a safe place to vent!

The breakfast was tasty breakfast burritos with the carb count clearly stated – I didn’t have any until after the fact because I knew that my blood sugar gets a bit crazy whenever I get on stage.

The group consisted of 20 teens and I was a little nervous. Robin introduced me to the group; I took a deep breath and did my spiel. I talked about owning diabetes and pointed out the positives that diabetes has given me. I mentioned the funny things like tubing and doorknobs and people thinking I was a Rocket Scientist because I could operate the buttons on my pump sans the Operators Manual.

But my main goal was to get the kids to dialogue about diabetes…and dialogue about diabetes they did! Before I knew it, the group was talking about EVERYTHING.

We talked about the way diabetes is handled today, verses the way it was handled previously. They found it so hard to believe that back in the good old days of urine testing, EVERYTHING was off limits. Today, as long as you take your blood sugars and count carbs, the world is our schmorgasboard!

I introduced “The Diabetes Police” concept to them - they had encountered them, but have never heard the the term. The students shared their own encounters with the D Police, and we agreed that they were a global force to be reckoned with. As a group, it was unanimous; the D Police had many miss conceptions regarding the disease - Some made us laugh, and others made us very angry. But by talking about the D-polices actions as a group, it was much easier to see the funny!

When I asked the kids to give me some diabetes positives, one of the kids said something that blew me away. He raised his hand and said, "When I graduate college and find the job that I want, I’m going to tell the person who interviews me that I’m not just smart on paper. I’m also extremely responsible because I’ve been dealing with my diabetes since I was seven, and they wouldn’t have to worry about me being irresponsible.”

I WAS FLOORED at his response – and I told him so. Let's be honest, when most of us were coming up, we were told NEVER to tell a prospective employer about our diabetes – no matter what.

Today, kids are using their diabetes to get jobs – “HALLALLUAH – TIMES ARE A CHANGING!”


Things are so different from when I was teen – ON SO MANY LEVELS,
but especially regarding diabetes.

In grade school – there was one other diabetic kid in my town.
I remember hanging out with him, his brother and this girl Marie – I was probably in the fourth grade. All of us had our faces pressed up against the window of this mecca of sugar in our town called “The Chocolate Shoppe.” All of us watched as the Choclatiers made the caramels. “Diabetic Dude” and I walked away with our heads down low– we just couldn’t stand looking anymore.

In High School, there were three of us with the “beets” among the 1100 who attended my alma mater.
We were in different grades and I never had classes with the other two.
We each knew the others existed, and we nodded to one another in the halls, but we really never spoke about the Big D in any great detail. Why bring it up? High School sucked enough without pointing out the obvious. We were different, and not like a John Hughes film type of different. Yes, we’d continue to march to our own drum, but we wouldn’t necessarily like it. And acceptance would take years.

The one support group I attended was with my parents was held at the local IHOP.
Once I saw the pancake buffet and peaches drenched in syrupy sweetness – I grabbed a fork and started to eat. However, my father grabbed my hand and yanked me out of there. He felt waxing poetic about diabetes while over-dosing on pancakes was probably not the way to get a grip on things.

But enough about my walk down Memory Lane. The kids at Virtua I met that day in late October were smart, funny, articulate, and they knew all about the latest and greatest in diabetes accoutrement.

Collectively, they had over 100 years of diabetes experience among them and nearly two-thirds of them were on, or were about to go on the pump. They shared freely and it was obvious that they had a great individual and group relationship with Robin.

We continued talking until the school busses started to arrive, and then we talked some more.

Robin told me after that she’d seen the kids so chatty – which of course made me feel like I’d done OK.

I left feeling happy. Happy that the students liked me and laughed in all the right places, happy that such a group existed for teens, and happy attitudes regarding diabetes among diabetic teens has changed for the better.

If you know a New Jersey diabetic teen in the Camden, Glouster, or Burlington County areas, tell them about the “Teens with Diabetes Support Group Meetings” at Virtua, and be sure to give them the following info.

Teens with Diabetes Support Group
Virtua Hospital
Barry D. Brown Health Education Center
106 Carnie Boulevard
Voorhees, NJ 08403

Facilitator: Robin Stout, RN, CDE
856.325.3521

Or call: 1888-847-8823

The next meeting is scheduled 1/28/08
Additional meetings will be held on
3/18/2009
4/22/2009

So, now that 2010 is all but over and everyone is all about recapping and the likes there of, I figured I’d link to some of Diabetesalicousness posts/terms that were well received - or not.

I couldn’t stick to the top 10, no matter how hard I tried - I've never been very good at editing and my apologies in advance.

So here are more than 12, but less than 19 links that you might remember – or not!

12/7/10: Go Ahead, Flip Your Diabetes Bitch/Wit Switch - This was so well received that Joanne over at Death Of A Pancreas actually used it as the basis of her diabetes animation.

11/10/10: The Onion BLOWS! Not only does The Onion blow chucks, but they totally missed their golden chance to make things right with the Diabetes Community- both on-line and off!

11/5/10: Pitching MythBusters & The DISCOVERY Channel an episode on diabetes myth busting!!

10/28/10: There But For The Grace Of Diabetes Go I - Bottom line, we all need a helping hand!

9/29/10: Scared, Cynical, And The Diabetes Holy Grail - Don’t pitch me your latest book and honestly, I don't care that your married to a doctor - that's not important to me. If your going to tweet the term cure around in the same sentence as your book and NOT expect me to call you on it, guess again. Because I take the term Diabetes Cure to heart - as does every, single person living with diabetes (or who has a loved one with diabetes) and I don't like it when people the term diabetes cure lightly. I actually find it incredibly hurtful and offensive~

9/21/10: Diabetes Moments of WTF – Daily occurrences in our Diabetes Life~

8/10: Symlin Sticker Shock – It takes a lot of money to be a PWD & Insurance Companies Love $$!

8/9/10: Conversations With A PowerPuff Girl – Kids ALWAYS amaze me!

8/5/10: HFCS, We're Not Confused, YOU ARE! – And I think HFCS is full of shit!

7/8/10: Life Lessons Courtesy of Diabetes – Tee Shirts & Bumper Stickers available shortly! ;)

6/14/10: Diabetes Bible Cure MY ASS!

5/18/10: Your chance to tell Diabetes Healthcare Professionals what you want from them!

4/22/10: Shout Out To The Lurkers!

3//10: Meters Are Our GPS System

2/18/10: If Diabetes Was An Olympic Sport - We’d All Get The Gold

2/5/10: Dear Oprah & Dr. Oz – Your Diabetes Show Was A MAJOR FAIL!

1/25/10: Grown Up CWDs And Today’s Parents Of CWDs, What About CWDs participating in their disease?

1/19/10: Dear Drs. Banting & Best – I LOVE YOU

SO, I was going over my whole Type 1 family history in my head the other day......

I'm a T1
MY Dad was a T1
My sister Donna is a T1
My sister Debbie was a T1 and died because of it
My Aunt Pat was a T1
My Aunt Jo-Anne was a T1 and died because of it
My cousin Bernadette is a T1
My cousin Denise is a T1 - I think
My Nephew Brendon is a T1
My mother's Grand Mother was a T1
My mother's uncle was a T2 - she thinks - he might have been T1 but for the life of her she can't remember because he died like 50 years ago.

I start humming the theme to the Dr. Pepper Commercial from the 1970's.
You know the one, where the dark haired guy is by himself and starts to sing the following:

"I drink Dr. Pepper cause I'm Proud
I used to be alone in a crowd
But now you look around these days
There seems to me a Dr. Pepper craze
CAUSE......
I'm a pepper,
Your a pepper,
He's a pepper,
She's a pepper,
Wouldn't you like to be a pepper to?
Be a pepper, drink Dr. Pepper, Be a Pepper, Drink Dr. Pepper.

Us peppers are an interesting breed
an original taste is what we need
Ask any Pepper and he'll say
Only Dr. Pepper tastes that way
CAUSE......
I'm a pepper,
Your a pepper,
He's a pepper,
She's a pepper,
Wouldn't you like to be a pepper to?
Be a pepper, drink Dr. Pepper, Be a Pepper, Drink Dr. Pepper.
COME ON!!"

At the end of the commercial he's dancing and singing with a whole crowd of "hopped up on the Voo Doo Dr. Pepper" freaks.

NOT TO SELF: YOU WATCHED WAY TO MUCH TELEVISION AS A CHILD

I immediately change the words to suite my family history.

I basal & bolus insulin accordingly don't ya know,
Cause if I didn't..... it would really blow
If my blood sugar is super high or super low
Two places I 'don't really want to go

One extreme I'd start to sweat and shake

The other could knock me out
And put me into a Diabetic Keto Acidotic state...

Cause, I'm part of Diabetic T1 family Craze!

OH......
I'm a T1,
Your a T1,
He's a T1,
She's a T1,
Wouldn't you like to be a T1 to?

Us T1's are an interesting breed
New Islets of Langerhans are just what we need

Ask any T1 and she'll say
I'm waiting for a cure to come my way....
Cause...

I'm a T1,
Your a T1,
He's a T1,
She's a T1,
Wouldn't you like to be a T1 to?
Be a T1 - just like your Daddy
Be a T1, my families DNA Double Helix is pretty batty

COME ON!

A magical big deal in the form of a BIG WHEEL on a Christmas morning long ago....

Regardless of your faith, may your Christmas Eve be "merry and brite" and filled with friends, family and lots of love!

So it’s the holidays, and try as we might to catch the real spirit of the season, we all get busy. Busy with material things Christmas shopping for the masses, baking like our lives depended on it to make up for a year of take-out or thrown together meals.

We feel guilty and try to make up for all the wrongs (real or imagined,) and end up spending money on things that lose their magic the day after Christmas.

As a Sales Rep, I’m lucky enough to toss in the whole end of year/quarter catch up thingy to my mix, which has become so consuming that I’ve neglected my blog as of late.

To put it simply, it's totally easy to forget about our fellow man, or mans best friend for that matter, in this season of giving.

Yesterday I heard about Richard Stockton College Professor William Rouche, a fellow Type 1 diabetic who had his leg amputated last year due to complications. A few years earlier, he’d adopted a yellow adult Lab named Trapper from an animal shelter, and they become best friends.

Trapper moved across the country with Rouche when he was offered his position at Stockton, which also happens to be my Alma mater, but that’s not really important.

Trapper was there for Will last year, when he had his leg amputated, and together they got through it. This past summer, Rouche and Trapper were sitting on their couch when an out of control car crashed into their home, right where they were sitting. Both escaped unharmed.

Last week, Rouche was walking Trapper around 6:30 am, when a light colored car hit both Rouche and Trapper, knocking Rouche down and damaging his prosthetic leg, and dragging Trapper down the street by his leash. Rouche immediately called 911, the police followed the blood trail & found Trapper alive, but severely injured.

He was taken to the Margate, NJ Animal Hospital (which is in my hometown) with extreme skin lacerations down to the bone on his hind leg and belly; facial scrapes and cuts, and a broken toe that would need to be amputated. Trapper has several more expensive surgeries in his future that that require months of rehab.

The car never stopped, never slowed down, and never gave a thought to Trapper or Will Rouche's well-being.

When I heard (and then read) about the story, it made me sad. But more than that, it made me sick, and it made me so angry that someone could do that and not even stop.

On a purely selfish note, the story made me think about my own dog Primo, who had been there for 17 years of my youth. Primo was a half-lab, half-Golden Retriever with skinny legs and hazel eyes - a true Kunik so to speak. Like me, she was the runt of the litter, and throughout my childhood she was always there, no matter what.

Primo not only loved me for everything I was, but she loved me unconditionally for everything I wasn’t. She didn’t care that I wasn’t popular in middle school and lacked confidence and grace. She didn’t care that I wasn’t perfectly healthy, or that I never would be considered such. She just loved me, because that’s what dogs do to the people “they”own.

I perked up when I read that a medical fund has been set up for Trappers medical needs and I knew I had to help. Here's the info in case your interested.

Margate Animal Hospital
9200 Ventnor Avenue
Margate, NJ 08402
609.823.3031

I’m donating to the fund on tomorrow, which is ironically Christmas Eve.
Maybe its just happenstance that I found out about the story a few days before Christmas, and I'll actually have the opportunity to drop by the animal hospital with check in hand.

More likely it’s my inane need to do something good, and pure, and right, for two beings who truly deserve it. To be part of something that has nothing to do with the commercialism of the season, but the actual true meaning of it.

Maybe I just really want to be part of the whole “good will towards man,”“good will towards dog” thing.

Whatever the reason, I thought I’d share the story with all of you in the DOC/dBlogville….because I thought you all needed to know their story.

Here are some links in case your interested in learning more.

Video Link

Man & Dog Hit - NBC10

Granville Ave School Pic - Way back When!

Being in my hometown during the holiday’s means lots of last minute hustle and bustle like everywhere else on the planet, but especially on the main drag of town, where most of the stores and boutiques are.

Last night as I was just about to walk into the local grocery store, a woman in a red jacket was wheeling her cart out. We both uttered the obligatory “excuse me” and exchanged smiles. I was about to walk past her when all of a sudden the lady in red, who for the rest of this post will be referred to as LIR said: Oh my goodness, Kelly Kunik, HOW ARE YOU? I HAVENT SEEN YOU IN AGES!

The woman looked oddly familiar and I definitely recognized the face, but her hair was shorter than what I remembered. The years had been kind because she looked pretty much the same as when, when….when what?

Did I take tap dancing lessons with her daughter? No, that wasn’t it.

Did I go to school with her kids?? Nooo, I don’t think so.

Did…she work at my old elementary school as an office Aide?

Me: Oh, I’m great thanks. How are you?

LIR: Fine- how’s your mom doing? She moved a few years ago right?

Me: She’s doing great and yes; she’s still in town but on the other side of Jerome Ave, down the street from the church.

LIR: You haven’t changed a bit!

Me: Thanks! I can’t remember your name though Mrs…

LIR: Mrs. Calvi, (Stupid me, the name of her families company was stitched on the jacket!) I used to work at Granville Ave Elementary School when you were little. And of course I remember you, how could I forget! You used to have diabetes and would come to the nurses’ office for orange juice when you needed to.

Me: Yep, that’s me. I still have diabetes-it hasn’t gone anywhere last I checked. And I still reach for the juice whenever I need to. I’m surprised you recognized me, Granville Ave was a long time ago!

LIR: How are you doing with the diabetes?

Me: Great. No complaints, everything still works…for the most part.

LIR: You look exactly the same! You know, I always thought you were the bravest little girl, always having to take shots and having to go to the nurse when you had to. You’d march right in the office and say: I need juice RIGHT NOW PLEASE!

You’d drink up all your juice, wait a bit and then you’d say:“thanks and see ya later” and continue on with your day.

Me: WOW, you really do remember me! Thanks Mrs. Calvi. It was great to see you again-Happy Holidays!

LIR: You to! Tell your mom I said hi!

Me: WILL DO MRS. CALVI MERRY CHRISTMAS!

As I walked in the store all I could think was: A brave little girl? No, not really Mrs. Calvi, but thanks. More like a realistic little girl who was always afraid of the “diabetes what-ifs,” but didn’t want the rest of the world to know it, so she pretended to be fearless.

I was washing dishes this morning and had tossed a pair of cutting shears in the sink the night before. I'd left them outside all summer in my thyme/ oregano pot and they really needed to be washed.

I grabbed the sponge, squirted some soap on the shears and started to scrub. Perhaps it was because I'd only had 1/2 a cup of coffee, or maybe I was blasting Gwen Stafani a little to loud, more likely it was because I was lost in a day dream which is typical in my pre coffee world. BUT, yours truly cut her thumb pretty badly.

Keep in mind that I take a baby aspirin every day to keep my Endo a happy camper.
I was bleeding like something out of "Friday The 13th."

Note to Self: Call Sears and get the dishwasher fixed.

As visions of Dan Akroid dressed as Julia Child screaming "I'm getting light headed" danced in my head, I quickly dried my hand, applied some pressure and got a good look at what was causing all the commotion. The tip was still intact, so that was a relief. I looked at the cut and thought,"Wow look at all that blood - that's a good one - I wonder if it will affect my finger print permanently? I'm not wasting this." I grabbed my blood sugar machine and test strips and took a test. 94, VERY NICE...at least I had that going for me.

I sat on the couch with my hand wrapped in a towel and raised over my head. Once again my comedy routine was coming to life and I had to laugh. I had just used a very similar joke at a hospital gig I'd had few weeks ago. Only it had been about a paper cut on my index finger, and that B.S. had been closer to 200.

On the brite side, I still had my thumb and I didn't need stitches. I wouldn't have to wash dishes for the rest of the day, and as long as I didn't need to slice a lemon, I'd be fine. AND my B.S. was under 100.