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Test Strip Bottle Art. OR "YES I'm Testing, I SWEAR!!!

Test Strip Bottle Art "Still Life Mixed Medium"

So about 9 months ago I decided to see how long it would take me to fill up a 33 ounce empty Seltzer bottle with test strip, Lancets, etc. Why?? I have no ideal – but a few reasons come to mind.

First, it was a great way to collect all my strips & lancets in one place. I was sick of finding them on the carpet, in the laundry, and other places that rarely see the light of day and shall remain nameless.

Secondly – It was mental (well obviously it was mental – who the hell does this?) Perhaps its roots are deeply seeded in childhood. When I was little (and not the best diabetic) I always had to prove to my Doctors, my family, and myself that I was “a good diabetic.”

My Doctor at Children’s Hospital always said, “Kelly, the numbers don’t lie. You need to do better. You need to test more.” I always left my visits feeling sad and disappointed in myself. So now there’s proof in my Seltzer Bottle that yours truly is testing, and testing frequently.

Thirdly – I was curious. Just how long would it take me to fill said Bottle?? Roughly 9 months – less a few weeks to be exact.

As the bottle began to fill, I was reminded of various summer camp art projects from long ago – you know the ones, where you put colored sand in a Pepsi bottle and carefully carry it home to show your parents how truly talented & gifted their child is. Counselors referred to it ans Sand Bottle Art, my parents referred to it as crap, be spectacular and rainbow hued, it was still crap!

I began to refer to the rapidly filling Seltzer bottle as my “Test Strip Bottle Art,” though there’s nothing creative or artistic about it. Obsessive and longing for test strip validation is more like it.

This morning I read LeeAnn’s post "Trash or Trophies, which was not only wonderful – but literally spoke to my Test Strip madness and my need for Test Strip validation. She copiously collects her strip in her B.S. machines side pocket and so did I!!!! And once again, thanks to the D.O.C. and Lee Ann in particular, I was no longer alone - GOD, I love dBlogville!

So I’m sharing my “Art” with you all and dedicating it to LeeAnn – who gave me the courage to share it! On a personal note: Am I a little “Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs??? Magic Eight Ball says “Yes, most likely.” But….aren’t all great artists???


Test Strip Bottle Art "Room for one more."
Posted by Mr. Boy at 09.14, Add Comment
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Endo Appointment Day

Endo Appointment Day
Date: 2/23/11
TIME: Now
BLOOD SUGAR: 144
FEELING: Nervous

Well, I'm just about to hop in my car and drive off to my Endo appointment!

I'm scared, nervous and very apprehensive. No matter how much I love my Endo, I hate Endo appointment day. My stomach is already in knots and I'm practicing a smile that doesn't look forced or fake.

Will my test results cause tears or a sincere smile?

What am doing right and how much am I doing wrong?

Am I the only one who holds their breathe on Endo appointment day,
And would you mind sending some positive vibes my way?

OK, regarding those last two lines - I wasn't even trying to rhyme!
But I still would totally appreciate any and all positive vibes, so thanks in advance~
Posted by Mr. Boy at 09.00, Add Comment
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Pirate Girls Kick Butt!!


So a few weeks ago, I received an email from my friend and fellow PWD Dave Nevins requesting my address. if you don't know Dave, he's quite the adventurer and extreme sports dude. He's had Type 1 for over 30 years and Dave refuses to let the D stop him from doing ANYTHING! He's all about NO LIMITS when it comes to life with D and sports. You can read more about him HERE.

Anyhow, Dave and I email one another, read each others blogs and are Facebook friends.
So when he emailed me requesting my address because he wanted to send me something he came across because it reminded him of me, I was intregued. So me being me (and him being him,) I gave him my address~

Cut to a few weeks later when I received this in the mail.


How awesome is this?!

We all know my affinity for being a Pirate Chicklet since the whole 1 in a million episode~


There was also a note that made made my week!

Which was written on the back of this
Which made me want to visit Alaska very much!

And this is why I love being part of the Diabetes On-line Community. We all share, discuss, advocate and learn abut life with diabetes, and become great friends who makes us laugh and smile in the process!

Speaking of Ladies who kick butt:

Kerri over at SUM will be hosting a webinar for WEGO HEALTH tomorrow about Chronic Illnesses and relationships. Want to participate? Here's the link!

Many a Dblogger knows Ellen Ullman as a Tigress mom of a T1 who fights every single day to find the cure for diabetes.
On March 17th Ellen will be presenting "How Meters are Used at Home and How Consumers Choose Meters" at the FDA/CDRH meeting on Blood Glucose Meters: http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/NewsEv

ents/WorkshopsConferences/ucm187406.htm ).


Ellen created a brief survey to gather data from people across the U.S. and she's trying to reach as many people as possible who have diabetes (all types,) caretakers of persons with diabetes, that use blood glucose meters.


want to help Ellen represent us on Capital Hill? Take 8 minutes to complete the following survey and forward it to your friends, relatives, mailman, and anyone whose life has been touched by Diabetes! SURVEY SAYS!!!! :http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bloodglucosemeters

Posted by Mr. Boy at 08.23, Add Comment
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Drugs can kill you; but patients have no redress in law

Drugs can kill you; but patients have no redress in law
ConMed drugs can kill you, and cause serious disease; and now drug companies don't have to face litigation in the courts. The USA Supreme Court has now protected the drug companies who make vaccine from being sued by parents whose children have suffered from them.
http://www.latimes.com/health/sc-dc-0223-court-vaccines-20110223,0,2497178.story

This is a disgraceful decision, which brings the US law in line with UK law. Drug companies are now free to peddle disease and death without fear of prosecution. Parents, and patients generally, now have no protection, other than avoiding ConMed drugs and vaccines entirely. And this, in any case, is the safest course of action.

If Corporations kill and cause disease, by selling dangerous products that harm children, they should be held legally accountable. Most companies who cause damage are. But not, apparently, the drug companies. They are immune from prosecution. Patients have little or no redress. To the extent that heavy fines for causing harm was a constraint, as it hit drug companies in their pockets when damages were awarded against them, there is now no such constraint. As Natural News says:


The liability, it turns out, has been shifted to the federal government which operates its "let's-make-a-mockery-of-justice" vaccine court. This puts the federal government in the position of denying any validity to legitimate claims that vaccines harm children, because to admit such a thing would cause a tidal wave of claims to come flooding into the vaccine court, resulting in potentially trillions of dollars in payouts to all the parents whose children have been harmed by vaccines.
http://www.naturalnews.com/031453_Supreme_Court_vaccinations.html#ixzz1EnPStEKN


The article goes on to describe vaccines as 'medical violence against children'. This is not an exaggeration. Perhaps in the end the drug companies are digging themselves into a hole. People will begin to realise not only that ConMed drugs are dangerous, even lethal; but that as there is now no legal redress, as drug companies are completely protected from their own actions, their drugs and vaccines are best avoided altogether.


And this is the message of this blog. There are safer, and more effective medical therapies, and people who dislike this ruling should renew and redouble their search for them.
Posted by Mr. Boy at 07.40, Add Comment
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GPs with CAM training more effective

GPs with CAM training more effective
Doctors normally prescribe ConMed drugs to their patients, some almost routinely. This was not always the case. Once GPs had many other skills, connected to life-style, diet, and simple non-drug techniques, and they were able to advise their patients about these.

The dominance of ConMed drugs have led to a de-skilling of our doctors, and this piece of research seems to illustrate that the more knowledge and skills GPs can develop improve their outcomes with patients. This is what the research discovered.

A small fraction of general practitioners (GPs) in the Netherlands has completed additional training in complementary medicine after obtaining their conventional medical degree. Using a data set from a health insurer, this paper documents that patients whose GP has additional training in anthroposophic medicine, homeopathy, or acupuncture have substantially lower health care costs and lower mortality rates. The lower costs result from fewer hospital stays and fewer prescription drugs. Since the differences remain once we control for neighborhood specific fixed effects at a highly detailed level, the lower costs and longer lives are unlikely to be related to differences in socio-economic status.

http://dbiref.uvt.nl/iPort?request=full_record&db=wo&language=eng&query=doc_id=4083172

GPs, after all, are supposed to be 'general practitioners', not 'specialists in drug treatment' and it is a great shame that most of their training appears to be about drugs. Apparently, GP training on diet and nutrition now appears to be minimal. And it is all-too-apparent that most GPs have little knowledge or understanding of therapies such as homeopathy.

The researchers put forward several reasons why GPs using CAM should produce substantially lower costs and lower mortality rates. They have tended to under-value the simple explanation; the effectiveness and low cost of treatments like homeopathy. And in addition, of course, saving on the cost of treating the DIEs (disease inducing effects) of conventional drug treatment.
Posted by Mr. Boy at 06.27, Add Comment
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