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33 Reasons To Celebrate My Diaversary





33 reasons to celebrate My Diaversary
  1. I'm alive
  2. I'm living
  3. I'm learning
  4. My family
  5. My friends
  6. Finding the Diabetes On-line Community
  7. Becaming part of the Diabetes On-Line Community
  8. I look great in red
  9. I look fabulous in green
  10. My nieces & nephews ROCK
  11. Halloween & all that goes with it
  12. Discovering new things that make me happy
  13. Doing better than I did before
  14. Learning from my mistakes
  15. The Ocean
  16. Diabetes meet-ups
  17. GLEE
  18. Writing posts that make me proud
  19. Reading posts that me think, feel, learn & relate
  20. Having just enough Half & Half in the carton for my second cup of coffee
  21. Belly laughs
  22. Achieving Blood Sugar Nirvana after bolus worthy foods/treats like cupcakes,tastykakes, nutella, and dark chocolate covered strawberries!
  23. Dressing up in costumes
  24. That amazing feeling when a child tells you that they love you
  25. Doing what I fear first and realizing that I can indeed do it
  26. First kisses
  27. New places
  28. Old haunts
  29. Little blessings
  30. Loving
  31. Being loved
  32. Discovering that my greatest weakness (my broken pancreas) has become my greatest strength & passion
  33. Hope

33 years of living with Diabetes - And the beat goes on~

This Halloween- Express Your Self


I've looked in vain as of late for pics of me as a kid – especially one in particular. A picture taken from the Halloween when I was in 4th grade - my first Halloween (and a year to the day) since my initial diagnoses. I was making up for lost time and was dressed as Princess Tiger Lilly. I'm holding a full size Hershey bar, and my red feather was hanging wrong side down and it brushed against my check.

I distinctly remember saying "Happy Halloween- AND HOW" at every door I knocked on. And YES, I came up with that line on my own! I was SO happy to be out celebrating with my friends.

I walked for miles that night, ate chocolate and relished the fact that I was out with the living on the night celebrating the dead.

I can’t find the pic to save my life. I can’t find many of my kid pics, and I’m a little nervous about that. But I will.

Anyway, I did manage to find a pic of me dressed as Madonna one Halloween, (she’s my Patron Saint of Fabulousness) and I love her.

Anyway, Diabetes or not: “Express yourself” (Madonna pun intended) and have a blast tonight, no matter how you choose to celebrate the evening!

Express Yourself~

Rejoice in the fact that Halloween allows you and or your child to have fun and be creative.

So my friends:

  1. GO FOR IT
  2. Test, and test often
  3. Bolus accordingly
  4. Indulge in both the chocolate and the fantasy of the holiday
  5. HAVE FUN!

Happy 31st Anniversary of being diagnosed with Diabetes - TRICK OR TREAT!


Top Pic: Me two months before my diagnoses
Bottom Pic: Me one year after my diagnoses with some of my siblings - still skinny (my head looks like a dashboard ornament and my hands look huge) and still a flirt.
Notice how I'm trying to sweet talk my sisters friend Moose instead of looking at the camera - I wanted to marry him!

Today is my 31st anniversary with diabetes and I’m celebrating -ensconcing myself in all that is good about my existence since my own personal "Diaversary/ "D-Day". I’m not going to talk about waiting for a cure, or the dia-bitch factor regarding being a diabetic. That’s for another post(s).

I’ve tried to write about my initial diagnoses for the past few days and it just wasn’t flowing the way I wanted it to. Maybe next week I’ll try writing about Halloween 1977, but for now I’m focusing on the celebration that is my life since the Halloween of “77”.

I’ve already written posts about why I refuse to hate my own diabetes and the gifts Diabetes has given me. Today I’m just going to add a few more gifts that I’m grateful for.

Diabetes has given me the gift of fear…. and the ability to be fearless. I use my fear as I way to stay healthy, I’m fearless because whenever the self doubt of diabetes creeps in my brain, I push it a side & reach for what I want. I wasn’t always that way – I used to fear the future so much that I couldn’t enjoy the present. That way of thinking caused nothing but paralyzing fear and self-doubt – neither of which was productive. Being fearless and moving past all the “what-ifs’ allows me to enjoy my life and appreciate it all – big and little.

I’ve written about this often, but diabetes has certainly developed my sick sense of humor. Laughing about all things diabetes has allowed me to be strong and has made others more comfortable in getting to know their own diabetes.

This gift of helping others through laughing and making fun of the “Big D”, has helped me more than I can even articulate at this moment.


Diabetes has given me the gift of ownership. The minute I started to really own my diabetes instead of fearing a life with it, diabetes ceased to own me. D and I continue to have a tug of war of power at times, but I’m the one who ends up winning. And I savor those victories, no mater how minuscule or monumental.

Diabetes has allowed me to weed out the fair weather friends in my life and focus on the ones who really matter. It’s given me appreciation of what friendship really is. Looking back in my life, my tried true friends always looked out for me in all aspects, including my diabetes, not because of my diabetes. I was and am so lucky to have friends who helped me take on my diabetes and deal with it head-on, instead of ignoring it or using it as an excuse not to be my friend.


The most recent and wonderful gift Diabetes has given me?
Well…. that would be you.

Every citizen of dBlogville (the Diabetes O.C.) is amazing! It’s been almost a year since I’ve discovered your existence and began to be on the receiving end all of your gifts.
You’ve given me the gifts of understanding, knowledge, commodity, commiseration, laughter, and tears.

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t receive and appreciate these gifts from all of you – I thank God everyday that I’ve found you and hope that I can reciprocate all of those gifts back to you ten-fold.

To the parents of the D-O-C, you’ve showed me what my own parents went through and never shared with me. I look at them with a new sense of love and respect because each of you was brave enough to share your thoughts and fears in print. THANK-YOU.

To my Diabetic Compadres, “you get me” and all my d quirks without ever having to say a word, but I’m so glad that you do! I want to list you all individually, but I'm scared I'll leave someone out - and I deal with enough guilt!

I wish I could give everyone n dBlogville a big heart-felt hug, and promise that when we do meet -I will, whether you like it or not. Why, because I’m a hugger and I hug the one ones
I love.

Today I’m celebrating my 31 years with Cocoa Jones (not a porn star - well, maybe a porn star if porn came in the form of a chocolate baked good) but a damn fine maker of brownies that I found at my local organic food store a few weeks ago, and have been addicted ever since. I’ll bolus for the 28 grams of chocolately goodness and not give a crap about the calories or fat. Instead, I'll revel in the fact that the wonderfulness of chocolate is no longer off limits in my diabetes world.

Maybe later I’ll put on my witch costume and go trick or treating just for shits and giggles –

But whatever I do today, I will celebrate the fact that I am indeed doing it!

The Failure of Conventional Medicine (2)

The Failure of Conventional Medicine (2)
The medicines that we are given to improve our health, or to make us better, actually make us sicker than we were before we took them. 

In fact, conventional medical (ConMed) drugs actually cause disease, and death. And we are not being told about this. Hence this regular weekly newspaper - which will bring you articles from the internet which will inform you about what is happening, when you GP, the NHS, the Dept of Health, and the mainstream media refuse to do so.

Fosamax can cause severe fractures of the femur, and brittle bones. Fosamax is a drug used for Osteoporosis, and if you are not careful, doctors will still prescribe it for you. In the USA, there is actually a condition called 'Fossy-Jaw' which causes the disintegration of the jaw. Fosamax is also known to be bad for your heart, your liver and your stomach.

Psychoactive Drugs are the cause of most Mental Illness? The facts given in this article are quite astounding, and certainly deeply worrying at the time when Mental Health problems are reaching epidemic proportions. For example, did you know that in 2007 the number of disabled mentally-ill children had increased 35 times since 1990?

Asthma drugs may actually increase the risk of asthma attacks. So not only has the number of children suffering from Asthma increased over recent decades, the drug taken and inhaled by those children are probably make the situation worse.

Even drugs like Statins, which we have been told are 'entirely safe' for decades, are now known to be unsafe. This article outlines the case against Statin drugs, and suggests that heart failure, pneumonia, nerve damage - and many other diseases can be contracted by people, the increasing numbers of people, who take them believing them to be safe.

But surely antibiotics are safe? Well, no, they are not. Researchers have now discovered that a common antibiotic is a killer! Antibiotics have been found to cause a range of life-threatening reactions, including liver failure, and hypoglycaemia.

So what about painkillers? Common painkillers. This article, by the appropriately named organisation 'What doctor's don't tell you' (WDDTY) suggests that certain NSAID painkillers may become another Vioxx. (Vioxx, if you had not heard, is thought to have caused about 140,000 heart attacks, and 60,000 deaths before it was withdrawn).

And did you know that some flu vaccine has been withdrawn in Scotland? Well, it was not exactly well publicised! The vaccine was withdrawn because it was causing "a  higher than normal frequency of adverse reactions". You can see, by reading the article, how officials have dismissed this withdrawal as unimportant!

Probably a worse situation has arisen in Australia regarding the flu vaccines. This article says that Australia's drug regulator is demanding an explanation from the drug manufacturer "after it emerged the company knew two years ago about research suggesting a sharp rise in fevers linked to its seasonal flu vaccine, but omitted this from information given to doctors".


Actually, the withholding of vital information about drugs from patients (and doctors too) seems to be quite routine within the world of ConMed. I mentioned the painkilling drug Vioxx, above. The disease-inducing-effects (DIEs) of this drug were known about by the drug company long before the incidents of heart failures and deaths were made public.

Indeed, prescription drugs are now so dangerous they are killing more people than so-called 'illegal' drugs. Perhaps on this basis, prescription drugs should be made illegal.

But, of course, they won't be. ConMed drugs are too profitable for the Big Pharma drug companies. And Big Pharma companies have far too much influence over governments, national health services, drug regulatory bodies, and even our GPs and doctors. So we don't get to know.

However, you may well hear plenty of attacks on homeopathy - or, indeed, any other medical therapy that is safer, and more effective than this awful drug-based medicine. The reason for this is obvious. ConMed is failing. People are beginning to realise it is failing. And an increasing number of people are looking for alternative way of treating their illnesses, and remaining well. From Big Pharma's point of view, this is not good - it will damage their profitability!

What we are dealing with here is a system of medicine that is failing its patients. But it is a system of medicine that is so profitable, so influential and powerful within the political and medical establishment, that we are not being told about it.

For much more information about the ongoing failure of ConMed drugs and vaccines, look here.

ConMed and the creation of illness.








34 Years Of Living A Diabetes Life - Happy Diaversary To Me!

Today is Halloween and it's also my 34th Diaversary, and I'm celebrating 34 years of living a diabetes life!

Regardless of any bumps in the road ( diabetes and otherwise,) I'm happy to be alive and thriving and I have SO MUCH to be grateful for.
So once again, I've made a list of the first 34 things I'm grateful that come to mind ~

Sparkles & Feathers - Even as a 3 year old Trick-Or-Treating!
1. Silver linings
2. Little victories
3.Being alive
4. Living life
5. The ocean two days before a hurricane
6. Hugs & kisses from little ones
7. Doing better than I did before
8. DOC Meet-ups
9. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
10. Manatees
11. Daffodils in full bloom
12. Fantastical nieces & nephews
13. Laughing so hard that I cease to make audible sounds
14. Cupcakes
15. Letters & emails from those I love
16. Learning new things
17. Appreciating old haunts
18. Memories that make me smile
19. Unexpected signs that let me know that those who are no longer here are still thinking of me
20. Movies that make me laugh and or cry
21. Things that sparkle & shine
22. Peanut Butter & Jam on a spoon
23. Doggies
24. Nutella
25. Old friends
26. New friends
27. Blood Sugar Nirvana
28. Knowing that I will continue to use (and find) my voice
29. Precious cargo
30. Knowing that I am my mother's daughter, inside and out
31. The smell of fresh cut lavender
32. A good book
33. mac as my crack
34. Being blessed to call you my friend.

Next year is my 35th Diaversary, and I plan to celebrate in a MAJOR way - that includes YOU.
Stay tuned for details......