A couple of weeks ago I posted a guest blog by Lorraine about her son Caleb [read it here]. In the post she included a pretty touching video of Caleb getting a little emotional when he described some of the challenges he was unsure he’d be able to face without his mom. Caleb specifically said in the video that he wouldn’t be able to change the pod on his back, and he got a little choked up when thinking about it.
That’s what makes this video that Lorraine posted so wonderful:
In trying to spice up my diabetes-related content, I asked one of my favorite d-moms, Lorraine, to write a post about her son and their lives with Diabetes.
My Certainty is You, Caleb
For years I’ve followed and enjoyed Mr. Mike Lawson and his tell-it-like-it-is perspective on living with diabetes. When I see and hear Mike, I see a little of Caleb. At age 8, Caleb tends to be quiet and appropriate around others, but he is bold, frank and humorous around those with whom he is comfortable. When Mike asked if I would be interested in guest posting for him, my response was, “Your wish is my command”.
Caleb is bright, caring, silly and for the most part, responsible. I have to remind him to put his shoes on the shelf, make his bed and straighten up his room. But where it counts – things like his schoolwork or piano practice – I never have to think twice. He loves playing sports, particularly baseball. He takes that seriously as well. He listens to his coaches, does what he is told and usually takes constructive criticism well.
The area where Caleb is probably the most responsible is his diabetes. Just as he has been able to properly prioritize homework over shoe placement, so too has he prioritized his diabetes care over everything else.
I’m proud of how Caleb has been able to care for his diabetes without letting it take over his life. He wakes up and checks his blood sugar, without being asked, and then he goes about his day. When he sits down to eat he checks to be sure he was bolused and then joyously partakes in his meal.
Caleb has been able to integrate diabetes into his life like so many others have. It is genuinely just another thing that he needs to do during the day – like tying his shoes, brushing his teeth, etc.
Because he does these things so naturally, without complaint, I don’t consider Caleb as a person who “struggles” with diabetes. So to hear Mike tell me he enjoys reading about Caleb because he had similar struggles when he was younger gave me pause.
Not a long pause, mind you. Although it doesn’t consume him, of course living with diabetes presents struggles. Caleb voiced some of them during diabetes blog week.
More recently when filming his “You Can Do This” video, he had a rare moment of emotion:
I’m sorry Caleb that you have diabetes. I’m sorry that anyone has diabetes.
I am so proud of how nobly you handle it. I need to remember that every day of living with diabetes inherently presents struggles. The fact that you so casually blend it into your day, allowing me to forget how challenging it can be for you, only makes me more proud.
I am sorry to see you worry about the future. You don’t realize how much you already do for yourself and how each year, as you grow, you do a bit more.
I am here for you, Caleb, and I always will be. When you grow up, you will be doing things on your own, but you will never be alone.
You show me each and every day how capable you are, and because of this, I know how capable of a young man you will become. There are many things about the future that cause me worry. You being able to take care for yourself is not one of them. By what you do and who you are today, I know, with all my heart, that you will handle this and handle it well.
I’ll preface all of this by saying that I’m not unhealthy. But improvements could be made. Primarily, I’d like to return to a plant-based diet. Back in 2008 I started eating animals again (and blogged about it here).
Most of my complaints about the vegetarian diet were that it was expensive, difficult to buy fresh produce, and I found myself eating high carb meals that consisted of pasta and potatoes.
So starting with dinner last night, I’m switching to a plant-based diet. Notice I didn’t say vegetarian. Notice I didn’t say vegan. I have no intention of giving up meat now. And those three complaints from before (cost, difficult to keep fresh produce, high carbs) are now my challenge. I will start eating affordable, fresh, low-carb, veggie-based meals.
Last night I spent $4.77 at the grocery store.
I bought:
1 box of pasta ($1.39)
Mushrooms ($1.69)
Red Onion ($.73)
Orange Bell Pepper ($.33)
Italian Squash ($.35)
Roma Tomatoes ($19)
Some of the produce (like the tomatoes) was on sale, so I know that my meal was a bit cheaper than normal. And I only cooked half the pasta. I was really happy with how the meal came out:
And then I used the super handy RECIPE TOOL over at CALORIE COUNT to figure out the nutritional information for my dinner. It was kind of hard to estimate the amount of pasta I ate since I didn’t measure before eating. So the number of carbs is an estimate.
To go back to my 3 challenges (affordable, fresh, low carb), this meal was incredibly affordable. The ingredients were all fresh veggies with the exception of the pasta. The only area that I struggled in with this meal was the carbs.
Ideally I’d be eating about half this many carbohydrates in a meal.
I do think this was a solid first try at my new plant-based, affordable, fresh, low-carb way of eating.
I also need to work on finding new ways to cook vegetables. I’m good at roasting vegetables, but that’s about all I know.
And this is just further proof that my $5 went a really long way…look at what I’ve got for lunch today:
Want to hear me talk? As part of the Diabetic Heroes series (hero…wut???), I was interviewed by VJ over at Diabetic365.com. The videos are below and in two parts.
I tried to give up caffeine in the afternoons (the first step toward giving it up completely) and that only last a few days.
Days!!
On the post where I talked about giving up caffeine again, Jeff commented that maybe I should try giving up Diet Coke completely and drink as much coffee as I want. Here’s what he said:
So, it’s what works for you. But, I’ll let you know that last year I gave up Diet Coke after years of a serious addiction. I went through withdrawals, and even had nightmares… but I did it. And now I can’t imagine going back. I am drinking more coffee now than I was, but not as much coffee as I was drinking Diet Coke. My two cents, for what it’s worth… quit Diet Coke first, and let coffee be your substitute. Coffee (at least) is a natural substance. Then, once you’ve quit the Diet Coke successfully, you can phase out the caffeine through half-cafs or decaf.
Should I try? Or should I just give in to the Diet Coke Gods??
This problem is really related to Diabetes. As a Type 1 Diabetic, I’ve cut out sweets…and I use Diet Sodas as my sweet treats. On top of that, I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t enjoy food as much if I don’t have that delicious throat-burn that comes with a diet soda.
These videos are a way for me to document my life as a person with diabetes. This one answers a very common question that non-diabetics have about diabetes: Why do you guys carry sugar around?
This post is part of the Second Annual D-Blog Week. To take part, check out the details on Karen’s blog! And thanks, as always, to Karen for organizing such a great advocacy effort.
Today’s Prompt: What have you learned from other blogs – either this week or since finding the D-OC? What has your experience of blogging the DBlog Week topics with other participants been like? What has finding the D-OC done for you? If you’d like, you can even look ahead and tell us what you think the future holds!
This Lincoln quotation is one that I truly try to live my life by. I’m pretty sure it was Lincoln that said that…or it was that guy that created Daily Kos. Whatever. The reason I bring it up is I’m about to be pretty honest, and I hope that you read the entire post before concluding that you’re offended by and dislike me.
D-Mom Blogs suck. Or at least that’s what I thought before Diabetes Blog Week.
Let’s face the facts ladies. Most of you D-moms with blogs are Christian, married, devout family leaders that like Regis & Kelly. I, on the other hand, am a 30-year-old childless, atheist, homosexual that likes Kelly Roland. We are different.
In my limited exposure to D-Mom blogs, I had always thought that your pages were full of I-was-so-scared-when-my-child-went-low stories. And in my head I couldn’t really relate. I’ve never been an outsider looking in on someone elses’ low (unless you count that time that Amanda on Big Brother Season 9 had a hypoglycemic seizure).
In this past week, however, I have read a lot of mommy blogs and I’ve come to realize that there is much more depth to these pages than I had ever given them credit for before. For example, tears came to my eyes when I read Caleb’s letter to Diabetes on Tuesday. He signed the letter, “Your owner, Caleb.” Woah. More simple and to the point than I’ve ever been.
I also had thought that as an adult Type 1, I didn’t have anything to share with moms. What knowledge did I have that I could share with a parent of a child with diabetes? But this week I learned that not only did my humorous approach to managing this chronic illness translate to parents of children with diabetes, but that we could also benefit from one-another’s tips and tricks. On Wednesday when I wrote about going low just before a blind date, I mentioned that I quickly sucked down two packets of sugar from the table at the restaurant. And I got a really great comment from Amy who writes the Embrace Diabetes blog. She said:
Ok. Sorry about the low. Sorry it happened at a most inopportune time. I’m glad it ended well. But I have to tell you . . . I learned something. This fairly new d-momma never thought about the sugar packets on restaurant tables. We had an unfortunate circumstance about a month ago with a low at a restaurant and, I can’t believe I’m going to admit this, I NEVER thought about the sugar packets! Ingenious!!!! I did get a little chuckle . . . but that you for the most obvious, most useful insight for the next time we are restauranting with a low! Awesome!
So even though most of you are Christian, married, devout family leaders that like Regis & Kelly, I now know that we can learn from one another…and I don’t think your blogs suck.
This post is part of the Second Annual D-Blog Week. To take part, check out the details on Karen’s blog! And thanks, as always, to Karen for organizing such a great advocacy effort.
Today’s Prompt: Inspired by the Diabetes 365 project, let’s snap a few more d-related pictures and share them again. Post as many or as few as you’d like. Be creative! Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures. Or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves.
I was having trouble coming up with anything…so I used some photos and came up with this:
This post is part of the Second Annual D-Blog Week. To take part, check out the details on Karen’s blog! And thanks, as always, to Karen for organizing such a great advocacy effort.
Today’s Prompt: Today let’s focus on the good things diabetes has brought us. What awesome thing have you (or your child) done BECAUSE of diabetes? After all, like my blog header says, life with diabetes isn’t all bad!
Today is my last day working at The Boys & Girls Club. I’ve worked at different Clubs in different capacities for the past ten years. I’ve got a heck of a lot to do today (like three different people asked to take me to lunch…and I need to take down all my kid-art in my office). So I’m recycling a post that I wrote back in 2008 on this exact topic. Here you go:
Too much space on this blog has been dedicated to me bitching about diabetes (testing blood! needles! low blood sugar! high blood sugar! no sheet cake from Costco!), but I wanted give a little space to the ten reasons I enjoy having diabetes. Here they are in no particular order:
1. I’m selective at potlucks – How many times have you been at a potluck where someone demands that you try their gross recipes? “You’ve got to try my mom’s meatloaf recipe. The secret ingredient is cows tongue.” Well, with diabetes you can just say that you wish you could try it, but there ketchup is just full of sugar.
2. Free stuff – I’ve received a few free blood glucose monitors, a pedometer, and a diabetic cookbook just for filling out those little cards that fall out of magazines.
3. I’ve got mail – My mailbox is never empty when I check it – and you know how much I love getting mail. The information I filled out to get those free gadgets mentioned in number 2 was put into a diabetes database and I always get mail. Granted, they assume I’m a 70-year-old living with diabetes and send me AARP junk and ads for other services that cater to the elderly, but it’s still nice to never open an empty mailbox.
4. Funny looks - When I say things like “I’m feeling high,” or “I’m going to go shoot up,” It’s funny to see the eavesdroppers reactions.
5. Eat when I want – If I’m in one of those dreaded situations where friends are arguing about where we are going to eat, I just need to raise my voice a little and say, “We have to stop arguing and get some food.” If I close my eyes after this (for dramatic effect), we usually are in a restaurant ordering before 10 minutes passes. What’s funny is that I’m pretty good at timing my insulin injections and I am rarely in a situation that demands that I eat immediately…just a small white lie.
6. I remember what I eat – Before my diagnosis it was too easy to munch away for hours. This amnesia during high-calorie binges was more than responsible for my weight problems. Today I’m still guilty of an occasional binge, but I’m much more aware of what is going in my mouth since it has a direct effect on what my BGL readings are.
7. It hurts so good – This one is a little sadistic, but I’m just being honest. I’ve come to terms with the “pain” of diabetes. It’s not easy, but I try to approach all things with gratitude…and when I think about the daily injections and finger pricks, I’m grateful that I can still feel these small pains. And I’m grateful that I have 10 fingers to sample blood from. And I’m grateful that I can (barely) afford the expensive drugs that I have to inject.
8. Online communities – Without this chronic illness, I would have never been connected to the great people I’ve found at TuDiabetes.com and Twitter and Facebook.
9. Self-awareness – When something changes in me, I know about it right away. My blood glucose monitor tells me if I’m going too high or low. And since I’m consciously thinking (worrying) about hypoglycemia, when I feel an ache or a little lightheadededness, I can immediately do something about it.
10. I’m still young. I don’t have a number 10 yet.
And then I used the super handy 
