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Known to some online as her half-Vulcan counterpart “T`Mana”, Brenda was diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes in July 2002 – and sent away from the doctor’s office with nothing more than two conflicting diet sheets, a warning that she’d never be able to chart a way between the two of them, and a couple of prescriptions – both of which had intolerable side effects.
Given this challenge, a degree in engineering, and years of professional online searching and indexing experience, Brenda put her training to work to find a way between the low-sodium and diabetic diet sheets and away from the unknown long-term side effects of maintenance drugs. Her diabetes has been diet-controlled since January 2004 and she hopes to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Brenda’s first experience with an online diabetes community was a mailing list for members of STARFLEET: The International STAR TREK Fan Association, an organization with which she has been active since 1985. In addition to TREK fandom, Brenda enjoys historical costuming (mostly 16th-Century Elizabethan) and hanging out at Renaissance Faires and Highland Games.
Brenda’s real-life diabetes circle includes her mother, her boyfriend, and several members of her boyfriend’s family (all Type 2). Her diabetes role models (both deceased) are her childhood orthopedist and her stepmother’s father.
Après moi, le déluge.
In Genesis Chapter 9, G-d commands Noach to build a watertight vessel and to stock it with all species of life known to man. Following this interchange, the earth was subjected to forty days and forty nights of rain, sufficient to wash all living things -- except for those ensconced in the ark -- from the earth.
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I wish I knew why it is that at the times we most need other people around us to comfort and support us, we find ourselves physically, technologically, financially, and psychologically unable to reach out to ask for that help.
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I don't like to post "downers" on Blogabetes unless I can turn them into cautionary morals, or calls to action (either on our own behalf, or on the behalf of all people with diabetes) -- most of us have too much negativity in our lives already. That said, life has been throwing me the sorts of curve balls that force me to think more of survival, mortality, and quality of life than I am comfortable dealing with.
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I had the privilege of spending much of Saturday at the first annual New Jersey Bicycle Summit, which was a convocation of engineers, planners, and cycling advocates to discuss common issues and ways of addressing them. The theme of the summit was "Complete Streets", which is shorthand for "designing an infrastructure which supports every mode of local transportation" -- cars and trucks, bicycles, pedestrians, mobility-assist vehicles (e.g. wheelchairs & scooters), public/mass transportation, and so on. One of the more important takeaways from this meeting was that the details of a "complete street" will change from community to community, from street to street -- kind of like the way the details of diabetes management will change from person to person, from year to year.
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There is nothing comedic or trivial about handicaps, disabilities, and/or special medical or developmental needs. "Reduction to absurdity" is a technique of debate in which a premise is taken to, or past, its logical extreme. While this can be used to belittle an opposing viewpoint (Google "Godwin's Law"), it can also encourage thoughtful discussion.
I will also aim to use the definitions of student accessibility to public education expressed here.
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The old fable of Androcles and the Lion -- or in some versions, the Mouse and the Lion -- highlights an unusual amity between two beings who are usually considered predator and prey. In the story, the lion has been crippled by a thorn stuck in his paw which he could not reach, see, or remove. The prey, whether mouse or man, sees the problem, overcomes his fear of the predator, and offers to remove the thorn. The wound heals, and the lion is ever thankful to his unlikely physician.
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George Simmons is a father and husband living with type 1 diabetes. A self proclaimed "born again diabetic," George began blogging as a way to meet other people living with diabetes and learn more about managing his disease. (Read More)
Michelle Kowalski, a writer, editor and photography hobbiest living in Phoenix, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in February 2005. In January 2008, as part of her quest to start on an insulin pump, Michelle learned that she actually has type 1 diabetes.
(Read More)
