It's 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Mother's Day, and I have yet to check my sugar today.

It started this morning when No. 1, who is 8, ordered me to stay in bed. I knew what was coming, and even though I suspected a not-so-yummy breakfast in bed, I obliged. To his credit, I got oatmeal, which is my staple breakfast. But, I didn't get a fasting sugar. Heck, I didn't even brush my teeth first. I just did what I was told. I knew it would be the only time today that anyone pampered me.

You see, we're preparing our house to put on the market. Yes, we're definitely missing a few screws to try to sell in this market, but with a new job in a new city, we kind of have to.

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I have not been compliant with my diabetes protocol for several months.  I haven't been testing, I haven't been watching what I eat or exercising.  I've even been eating straight carb snacks - when I'm supposed to "never eat carbs alone! "

I can "get away" with this once in a while because I'm early in Type 2.  But today I read a story that  pulled me up short. 

People with diabetes are 15 times more likely to have a lower limb amputation than those without the disease.  Yes, FIFTEEN times more likely.  And then, 70% of the people who have amputations are dead within 5 years.

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As people with diabetes, we are tasked by our medical teams with conducting our lives in a manner such as to minimize or mitigate the destructive effects of our medical condition. A lot of press is given to the concepts of "patient compliance" and "patient adherence" -- enough to raise the blood pressures of many of us past the levels covered by our antihypertensive, renal-protective pharmaceuticals. The idea of being "a diabetic in control" (or "out of control") has also been known to raise the hackles of a number of the T1s among us, whose blood glucose levels vary with the tempo and dynamic (but none of the grace) of a Mahler symphony.

Like the four movements of a symphony, or the members of a string quartet, the cornerstones of diabetes self-care are:

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