Amidst the candles, the dreidels, the latkes (potato pancakes), gifts, and gelt (either real money or foil-covered chocolate coins), there is the maggid (story). The story of a people, oppressed by a new king who wishes them to assimilate into a different religion and culture (or to assimilate more fully into that culture), a king who defiles the holiest of holy sites, families of resistance fighters who perish -- completely -- in the quest to keep one's lifestyle and beliefs alive, and a small, hermetically-sealed bottle of oil which -- miraculously -- burned for eight days, a full week longer than it should have, enough time for its replacement to be made. Ness gadol haya sham -- a great miracle happened there.

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With all the blood that diabetes care involves, it's no wonder the "vampire" image keeps coming into play. A former T2 co-worker referred to going for blood work as "seeing the Vampire". Kerri's Diabetes Terms of Endearment list includes the entry, "Vampire cannula". For those who live in fear of (fictional) vampires, every time we prick our fingers to test... has to include the scary thought, "Am I inviting a vampire to bite me?"

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Hey dLifers! I wanted to let you know that dLifeTV is conducting a nationwide search for real people with real stories about living with diabetes. Your special story could be a featured segment on a future episode of dLifeTV. What obstacles have you overcome? What challenge have you met? What unique experiences have you had? Who has made a difference? In an email, tell us your name, address, phone number, and your dLife story.

Tell us your story and you may end up on dLifeTV! (READ MORE)

One of our readers, Teresa, has some questions for the Blogabetes readers about diabetic retinopathy. Has anyone had retinopathy surgery and can share their experiences with Teresa?

"I have a question that I was unable to find an answer for, and couldn't figure out how to post a new blog. I have type 1 diabetes and have had it for over 30 years. I have retinopathy and have had many surgeries. I now have cataracts as a secondary problem of the surgeries and my doc wants to remove them, I have done some fairly extensive research on the two (retinopathy and cataracts) and have found that most articles agree that cataract surgery speeds up the process of retinopathy. Has anyone here had this surgery as a person also with retinopathy?

Does anyone know more about the complications?

- Teresa" (READ MORE)

Hi everyone! I just wanted to drop in quickly and let you know that we're aware of the issue with leaving comments on the Blogabetes posts. We're working on it and I'll have an update later this afternoon.

In the meantime, enjoy reading through the posts and have fun getting to know the Blogabetes bloggers. :)

-- Kerri. (READ MORE)

I want to take this oppurtunity that I have been given by dLife and make the very most of it that I possibly can. I want to take the time tonight to be as up front with you that I know how to be. I want people to actually get to know me. Hopefully, by being myself, people out there can relate to my writing's and maybe even enjoy reading about some of what I have to say. So let me start by saying that I am very nervous about writing for this blog. It is a miracle that I got through last night's entry entitled, "Double-header Disaster". I was up for over three hours last night with my girlfriend. She is an amazing person and I couldn't do this without her help and support. She works as a news anchor and reporter so she definately knows how to put good stories together! :)

You will no doubt be hearing more about her in future blog entries to come. (READ MORE)