There have been a couple of recent threads on LinkedIn regarding the definition of a "cure" for diabetes.

As everyone here who takes insulin will agree, diabetes cannot be "cured" by diet alone. And as everyone whose diabetes is currently controlled in part, or entirely, by diet and exercise will agree, just like "insulin is not a cure", "eating the right foods" is not a cure, either.

Merriam-Webster defines "cure (noun)" in our sense as the following:

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Last night, I participated in a DiabetesSisters' PODS meetup for the first time. I've seen them online and always wanted to join, but there hasn't been anything in my area and I'm not in a position to add anything to my plate right now. I noticed it on the list last week and spoke with the woman leading the group.

So I made the trek (it's about an hour's drive for me) to the meetup and enjoyed an hour and a half of diabetes related conversation (with a little life mixed in) with three other diabetic women. Three of us were type one and the other type two. Two other women are supposed to join next time (one of them being a friend of mine who I met at JDRF).

It was nice to just sit and talk about lows and highs and doctors and all that goes on. For DiabetesSisters, there are some "guidelines" supplied for these meetings. The facilitator goes through a training to even host the meeting.

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"Did you see this?" my dad asked pointing to a picture of Paula Deen on the cover of People magazine.

"Yeah," I said. "I wish she wasn't getting so much flak."

If you haven't met Paula Deen, she's a colorful character on the Food Network. She speaks with a thick Southern accent and says "y'all" more times than you can count. Her dishes are rooted in the South and are definitely fat-laden. These are not the types of dishes you want to build your meal plan around. These are not the types of dishes you want to eat at every meal. Geez, people should get that. Everything in moderation.

This topic came up in one of the diabetes forums that I'm a member of. Someone wanted to know what we thought about the whole situation.

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Yesterday, I responded to the question about "things you wish your doctors knew about diabetes and the daily task of living [with it] by mentioning that many healthcare providers' knowledge of diabetes is incomplete and/or out of date. Rather than be a part of the problem, I've proposed a first-draft solution — some things I would put into a Continuing Medical Education (CME) syllabus to fill in some of those gaps. I'm sure I'm missing rather a chunk of stuff, but then again, this is a first draft.

If I were to develop a syllabus to fill in the gaps in professional diabetes education, as I perceive they exist today, these are some of the things I would consider:

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My averages for the last week are down to 168. I'd be thrilled by this if there wasn't so much deviation in my numbers. 107, 192, 150, 272, 80, 59. I'm bouncing in no clear pattern and for no clear reason.

There are a few out of range that I can pinpoint like a 244 after an 80 because I didn't bolus for a low carb dinner thinking the carbs would bring me into range. Apparently, I was wrong. The 59 because I then over corrected the 244 too close to bedtime. But several lows and a couple highs are unclear to me. It looks like I'm overshooting my insulin when I'm dropping low, but I'm not doing anything different as far as I know (except probably being a little more exact with my carb counts which makes me wonder if my 1:10/1:8 ratio is too high).

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"How was the lesson?" The Mr. asked when No. 2 and I returned from her guitar lesson this afternoon.

"It was embarassing."

Last Christmas No. 2 got a guitar and we promised her lessons. Six months later we finally fulfilled that promise. I found a guitar teacher near us who taught out of his home. He had several jazz albums to his name and scores of good references on his web site.

I have had countless discussions with No. 2 about her behavior during her lessons. It's difficult to describe, but she just isn't herself. Her voice is different, she often talks too much, and doesn't play when the teacher very clearly wants her to. In fact, there are several times when he says "Go ahead and play that song" and she doesn't hop to it.

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