OmniPod

There was the researching, and the chats with the doc,. There was the mental tug-o-war between my daily injection comfort zone and my need for more flexibility, and now, like the quickness of a self-inserting cannula, I am pumping insulin by way of the OmniPod. (READ MORE)

When to tell?

I have accepted a new job. It's in a new city (half way across the country!!). It's with new people. New people who don't know that I have diabetes.

It was during my four-year tenure at my current job that I was diagnosed. I had no problem telling just about everyone in my very small office about diabetes. I already knew them and their personalities.

It's different now. I have a problem with going in to the boss on my first day and saying, "Hey, guess what..." I also have a problem with waiting three months until my benefits kick in, or even longer when someone sees me checking my sugar (or doesn't know what to do if I pass out) to say, "Oh, yeah, maybe I should have told you sooner."

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As if diabetes wasn’t in the back of my mind enough as it is, the music industry seems to be playing a little joke on me to keep it on my mind even more often. We all know the tools that keep us healthy are filled with wires, and electronics, and batteries, and that has been a stellar improvement on diabetes care over the decades. But with all this technological advancement comes the need for increased safety measures, including alarms that beep to proclaim an insulin pump error, a successful blood test, or a completed phase of setup. The joke becomes less funny when I am driving down the highway with some music going, focused on the road, when an identical tone comes from the stereo that sounds like my insulin pump.

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Kerri Morrone Sparling

I'm not always looking for evidence of diabetes, but sometimes I find it grinning back at me from the most obscure places. A few weeks ago, I found a bit of diabetes in an unexpected place - an infusion set cover in the change compartment of my car. It looked oddly medicinal, peering out from the bright red casing, hidden alongside a random house key and assorted bits of change. (READ MORE)

Last night at church before band practice I yanked my infusion set out. How? I am not sure. Here’s what happened.

On Sunday our projector at church overheated. The only way to reset it after an overheat is to unplug the unit. The problem is that unit is mounted to the ceiling which is extremely high! We have a giant ladder that seems to weight a ton that we can use to get up there but it takes 4 men to move this thing down into church and into position.

Somewhere in the set up of the ladder or break down I must have pulled it out but honestly I never remember anything tugging it.

About an hour and a half later during band practice I started feeling warm. I am never warm. Then my head felt like it was going to explode. I stopped in the middle of a song, one that I could not figure out how to play even though we have played this song a bunch of time, and I tested my blood sugar. (READ MORE)

When I got home from work last night I found a large package sitting on my desk.

"Who's this from?" My son was the only one home and as usual he gave the answer most 15 year olds would give.

"I dunno."

I looked at the label and saw it came from Minimed, the makers of my insulin pump.

As of late I have been eyeing the very cool Lakers skin for my pump since the camouflage one came off but I never ordered it. Hmm. Maybe it's my next box of CGM sensors since I am almost done with those? Hmm. Maybe I should just open it and find out. Duh!

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