ninja dave

Today is Kick Butts Day. It's a day when thousands of youth across the nation take on Big Tobacco to stop kids from even starting to smoke. This is the 13th year of the event.

I can tell you that when I first started smoking I was a Freshman in high School. My stepdad was a chain smoker. I used to say, "He uses one match a day for his first one then lights the next one off of the last one." That is what it was like. (READ MORE)

John's Images

I started the pump in October last year with an A1c of 7.3. At the time, that 7.3 was my lowest A1c since before being diagnosed. Growing up, my A1c levels were anywhere from the 8.0's to the 13.0's. Between "sugar free," a lack of diabetes knowledge in the world and being a kid, I never could get my averages right. The three years prior to going on the pump I decided to be an idiot and "take a break" from diabetes. I stopped checking my blood sugar and just blindly did my insulin. I had no idea that my blood sugars were getting into the 500's sometimes. I stopped going to the doctor. What was the point? They were going to tell me the same thing I already knew but just wasn't willing to do. (READ MORE)