When I was in high school I played volleyball. Like most schools, we had a junior varsity and a varsity team. I believe I was a sophomore (maybe I was a junior,it was a long time ago) when I started playing for JV and varsity. OK, so I actually played for JV and mostly warmed the bench while the varsity team played until the coach got mad at a player and decided to send me in.

At any rate, I was called a floater, as were the other girls who played for both teams. Until I got involved with the diabetes community, my definition of floater was a person who moves between two high school volleyball teams. It wasn't until I started frequenting the Diabetic Mommy web site that I learned there are actually more definitions for this word.

I read once on the Diabetic Mommy message board about a woman who had noticed a new floater in one of her eyes. The term "floater" sent me searching through Dr. Google's web pages for connections between eyes and diabetes. I felt well read enough to know that I had never experienced a floater.

And then, naturally, it happened. Sitting at my desk one day I saw it-a black spot that moved across my field of vision like fuzz on an old movie reel. I paid very close attention to these spots when they happened. I read more about floaters. I found no pattern regarding when they happened (high blood sugar, normal blood sugar); however, I did note that it was only at work where I typically sit at a desk all day and stare at a computer and that it always moved from left to right. I hoped it was completely unrelated to diabetes; I was not prepared to experience complications so soon after my diagnosis.

My fears were nearly put to rest when I had my yearly eye exam and found myself reading a pamphlet about floaters in the waiting room of my eye doctor. What I had didn't sound like the textbook definition of a floater. After pictures of the backs of my eyes, eye tests and feeling like I had been attacked by paparazzi, the doctor assured me that what I have is indeed not a floater. Although, she couldn't offer any insight into what it might really be.

So here I am warming the bench again, only instead of waiting to be called to action, I'm trying to prevent being put in the game.