It certainly was a VERY HECTIC November! The celebration of World Diabetes Day on November 14th, and the 30 days of Diabetes Awareness Month kept us ALL hoping.  Everyday gave us the wonderful opportunity to actively advocate for Diabetes causes.  Some of the major highlights are:

Over at The Blue Heel Society we successfully participated in the 30 Day, 30 Posts National Health Blog Post challenge.

In response to being named one of the International Diabetes Federation World Diabetes Day Heroes, I wrote and published a blog post over at Insulet's Suite D site about us All Being Diabetes Heroes.  If you have a moment take a look at it here:

http://suited.myomnipod.com/manage-diabetes/we-are-all-diabetes-heroes/

The book by Dr. Beverly Adler, My Sweet Life: Successful Men With Diabetes, that I was so grateful to be asked to contributed a chapter to was published.  

A team of 10 of us raced under the Blue Heel Society banner at an event called Rebel Race in Haverhill, MA.  It was a 5k with 23 obstacles ranging from fire to barbed wire to 25 foot vertical walls.  The event made a donation to a diabetes charity in the name of team.  While there all of the team members met and spoke to a ton of people about diabetes. We will certainly be doing this, and other similar races, again!  Look for a blog entry on Suite D shortly! 

I was fortunate enough to be nominated for the 2012 WEGO Health Activist Hero Award.  To be nominated and supported by members of the Diabetes Online Community is very humbling.  I am SO grateful.  Thank you!

In the middle of the month, I was asked to participate on a WEGO Roundtable discussion about Diabetes.  It involved a few of us on a call-in basis, and a very active Twitter, radio, and online interactive audience. A summary of the discussion can be found here: http://blog.wegohealth.com/2012/11/14/roundtable-recap-diabetes-awareness-month/.

The Blue Heel Society launched its IRL (In Real Life) Luminary Campaign.  The campaign provides free tools, aptly collected in The Shoebox, to people interested in leading advocacy campaigns in their local areas around the globe.  The response has been overwhelming, and The Luminaries have already scheduled events starting now. 

Along the same lines, The Blue Heel Society was also nominated by our friends in the DOC for the 2012 WEGO Health Best Ensemble Cast Award.  All us involved with BHS where simply blown away by this honor.  

From the bottom of our collective hearts, Thank You ALL for being a part of the most globally successful Diabetes Awareness Month ever!!

It is the hard work everyone of you do, the stories and experiences that each share, and the non-judgmental support and encouragement that we give each other that makes the DOC family so incredible.

Thank you.

Keep Choppin' everyone!!  

So, Diane and I went out for brunch today, and when our meal was served, my BG was a 151. I had a single item with carbs in it. Yes, yes. A biscuit.

Sans gravy. But I'm off in a ditch here....

They tell me 28gC, and I bolused for 30g plus the correction.

About 90 minutes later, I test again. I'm in the 280s. Hmmm......

So, I bolus for the correction and run a Temp Basal of 125% for an hour.

60 minutes later, I test again.

I'm still in the 250s.

My guess is that although I ordered a Diet Coke, I was served a non carb free beverage instead.

Fast forward until just a few minutes ago, and someone on Facebook commented on a tweet I made explaining the situation.

Heli explained that they test their drinks whenever they go out to avoid confusion.

I asked if that meant testing the drink just like a drop of blood.

Confirmed.

SAY WHAT??????

Diane overhears me exclaim "WOW!", and gets out a juice box and grabs the Diet Mtn Dew I was drinking. (Apparently this trick is in the D-Mom handbook. Natch).

I grab my meter and we test a drop of the juice.

158.

I test a drop of the diet soft drink:




I am still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor.

I NEVER KNEW THAT.

As is the case, I certainly learn something new about Diabetes everyday.

Even after all these decades.

So cool. I still am in awe.

:)


- Posted using BlogPress using my iPad from somewhere in the universe

I was doing some tabulations about my history with Type 1 tonight as Facebook posts for Diabetes Month. After posting about my having diabetes for more than 13,100 days I got a few great questions that needed answers. I thought I should put them here....

61500: The number of units of inulin ranging from Beef & Pork R, to Lantus, to Novolog I have injected into my body over those years.

Sometimes too much.

Other times not enough.

Hoping & working towards not needing a 1/2 million more.

10400: Approximate number of times (give or take a 1000 or two) that I have tested my BG using one technology or another.

2555: Number of days I have been on pump therapy. Also, the number of days I have celebrated no longer needing to take shots to deliver insulin.

2: High School track coaches I had that also had Type 1.

1: The number of times a guy told me "I can smell someone who has diabetes. You don't have it".

0: The number of times I felt like these disease would beat me.

Unfortunately, also the exact number of cures for Diabetes.



Still here.


Still choppin'.


;)


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Type 1 Diabetes meets it match on Tour Divide

SUMMARY:
Tony Cervati takes another year of preparation and leaves Banff, AB CA on July 8th for his second attempt at finishing the 2750 mile event.

Tony Cervati a.k.a. Type1Rider, is a man with Type 1 diabetes and will be leaving everything behind again to bike the longest, most dangerous, unsanctioned mountain bike trail on the planet, the Tour Divide. This year, he will be also be making stops along the route, to visit with various Hospitals and Diabetes Care Centers.

During the past two years we've seen two different people with diabetes share a dream and a goal, and smash the misconception of barriers erected by Type 1 Diabetes.

In 2011 Tony Cervati became the first person with Type 1 diabetes to attempt the Tour Divide, the longest mountain bike race in the world. Although he didn't reach the finish, Tony's efforts and preparation paved the way for Athletes with diabetes to re-examine what type of endurance events are indeed possible.

This year Jarral Ryder, another individual faced with Type 1 diabetes, followed that lead and became the first person with the condition to complete the Tour Divide race. Congratulations to Jarral for an outstanding race, and an amazing effort, your accomplishment will forever change the scope of diabetes related athletics!

Tour Divide is a 2,745-mile bicycle race down the spine of the Continental Divide, full of peril, ups and downs, and calm flat and smooth patches all mixed together. A large percentage of riders who start the race each year never complete it, due to injury, bike damage, or simple exhaustion.

About Type1Rider:
Tony Cervati is Type1Rider and the father of two boys, and has battled type 1 diabetes for more than 35 years. He is an active member of the Diabetes Online Community (DOC), and is known for his blogs about being an endurance mountain bike racer. Tony uses social media and Twitter to post his blood glucose readings, and lives openly about his day to day management with type 1 diabetes. You can follow Tony on Twitter @type1rider or read his blogs at www.type1rider.org.

About Tour Divide:
The Tour Divide challenge is simple: Race the rooftop of North America by mountain bike; travel self-supported along all 2,745 miles of Adventure Cycling Association's Great Divide Mountain Bike Route; keep moving and be moved; exist well outside one's comfort zone in tackling a cross-continent bikepacking odyssey; finish as fast as possible without cracking.

For more information:
Type1Rider.org Blogsite:
http://www.type1rider.org

Type1Rider on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TonyCervatiIsType1Rider
https://www.facebook.com/TheType1RiderOrganization

Type1Rider on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/type1rider

Email: Tony@Type1Rider.org
Phone: (323)743-3781



- Posted using BlogPress using my iPad from somewhere in the universe

It's tomorrow....


Go for a ride.

Educate someone about diabetes.

Go for a walk.

Wear Blue shoes.

Look at the deep blue sky for 5 minutes.

Purge you "junk" drawer.

Change your life, or someone else's.


Do SOMETHING today.

Keep Choppin'!!!

I have been working hard on bringing my A1C back down from it's 6.4 in January, to it's more normal 5.8 range where is has been the past couple of years.  Although I know that the difference between the two medically are rather insignificant, it is more like a little personal challenge.  You know? :)

Heck, I've had Type 1 for 34 years.  I used to basically, "pee on a stick" and look at color charts in ranges of 25 or 50 mg/Dls (Diastix. Remember Diastix? Anyone? They STILL make and use them.  Oy.)

No really: http://www.diastix.com/

The times they have a changed.

The last two months, using the info on my OmniPod and PDM I am able to calculate that I am getting close to my personal A1C goal.  It takes a fair bit of analysis, and a bit of tweaking... but it's getting there.

As I was looking through the data, for fun, I dumped all the data in my PDM from August 1, 2011 until today.  Interesting to look at it from such a high and strategic level.

During that time I have done 1864 BG readings, which is right about 9 per day.

Here is what the "nuts and bolts" look like via the CoPilot w/ OmniPod Extension tool:

There are some highs, and some lows, but hey.  It is the 'betes ya know.  :)

Here are the 1864 finger sticks on a graph:

The good, the bad, and the ugly I suppose.  I must admit, I do dig that good tight pattern in the 100-150 range though.

Just putting it all out there.  Just as we ALL do. Everyday.

Keep Choppin' towards WHATEVER your A1C goal is.

Just Keep Choppin!

3 colored spokes replaced, unfortunately, by 4 new blue ones.

The number itself is well beyond staggering.




In a pair of 32 spoke wheels, those 4 blue ones laced on my race bike's rear wheel represent the nearly 4 people diagnosed with diabetes in a 64 second period.

About 1 every 17 seconds.

That's 5,241 people.

A day.

Each, and every day.

Even after almost 35 years with Type 1, I am still hoping, praying, and working towards the day when ALL my spokes are black.

Keep. Choppin'.

- Posted using BlogPress using my iPad from somewhere in the universe