Let’s just say that blogging on this personal site has been on the back burner for 2011.  But considering that it’s the last day of the year, I might as well post, just so that I can continue to call myself a blogger.  Granted, 19 blog posts in one year hardly qualifies me for “Blogger” status in my opinion, but I’m taking on the fact that I’ve been doing some blogging on other important sites too.

In recap, 2011 had both highs and lows.  And I’m not just talking about my blood sugar levels.

Early 2011 we took a family trip to Disney World and had a magical time and we also took a road trip to see family we have in Pennsylvania.  One of the stops we made was in Hershey, PA where we toured the Hershey Factory and made our own chocolate bars!

Somewhere in the middle of 2011, things got super busy with work (common and typical).  I again served as a Director on the Greater Springfield Board of REALTORS® MLS and in 2012, I will be the 1st Vice President and I’m looking forward to a term as President in 2013.  The Board itself is doing some incredible things with an MLS Regionalization project that I’m very involved in helping with.

The Donald and I, working as a team, have continued to sell a lot of real estate, rent a lot of property and we spoke at the National Association of REALTORS® Annual Conference for the third year in a row!  It was an exciting time in Anaheim, California.

I am very excited about what 2012 holds for my career with my work with the local, state and national Associations of REALTORS®. I am serving on quite a few state and national committees, including vice-chairing the NAR Property Management Forum!

In addition to continuing to write continuing education courses for REALTORS®, we also worked on a bigger web project called Landlord Red List.  The site is designed to assist Landlords from across the country in how to process rental applications that they receive from potential tenants.  The project has currently been put on hold as we are looking at some re-design and hope to launch it soon.

At the end of the year, my office moved into bigger and nicer digz.  Since I’m still in the process of getting things settled and hanging pictures on the wall, I will have to post more pictures and invite you to our Open House soon.  It’s an incredible building and we’re excited about the growth of Dizmang Properties.  The new place has beautiful office space, including classroom space for us to teach real estate classes.  There is also a large warehouse space in the back that will allow us to efficiently run our property management maintenance out of.  It’s nice to ditch the 3 or 4 storage units we have had and have all the supplies and crews under one roof.  However, watching them take down my old office was really a reflective moment for me.  I had spent 11 years in that office and have accomplished A LOT.

JDRF has of course made some big changes including a new logo in 2011.  It thrills me that they are somewhat re-branding themselves to be the ultimate leader for finding the cure for type 1 diabetes for BOTH children and adults.  (See the “T1D” within the logo between the “J” and “D”?)  They have seen that there are many adults that have type 1 and it’s not just the children that we are finding this cure for.  Locally here, JDRF Ozarks held their 2nd annual Jingle Bell Bash in December and it raised $78,000 for type 1 diabetes research!  Who would’ve thought that the our local chapter would have come so far, so quickly?

Thankfully, the hubs still has a cush job with AT&T and he really is my ultimate support to get the things done that I need to get done every day.  He also leaves me sweet notes in the garage each week so that I see them as I’m coming and going out.  Yeah, it’s the little things that keep me going.  We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in October and had a good time gambling it up at Downstream Casino.  Ahhh, the crazy things we do!

And today my sweet baby youngest child, Collin, turns 8 today on New Years Eve.  He and his brother, Jake, and their Dad sure make my world go ’round.

I didn’t mail out Christmas cards this year, so if you’re a close friend/family member reading this post, don’t be offended. I still have a passion for shoes, I have loved watching my niece and nephew grow up and having them live so close…  Sheesh! 2011 has been a wild ride.  Clearly you can see that I’ve been pretty busy, hence the slow blog posting.  I will make an effort to keep things fresh in 2012.  Don’t call it a resolution, call it a comeback.

Happy New Year y’all!

My beautiful Hawaii trip didn’t let me take a break from my type 1 diabetes this past week. Although the trip itself was fantastic, sugar-wise it was rough. And not just in the way of roller coaster sugar readings due to the five hour time difference. (Note to self: remember to change time on insulin pump and adjust basal rates accordingly before you get there…not three days in.)

There were a few embarrassing moments where the Omnipod insulin pump on my arm did not fit in while wearing a bikini or a cute strapless sun dress. I had a tiny freakout moment on the beach one day when I heard the hushed voices of “what the heck is on her arm?!” coming from other beach-goers behind me. Full on panic set in (I’m kinda prone to anxiety attacks) and I wanted to leave. I was so wanted to quit diabetes!! This panic attack was hard to recover from, even with the endless support of the hubs.  However, I slowly got over it until this photo was taken.

'Pod On The Beach

I had tweeted this pic out because I loved the view, the moment with Ty, and the cool capture using the Hipstamatic app. But in my mind, the unfortunate downside of this photo was the Omnipod on my arm that was staring right back at me annoying me and taunting me like it had done all day. And like a rush, the frustrations I had dealt with over the last few days with T1D got to me again. So in my tweet, I vented something along the lines of “cute photo with the exception of the ‘pod on my arm.”  In my mind, I figured I would just expose it up front, rather than worrying about the hushed whispers of 1,900 Twitter followers and 700 Facebook friends.

What surprised me the most was how supportive my non-D friends were in their comments. However, the “Diabetes Online Community” or DOC gave me a total different reaction.

I got comments from the DOC along the lines of “when did you decide not to be a diabetic anymore?” or “why do you care?” and I was called out on Twitter by members of the DOC stating things like “diabetes doesn’t define you.”  Uhh, let me be clear, I never said that “D” defined me.  It was a comment that I made that could have easily been replaced with “I wish I would have tied my hair back.”  Why the heck would people (of my own kind), who know and understand this disease because they live with it, not let me vent about it?

I will let this go, but seriously people… I thought we were in this together, where is the love?

It’s been a long time since I’ve talked about my struggles with type 1 diabetes on this blog.  No doubt if you’re part of the DOC (diabetes online community) that is part of my Twitter possee (Twosse?!) then you’re probably sick of hearing about real estate and wondering “are you ever gonna talk about your disease again?!”  Well, first let me say thank you for sticking it out with me. My career has been on a crazy, good ride and has kept me extremely busy lately. But as you know, my diabetes doesn’t quit and I’ve had my ups and downs.

First off in updating you, I’m kinda mad at my ‘pod right now. The Omnipod insulin pump has been great thus far with only a few minor kinks. (How there are kinks in a tubeless pump system, I don’t know, but there are.) However, most recently I’ve had some static issues with the pod and the personal diabetes manager a.k.a the PDM (the blood checker machine that runs the pod). Apparently static electricity build up causes the pump and PDM to quit working properly.  I can’t get any of it to stop the incessant beeping and it will not activate or deactivate any of the pods.

*deep sigh*

So I gave up and went back on shots for the time being.  Sure, I could solve the problem by calling customer service AGAIN, but I’m tired and don’t want to. *insert whining here*

Now I’m checking into a new pump as I really have my eye on that Solo insulin pump but it’s not out yet.  I will keep you posted.

And finally, I am sick of the lows.  I’m sick of eating.  I’m sick of crashing low at the most inconvenient times.  Skittles are the only thing that seem to save me.  And I’m pretty sure that the red skittles have more power than any of the other colors, but that’s just a theory brewing in my head.

Oh well, I press on. At least I have finally posted a long overdue d-blog.

No doubt, I’ve been inundated these last 30 days. And updates to this blog seem to be the thing that slips off the radar first when I’m the busiest.  I keep thinking that things will slow down, but for some reason my calendar is all fired up and things are getting booked left and right.  So here’s the recap of the most recent events….

1. The biggest thing that happened was our big session at the National Association of REALTORS® annual conference and expo. The Donald and I presented “8 Effortless Tips To Tackling Rental Property Management” and everything went fantastic.  We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.  For more details see my Flickr page, or join our Facebook group.
2. My sister made a beautiful bride and pulled off a YouTube worthy wedding party dance complete with moves like The Sprinkler, The Q-Tip and some hilariously bizarre tiki moves.  I’m not even embarrassed to admit that I took part in it.  The wedding went off with relatively little, if no family drama.  The Flickr pics are all posted here.  Oh and welcome to our crazy family Ethan Hall!
3. I met up with friends (new and old) in real life.
4. My a1c has gone up ::hanging my head in shame:: and now I’m having to re-focus and continue to monitor things on the Dexcom a little closer.
5. Nonetheless, I still hate diabetes, which is fueling my passion for pulling off the 2nd annual Walk To Cure Diabetes this May here in Springfield.  Our “walk season” starts now and you can help us meet/exceed our goal of $50,000 by registering your 2010 walk team now.
6. Yes, there was a Hickok Family sighting at High Street Baptist Church for the first time in 9 years.  Thank you to the “Hillenblog” family for their warm invite, hospitality and words-can’t-describe-it Hillen Tacos.
7. We celebrated a turkey-less Thanksgiving with our best friends and it was a welcome change to the ordinary.

So there are just a few highlights.  What can I say? Life is good.  I’ll just try to do better at keeping you posted on how it all goes.  After all, there is an REBarcamp in the works, a new property management software and iPhone app in development, big growth for my company, real estate certified education classes awaiting approval, and maybe the book will be published this next year.  Who knows, but let’s just hope that my calendar can keep up!

I have had a couple of meetings with Springfield’s Dexcom rep this week and I’m getting really excited about what they have planned for Springfield.

I have been Dexcomin’g it for approximately 15 weeks now.  My hemoglobin A1c dropped from a 9.4% to a 6.8% and shocked not only me, but my family and friends too.  I didn’t realize how bad I really had felt, blood sugar-wise. I have now become a firm believer that every diabetic should be on a continuous glucose monitor, they just don’t know it yet.  And most of the time, the medical staff doesn’t know it yet, either.  But that whole thought is a rabbit I will chase in another blog post.

The continuous glucose monitor is a new technology that has been on the market for a couple of years now.  There are other continuous glucose monitors (cgms) out there, however I personally prefer the Dexcom Seven Plus.  The reason being is that it is smaller and easier to wear than some other companies.  It’s about the size of two quarters laying side by side and is really flat.  Plus you don’t have to tape it down like some other cgm’s.  It works out nicely for me.

And Dexcom happens to be a company that is one of the front runners in this technology.  It works together with my insulin pump to manage my type 1 diabetes.  It is a sensor that is inserted into my skin (no, there is not a needle in me the whole time) and sticks to an area of my body that has some “pinch-a-ble” real estate.  Believe me, I have plenty of “pinch-a-ble” real estate and it’s not hard to find a spot, but I typically like to wear it on the back of my arm or on my lower back.

The sensor stays in place on my body for 7 days, reading the sugar levels of my interstitial fluid.  The great thing about the Dexcom is that it shows me the trends of which direction my blood sugar is going.  If it is on the rise, I can then bolus a small amount of insulin from my Omnipod insulin pump to cover the rising level.  It gives you a reading approximately every 5 minutes of where your blood sugar is, therefore checking it over 250 times per day.

You can set up your options on the Dexcom to alert you if you go above or below a certain number.  I set my high limit at 240 and my low limit at 80.  That way, when I receive a reading above or below those numbers, the Dex alerts me with a vibration notification first, then a beep (if I ignore it).  The object of the game is to stay between those lines of 80 and 240 (for me).  For some reason, I still find fascination in posting pictures of the Dexcom receiver when I have solid readings between the lines for several hours on end.  I then e-mail these pictures to my Mom to prove to her that I am taking care of myself.  But, again, I’m off on a tangent.

But back to what is being planned for Dexcom and Springfield.  I am teaming up with the Dexcom rep to help plan out a big event to put on in Springfield this fall.  It will be an awareness, informational and sign-you-up event.  And they plan to treat their consumers well (a.k.a. wine you and dine you most likely).  I don’t have all of the details, I just know that they will be bringing in patients, like me, to tell our story.  There will be healthcare and medical staff, and other families and patients that are interested in the product and just want to get to know more about it.  I don’t have all the specifics, but I will let you know as they get close.  Just know that Dexcom is putting it out there, and if you are affected by diabetes…you should take a look.

*Update 4-11-2010: Our regional Dexcom reps will be putting together an informational meeting/gathering in Springfield this summer.  I will post the details as soon as I know something.  I know that they also plan to update everyone on their involvement with the Artificial Pancreas Project (APP) which is sponsored by JDRF.

It was a perfect summer evening.  It was approaching 7 o’clock and the storm clouds were mounting in the background to brew up a nice little thunderstorm.  My husband and I were sitting on the front row of the bleachers in field number 2 of the Cooper Sports Complex.  My oldest son’s third grade baseball team was at bat and whipping the other team by a 6 run lead.

While admiring how much my children have grown up, things around me begin to look fuzzy. My head is starting to feel too heavy for my shoulders, but I figured I was just tired from a really long day.  I ignore the oncoming symptoms of the raging low blood sugar.  From out of nowhere the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitor starts blaring at me from my purse as if to rub the low blood sugar in my face.  For some reason, it sounds louder than ever as it drowns out the rumbles of thunder coming on behind us.  I feel like everyone is looking at me and I fumble for my glucose meter to double check.  42 mg/dl.  I get irritated with the result and ask Ty for help in tracking down some juice for me.  He promptly heads off to the concession stand.

At that very moment, my favorite baseball player steps up on deck.  Being in the front row of the bleachers, he turns around to me and says “hey Mom, where’s Dad?”  Although I feel like all of my internal organs are caving in, my heart still seems to sink even lower with his question.  I slur out the words “he’s getting Mom some juice.”  His face drops in disappointment that Dad isn’t there to see him at bat and I feel an overwhelming hatred for this disease.

Type 1 diabetes sucks.  And this time, it has hit an ultimate low for me to see the look on my son’s face.

However, as my lefty steps up to the plate to hit his grounder straight out to left field, he glances back at me and says “are you going to be okay?”  I nod my head yes to him and he walks up to the plate just as his Dad sits down next to me, rescuing me with a super sweet lemonaide.  Yes, the disease sucks, but I am thankful for a supportive family.

The Dexcom Seven Plus CGM sensor on the back of my arm (starting to peel off after 5+ days)

Everyone was staring, but the little boy had the guts to ask.

We were at lake party recently and it was extremely hot outside.  I was very nervous about getting into my swimsuit as it is difficult to hide both the Omnipod insulin pump and the Dexcom Seven Plus continuous glucose monitor sensor.  But, with the mantra in my head that being healthy is sexy, I chose to let loose and just field the questions and stares.

There were several adults at this party and whole heck of a lot of kids.  What was so funny was that all of the adults (the ones that didn’t know me) kept looking at me with question in their eyes.  They wanted to ask what was up with all the medical devices attached to me, but no one had the guts to ask.

Until one little boy somewhere around the ripe old age of 5 years old, looked up at me and said “did you give blood or what?”  I immediately fell in love with this little kid.  He had the guts to ask what the adults were dying to inquire about.  I told the little boy that I had diabetes and had to wear it to check my sugar for me so that I could eat.  He shrugged his shoulders and replied “that’s cool.”  He ran off to play, as this was no big deal to him.  Of course, kids say the darndest things, but this one totally put me at ease.

It’s not that I’m not open about talking about my diabetes.  It’s part of me.  However, how do I bring it up to the staring folk to put them at ease, when they might just be staring at me because I have a giant zit on the end of my chin or maybe the fact that I have put on several pounds that we won’t begin to count??

I may not have the guts to bring it up, but when the other person does, it is no big deal to me.  Maybe I just need to find my inner 5 year old with guts and just address the stares.

Because afterall, being healthy is sexy, right?!

I love perfection.  Especially when it comes to my blood sugar readings.  Yesterday, the Dexcom planets all aligned with the center of gravity for me and gave me perfection for a good 12 hours.  Although this is not a completely rare sighting for some diabetics, it can be for me. But my sugar readings stayed between the lines and hovered between 100-150 mg/dl.  All of the sudden, I had a fleeting thought that just maybe this disesase was going away!  I should know better, but it feels good to daydream.

In the first few years after my diagnosis, I remember getting a few good sugar readings in a row and thinking that maybe this whole type 1 diabetes diagnosis was just a joke, I was outgrowing it and it was going away.  Then, like a deflated balloon, I would come back to reality as some obnoxious reading of 250+ would come out of that wretched blood sugar meter.  The number would kill my daydream.

So, here I am in my 30′s still daydreaming like a little girl that one day this disease will rid itself from my body.  Although I have accepted the fact that it most likely will not, I do think that there are better ways of achieving perfection with advancements such as the continuous glucose monitor, smart insulin, the closed-loop project, to name just a few.

Although sweet perfection doesn’t make the disease go away, continued research for achieving perfection ultimately will make it go away.

The Dexcom CGMS (on the left) and my Omnipod Insulin Pump blood sugar meter side-by-side.

Why wasn’t I issued one of these when I was first diagnosed with diabetes?!

This amazing piece of diabetes technology is the Dexcom Seven Plus continuous glucose monitor and it has pretty much changed my life in these last two weeks.  It is a glucose sensor that I wear attached to my body (currently on the back of my arm) and it checks my blood sugars over 250 times a day.  Yes, I said over 250 times a day without pricking your finger.

However, it’s not really completely without pricking your finger.  Because the glucose sensor actually tests the sugar levels in the interstitial fluid in your body, you still have to do occasional finger sticks to calibrate the system.  You then adjust your settings to set a high and low range and it alerts you if you begin to rise or fall outside those magic numbers, or lines in this case.  It doesn’t replace finger sticks, but it does help you watch the trends of which way your blood sugar is going.  Therefore you can often catch your highs and lows before they actually happen.  So far, my numbers have been pretty comparable (see the picture).  It’s been great being able to catch the highs and lows and treat as needed.  Here’s to hoping that my pathetic A1c comes down.