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.

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 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.

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?!

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.