Diabetes Snapshots

Saturday Snapshots -DBlog Week - Day 6

Back for the third year, let’s show everyone what life with diabetes looks like! With a nod to the Diabetes 365 project, let’s grab our cameras again and share some more d-related pictures. Post as many or as few as you’d like. Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures, or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Click for the Saturday Snapshots - Saturday 5/19 Link List.

Diabetes in a Snapshot

"Its' True, I Should Tell Them"

What They Should Know - DBlog Week - Day 5

Today let’s borrow a topic from a #dsma chat held last September. The tweet asked “What is one thing you would tell someone that doesn’t have diabetes about living with diabetes?”. Let’s do a little advocating and post what we wish people knew about diabetes. Have more than one thing you wish people knew? Go ahead and tell us everything.

Click for the What They Should Know- Friday 5/18 Link List.


"One thing" I would tell someone about living with diabetes?  Uh Oh.

There are so many different ways to go with this post.  There are things I want people to understand about Type 1 Diabetes, so they may be more compassionate towards Ally regarding the day in and day out struggles of diabetes.  She handles A LOT every single day whether she looks like it or not. 

There are things that I want people to know so they don't make Ally feel bad about her diabetes...She did nothing to cause it.  No amount of candy bars can cause type 1 diabetes!

There are things that I want every parent, grandparent, pediatrician, and child caregiver to recognize as possible signs of type 1 diabetes, so that not one child ever goes undiagnosed again.

And then there is the one thing that Ally wants people without diabetes to know..."Diabetes stinks!" 

"It's true, I really should tell them, Mom.  Some kids say, 'you're lucky'...and I look at them like 'Are you crazy?'  It's annoying.  People are always asking about my pump and my sites.  It's really annoying...so, yeah, I'd tell them diabetes stinks - they should know that."

(And I thought diabetes stunk because of all the shots, finger pricks, carb counting, highs and lows, etc.)

Thanks again to Karen at Bitter~Sweet for organizing this Diabetes Blog Week.  I find it interesting, not only reading other people's blogs and their take on these topics, but also I'm amazed that I look at a topic with one plan in mind and then I learn something else about it along the way.  This topic gave Ally and I yet another opportunity for communicating about how she feels about diabetes.  I love it when she can "vent" her feelings about D.  So, thank you Karen, for that too!

The Magic Belt

Fantasy Diabetes Device- DBlog Week - Day 4

Today let’s tackle an idea inspired by Bennet of Your Diabetes May Vary. Tell us what your Fantasy Diabetes Device would be? Think of your dream blood glucose checker, delivery system for insulin or other meds, magic carb counter, etc etc etc. The sky is the limit – what would you love to see?

Click here for the Fantasy Diabetes Device - Thursday 5/17 Link List.

As the caregiver of a young person with diabetes, I could fantasize all day long about diabetes devices that would make Ally's life easier.  But this was too much fun for Ally to dream about, so I let her take the Diabetes Blog Week prompt for today.

My Fantasy Diabetes Device

by Ally, age 9



My Fantasy Diabetes Device would be like a magic wand, but its a belt instead.  It would have different buttons on it and when I push a specific button, it would do whatever I want it to do.  You know, like "Give Me Insulin" button.  All I would have to do is hold my finger on the "Check My Sugar" button and it would read my blood sugar - without even pricking my finger!  Of course, I'd still have to have a site for the insulin to get into my body, but it would be smaller and have no tubing.  It would be small enough to cover with a band aid.  And , I wouldn't even need to take it off...NO SITE CHANGES!!  Oh, you know those iPhones that talk to you?  It would have that too.  I could just push the "MIC" button and speak into it and say what it needs to do.  Like, "What's my sugar?"  and it would tell me.  I wouldn't even need to go down to the nurse!  Except there would have to be a special charger for it...that may be the hard part!

(So in summary, she would like to morph me, the school nurse, her pump and blood glucose meter - oh yeah, and Siri - all into a magic belt.  Cool!)