Diabetes Blog Week - One Great Thing

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The Diabetes Blog Week entry for Tuesday, May 15th is/was One Great Thing. I debated skipping this entry because managing diabetes is often intense and most of the time I do not feel as if I have done anything right. I can tell you everything I have done wrong or could have done much better on any given day at any given time.Why does it seem harder to identify the good stuff that we do?

One great thing that I do and have done for years is check my fasting blood glucose every morning when I get up. It is one of the first things that I do every day. I have had my moments over the last 13 years but for many years now I get out of bed and head straight for the table where I keep my blood glucose meter and supplies. Knowing my blood sugar level first thing in the morning helps me know how I should start out my insulin doses for the day and what I should or should not eat.

Another great thing that I do is go to the doctor on a regular basis so I can have all of those wonderful regular tests that a person with diabetes needs to have. The most regular one is the hbA1c which gives a rating to blood sugar over a three month time period.

And another great thing, since I am on a roll here - hehe - is that I absorb a lot of information about diabetes, managing it, foods to eat, foods not to eat, side effects of Humalog and Levemir, about the way stress elevates blood sugar levels, the lows that can happen after exercise, about the ways that a hypoglycemic episode (low blood sugar episode) can be a surprise that one needs to be prepared for . . .and so on.

That's it for me. You can check out other posts about One Great Thing at the Diabetes Blog Week site.

Your comments are always welcome, I love hearing from you!

Diabetes Blog Week 2012 - Find a Friend

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Diabetes Blog Week began this Monday, May 14th. To participate I only have to do a diabetes blog post every day for a week. I think I can do that but we'll see. I have had diabetes going on 14 years and in the last year I have begun to discover all of the diabetes bloggers that exist on the internet. The intent is to create connections amongst the DOC (diabetes online community). You don't have to have diabetes to benefit from this community. Many of us know others who live with the stress of managing diabetes.  

This is the third year for Diabetes Blog Week and my first time as a participant. Started by Karen Graffeo of the blog Bitter-Sweet Diabetes, the first topic is Find a Friend. I have discovered that it really helps me to be able to talk to and read about what other people with diabetes go through and how they deal with managing this chronic illness.

One of the first blogs I stumbled upon was The Butter Compartment by Lee Ann Thill who is also an art therapist. I was intrigued by her blog title and discovered that this is where she keeps her insulin. I keep my 85% dark chocolate in my butter compartment and keep my insulin pens on the shelf just underneath. Lee Ann also puts on Diabetes Art Day which will take place on September 24th this year. I have already begun thinking of the artwork that I want to post for that day. She also organizes the World Diabetes Day Postcard Exchange which takes place in November of each year.

I stumbled on the Texting My Pancreas blog last year and I love her pragmatic, real-life way of blogging. I have discovered from reading the blogs of people with Type 1 Diabetes that they have some of the same issues that Type 2's have in terms of unexpected highs and lows.

If you know of any Diabetes blogs I should check out, let me know in the comments.

Tomorrow's post, Tuesday, May 15th - One Great Thing