I'm not done...

Hey all! I know we've been a little quite lately. That doesn't mean that diabetes has gone away (I wish!) or that we have forgotten about you...our blue-tiful peeps. It just means we've been busy living. We are still out and about in our communities...advocating for diabetes. I thought I had done a good job; advocating that is, at least to close friends and family, until something was said this past weekend.

Nora, my 8th grader, the one who was diagnosed at 4 years old. That means we've had NINE live-a-versaries. NINE. We aren't newbies by any means. I've been as vocal about diabetes from day one...there just weren't blogs or facebook back then. I've been an active member of the diabetes community. I've recruited walkers and riders and raise money for diabetes research.

Just laying some background...

This past weekend was Nora's school basketball team's last home game of the season. We had lots of celebration. Big pictures of the girls hanging on the gym wall with their jersey numbers displayed just beneath. Parents and 8th grade girls were introduced by name; Mom's were given roses. Pictures were taken. It was a bitter sweet moment.

Talk on the bench for the past week has been about one of our players and her injury. We were going up against a team that has been our nemesis for years now. They are good, tall and BIG. A couple of the girls on the team look more like football players than basketball players and I'm serious. They make some of the Dad's look like little people. This team used to intimidate our girls but since a lot of them play select basketball year round they have all come to know and respect each other. So a week ago our girls are playing this team Our girl and their girl go for a loose ball. They both dive for the ball and unfortunately our girl was on the receiving end of a 6 foot 230lb 8th grader. Bones were snapped and our girl left on a stretcher called in by 911 and 5 broken bones. She is out for the rest of the season. It was awful. It was a total accident.

Within a few days of the accident tales were being told that this particular girl was responsible for at least breaking bones of 4 other girls between this season and last season. Again, NOT her fault. But then parents became enraged saying that the boys football team has weight restrictions and maybe that should carry over to ALL sports. I happen to know this girl struggles with self confidence and feels bad about herself. Imagine how she would feel if there was a weight restriction rule. But that's my two sense. On with my point...so the night of our last home game a mom starts talking about how much this girl weighs and she thought there should be a weight restriction. The person I'm sitting with turns and looks at me and said that maybe I should talk to her about diabetes. My mouth hung to the floor as I yelled out...that has NOTHING to do with diabetes!!! They went on to say they knew but the damage was already done.

Dammit...isn't this what I do day in and day out?! Especially someone who KNOWS and yet they still said this stupid comment. I've never felt more hurt and defeated. I haven't done my job well enough. I haven't educated the difference between Type 1 and 2 and how sometimes weight and diet have NOTHING to do with Type 2. That skinny, fit people have Type 2. That if you took one look at that 8th grade girls parents you would see how tall and big they BOTH are. That it's genetics. That this 8th grade girl is active year round. I know. I see her playing against my skinny daughter who has Type 1. She isn't sitting around eating bags of chips while watching TV.

There is a lot in this post to be upset at. There is a lot of judgement going around. I've sat on this since Sunday and it's just been stewing inside me. If there is ONE thing you get from reading this it should be this...BIG people DON'T always have Type 2. Think about it....if that were the case EVERY big person would be Type 2 and we all know that isn't true.

Clearly my job is NOT done...I will keep on advocating not only for my daughter but for 8th grade girls that are 6 foot and weigh 230. I will advocate on the stereotypes of BOTH Types. Help me. Help me break down the stereotypes of both types. In fact I challenge you. For the month of November take the opportunity to educate ONE person on Type 2...especially if Type 1 lives in your house. Conversely, if Type 2 lives in your house take the opportunity to educate ONE person on Type 1. Let's break down these walls. Let's get rid of assumptions and stereotypes and .... TYPES.  Let's do this.

8th grade night

Day 17: #HAWMC: Wordless Wednesday: Diabetes Wordle

DIABETES

I like the way this looks...like used test strips all over the floor! 

Day 6 #HAWMC...Letters

Dear (100 year old...I'm being optomistic!) Jen,

I'm not a big fan of looking into the future as I like to let things just play out but I'm curious to know if I will see a cure for diabetes in my life time. And if not...at least please tell me advancements have been made so that my girls will at least have lived with minimal complications...NO complications would be even better!

A decline in the number of diagnosis would be music to my ears...that diabetes hasn't touched my grandkid's or great grandkid's generation. That scientists were able to discover the trigger, be it environmental or whatever, and stop it in its tracks.

I hope that I remember how passionate I was about raising awareness, fighting diabetes and never giving up...even after all those sleepless nights of checking low/high blood sugars. I wonder...please tell me...I do catch up on my sleep, right?! I hope my kids know how much I love them and even though I may have been nagging and talking incessantly about diabetes that I did it for them. I did it for everyone. I did it for you. Maybe they turned my nagging into nagging of their own...advocating for rights, injustices, diabetes or their own kids.

I know that the love you have for your family only gets deeper with age. I'm sure there are still battles that have to be fought but you've got in you...you got this. Just be sure to strap on some kicking BLUE heels (a sensible height...you are 100 you know) and keep going!

All the best the future may hold.
Love,
Me

Day 5 of the #HAWMC: Aspiration

Today our challenge is "if you could do anything as a Health Activist...", what's your biggest goal with no money, time or physical limitations.

A cure.

Of course it would be to get every scientist/doctor/pharma/investor together and say...CURE DIABETES!!

However, in the mean time...

I'd hold a world wide summit with every doctor/nurses/pharma/"Dr" Oz/Biggest Loser producers/any well meaning idiot that has spoken some mistruth about diabetes and make them take a diabetes class. I would set them down and set them straight. I would educate them. I would have every misconception about BOTH types of diabetes wiped out during this summit.

These professionals would leave knowing the differences in types. To not refer to diabetes as a general type or a one size fits all. For our Doctor's or Nurse's to not ask us at every well/sick appointment if our diabetes is "controlled". To not chastise the care giver for our diabetic having an less than stellar A1C.  For the professionals to listen to the diabetic or the care giver seeing as how we know diabetes better than they do. To give us kudos for being the best stand in pancreas we can be withOUT a degree. For magazine companies to stop advertising how you can reverse diabetes or cure it. To stop all the "this is what you should, would, could do" and just do it...advance technology so there is better accuracy in blood sugar readings, better calibrations with CGM's and smarter insulin pumps so that when the cure comes ALL diabetics are healthy enough to receive a cure.

Thank goodness there is no time or money limitations to this challenge as I'm sure there are some pretty thick headed people out there...the world wide summit may last for days...or months!

Stepped in the mud, stepped back in time.

As many of you know, I did a Rebel Race with some AMAZING friends and loved ones this weekend. I was all like yeah....I am gonna go zipping through this and falalalalaaaaa....No. That isn't what I thought at all, but I refuse to blog about my inner Sybil terrorizing me up until the minute they sent us off running.

I chose to do this race because I felt the need to challenge myself. I have never been terrific at sports, or particularly athletic, but I love the whole idea about being super fit and having a killer sports wardrobe that fits like a glove. Call me shallow.

Ok, the point.....

We arrived in Haverhill Massachusetts on Saturday and got my little *bib*....which isn't like any bib I knew of....it's a paper number thingy which served as a time chip (we can laugh about my time later) so you can see how you fared against the masses of jacked up RR peeps in full costume, ready to get dirty.

We were in the 1 pm wave....which is not like waving at all either....it's like 500 people chomping at the bit to run off screaming like maniacs into the woods! I was right there with them....doing my little southern version of a  happy dance/trot/something-that-resembled-running. 1 pm.....show time.

And we were off! WOOO HOOO! Well, we all ran like champions for about 100 yards, then the course sent us straight up into what I could only assume was the first attempt at Base Camp on Everest.....UP a hill....like you needed a chairlift. Up, up, up.....until you emerge, not on Everest, but onto this vast, sprawling farm like place with clearly marked trails via police tape. I was huffing and puffing along with the back end of the RR-ers when we saw the first of the 26 obstacles that dotted this beautiful farmland. A 12-foot tall wall of hay. Bails of hay....pffffttttt. I am a proper southerner....I can climb onto hay bails. Watch this! And as is so many times the case, I realized I was suffering from bull-dog-mouth/chihuahua-hiney syndrome. OMG....that was HARD, and I couldn't understand why??

Plummeted down  the other side, and carried on to the second obstacle. ANOTHER FREAKING WALL OF HAY....only this one was even taller. Seriously, I already have been nursing a wicked cough and it's not  like I haven't been a life long HAY-FEVER sufferer....this was intended to be cruel. Oh. SO. Cruel.

But, I did it....wobbly legged and breathing like I needed an iron lung, I did it. More running. Awesome.

Third obstacle....a long line of people chatting happily about what gorgeous weather we were gifted and how they were gonna go eat dead animals slathered in BBQ sauce, and guzzle down beer that would surely overfloweth at such an event. But as we learned, the obstacle that lay ahead was a single person use only....and boy was it a doozy. 20 minutes or so passed as we, one by one, inched our way down this trail to see a slide.....about 60 feet straight down, covered in fast running, muddy water....and at the bottom awaited the blackest, muddiest pool of (please don't make the think Shawshank Redemption here) who knows what.

This was when I felt real fear. I am a huge fraidy cat. Like HUGE. I fear all things high, dirty, wooded, or outside of a mall. No choices here.....go time. I tried to navigate the beginning of the slide on foot....and promptly landed flat on my ass with a girl-like squeal and flew like a bullet into the muddy waters that awaited me below. I'm just gonna put it out there...it sucked. Cold, muddy, dirty and wracked with adrenaline, I managed to get to the side and have myself pulled out by the arm. I was laughing nervously at the fact that I had actually just DID that, but was not really prepared for the thoughts entering my mind...flashback to diagnosis day for my kid. THAT is exactly what I felt like just happened...I ran up and down hills getting prepared for the slippery slope that is diagnosis. You simply cannot sit in the muddy water....you MUST get up....you MUST move on....you simply have no choice. This was my Diabetes Rebel Race.

The very next obstacle were these huge logs that you needed to climb over and then under....slosh, step, fall, repeat....THIS was when I was learning to give him NPH, and Levemir....and this obstacle represented the ever so quick need to hurdle the hell out of the months that passed so quickly after my son was diagnosed.

I know, it's long. I just have to say, that I did the entire race. I climbed over 25 feet high plankboard walls, crawled through sewer tunnels, and climbed over rope courses, I fell off the monkey bars. I got bruised, I got filthy, I got no prize or accolades except that I can say I did it. And just like caring for my son, THAT is all that mattered.

I am a D mama....and Rebel Race ain't got nothing on me. It did, however, completely ruin my outfit....so since I survived, I live to shop another day.

Rebel Race.... conquered.

Rock ON Team Blue Heel Society!!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Luminary Who Walks the Walk

It is our PRIVILEGE to welcome Alison to the Blue Heel Society Luminary Team. Here is your chance to walk in her Blue Shoes......


Tony's Story:

When Tony was 18 months old, we moved from Washington to Houston, Texas. Even though it was spring we were miserable from the change in weather. We had our first house with a backyard and spent most of our time outside. When he was 20 months old, I noticed Tony was drinking lots of water, but thought it was from the heat, as I was drinking a lot too. The soaked diapers made sense from all that water. Then on May 9, 2007 he slept most of the day. My husband came home from working offshore and commented that he looked real skinny. The next morning, he started to breathe weird. I called the pediatrician and got an appointment for that afternoon. Before the doctor came in, the nurse lectured me because I didn't give him any cold medicine for his labored breathing-which was getting worse. The pediatrician did an exam and told us to go the emergency room because Tony was just dehydrated from a virus and needed an I.V. We waited for a long time in the ER.

Finally someone got a blood sample from him. Moments later, it was chaos. We were told he was in diabetic ketoacidosis and in serious danger. I immediately thought the worst. My Aunt passed away from type 1 diabetes complications when I was a toddler, and from what I knew of her life, it was rough and cut tragically short. That night a critical care team arrived from Texas Childrens Hospital for transport. We stayed by his bed all night in the PICU. For awhile it did not look like he'd make it, a doctor even warned me that she has seen children pass away from this. They had me talk to him every hour to see if they could get him to respond. By morning he woke up and was asking for his sippy cup and I knew he'd be fine, especially when he waved hi to every woman that walked by. He spent a few days in the PICU and a week in the hospital. We had a crash course on how to take care of him; it felt odd

Schedule

to actually bring home a child with instructions on how to keep him alive!

He could speak only a handful of words so there were many close calls with low blood sugars. He got another emergency transport ride and went to the PICU 6 months later from a stomach bug. Just a little illness throws his body out of whack! We decided to move back to our hometown to get help from family and we appreciate the support we have. He loves weekends at his Grandmas and playing with his cousins. His doctor at Doernbechers are wonderful and has made a lot of changes that make his life easier and better. Tony will tell a doctor to their face that he doesn't like them but tells us he loves his diabetes doctor! Now he is 7 years old and is doing well. He is in second grade and obsessed with ninjas. He was later diagnosed with learning disabilities and neurological issues.  Some doctors believe it's due to his brain swelling in DKA, others say he was born this way but he is getting lots of help.  He's at the great age of asking "why" every few minutes and has a lot of questions about diabetes. A lot of the questions are hard to answer without a few tears. He tells me everyday he hates shots. Most of the time he can tell me he's low, but he hates to slow down to test and treat. He is a great big brother to his almost 4 year old sister, Gemma. They are nearly inseparable. Sometimes he tells me he wishes she has diabetes so she can be like him but then he says he doesn't want her to get hurt like he does. She often tells me she is low in hopes of getting a glucose tablet!

There needs to be more awareness about this disease. Even though I have a family history, I did not know about the signs of type 1 diabetes. A nurse and doctor missed it too. Many people are shocked that such a little guy can even get it. Or even that he got it in the first place since we are a very healthy family. Tony eats a healthier diet than most kids do-he loves raw almonds, berries, and all the vegan food I cook. But because this is an autoimmune disease a healthy diet will not prevent or cure it. When people hear the word "diabetes" they think of obesity problem in America so it must be our fault that he has it. We are grateful that we have better technology than what was available for my Aunt. We look forward to see what the future brings. Someday we hope Tony and others with diabetes will have a cure and he will be able to say "I used to have diabetes"!

Alison
alison@inmyblueshoes.org 

Walk a mile in Blue Heels? Nah....Rebel Race in 'em.

Since the inception of Blue Heel Society....almost a year ago ( our baby is getting soooo big!!), I have had the privilege of meeting a compliment of wonderful people who totally get what it is we do here! I see so many of our allies out there raising tons of money and awareness for all the right causes. Makes me well up with tears most days, because it's very personal to me and to know so many people want to see diabetes eradicated means more than words can ever describe.

Most of my days are not spent training in a gym, or cycling through the continent, or blogging or anything not centered around caring for my four kids.....yeah...that's my glamorous life...and I love it....

HOWEVER....I was recently beaten at thumb-rasslin' by *you know who* and agreed to do something called a Rebel Race...I was fairly certain that regardless of that unflattering sounding title...eh, I was in. We were doing it under the Blue Heel Society, recruited some really amazing friends and family to join us, raising awareness for diabetes....yada yada.

Ho. Lee. Chit. NOT what I expected it to be.... This is quite different than scoring the Jessica Simpson wedge from a hoard of teenage girls in Marshall's...this is most certainly like boot camp before death.

For me, anyways.

Let me paint the picture here for you, lambs...the premise is that you run for like 500 miles uphill in Geisha shoes, then you have this obstacle course of most assured manicure ruining little stations like carrying a lion wrapped in barbed wire on your back through a sewer pipe....then, to finish off, you run some more....covered in mud, the kind not found in Serenity Day Spa...and potentially a gaping scrape or blister that will definitely require closed toe shoes for dinner given via a straw by what I can only assume will be a nurse in training....while I am on my death bed.  Sounds awesome right? Everyone is IN!!

This race ain't nuthin compared to what my child with diabetes, my family, my friends, and their loved ones do day in....day out....either with medications, diets, pumps, blood glucose meters, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears....and a whole lotta giggles, while having no other choice.

Rebel Race will be one moment in time for me to say, this sucks, I'm doing it anyways. My child pricks his little finger 15 times a day....changes a pump site every other day.....If I could move the diabetes *mountain* and my only tool was a teaspoonful of dirt at a time..... for him, I would do it every second of every day....and as I really began to think about it....this race ain't no different.

I will most definitely bring a Hello Kitty Band-aid kit. And the overwhelming support from you with me as I embarrass myself proper, in the name that is all too familiar. Diabetes.

Wanna come laugh your hiney off at me? Join our team, volunteer, come cheer Team Blue Heel Society on as we get a little mud on our heels.

Click your heels together three times...

Ahh wouldn't that just rock? Something so simple to manage diabetes?

 It is no secret that I am a fan of reality television...and all things related to E! TV...throw eggs...I love it! TONS of celebs these days are wearing blue heels!! Do we take credit for that? Did the DOC posting photos of all of us fab warriors wearing our best Blue Shoes have THAT kind of influence??

 I say yes....yes we do.

Would it matter if a celebrity fashionista had a diabetes platform to spread the good word?? Ummm...duh, yeah. But once I started noticing those shoes, I couldn't help but think, HEY?? Do they have a diabetes connection?? I literally let myself believe that yes, society having lunch on television was saying HEY...WE LOVE YOU DOC!!

Matters not. What happened was I realized that I no longer looked at Kim Kardashian as a train wreck....with great eyelashes. I started looking at her, and the lovelies on the red carpets as catalysts. What if your *platform*...heels and otherwise, isn't just diabetes??

Can you host a Pet adoption/spay neuter clinic as a Blue Heel Society advocate? You bet.

Can you host a monthly book club or dinner club wearing Blue shoes? Bingo!

Hanging out in the car show parking lot with your 1958 Porsche Speedster...wearing those blue babies.....Yes and Yes.

Because YOU aren't doing advocacy a disservice.....YOU are touching the lives of a people who like you love animals, or kids, or politics or *fill in your favorite past time* and CHANGING the way people look at diabetes. YOU are doing your passion and repping the DOC big time. 

While we don't raise money for any charity...we support you and if you want to use Blue Heel Society as your platform to raise awareness for your causes....we say try us on for size!!

Click here to join Blue Heel Society as we click our collective heels up and go change the way people see diabetes. One step at a time....

See you at the mall!

Scuffed White Shoes after Labor Day

I was a six year old girl, who even at that tender age....was way too fashion forward for my very traditional southern upbringing. My Aunt Judy used to say she could see me wearing a bed sheet, draped just so.... I was totally into not wearing what everyone else did....well, until "junior high"...but that's a blog for another day....

My mother bought me this little peachy chiffon number and I probably wore that dress 800 times. It became my all-occasion attire...and I loved it. Once, I got myself all dolled up to go to the *Time Saver* convenience store with mama to get the dreaded items we'd forgotten at the grocery store. Like I said, it was a special occasion dress and wearing it made me feel special. I ran into the store after my brother and caught the lace trim on a shelf and ripped that dress. Oh, the tears.

That isn't the only really impressionable memory of that dress for me.....this dress, I wore to my grandmother's funeral. There are the weird photos that my family took of all of the grandchildren around her casket. Yes, my family does that....I don't have a good reason why. Memories are memories...and that is how they preserved that one. I won't share *that* photo.

My grandmother died from of complications resulting of living with Type 2 Diabetes. At the age of 6, I knew diabetes killed people. It scared me then....and scares me now. Diabetes robbed my mother and her siblings of their mother. It robbed me and my brother, and the subsequent additions to our family of a grandmother. I knew about this disease my whole life. Never did I imagine how much I wish I could have started my efforts in advocating for the rights of people who live with or care for someone with this disease THEN. I was a somewhat bright child who was far from shy or demure. I could have been fighting the fight all along. Hindsight, no?

Fast forward a bit....I have worked most of my adult life in some form of healthcare....womb to tomb. I have embalmed bodies at a funeral home, and I have managed an endocrinology office.....irony..... in that I saw the before and after affects of what a person who lives with disease really REALLY lives with....the good, the bad, and the ugly. I saw families blame their loved ones for dying or being fat or being not proactive enough in dealing with this disease. I saw aging parents literally give up taking care of themselves because while no one could see the disease....the stigma of having *diabetes* was like wearing white shoes after labor day....white shoes with a giant black scuff. 

I will say this....until the day diabetes got personal in my life...and it did...in the worst way imaginable....I was not indifferent about this disease....I was aware. I was unsure about what it actually meant to live with but I knew that it was always popping up in my life....one little glimpse at a time. I saw physicians I worked with get very large bonuses from insurance companies if they could get a portion of their diabetes client panels to a *target* A1c. I watched nurses call those pesky non compliant diabetic patients and literally bribe them to just eat better for this month...or exercise....or fill in the blank. I was incredulous. I remember telling the nurse practitioner I worked with that those clinicians and nurses needed to go to Diabetes Rehab. Quit blaming, bribing or coercing these people and try understanding how they live and encourage them to care. Fell on deaf ears. They worked with the ones that would and the rest....well, they didn't. It was their disease....and they had to manage it. WHA??

About the dress....That dress made me feel special. People who love, live with, care for or advocate for someone with diabetes.....they are my dress now....and my perfect white shoes with the black scuff that I will wear after labor day...This family of strangers I lean on daily for compassion may lead very diverse lives... but at the end of it all, we are NOT okay with the stigmas....or the thought that someone has no fight in them because it's *just* diabetes. That's enough for me. 

Diabetes entered my family before I was born.....put it's self in my life in many manifestations....and then it preyed on my child. My D kiddo is six now, and he knows more about diabetes than ANY professional I ever worked for. And he rocks. Plain out rocks the world daily. No way in hell will I allow anyone who can be within earshot of me to not only hear about diabetes....but about how fabulous and special a community we are. Scuffed blue heels are still able to tell the story....the real one.

Devil in a Red Dress meet a Rebel in Blue Heels

Blue Candles. For those of you who aren't familiar with this symbol.....the DOC (diabetes online community) show compassion and solidarity to a family who lost a loved one to Type 1 diabetes by posting photos of this candle. It's all over social media as of late.

Death. The real life true co-morbidity of diabetes. It's a  reminder of why so many of us use media and blogging and Facebook and Twitter to engage the community. No one wants to lose this war..

 My friend from *life before diabetes and kids and a mortgage* is now a pastor at a church in my hometown. He survived leukemia in high school and married a wonderful woman and settled into a life enriched by service. He and his wife and a host of other tremendous people serve as missionaries, on occasion, to Haiti and Africa. Guess what they do there?? Funny how small a world it is sometimes.....among a TON of amazing networking and compassion care for churches in those communities, they provide medicine to children....with....diabetes!

:)
Just a big ole toothy :)

Like insulin. Yeah. That is what  I'm talking about. No one is tweeting about it....no one is lamenting over a clever wall post.....they are talking the talk....walking the walk.

My friend, Mark, the pastor, was recently diagnosed again with cancer. His second battle. I rarely if ever watch any religious television....maybe because I watch PBS or Nick Jr.....even when the kids aren't in the room....but as of late, reading about another family losing a child to diabetes....or a family with three children of their four having diabetes and their father battling cancer himself.....or solar glare....high tide, something compelled me to watch Mark's sermon this morning. Maybe it was the infomercial calling people with T2 diabetes Diabesity. I won't go there....Instead....I clicked play....

Now, I won't be quoting scriptures or asking for you to come to the pulpit....I will simply share with you what I gleaned from his testimony about his current life circumstance.

Life is a valley, and the sun, and the birds, bad times, traffic, friends, burnt dinner, laughter....it is seeing that shadow in the valley of our hard times....and thanking the sun for creating it.

Finding the hope and will to find gratitude for the trials and tribulations of this disease. My child has diabetes. Many people I consider family and certainly consider my anchors have diabetes....it's our valley. That shadow of death....I will thank the sun today, for making it. Celebrating the warmth of the sun ( my DOC, you....and you...and you) for shining into the valleys of all of us. Reminding us of the light and when we are full of fear and self doubt.....shining into the valley to light our paths.

It's okay to see the shadow....to walk through the shadow. We have each other.....no need to fear.

I'll stay away from golf courses and bodies of water today....as to not attract any lightening. HA!

Love, me

Day 8: Wrap up!

Today is the last day of our Advocating for Another Carnival for WEGO health. Our challenge is to share what we will be planning to do moving forward.

That's easy...advocate for diabetes in BLUE HEELS/SHOES!!

It's the easiest thing to do! I'm sure we've all advocated for diabetes without realizing we even are! In fact, just yesterday, my Evelyn, went shopping at Marshall's to find a cute outfit to wear for her first day of COLLEGE!! Marshall's was in the midst of their sneaker campaign for JDRF. Sneaker campaign? Yes, participating stores sell paper sneakers for a donation and it supports JDRF. At the checkout, Evelyn was asked if she would like to donate a $1 for JDRF. Which she happily replied, "YES, I would! It's for me and my sister. We are both Type 1 diabetics" and the conversation went on from there.

See? Advocating is no big deal! (Well, it IS a big deal but you know what I mean!!)

Now that it's back to school time, how many of us advocated for ourselves or our kids to the nurse and/or the school? ALL of us!! We are well armed and will fight for ourselves or our sugar babies. Advocating at it's finest! Because if we don't, who will?

The Blue Heel Society will continue to advocate, inform, educate and rally for ALL types of diabetics. We welcome you to walk along with us in your most fab pair of blue shoes. And you never know, we may have a few surprises in our heels...stay tuned!

Day 2 post: fave things/silver linings

Today's challenge is to write 5-10 favorite things about your community. Well, I think I covered that pretty well with my post from yesterday.

So, I'm blogging a bonus: Silver Linings; what unexpected joys, lessons, experiences, or blessings have you found in caring for someone else?

This is hard because with every silver lining there is a storm cloud...I'll try to stay with the silver lining!

The first silver lining that comes to me is my family is super close. As most of you loyal BHS readers know, not only do I have two Type 1 girls (one of which was recently diagnosed), I also have a hemophiliac son. The fact that I have three kids with chronic illnesses can do one of two things. It can make you or break you. In our case it has made our family stronger. Now, please, don't think our family is all rainbows and unicorns!! It's actually far from it! But as a family unit...our core is STRONG!!

Some other silver linings are:

Mentoring to others

Maturity for my kids (this is a storm cloud too...having chronically ill kids makes them grow up way to fast)

Community for us all

Independence for my kids (another storm cloud but silver lining too!)

Advocating with my kids (never thought I'd be political!)

Being involved with my kids (they may say that's a storm cloud, sometimes!)

Empathy to others

Being strong enough to know I CAN take care of my kids

This was a good exercise for me to really think about the GOOD in the everyday things I do to keep my kids alive and safe. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the storm cloud that we don't even see the silver lining. So I challenge you, the reader, to find YOUR silver lining!! HINT...it might be right in front of you!

Don't Quit

That's not even in my vocabulary...if your a PWD or parent/caregiver of a PWD it's not in yours either. We can't quit!! Not an option...but on those days when blood sugars are high, or low, multiple site changes are done, CGM decides to crap out in the middle of the night (like just last night!!!grrr!!), and/or you've gotten up for what seems the 1,000th time; this little poem pops into my head...Don't Quit. I learned it years ago when I was in 4th grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Soldo, made us memorize it!! No lie!! I do remember most of it from memory but I found it on a wallet sized card a few years ago and carry it with me always. So I'd like to share it with you, my Bluetiful friends!!

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 

When the road your trudging, seems all up hill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high, 

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As everyone of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out,

Don't give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow. 

Success is failure turned inside out ,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seem so far,

So stick to the right when your hardest hit,

It's when things seem worse,

that you must not quit.
(author unknown)

DON'T QUIT! 

A1C's, blood sugars, basal rates...these things will fluctuate and without explanation...you all know it!! Sometimes we get down or frustrated with D and making changes. But after you do make those changes and you tweak little things and you see a flat line on the pump screen that shows you/your kid is in range...don't you feel triumphant?!?! So stick with it!! Don't beat yourself up and most importantly....

DON'T QUIT!! 

"I'm no one special...and I CAN save the world."

Today's Writer's Challenge was to open a book at random, point to a phrase and blog away.

So I picked up my copy of  A Cure for Emma, One Mother's Journey to Oz by Julie Colvin.

(Julie is a fellow D Momma who writes about her spiritual journey after her daughter's diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes. If you haven't had the chance to read it, you should!!)

So I opened up the book and I'll be honest...the first phrase was about plummeting blood sugars. UGH!! I just wasn't feeling it...I deal with that daily. So I flipped the pages one more time and sincerely landed on

"I'm no one special...and I CAN save the world"!!

How often do we think that..."I'm no one special"?? I think that often. I'm just a mom who takes care of her kids, of which two out of three happen to have different life threatening medical conditions...I'm no one special.

I just DO. 

I wake up every morning, get the kids ready for school, fix lunches, grocery shop, pick kids up, fix dinner, help with homework, drive to sporting events, do dishes, get the kids to bed...all routine things that many of you all do. Nothing special in all that, right?

So, how can I...whose no one special, save the world? Baby steps...take baby steps. Get involved!! I'm not talking about becoming the Executive Director of a Diabetes Organization. Smaller scale...just call and offer your help. Attend a diabetes function, stuff envelopes, answer phone calls, mentor a newly diagnosed family, wear your blue heels, organize an event to raise diabetes awareness.

 Again, GET INVOLVED!! 

Even if it's just one of those ways I mentioned...DO IT! You volunteering unites ALL of us for the greater cause...finding a cure and SAVING THE WORLD!!

Quotation Inspiration

I have a few quotes I love but this one made its way around Facebook a while ago and it just stayed with me.

Thanks to our D friend, Mike Lawson's Mirror Mantras. You can check out his blog here.



How true! I'm not talking about "Saving the World" remarkable...that's for Superhero's! But if you can wake up and make just the smallest difference in your day or in the day of someone else...why not do it?

What do you live for? 

I live for my kids and my family. The passion that I have for my kids and family helps me to do remarkable things! Little things like getting them ready for school every morning, making their lunch, preparing them for their day, getting them to after school activities, sporting events, Dr. appointments, middle of the night blood sugar checks, multiple site changes, treating highs, treating lows ...yes, these are little things. But these lead to bigger things like volunteering at JDRF diabetes events, mentoring other diabetic families, meeting with law makers and advocating for a cure.

Small, everyday, REMARKABLE things that will have a HUGE impact on my kids, my family, my community.

So, ask yourself, what can you do to be remarkable? What do YOU live for? I bet if you take a moment and think of all the everyday things you do, you'll find your pretty remarkable! Feel free to leave your remarkable posts...you never know...you might inspire someone else to be remarkable!! 
<3 Jen

Film Crews, Blue Shoes and Advocacy

This past Friday, my family had a very unique opportunity. We were asked if we could have a film crew come and interview us during the Promise To Remember Me Campaign and interview us about JDRF, advocacy and D. I'm one of those ALWAYS say Yes type of people; so I did. Oh, did I mention, we were given 24 hour notice and my house was a mess and the school nurse had called to let me know Nora wasn't feeling well and my husband was on his way to pick her up early from school?!?!?! Yep! I like my days CRAZY!! That's how I roll!! The Producer calls me and asks about my affiliation with D and my story. She said she and the film crew would be at my house BEFORE the meeting...at 9am...meaning they would show up at our house at 7:30AM!! Fabulous!! Bring it! So they show up Friday morning. Mic Nora and I up for sound and film us walking out the door (twice), walking to the car, opening the car door and getting in (twice), our drive downtown, walking in downtown Cincy to the Carew Tower, getting on the elevator to meet with Congressman Steve Chabot, when whom should get on our elevator?? but Steve Chabot!! Pretty Cool!  We go up to his office and meet up with JDRF staff and Board Members, families and most importantly, Type 1 kids and adults! Everyone introduces themselves to Mr.Chabot and tells their D story. The cool thing about these meetings is that of the two we have participated in, BOTH the State Rep's have talked to the kids! They engaged them and wanted to know what D was like for them. The kids told them all about D, the good, the bad and the ugly and the State Rep's listened! At the Chabot meeting, he actually asked, "What can I do to help you?" Excuse me...did I hear right??? YES!! He asked how HE could help US!! Amazing!! If you can in anyway participate in this Campaign please DO!! This is better than any Civics lesson my daughter could learn in school. This is a field trip with a purpose and it's THEIR purpose...DIABETES!! To read about the Promise To Remember Me Campaign or to sign up to attend a meeting you can do it here.

But I really need to fill you in on some other things too! Let me say, I am NOT political! I have that awful "I can see both sides to every issue"problem and can't make a decision: Republican, Democrat, Independent. But that didn't stop me from signing up to advocate! I wish I could have as much passion for ALL issues as I do for Diabetes. I don't care what Party you are with ...I'll talk about D to a donkey!! (and an Elephant too!!) :) I'm fighting for Federal Money that is VITAL to research so that a cure can be found!! PERIOD. That's my party affiliation.

The other item I need to share with you was our interview. They interviewed me first and asked me the standard "tell me about the diabetes diagnosis, etc"...you know, the questions you could answer in your sleep! Then she asked me to sell her on why she should be an advocate...why I advocate. This should be a simple answer...I just do!! But she pressed me further...WHY do I advocate. Well, I advocate for Nora. But I advocate for ALL diabetics. I am the voice for the diabetics who can't voice their frustrations and challenges. I am advocating so that ALL diabetics will be Remembered!! Not just my cute daughter, Nora but ALL DIABETICS!! The ones that are right there in the same room with me and the ones who can't be. The one's who are feeling different and don't want people to know they have D...the one's who suffer in silence because they think no one cares about them. But. I. Do! I advocate for YOU! 

They interviewed my daughter next and asked her similar questions too. They asked why she advocates for diabetes (other than to get out of school for a few hours!) she simply said "to get us one step closer to a cure"! Well said! 

The film crew followed us around the house preparing a snack, writing a thank you letter to Congressman Chabot and Nora taking a run around the neighborhood. It was a neat experience...a little touch of reality tv stardom! The purpose of the filming is to recruit new advocates for the Promise To Remember Me Camapaign through our 3-5 min video. They also followed two other families on the West Coast. We can't wait to see the videos and of course will share it with all you Bluetiful peeps when it "airs". (Besides, I had three wardrobe changes with three different pairs of Blue Shoes!! I hope at least one pair makes it on the video!!)

So, besides sharing my day with you I want to leave you with one word...advocacy. You don't have to meet with Members of Congress to advocate for Diabetes Awareness...chances are if you're regularly reading our blog and "like" our fb page and wearing your Blue Heels,  your advocating. But really,  "Why do YOU advocate"?

JDRF Southwest Ohio Chapter Promise To Remember Me Campaign

Four Months?!?! How can it be?!?

Today is our Four Month Birthday!! 

Happy Birthday Blue Heel Society!! 

What a FAB looking cake...almost too good to eat!!

We've come a long way in four short months! You've blessed us with your "likes", you compete to be our "Fan of the Week", you share your Blue Heel pics and comment on diabetes information we bring to you! We are here and thriving all for YOU and because of YOU! 

There is a lot of growing here at BHS. We are always coming up with new ideas, things to come...and we value your input. Yes, this is our baby but it's your baby to. We ALL need to nurture it so that it grows and becomes something great! And although we are only 4 months old we are getting recognized...all because of YOU!! The DOC is taking notice, insulin producing companies, state representatives and it is because we stand together...the diabetics, the loved ones, the care-givers! We ARE making a statement and THAT is the best birthday gift ever!! Thanks to all of you for making us who we are today!! You are truly BLUE-tiful!! <3

Blue Heel Fashion Corner

Good Morning all our Bluetiful Fans!! Welcome to the Blue Heel Fashion Corner! A new segment that will pop  up periodically to showcase Blue Shoes and Blue Fashion...to help you along in your quest for raising Diabetes Awareness.

So, lately, I've been asked, "Where can I buy some blue shoes?" I've had the best luck at DSW and Payless (of all places!) but the other day, my friend messaged me on Facebook and said she had found some blue shoes at Target and instantly thought of me!! Well, I decided to do some "field research" aka...shopping!! (as if I need an excuse!) So I ran over to my local Target and hit the Blue Shoe Motherload!! I'm not talking one pair...I'm talking THREE different pairs of blue shoes!!

The Heel

The Wedge

The FLAT!!

I'm sure the lady shopping the next aisle over thought I was insane as I squealed in delight! But who wouldn't?! Especially when having OPTIONS!! So I went right to work to find my size...but guess what!! They were already picked over!! It was like members of the BHS in Cincinnati had flocked to Target and bought the store out!! Now, I still have quite a few locations to go to in order to find my size but STILL!! How Cool! Now, I've been noticing that many of you can't wear heels. So I'm keeping a watchful eye out for flats. And let's face it...there are days were my 5 inch BCBG's just won't cut it for carpool or for running after my 4 year old...so I too want flats.

What now, that you've bought these awesome, colorful, BRIGHT blue shoes? What to wear?? Well, Target has that covered too! They have TONS of blue pants, shirts, dresses, sweaters and skirts available. (Be on the look out for my fashion show). I find, personally, that to really showcase your shoes...so they get the MOST attention...I wear black bottoms and then a blue top. I want the focus on my shoes because that is when you'll get asked about them and then you can launch into your diabetes education! After all, that's why we are all here!

We here at BHS would love to see how you are wearing your blue!! Blue is the color of the Spring season and let me tell you, it is EVERYWHERE!! Please share YOUR findings with us when your out and about. We could all use a helpful tip on where to find the newest selection of blue shoes. We are all Bluetifully united and what a sight it would be to see an army of BLUE HEEL SOCIETY members strutin' their stuff in their blue shoes!! So get shopping and send us your pics!!