When my brother was first diagnosed with diabetes as an eleven-year-old, he was given a case for his kit and extra diabetes supplies. The case was actually a cloth lunchbox, but it had an unfortunate resemblance (at least in my bother’s mind) to a woman’s handbag. At this point, he was too young to even carry a wallet, so the idea...

Photo credit: Redvers On Monday, my daily life, my career path, and my work-related goals will change substantially. You see, Friday was my last day working at an exceptional start-up here in San Diego. (I love you guys. I will miss you all!) (Parenthetical, part 2: anyone software engineers out there want to work at a fabulous, fast-moving...

When I first formulated my plan for trying out Amylin Pharmaceutical‘s amylin agonist, Symlin, I figured the hardest supply to acquire would be a pH meter. Now, granted, I haven’t tried for the pH meter yet, so it still may prove difficult– but getting my hands on Symlin itself has certainly been an unexpected hassle. I...

Every person I have met who has diabetes has a diagnosis story.  And every person I have met who has diabetes has vivid memories of this incident.  Since I was recently diagnosed and am just entering the diabetes community, I feel as though I’ve told my diagnosis story more often than any other story I’ve told in my life.  The...

Juggling on the Berlin Wall If I left align my body throw its edges against a wall I built inside a membrane locking out the memory of excursion an up and a down   Sea I am jealous your tide mediocre at least you have the moon to blame   If I left align my body hold it still forehead to cement against a cold thymus he doesn’t...

In my last post, I noted that it was up to me to start living my life in Seattle.  I am proud to report that I have been doing just that and that things are starting to fall into place.  I moved to Seattle in mid-May to participate in the Protégé Encore study and settled in for 14 days of infusions, which took me to the end of May. ...

'Pregnant graffiti' (photo by Petteri Sulonen) she wrote her poem on his wrists love transcribed in code a double-backed polynucleotide beast sealing the air between his lungs and his wrists on his wrists she wrote her love son son I a Silverstein tree give you all all that I have that I know that I am son son but son not that not that...

As my trip around the world continues, I’m learning more and more about the challenges of taking diabetes with you on the road. This recently became apparent when, for reasons I still don’t quite understand, I decided to try to get a Hemoglobin A1c test performed in Tallinn Estonia — at 7 in the evening. My thought process,...

Last week I attended a the three-day orientation in Washington, D.C. hosted by the organization giving me a scholarship to go to Estonia. One of the things I learned was that I need this disclaimer on future posts concerning the grant: The views and information presented here are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the...

So this was weird: I wake up from a dream at about 12:30 AM. My continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which I had inserted and calibrated once before going to bed, showed a blood sugar measurement of 99 mg/dL. Perfect, I think to myself as I stumble out of bed toward the bathroom. I measure my blood sugar on the OneTouch UltraLink I keep...