In case you didn’t see the little comment post I made after I finished the race last weekend, here’s the news:  I finished the race! A few of the crew from the JDRF NW Tri Club… with medals! I fulfilled all of my goals of finishing, never stopping, and having fun.  I also fulfilled the bonus goal I had to keep my blood sugar levels in safe ranges at all times.  And I fulfilled the extra-bonus goal of meeting new people and bonding over the fact that we were about to jump into a freezing cold lake together! ...

There’s only one way to say it, folks:  I’m nervous.  I am now one week away from the Black Diamond sprint triathlon and I’m nervous.  I’m very excited, of course, but excitement is a familiar emotion for me.  I think I’ve grown increasingly excited since the day I printed off my training guide.  But now I’m getting nervous. I just have to get it out there in the open and say that I had a really horrible run yesterday.  Here it is, a week before Race Day, and I had a horrible run.  I’ve been getting faster and...

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 people I meet are often eager to share their diagnosis stories with me and our connection is made over the shared experience of the simple blood test and doctor’s statement.  Focusing on my diagnosis...

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 Department of State. And now…on to diabetes. The purpose of the orientation was to prepare all of the grantees for the experience of living abroad next year. We had information sessions on...

A few months ago I wrote about Eva Saxl, a type 1 diabetic who managed to survive World War II in the Shanghai ghetto by making homemade insulin. After immigrating to the United States, Saxl became a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association. During the era in which Saxl lived, there was a serious stigma attached to having diabetes. As a result, most diabetics went to great lengths to hide their condition from others. Saxl’s willingness to speak openly about diabetes was revolutionary. As I researched Saxl’s life, I was...

My older brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the mid-nineties, when he was 14 and I was 11.   It was right around Christmas time and my brother had been sick with  what we thought was the flu.  He had been to the hospital for treatment, but was sent back home with directions to simply rest and get better.  My brother remembers going to the bathroom frequently and feeling thirsty, as well as sleeping in later than usual and losing a significant amount of weight.  No one ever considered diabetes.  It wasn’t until...

Reinhold Vieth is frustrated. A thin, bald professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Patho-biology, Vieth is among the most knowledgeable people in the world on the subject of vitamin D. He began studying it as a graduate student in 1974 and hasn’t changed his focus since. “I stick with vitamin D and follow it where it goes,” he says. In recent years, vitamin D has been going to some exciting places. Reports of new and promising studies seem to emerge almost weekly. A 2007 analysis...

On Monday two things happened to me: 1. I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. 2. I found out that I received a grant to live in Estonia for a year starting in September (!) They had more to do with each other than one might think. Part of this was the timing: I was leaving my house for the appointment just as a postman was walking up to my door, so I took the letter right from his hands. The thrill of the good news overshadowed my anxiety about the doctor’s appointment, at least for the duration of the car ride there....

Occasionally I think about the delicate nature of the system that keeps me, and all other diabetics, alive. Right now, I’m lucky enough to live in a place and time where and when all of my diabetic needs are met with alacrity. My doctors prescribe medications, my supplies are plentiful and of excellent quality, and they are delivered or given to me at the pharmacy on time. But what would happen if something large-scale were to threaten this system, like a natural disaster or war? When I saw on my calendar that today is Holocaust...

My husband, Mike,  and I both have type 1 diabetes – sort of.  The full story is that Mike has type 1 diabetes, and I have LADA.  Are you confused, like so many others, about the distinctions between these forms of diabetes?  Take a look, then, at Catherine Price’s clear-cut explanation of LADA, and how it differs from type 1.  If it helps to put faces to the differences between type 1 and LADA, then check out the story below of Mike’s frightening diabetes onset versus my very mild one. Mike’s  diagnosis:...