Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Oh geeze...

Last night, I checked my bg before bed and was startled by a 486. Holy crap. Waves of panic. 3 glasses of water, multiple checks. I saw that my tubing was completely blocked. Got the kinks worked out, but woke up every few hours and check. Sailed in at a 175 this morning.

Now...pizza from a campus event for dinner and probably more gummy sour candy than I should have had and I'm 496. WTF! This is sooo not me. How does this happen? I think I'm doing so good, then BAM, like a MAC truck, I'm down.

I was looking at my averages and they have been pretty high. I need to get back on track.

NOW.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

7 thoughts


<--- Current art obession. Audrey Hepburn Breakfast at Tiffanys. (Because my sister is obsessed with her and because she's pretty much a style icon.)

1. I made it back to school after a very relaxing weekend home in NoVA. No clubbing or bar hopping, but lots of fun with my family. I got to hang out with my little sister and enjoy some quality time with my mom and dad. My boyfriend was home this weekend, so we saw Alpha Dog with Justin Timberlake, went to dinner, and hung out. Always fun.

2. My roommates and I went to a coffee ship downtown tonight to do homework. I got alot done and got the chance to enjoy a delicious smoothie beverage. BG has been alittle high since then.

3. Even though I don't have class tomorrow until late, I have a "to do" list a mile long (cleaning my room is on the list...)

4. I need to finish my resume. And start applying for job. And decide what I want to do with my life.

5. Spring Break needs to hurry up and get here. With my senior seminar undergrad thesis in the works and a few other class projects starting up in the next few weeks, I am counting down the days until I get on plane and head to sunny Panama City for 7 days.

6. I love bulk sour gummy candy. Gummy worms, gummy gears, sour patch kids, sour gummy worms, neon worms, the sour watermelons, gummy sour fruit salad. All of them.

7. I am ready to graduate and start something new. Don't know where I'll end up, or what I'll be doing, but I'm ready for something different.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Wednesday---Is the week almost over?


<---Current art obsession: L'Instant Taittinger. Artist: Unknown. It's in my hallway of my apartment and it's cute. :o)

Even though it's only Wednesday, this week feels like it's been going on forever. No snow day on Monday forced me out of bed and across campus for meetings, lunch with my roommate, set up for an event for my job, class, Happy Hour at Chili's with my class, and Student Organization Night for my organization. I got home and felt like I hadn't seen my apartment in years. Tuesdays are my marathon days on campus with 3 classes from 11:00-4:45 and work from 5-8:30. I got home and allowed myself to veg out and watch John Tucker Must Die. Yes, I am lame and it doesn't take alot to amuse me.

My numbers have been pretty good the last few days. I had a low before bed on Sunday night, suspended my pump, and then fell asleep and forgot to turn the damn thing back on. 289 at 5am. Crap.

Another awesome thing I figured I would share with you ladies...Have you seen the Nick and Nora PJs at Target? The ones that look like old man pajamas? I have several pairs in completely outlandish prints-Dogs, Pink Poodles in Paris, Clouds, etc. They have these awesome pockets on the shirt which hold my pump perfectly. I always get stuck in my tubing at night if I just throw the pump in bed with me or I end up on top of my pump and my back hurts. If I drop my pump in the pocket, it's pretty easy sleeping. I've even pump my little black case with my checker in the other pocket and I am fully armed for any diabetes related nightly incidence.

They're pretty affordable at Target (the regular ones sold at the high end places can be alittle pricey) . Check them out. --->

I'm heading home to Northern VA this weekend to get my haircut, see my boyfriend, and to go out in DC. Should be a much needed good time.

Have a good one!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

SNOW SNOW SNOW and grooviness...


<---Current art obession: Couple Walking Through Central Park, NYC Artist: Steve Linder

Virginia has been hit by it's first snowstorm this year and I'm very excited!!! Have you seen the movie "Snow Day" that came out a few years ago? The little girl in the movie is obsessed with snow days and the town she lives in only ever gets one at a time. She does everything she can to keep the Snowplow man from plowing. It's hilarious and my roommates and I are all about getting a snow day tomorrw. No more wishing for a delay, we want a full day! We'll see what they announce tomorrow at 6am. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the idea of maybe not having to go out tomorrow and the idea missing another nonprofit class (no class last week because of MLK) which is a complete waste of time in the first place.

One of my new obession in life are my Groovy Patches from www.groovypatches.com . I got them in my stocking for Christmas from my parents after having bothered them about ordering them. I pretty much don't wear a site now without wearing a Groovy Patch on top of it. I got Tropical ones for when I go to Panama City for Spring Break in March, but have been rocking the Retro and Butterflies. I'm sure my roommates are entertained when I change my site and run out of the bathroom with my shirt pulled up around my head, pointing at my stomach. Check them out. I'm a huge fan and wish I would have thought about this.

Hope each of you have been doing well. Let me know what's going with you!

:o) Allison

Thursday, January 11, 2007

My week #1 encounter with someone who doesn't know a thing about the 'betes


<--- Current art obession: The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, c.1888 by Vincent Van Gogh

Wow! The first week of class went fast and so did this long weekend!

I'm busy working on a couple of events for the organization that I direct on campus and trying to keep up on all the work that I have already this semester. I'm taking a block class on immigration and I think there was almost 100 pages of reading just for this week. When you have 4 other classes and 2 projects to work on, the reading isn't very thorough. :o)

At the beginning of the semester, I always have run ins with people about my diabetes. It came up when I was talking to a girl in 2 of my classes. She was asking what I thought I was going to write my senior seminar paper on and I was explain my interest in the 'betes and she said "Well, my dad has diabetes"- I assume Type 2 and am not really in the mood to have the difference in diabetes talk with her- but I ask, just to make sure. She says she doesn't know.

I can't get over how you live with someone and don't know. I mean, I know about my parents' health issues only so when I go to the doctor's I can give educated answers AND not look like a complete DUMBASS about my medical history. I just said "Oh" at this point, because I didn't want to get into it anymore than I had. It frustrates me when people don't know the difference between the two and really pisses me off when they have a personal connection to the disease and are completely uneducated. <---I'm done ranting, I promise.

So what do you all say when you meet people like this? What do you say to people that don't seem to care about a disease that affects MILLIONS--20.8 to be exact--of people and people they know---like us--on a daily basis??? How do you educate without being too pushy?

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Musings


<-- Current art obession (a new feature of my blog)- "London" by Andrea Laliberte

I made it back to school safely and was reunited with my roommates and all my school friends. I'm still trying to imagine not coming back here next semester. It's definitely going to be a shock.

My schedule is pretty nice- no classes til the evening on Monday and Wednesday (only one on both nights) and no classes on Friday (a senior's dream!). 3 classes on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday. It's pretty nice. Even though I'm not in class alot, I'm going to be on campus a ton- holed up in the library doing research for my Senior Seminar class where I'm writing an undergraduate thesis. Yeah, it's going to own me. But, I have a good idea for a topic- last semester I wrote about the portrayal of diabetes in "Steel Magnolias"- notice how Shelby NEVER tests her blood sugar during the whole movie??? I'm thinking of doing the portrayal of diabetes in the media in general and connecting it with how diabetics are almost seen as a deviant group, etc.---I took a deviance class last semester and I think I could totally make it work. Any thoughts?

Diabetes-wise, things are great. My numbers have been pretty decent. The increase in exercise with running across campus and stuff has been really good. I've also been watching what I eat with the whole cholestrol thing.

Did you all know that the “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act” (H.R. 3/S. 5) was introduced in the House and Senate last week and is expected to be voted on Thursday, Jan. 11? Make sure you contact your representative- you can sign up online through the American Diabetes Association Advocacy http://advocacy.diabetes.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AC_homepage and they'll help you with contacting the right people.

:o) Allison

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Last night home


I always get sad the night before I go back to school. Tonight, I said goodbye to my boyfriend and tomorrow I'll say goodbye to my parents and my sister. You would think as a senior I wouldn't get sad and would be ready to go back, party, and officially be done. But I'm not.

I hate leaving. I love my family and feel the most comfortable being here daily to make them laugh. I love that my sister yells at me before I go anywhere to make sure I have low snacks, my mom tells me to check before I get in the car, and that when I'm at the mall I have someone there to hold my pump and so I don't have to find a bench to check my blood sugar. I love that I don't have to explain why my pump is beeping to these people. When I say "I don't feel so good" they know exactly that I'm low, need juice, need...them.

At school, I'm pretty much on my own. That scares me sometimes especially with those lows at night when I want my mom. Kinda like the one that Kerri described a couple of days ago at www.sixuntilme.com. When you want someone to sit with you or hold you or something, but since when I'm at school all I have is my roommates and you can't really ask them to hold you because that might be just alittle wierd, as much as you love them.

Technically, this is the last "last night home before going back to school." I like that idea.

In 5 months I'll be a college graduate. I'll be done. I'll have the rest of my life to live. Wow.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy 2007!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you all had a great evening celebrating. My boyfriend had a party at his apartment with a bunch of friends from college and some friends from our high school. It was a great evening and it was fun to ring in 2007, which will be a big year (I graduate in 5 months...Holy crap!!! Must find job. Must decide what to do with my life.)

My Christmas went well with my family and we traveled to NC to visit with my grandparents and cousins. It was nice to celebrate with them and get a chance to hang out, without having to worry about what I was missing at school or something like that.

Diabetes wise, everything has been pretty great. Nothing to exciting to report. Did any of you all receive the new Cozmo update about their changes to their pump? Check out their website www.cozmore.com and see the new features their adding. Some of them look pretty interesting. The only thing that totally bums me out is that they are redoing their colors and getting rid of my Atomic Purple (which I got because it's my favorite and one of my school's colors...but I digress...). The new colors are pretty, but I'm surprised they didn't introduce a pink one or something to capture the hearts of all those little pump wearing girls out there (me included!).

Do you all make resolutions? I'm trying to make health resolutions this year. I'm going to work to keep my A1C under the fabulous 6.8 and try to lower my cholesterol and try and excerise more. I haven't really taken advantage of the gym on campus- so since it's my last semester, I might as well. :o) Let me know what you all are resolving to do!

Here's to blogging more, stressing less, and living life to it's fullest in 2007!