A little about me :)

Well - you already know I have Type 1 Diabetes (since 2006).

As my profile describes it, I am currently a Ph.D. student studying Cell Biology in Ohio. I am doing research in ovarian cancer for my project. Specifically, I study an immune system protein that promotes inflammation and may lead to angiogenesis (formation of blood vessels in the tumor). I can't wait to get started with Type 1 Diabetes research for my post-doc in a couple of years (provided they grant me my degree and all).

Here is some of the rest of me.

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I was born in Russia. I grew up in Boston. I have lived in Spain. I do in fact consider myself to be a "citizen of the world".

On April 16th of 2013, I will be 25 years old. On April 18th of 2013, it will have been 5 years since I checked myself into MGH and had my first insulin shot.

I have smoked a lot of pot (still smoke, but much less than during undergrad).

I consider myself to be (somewhat of) a rebel.

When I was 22, I quit smoking (cigarettes) cold turkey (successfully).

I believe in love & freedom more than anything.

I (kind of/sometimes) hate talking about politics, but consider myself a Libertarian.

I have 2 wonderful puppies, who make my days better no matter what else happened. Also make me more busy, and provide more stuff to clean :)

I hope to have children  (my first child) in about 2.5 - 3 years. (yes, I know it's hard to plan, but I'm trying). Because I don't have time for and I can't afford any now, and also because my A1C isn't "where it should be" for getting pregnant.

I was in denial about my diabetes for 1.5 years after diagnosis and didn't treat. My first shot of insulin occurred when the DKA was very severe and my A1C was "over 18". I am lucky to be alive and healthy. And to have the supplies necessary to deal with T1D and lead a "normal?" life.

Today, I was in a meeting and a colleague was almost in tears and said she couldn't talk about it, because she would start crying. I didn't know what else to do (to make her feel better), but blurt out: "Hey, wanna know something personal and awful about my life? [she seemed eager to hear it]. I have Type 1 Diabetes, and sometimes I have to inject myself {with insulin} 7 or 8 times a day..." This spurted conversation about someone's niece who has type 1 and about insulin pumps (and distracted the almost crying lady completely, catching her off guard: go figure). Overall, it made me happy because (even a year ago) in the past, I was embarrassed about my diabetes and now I feel like I am starting to own it, starting to own myself.... [Mostly thanks to seeing T1s on TV (Nat Strand winning on the Amazing race), discovering sixuntilme.com (Kerri Morrone Sparling), and of course the #doc...

"life is like a sine graph" (something my mom always said). I believe it, live it, happy to be "down", because I know "up" is coming.

I have been considering getting a tattoo of a little black dragon on my right shoulder (never wanted a tattoo, then had a dream about a tattoo of a dragon on my right shoulder, after which the idea never left my head) - and soon after this blog was born... Maybe one day, after I get it all figured out, I might add a red leash around his neck ;)