Catching Up

It's been a long time and I'm happy to report that I have not fallen off the face of the Earth (literally, yet)... Here is a bit of everything (diabetes and non):

1) Last week I was in Boston, MA for a family wedding and had the opportunity to meet two IRL type 1s (my 4th and 5th total T1Ds IRL). One of the two was Dr. Shara of http://diabeticdoc.blogspot.com/ who is as lovely in person as her writings convey. This was no coincident and was planned well in advance and I am really glad to have been able to go. There is something about seeing/hearing for yourself (outside of formal support groups or doctor's offices/hospitals or internet pages) the real people who live with such a unique and giant aspect of what you have to live with - type 1 diabetes. And that they are successful and funny and happy and not phased by it at all. Because this disease is difficult and it's easy to let it completely drown you, but knowing that meeting others who have been doing it for decades and are well-spirited, ambitious, and continue to work at it everyday after a long time is really inspiring.

2) My husband and I drove for 15 hours in 1 day (twice last week, with stops) with 3 dogs in the back of my hatchback. That was crazy but we made it. Blood sugar cooperated better than last year's trip. It wasn't even close to what I wanted and the trip made my BG average shoot way above what it has been the last few months, but I still had a great trip. It is a lot easier to use Novolog to correct quickly and effectively than Humulin R, I have to say that...

3) FAT! Can we talk about fat? Seriously. I knew that eating hi-fat meals would raise BG hours later due to gluconeogenesis by liver but I never realized how bad it could be. Something about the travel and family-time foods, followed by the cold front coming in after getting back to Ohio has prompted me to eat large like enormous amounts of cheese, hungarian salamis, and what I can only describe as Russian-style cured lard (with bread), caviar, and pretty much any other 80%+ fatty delicious things that go hand in hand with cold weather and red wine... (At one point I hit 429, slept through a lot of it, woke up still in the 300s after like enormous amounts of insulin... It was BAD. and silly. and unavoidable somehow.) PS. I'm totally OK though :)

4) On the work/school front - I submitted a breast cancer postdoc grant to the ACS last week and the next deadline is for an NIH grant on Dec. 8th. I should also start writing my dissertation (any time would be good). I'm trying desperately to get a semester off from teaching freshman bio labs in the spring so I can actually work - they like to keep us grad students busy... Finally, this upcoming Saturday, I will MC a student-run cell biology conference in West Virginia and I am super nervous but excited for all the planning to end... Event planning is stressful and I'm never doing it again! I think I may break out that last expired Dexcom sensor later today or tomorrow and hope it serves me well through the stresses...

On that note, I really hope that my next entry isn't a month and a half away... I miss this place <3