As a diabetic, drinking orange juice, to me at least, normally means my blood sugar is low.   Tonight, after eating my bowl of chicken soup, orange juice sounded really good. (Yay Vitamin C!)  I poured a glass, and thought I had taken enough insulin. My pump takes forever to bolus by the way. Ugh. Now I know I should have definitely bolused more…much more.

Thank you orange juice for bringing my blood sugar up even when I didn’t want you to.  :[

Happy New Year!
We wish you all the best for 2009!

Well, it’s almost the end of 2008. What a year! :] I’ve never done a blog meme at the end of the year and found this one where over the year’s entries, you pull out a sentence from each month.  Here goes! :]

January: Mudd Girls Move the World!

February:  My cute little meter read, “27?  Still standing, totally aware and quite conscious, I said to my sister, Jackie, “Uhhh, Jack? I am 27!” 

March: Wow, this picture to your left is part of Mudd’s National Advertising Campaign!!

April:  Singing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was amazing, it’s something we’ll definitely always remember.

May: Really, I am glad you ask if I’m okay, or want to know what my blood sugar is, it helps me feel like people are watching out for me, and I am not the only one.

June:  This is pretty exciting, knowing that there is no tubing, no door handles or something for the tubing to get caught on, a pump no longer clipped to my pocket bulging out from under my shirt - just a little “pod” anywhere I feel like putting it. 

July:  Happy Fourth of July! 

August:  Jackie and I are so excited to announce that we have been named as two of the spokespeople for Heart of Gold!

September:  Speaking of Jackie, I want you and the world to know that without you always by my side, being my guardian angel, and protecting me along the way, I can’t imagine how empty and frightening my life would be without you.

October:  As of right now, I feel so plugged in, attached, and connected to medical devices.

Thursday night was the first day of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo!!! I am a huge fan and love every minute of the 10 day event here in Las Vegas. Plus, we’re singing the National Anthem on the last night! Very exciting!

Any way, last night, I was so caught up with the Rodeo and meeting some pretty amazing people that I never  ate a thing since earlier that day at lunch..and tested my blood sugar twice while we were there. My numbers were low when we got to Rodeo and I drank some juice, and then that little bottle of orange juice must have tasted real good because before I knew it, I drank the whole 10 ounces. My numbers were a little higher than I hoped by the end of the Rodeo but I was so hungry!  

We got home and it was pretty late.  We heated up frozen pizza. (It was wonderful) I bolused with a correction as if it were dinner time and I can test the whole night through and then test again before I go to sleep like I always do.  During the night, the alarm I had set to test never went off or I never heard it apparently, and when I woke up this morning, it took everything I had to reach over to my night stand to test -  I felt so low! I hate that feeling.

The number was 124 which is a great number to wake up at for me, but the whole “feeling low when waking up”  isn’t so cool. :\

The Diabetic Angels, which began 10 years ago, are thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate our 10th anniversary by being featured on the back of Nacho Cheese Dortios thanks to Do Something and their Frito Lay Doritos campaign!!

We are extremely excited for the opportunity to reach and inspire young people across America. The Doritos campaign originated from a partnership with DoSomething.org, which celebrates through their annual Do Something Awards, “young do-gooders,” who are changing the world. We are proud to be associated with Do Something and grateful that the Doritos campaign aids us in furthering our cause to raise diabetes awareness.

We believe anyone can be a DA. Ultimately, we hope that with the help of DO SOMETHING, Frito Lay and their Doritos promotion of the DA’s, we will be able to expand our campaign globally to improve the lives of diabetics around the world.

According to a previous press release from Frito-Lay, The Doritos brand and Frito Lay recognizes inspirational individuals by sharing their stories with millions on bags of Doritos tortilla chips. The new Doritos packaging will feature a photograph and profile of the DOSOMETHING Award Winner and all 19 finalists’ projects.

“We know young people today want to make a difference in the world, and they have a voice to be heard,” said Ann Mukherjee, vice president, marketing, Frito-Lay. “Doritos recognizes that this voice is only as loud as the stage they are given and that’s why Doritos is providing these inspirational young people with a creative outlet to share their stories.”

“It doesn’t matter how rich or famous you are, the only way to get your mug on a bag of Doritos tortilla chips is do something amazing. These kids rock! They are like do-good Olympians,” said Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org.

Celebrating these award winners on bags of Doritos tortilla chips is part of the brand’s commitment to recognizing the power and passion of young people today.

The Doritos brand is a trademark of Frito-Lay North America, the $10 billion convenient foods division of PepsiCo, which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. In addition to Frito-Lay, PepsiCo divisions include Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Foods, Gatorade, and Tropicana.

Thanks to Dr. Dewan for this extremely helpful list of Halloween Candy, it’s our hope that this will be beneficial to all diabetic Trick-or-Treaters and their families in the management of their Diabetes as they have the occasional diabetic treat.

Personally, my favorites are M&M’s and Snickers, which I don’t have that often, but it’s great to know the carb breakdown for each of these special treats!

For those of you who find this information helpful and want to express your gratitude to Dr. Dewan, you can email him by clicking here! 

                  

Halloween Candy 
Carb List!!

Sorry it’s been so long everyone, but this is the first time I have had a chance to sit down and blog!!  Even writing this, I almost typed “site” instead of “sit!” Any way, I have everything diabetes on my brain right now, so here goes!  

Before leaving the house this morning, I received a phone call and I was approved for the Omnipod! My insurance is covering it and I am so happy! I don’t know what it is, but when I am wearing the Omnipod, I have better control, and I’m just so excited for the Omnipod boxes to be coming in the mail now!!! :] Yay!! :]

So much has been happening in my life, that it’s making it difficult for me to find time to blog! But, never fear, in one way or another, I’ll be here! :]  For the record, my endocrinologist even says that I’m busy.  Which reminds me, I had an endocrinologist appointment today. Let’s just say I have a goal of bringing my a1c down, exercising more, changing my poker lancets more often, carb-counting, keeping a diabetic logbook and actually tracking my blood sugars, boluses, and food, plus I’m going to be tweaking my basal rates again. Translated, this means, I’m in good shape, but not in great shape, and I want to do whatever I must do for better control. 

Since my insulin pump ’s reservoir was low when I woke up this morning, I stuck an Omnipod on my stomach before leaving, bolused for breakfast, and went on with my day, and as usual, I had late morning highs, (one of those problems I’m addressing) 

Tonight, I put in a Minimed Continuous Glucose Sensor and am now wearing an empty Minimed pump.  Yes, it’s beaming wirelessly to my CGM that is stuck on my stomach! (This feels so weird) I’ve got a half hour left on the “2 hour start” for the sensors, in 3 days I can upload the information to my doctor and together, we will tweak my basal rates and adjust any necessary insulin to carb ratios, which for those of you, like me, didn’t know, in the Omnipod, are called the “IC Ratios.” :] See? We can learn something new everyday

As of right now, I feel so plugged in, attached, and connected to medical devices.
“Don’t forget the PDM” i thought to myself leaving my room this morning.

My mom sat in the kitchen saying, “I can’t wait for the implantable pumps and sensors, so you don’t have to constantly inserting, detaching, inserting, detaching….” And I agree, that will be wonderful. 

Obviously, I know that having these devices are in my best interest, and I do appreciate the doctors and researchers who made these devices possible, and it really does help me and my diabetes in so many ways.   But i can’t get away from feeling like the bionic diabetic.

Sometimes I wonder how it was that Barack Obama was so easily able to raise more than 456 million dollars in one year. I can’t help but think if its so easy for Senator Obama to raise this much money in one year, why can’t the celebrities and politicians who are helping to elect Senator Obama to the most powerful office in the world, and the Senator give a little more of their time and money back to the people, who support to see ther movies, go to their concerts, and send their last $5 into a campaign? Why we can’t raise those same amounts to cure diseases, like diabetes? Do you think 456 million dollars could cure diabetes? Or maybe Cancer? Or Heart Disease? Do you think that since so many celebrities are helping Senator Obama raise so much money to get elected, that Senator Obama might be willing to attend fundraisers on behalf of diabetics, or other diseases, especially since earlier this evening, in the last Presidential Debate, Senator Obama said he wanted to increase funding for preventable diseases, like diabetes…someone should tell him that Type 1 Diabetes is not curable, and Type 2 Diabetes is manageable, but also hereditary.
Interesting thought. Maybe someone will ask Senator Obama if after the election, he can spare a little time to raise those same amounts of money to cure diseases? 

By the way, I’m not angry, I’m sad. I’m amazed that so many people can give so much to elect a man to office when that man could have accepted Federal Funding (public funding/matching funds) leaving hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been donated to charities…the people he says he wants to help. This is meant to be bipartisan, I think both parties can do more, but in this case, Senator McCain accepted federal funds, and Senator Obama changed his mind so that he could out-spend Sen. McCain at least 3 to 1. To me, that’s overkill, but I am not his campaign manager.  Oh well, food for thought.

NEWS FLASH!

Between September 15th and October 15th, we are working to Raise Funds to help Cure Diabetes and you can help!!!!

The four of us and our family have formed a “Virtual Walk Team” for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. If you would like to make a difference in the life of millions of diabetics around the world, please join us and support of “Mollie and Jackie’s Diabetic Angels” as we Walk to Cure Diabetes this fall!!!!! If you would like to join “Mollie and Jackie’s Diabetic Angels” virtual Walk Team, we sure would LOVE your help!

IT’S EASY! Click on the banner (picture) to your left to make a donation and watch the thermometer climb! Together with all of our friends around the world, we can make a difference! We can CURE DIABETES! Please click here to help!

All monies raised by Mollie and Jackie’s Diabetic Angels Walk Team, are tax deductible, and go directly to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International to help diabetics all around the world!

Thank you!

Always Praying for a Cure,
Mollie, Jackie, and our entire family

Over the weekend this one particular Sir Pod had been through it’s 72 hours of life. 
It had been beeping all day letting me know…

“Ahem! It’s almost time to change me! I’m running out of my insulin!”

I took the hint, deactivated the pod, and was politely asked if I would like to activate a new one. Thank you very much, I would love to! I put the insulin in the new Sir Pod, waited for it for “Prime,” and got everything ready before I stuck it on me, and then I thought of good places to put it. Especially since we were going out that night, I was wearing a dress. This might not be so unusual, but for me wearing dresses with insulin pumps now, is so cool! :] I don’t have to worry about anything anymore. 

Big News here: I can wear it on my stomach now! 

Sir Pod was put on my stomach, which for the second time in all of my insulin pump wearing years - it’s conformable there!!! This is also another “sooo cool” moment!!  As of right now, it’s still comfortable, sticking on my stomach with no problem, and I can’t even feel the insulin delivering. 

I love my Omnipod. :]
(and I love how the screen light always comes on, no matter what! Testing my blood sugar in the dark is amazing now.)  

Always Praying for Cure,
Mollie

P.S. Oooh!!! My 15th Diabetic Anniversary is on Monday!! 

How should I celebrate? :]

Hey everyone! So “curemoll and Jackie too” had a makeover yesterday!!!  
There were major changes. 
(The banners change each time you click ‘refresh!’ How cool is that?)

:] 

I think it’s simple and easier to read, and it’s easier for the two of us to make changes on the site quickly…and we barely had to look at the “code” for this theme! That’s always nice, since code is definitely not one of our fortes. haha  

Have a great night!      We’d love to hear your thoughts on the re-design!!!! 

Yesterday, Jackie and I went to the UNLV Orientation and helped sing the UNLV FIght Song to 3,000 Freshmen! It was so much fun and we met some really cool people!   We got up pretty early to get ready and have breakfast and be there in time. However, it was pretty interesting when I tested my blood sugar after breakfast…

You see, I almost never eat Wheat Chex! [This is a rare occurrence.] It’s always been a cereal that I have trouble bolusing for. I know there are 38 carbs in 3/4 of a cup, I can bolus for that. I even had 1/2 cup of blueberries and milk in my cereal. Milk in cereal is a given, but the blueberries were so good! Any way, other than my love for fruit, I carb-counted my breakfast and added an extra 2 units.

Every time I eat Wheat Chex, I don’t know why, but my blood sugars are higher. At least almost every time…because when I tested my blood sugar 2 hours and 10 minutes later, I was 91!! There was a smile on my face but I was so surprised; I actually bolused correctly for this amazingly good breakfast!! :] Since we were no where near singing the UNLV fight song with everyone yet, I turned my basal down in my pump, and drank a couple ounces of juice because I didn’t want my blood sugar to be low while we were showing the freshmen our school spirit!  But, my number was 169 afterward and then 94 before lunch! :-) 

Hey Everyone! 

We are on page 10, 95 and the back inside cover of Justine Magazine’s August/September 2008 issue!!!

It’s a light blue cover with a very pretty girl with blonde hair wearing blue and it’s all about Back-To-School!   Then there is a section called Just’ Give that we are in. You get a copy of Justine Magazine at your local book stores and some grocery and drug stores! 

This is very exciting and we hope the article inspires others to support a cause or project in which they believe!!! Let us know what you think? by posting a comment here!   Hope “ya’ll”  been having a great summer! :-) 

Always Praying for a Cure,
Mollie and Jackie

That is the question!

I have been on shots, pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and even most recently…the Omnipod. Not to mention countless brands of blood glucose meters. (My favorite is the Freestyle Flash, because of the flash light on the strip - best feature ever!)  

I will admit, after all these years, I still have my “ancient relic” of a tester around from when I was 4 years old and first diagnosed. The One Touch with the huge flat Duracell batteries; phone batteries remind me of them, actually. Remember the “45 second count down” testers?  That’s the one I’m talking about! haha.

Of course, I want a cure for this disease so that none of us would have to use any of these needles, pokers, inserters, strips, monitors, and tapes and alcohol pads. I’d love to not have to carry so many supplies, to even go the grocery store. You never know though, its a good thing big purses are in style.   But I have to say, I am so grateful to have the chance to use the wonderful technology we have today. And am so glad we have what we have to control our diabetes. 
I was inspired to write about the supplies I have used because after receiving an email from a very close friend, who introduced me to a newly diagnosed diabetic, named Anna, let me just say, like Anna, I would have loved to have had someone to talk to. So it’s my pleasure to help her now and I will be answering her questions, but its my hope that many of you will want to do the same.

Here’s some of Anna’s questions in her own words…Please leave comments!  

“Mollie! It is so great to hear from you! I just found out that I was a type 1 diabetic last thursday so I’ve been through quite a week. I was reading your blog and you diabetic angels website and it really made me feel better. it is so great to hear from someone my own age about this! so do you like the pump? i have to do injections for a month before my doctor will let me go on the pump. do you like the one you have? is it comfortable? sorry…..i guess i’m being a bit overbearing with the questions! i am so glad i’ve met you!”

“so i have a very tough choice between continuous glucose monitoring or omnipod with no wires what are the pros/cons of each? have you tried the other one? i am kind of leaning toward the omnipod because i think the belt clip thing would be a pain. sorry I am bombarding you with all these questions.”

 

First, everybody has been where you are.  All of us at one time or another were also newly diagnosed. We know what you’re going through and we’re happy to help. Ask all the questions, we’re here! :] 

1. Do you like the pump?
I love the insulin pump. It gave me back so much more freedom. Compared to shots, being on a pump is wonderful!  I’ve been using the pump for more than 8 1/2 years now. I was on the Medtronic 507c, 508, and 722, and tried the Deltec Cozmo for a few years too. I loved the “Bolus Wizard” in the Medtronic pumps though, when I was first learning about it, that was a major feature I loved because I could put my blood sguar number in and with the settings I had, it would calculate how much insulin to correct, and also factor how many units I needed based on my insulin-carbs ratio. 

2. Do you like the one you have?  
I LOVE the Omnipod, it’s given me much better control, and its pretty exciting to see the graphs and the records in it. It’s user friendly.  :) 

3. Is it comfortable?
Yes! I barely feel it, and I almost never feel the insulin going in with the Omnipod. Unlike pumps with tubing, where I could snag the tubing and pull out the insertion site, the adhesive in the pods are so strong! I can put the pods anywhere and barely feel it.

4. Continuous Glucose Monitoring? Omnipod?
For me, the CGM isn’t practical. I know it works for a lot of people, but for me, it didn’t work as well and I found it to be slightly cumbersome. However, you should know that I’m looking forward to Medtronic’s future devices. They are a wonderful company and I know they are doing many things that will help make our lives better.

5. Pros and Cons of the Omnipod and Minimed?
Once I place the pod on my body, its like I can’t even feel anything is there. I can get it wet, exercise without having anything clipped onto me at all times, and I can pretty much place it anywhere. I like wearing it on my upper arms, stomach, and left or right above my waist,  The Omnipod lasts for three days, the wireless handheld PDM or the “Personal Diabetes Manager” is the controller as well as the glucose tester, plus a carb counter too - so I don’t have to carry that, plus my tester, it’s all in one!  There’s no tubing, it makes cool beeping sounds like its talking to me. When the Omnipod’s reservoir (where all the insulin is kept in the pod) is out, it beeps like a *change me!* *change me!* beeping high pitch noise. I just place the pod on me like a band-aid. No inserter. (yay!)  Don’t get me wrong, The Minimed makes a great product, its comes in different colors, like blue, green, clear (I have that one!), black, and purple.
At that time, Minimed was the best option for me. We liked it because of the bolus wizard, and calculators it has built in, plus it was smaller than most other pumps. It’s just that, for me, at this very busy active time in my life, a wireless pump is more conducive to my needs. In all fairness, those people who prefer the smaller insertion set and a lighter product prefer the Medtronic or other pumps with tubing. It’s just that I don’t mind the weight of the Omnipod, even thought it’s a little more cumbersome. In the end, had the Omnipod been available to me almost 9 years ago, it would have made some aspects of my life much easier. 

6. Have you tried the other one?
Yes, see question 1.

7. The belt clip?
The other pumps belt clips were always an interesting story. They unclip all the time, and when that happens, I always felt it. The tubing pulls on my skin and it can be painful. With the Omnipod, I haven’t had this problem…there’s no tubing. It’s just too cool. 

Well, for now, these are my thoughts on your questions. Like you, I look forward to reading what other diabetics have to say.
Bring on the Comments! 

A shout out to two of our oldest family friends, Samantha and Sara!!!!

And kudos to Samantha, who just won the World Championship at the Ford AQHYA World Championship Show!   Click here to go to the following link to read the article and view the interview and her fabulous horsemanship! 

Sammy, You Rock!  We love you and Congratulations!!!

P.S. We love you Toni Lynn & Jim, and Aunt Linda & Uncle Richie!

    NEWS FLASH!!

Jackie and I are so excited to announce that we have been named as two of the spokespeople for Heart of Gold!

For those of you who are not familiar with Heart of Gold, we would like for you to read about Heart of Gold in their own words, as to who they are and about their goal to help young women!

“Heart of Gold is the first web community dedicated to helping young women embrace and celebrate the unique gifts they bring to the world. No ordinary “teen girls” site, heartofgoldgirls.com is more like a virtual roadmap for living, with engaging, dynamic content devoted to showing girls how to discover their individual passions while developing their interests, opinions, and personal style.

Sprinkled generously with timeless pearls of wisdom and stocked with useful, beautiful, and unusual products, Heart of Gold will also show girls how to have fun while “doing good” because 10% of Heart of Gold’s net profits will be donated to charity.  

“Tuning into that “still, small voice within” 
Heart of Gold is founded on the belief that finding your unique voice — the inner, authentic voice with which each and every one of us is born — is the key to realizing your dreams. To that end, heartofgoldgirls.com offers young women a “toolbox of how-tos” for living an authentic, empowered life of purpose, responsibility and service to others. 

It’s no wonder then that Heart of Gold’s signature product is the Follow your Heart to the Life of your Dreams™ necklace — a heart-shaped compass intended to help its wearer remain focused on goals and dreams no matter what roadblocks may show up along the way.” 

Honesty in all you say
Excellence in all you do
Acceptance of what life brings you because attitude is everything!
Respect for yourself and others
Tenacity to stick to your goals

Ownership of your life, your actions & your destiny
Faith in yourself & your talents

Gratitude for what you have now
Optimism about what’s to come
Love for yourself and others
Dedication to stay the course until you are living the life of your dreams!

After reading what we’ve posted above, we’re sure everyone can understand why we are truly excited to be a part of such a wonderful organization, especially since Heart of Gold’s message is so inspirational!! Also, like most of you, we love the, “Follow your Heart to the Life of your Dreams” necklace. We wear this inspiring jewelry daily as a contact reminder that when you follow your heart and believe in yourself, dreams really do come true! 

Learn more at heartofgoldgirls.com
Follow our blog at Heart Beats
Source: media and press information

Jackie and I are announcing that the Diabetic Angels, an outreach/fundraising group are going global!

We want to tell everyone that after the formation of the Diabetic Angels 10 years ago, we are today, proudly introducing the Diabetic Angels website, Official Facebook group, and Official Myspace…we are now online! You can read more about the Diabetic Angels on our website, but this is an exciting time for us and for all of the DA’s around the world, who were with us in the beginning! For those of you who are not familiar with the Diabetic Angels, when we began we could only fax and email each other; we didn’t have a way to support one another online. But, with the creation of the website, facebook, and myspace friends, we are well on our way to being able to reach out and help diabetics around the world!  

Please visit   and we ask those of you who can, to add our banner or link to your website/blog, so we can continue to touch the lives of diabetics everywhere. 

To see the banners and links for your page, click here!
If you need other size banners, please leave a comment, to which we will respond.  

Jackie, Diane, and Mollie

Well…the Diabetic Angels are growing! 

That’s a good thing!

And as they grow, we are certainly going to need help, and while we were in New York, we were lucky enough to have been introduced to a lovely young lady, named Diane. Like me, Diane is a Juvenile Diabetic who is also concerned about helping other families with Diabetes.

In the future, it is our hope that Diane will join Jackie and I by becoming the newest member of the Diabetic Angels team! 
 

Stay tuned for more news! 
:] 

We finally wrote about the Caring Awards!

Better late than never. :]

Hope you Enjoy! 

CLICK HERE!

Hey everyone!  

As you may have noticed…Jackie and I had to change the “home” (Jackie likes “dwelling place”) of our blog twice since March of this year…let’s just say this one is here to stay for a while! :] Over the past month, this blog has been under quite a bit of maintenance and re-posting of entries! They’re all back though! :]

How do you like the new redesign? I think it’s pretty exciting…but I ‘d love to hear your feedback! Any problems reading it, commenting it, or navigating through it? If so, please let me know and I would gladly make these changes to make this blog the best it can be!

And, don’t worry, Jackie and I will start posting more and more entries as soon as have a couple of minutes to catch up on everything that has been going on since..well, summer started! When we blog about the Caring Awards, our trip to New York in March, ( i know, that was a long time ago! ) and our most recent trip to New York and Toronto Canada, we will let you know when those are posted! Keep checking back :]  Anyway, I hope you’re having a wonderful Monday night! :] Feel Freeee to comment. :)