$100 Question

Back in April I asked What is a Cure? Today I'm going to ask you how you would spend money on finding a cure.

Let's pretend for a minute here that $100 will go a very long way. It is enough money to find a cure for diabetes. The question is how you split up the $100. You can spend it all on one area of research or choose to split it up in different areas of research. It is all up to you. There are no right answers.

How would I "spend" the $100? This is a hard question and my answer will probably change from time to time but I'm going to do my best to answer it now.

• $25 for research projects like  JDRF's Artificial Pancreas Project. 
• $30 on complications research. What good is a cure if I already have kidney damage, eye damage, ect?
• $30 on immunology research
• $15 on prevention research

How would you spend $100 to cure diabetes?

Friday Five

It's Friday! Woohoo it is finally Friday! Since I've spent the last month sick I've spent way too much time watching television. Way. Too. Much. TV.  So what have I been watching?


1. True Blood.  I'm so thrilled that this show is back for the 3rd season. Even Snoop Dogg has True Blood fever. Check out his terrible-yet-good new video:



2. Food Network. I'm slightly obsessed with Food Network. Although while I was sick I was hardly hungry I couldn't stop watching this channel. Steve can't complain now because this week I've been cooking up a storm thanks to ideas I got from watching the different shows on the Food Network.

3. So You Think You Can Dance. I love to dance but I sure don't have the talent that the contestants on this show have. I love all the choreography.  This show makes me want to get up start dancing! Now that Mary Murphey isn't a judge Steve might actually start watching this show with me again. He can't stand her laugh.

4.  Real Housewives of New York/New Jersey. Holy Catfights! Enough said.

5. Top Chef DC. I love Top Chef and I love this season even more because it was filled here in DC. I do have a bit of a confession to make. I didn't see the first episode that aired on Wednesday. My DVR didn't tape it! So I'll catch it next week. Even though I have yet to see an episode I just know I'll still love this show.

Since I write about diabetes in this blog I couldn't write about TV shows I've been watching and not mention the show I saw yesterday:

6. Angel.  Yesterday I caught an episode from Season 5 called Harm's Way in which all the vampires in the law firm have their blood tested to see if they have been feeding on humans. They zoomed in and they used a One Touch meter except instead of saying the blood glucose it said "negative" or "positive." Gave me a good chuckle.

What show's have you been watching? Have a good weekend!

And She Reappears

I know, I know. Somehow I managed to fall off the face of the blogworld. May was a brutal month for me. Just read about it here. I've spent the first half of June pretty much just trying to recover and regain my footing.

What have I been doing? Aside from the continuing job search I've had my nose buried in a book.

I am about 100 pages away from finishing the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, which means I need to head back out to the bookstore and pick up the third and final book in the trilogy.

A few months ago my mom was telling me and Steve about this great book she was reading and how we should read it. I finally picked up the first book and I just can't get enough.

What book are you reading now? Have you read this trilogy yet? What do you think about it?

Rethinking Food

Okay, so my last post was a bit of a downer. Sorry about that people. Illness + Diabetes don't play well.

The good news is that I'm starting to feel like my self again. Yay! Oddly, the past 36 hours I've had to lower my basal rate by 30% and yet the highest I've been is around 125 mg/dL and no lower than 80 mg/dL. Pretty awesome! A big part of that could be diet. You see, since I'm dealing with the oh so gross thrush (symptoms are 95% gone!) I've stopped eating anything with sugar: bread, rice, fruits, ect. Basically any carb except for veggies have been banish from my diet at least for another day or two. Staying away from anything that turns into sugar and keeping tight control on my blood sugar is going to help stop thrush. What a yucky and gross side of diabetes, huh?

Anyway, this decrease in basal rate has me thinking. If the reason my insulin needs have come down is a result of diet then maybe I should reconsider my diet. I am so close to my goal a1c and at this point it is little things that are going to make a difference. I'm already doing all the big things.

As I talked about during Diabetes Blog Week, I believe in moderation when it comes to diet. Maybe there is something to a low-carb diet. I love me some carbs, but maybe I should make carb-centric meals on occasion. Not only would this be good for my diabetes but also for my weight loss journey. There are a ton of different schools of thoughts on carbs and diabetes and I want YOUR thoughts. I don't think I can keep up this absolutely no carb diet I'm currently doing but I don't want to go carb crazy once I'm able to eat them.

How do you mange the amount of carbs you eat each day? Do you have a maximum amount of carbs per meal/snack?

Good Bye May

Under normal circumstances I love May. Growing up in southern California May always had great weather, right before June Gloom. May always meant summer was that much closer and school was ending. Of course how could I not love May when it is my birthday month?! Since moving to the East Coast (even when I was in the midwest for college) May brought beautiful weather before the humidity set in. May and October are my favorite months of the year.

Not this year. May has been difficult. At the beginning of the month I came down with what I thought was a cold. Turns out I had a sinus infection and bronchitis. Off I went to  see Dr. F, my primary care doc and she gave me a 10 day course of antibiotics and the ok to fly 10 days later to Boston for my brother's graduation.

When I got to Boston I was feeling 99% better except for the lingering cough. That weekend with my brother, parents, and Steve was a blast. After a visit to the Joslin my parents came down to DC and and were here for the rest of the week to celebrate my birthday. We had a great time and I was feeling alright, still had a lingering cough.

After I dropped my Dad off at the airport that Thursday (1 1/2 weeks ago) I quickly went down hill. My mom was still in town for meetings so I laid low in her hotel room. What was to be a girls weekend turned into me feeling crappy.

This past Wednesday I gave in and went to see Dr. F again. Immediately she sent me to have and xray done of my chest in case this had turned into pneumonia. Thankfully that was not the case. I still had bronchitis and sinusitis but this time added on strep throat and an ear infection. Dr. F thinks that the first course of antibiotics killed off enough of the bacteria so that I didn't have any symptoms but it didn't call off all the bacteria. She blamed the big D. DIABETES. Ugh. Diabetes makes fighting infections harder.

Back on the same antibiotics (not sure how I feel about this but anyway) but instead of 10 days I have to take it now for 14 days. That means 24 days on antibiotics with 10 days off in between. All this antibiotics led to me getting thrush. If you don't know what it is google it. Eww. Luckily I caught it before it took over my entire mouth and went to Urgent Care yesterday to get some anti-fungal medications. Last night I could hardly swallow even just my saliva and I got low twice. I said F* that and lowered my basal rate 30% overnight and stayed between 110 and 120 mg/dL.

This morning I'm better but not there yet. Through all of this dealing with diabetes has been challenging. Paying extra close attention and being extra vigilant has helped but diabetes and illness are not friends and don't get along well. The 30 day average on my meter is higher then I would like but I'm cutting myself some slack. In the past I would get upset with myself and throw my arms up in defeat. Not now. Now I am just trying to keep my mood up because this whole ordeal has been taxing.

That is why I am looking forward to June. A fresh start. Yes, I'm still sick but getting a little better every day. I'm looking forward to a healthy June. I'm looking forward to spending less time indoors (as much as I love my condo I'm getting sick of being inside!) Most of all I'm looking forward to spending time with Steve when I'm not coughing all over him.

What is your favorite month? What are you looking forward to in June?