My New Endo Experience

So this week I had my 6 month check up at my endocrinologist.  I wasn't clicking with my old endo so after I met Dr. V at a JDRF function I knew I had to switch.  He was nice enough to give an appointment pretty quickly and from our conversations he seemed like a nice, knowledgable doctor.  I decided to try him out and if he didn't work for me then I would keep searching for physician perfection.


But I was still nervous.


After shadowing so many doctors it felt weird to be a patient again but I knew my diabetes needed a tune up.  I parked my jeep in the massive parking deck and wandered around until I found an elevated walkway leading to the Kirklin Clinic.  I was lead into what looked like an airport.  I walked by a patient library, a huge pharmacy even a Starbucks.  Each level housed different specialties.  I must have looked lost and scared because another patient took me under her wing and showed me the way around.  


You have to remember that I'm from Canada and when you say the word "Clinic" I think of a small, quaint office with 10 chairs, not a high class hospital with a Starbucks!  Anyways, I was checked in by a super nice receptionist (not many are nice!) and after spending 20 minutes trying, and not succeeding to study, I was taken back by a very nice nurse.  I tried my best to not panic but I always do and my blood pressure shot through the roof.  I told the nurse that I check my blood pressure constantly at the pharmacy and even took photos to prove it.  She just laughed and said that I had "White Coat" syndrome.  Yes, yes I do!  Like a lightening fast ninja she took my blood sugar (104) and A1C.  With a cotton ball in hand I was ready to go.


So far so good I quickly got shuttled back to a nice little examination room.  The nurse told me to sit on the table and wait for Dr. V.  After seeing so many patients choose to sit in the chairs and not on the table I decided that I too, was going to sit in the chairs.  I was nervous already, I didn't want to be stuck up on a pedestal too.  I sat down, pulled out 3 months of records that I had printed off the night before and bounced my leg to pass the time.  


Dr. V came in quickly and immediately I calmed right down.  I shared my story of diabetes up until now and he listened carefully and let me talk.  I just LOVE it when doctors let you talk!  He agreed that the Omnipod wasn't a good fit for me (something my other doctor and I fought about) and even told me that other elite athletes had the same issues as I did.  Hah!  I'm not crazy!  My A1C was ridiculously low.  So low in fact that I seriously suspect that the little A1C machine was inaccurate.  It was 4.2.  How am I still alive you ask?  I have no idea.  Dr. V looked at the huge amount of data I printed out and told me that he was fine with a 4.2 because I don't actually go low all that often, but told me a number like this probably won't ever happen again.  I'm ok with that.  Normally I sit at 5.4 or so.  


So we discussed tweaking my basal rates, poked my scarred up dancer feet, and checked my back fat for any pump bumps.  All good to go and super healthy.  He was worried about my thyroid since I hold onto a lot of water weight and have super irregular periods (too much info?  Whatever!)  Also he wanted to test me for celiac and a whole other host of hormone, autoimmune and whatever he could think of problems.  I'm going in on Friday to donate half my body in blood and hopefully everything is peachy keen and I'm good to go for another 6 months.    


So, I do believe I have reached physician perfection.  Luckily Dr. V is young so I'm guaranteed to have a great doctor for a while.  He listens, doesn't yack about other patients or the weather and wants to negotiate with me on treatment options.  He treats me like an equal.  Plus it's also cool to know that he's at the same JDRF research meetings as I am so we can discuss fun cutting edge stuff.  Like the Varapmill study that I posted about a few weeks ago.  


Well it's the 4th of July and I have sufficiently cooled down after my run.  It's time to hit the pool!

-Exit Stage Left

Rehearsal Photos

Rehearsal was great this week!  We spent hours and hours working on the introduction to our next big show.  It's a slow, mesmerizing piece that I'm really enjoying.  One of my fellow dancers, Shellie, took some photos of me in my favorite movement of the day!  

Also, tomorrow I have my checkup with my new endocrinologist.  He's a great guy and I've met him a few times with JDRF but I'm still nervous!  Gah!

-Exit Stage Left

It's my Birthday and I'll eat if I want to

On Monday I turned the big 25!  I can't believe another year has passed.  This was my second birthday with diabetes.  Last year I had some real challenges dealing with all the junk food and alcohol but this year I think I was able to enjoy myself and be safe too.  

The gang in all their glory

I drove down to Fairhope Alabama to meet up with my family and some close family friends from Oregon.  From there we all spent time at the beach, which was lovely.  

I decided that for a full 24 hours calories didn't matter but carbs still did.  I had Dreamcakes Bakery here in Birmingham make me a cake and they were kind enough to give me the exact recipe for the cake, frosting and filling.  With my trusty friend Calorie Count, I calculated how many carbs were in a standard, big ol' slice.  My cake had 99 grams of carbs!  At least I knew what I was up against!

I also calculated the carbs in my cinnamon rolls beforehand and put the info into my pump's meter so 

I got plush organs as my present!

with the press of a button I could bolus my way back to happy blood sugars.  

Happy 2nd Bday diabetes

Of course I drank too.  I very rarely drink these days but I had to go all out on my special day.  I bought margaritas in freezable bags so that way they had the nutritional values printed on the back.  It's so hard to know exactly what is in alcoholic drinks so anything with a label is good in my books.  

Eating the famous 99 carb count cake!

I drank three of them and lounged on the beach, hoping that Tropical Storm Debbie wouldn't be a downer.  (She wasn't :))  I leaned over to my dad and said, "gee I drank 3 margaritas and I don't feel anything"  Being the good father he was, he made me a long island iced tea.  That did it for sure and I didn't feel so hot after that.  

In the evening we got all dolled up and I drank a bunch of diet powerade to offset the dehydration I had experienced on the beach.  The gang headed out to The Hangout in Gulf Shores and were treated like kings and queens for the evening.  I ate fried pickles, shrimp and rounded it off with my 99 carb count cake.  They were even kind enough to turn on the bubble machine just for us.  I ran straight into the pile of bubbles and thanked the lord that my pump was waterproof.  

I may be 25 but I can still play in the bubbles!

Bolus after bolus, test after test I was able to keep my blood sugar under 200...barely.  I felt hungover and sick for two days afterward but you know what, it was worth it.  The moral of the story is that even if we have to deal with diabetes day in day out we can always have some fun and keep ourselves healthy.  I wouldn't recommend eating like that every day though!

A gorgeous view of the beach

Now it's back to my low carb meals!  This diabetic dancer needs to stay in shape for another 3 hour rehearsal tomorrow.  

This is a video of us playing in the bubbles!  I'm in pink!

-Exit Stage Left

JDRF keeps me hopeful

This week has been crazy!  I've been taking two summer classes, teaching anatomy, rehearsing and most importantly working with JDRF's Junior Board here in Birmingham.  


We had one meeting for just us junior board members which involved electing officials and I got a nomination to be the chair of community involvement!  I'm crossing my fingers and thinking of every possible connection I've built in Birmingham and how we can link it to JDRF.  I'll find out soon if I am elected and I'll let you know.  


While that was exciting the next night was a special annual meeting for the senior board.  Members of the junior board are welcome to come, so I packed the prettiest pants and shirt that would fit in my book bag and ran over after teaching my class.  Only a few junior board members were with me.  I was nervous to run with the big dogs with their gold name tags while I was stuck with my "hi, my name is" sticker.  Luckily my own endocrinologist was there too.

Dr. Anath Shalev

We discussed the success of the year as well as new research that's currently going on.  Anath Shalev, MD, a brilliant researcher from Switzerland came to talk to us about her findings.  She is investigating how a specific protein, turned off by the presence of a calcium channel blocker, can help preserve existing beta cells in people with diabetes.  


She showed us graph after graph, table after table and micro pictographs (photos taken with a microscope) of the beta cell masses of mice with diabetes.  She found that with the use of a calcium channel blocker, found in the common blood pressure medicine Varapmil, preserved and reversed the damage of the beta cells.  I was glad that my science courses gave me some literacy for all of her research.  

I sat there stunned.  There it was.  The proof that someone was working her tail off and getting incredible results.  Due to the fact that Varapmill is a generic drug that has side affects (like dropping your blood pressure!) big pharma has no interest in producing it.  Dr. Shalev is working tirelessly to isolate the compound responsible for preserving beta cells and hopefully, in time, there may be a cure in our lifetime.


Like any diabetic, I have heard every trick in the book; that cures are just "10 years away" or that research is bringing advances every day.  We get excited, we wait and then give up and get on with our lives.  Somehow meeting a researcher and seeing her work has demystified my dreams of a cure.  I think it's great for us to remain hopeful but also take good care of ourselves so when the cure comes we'll be healthy enough to receive it.  

-Exit Stage Left

Rehearsals begin for Sanspointe's 10th anniversary outdoor performance

This Saturday Sanspointe began more rehearsals for it's special 10th anniversary outdoor performance located at Railroad park.  One of the dancers asked our artistic director Rhea, for a really difficult dance and so Rhea delivered!  We began working in the studio with a fast paced dance including turns, flips and jumps.  We all started sweating in the heat of the studio but I was having a great time.  


My pump has an alarm on it to check 1 hour after I bolus.  I like to see how I peak after meals so I have some information for my endo.  So my alarm went off to me to check and surprise surprise, my blood sugar had sharply dropped to 58.  I felt so confused.  I felt fine.  I was picking up complicated choreography and my balance was great.  Rhea asked me if I needed water and I told her I needed a glucose gel.  I was in good spirits so she decided to pull out the line "Juice is better" from Steel Magnolias.  The whole company chuckled and I laughed myself.  We are in the south after all.  

An action shot of me flipping over my shoulder!

I downed my glucose gel (which is made by my friend Ethan.  Check out his website here!) and knew that it contained the right amount of glucose to keep me safe.  Since I was feeling fine I decided to keep going with rehearsal and within a few minutes everything was back to normal.  I quickly transitioned back from a diabetic having a low back to a dancer in rehearsal.  Another dancer in the company is also a nurse and asked me what my number was.  When I told her she made a face and went "oh dear". It's nice to know that when I'm low I have a nurse and an understanding, compassionate director.  


Later on, we went outside the studio to practice the new piece of work on the stage that we would be performing it on.  Railroad park is a large, gorgeous park located in downtown Birmingham.  Our stage is a massive raked stage on the grass.  The grass made the turns difficult but it made doing flips and jumps much more fun.  I tried out new and risky movements that I had never done before.  Nothing like a little fear to make you feel alive.  


More rehearsals and photos will be coming up!  If you are planning in being in the Birmingham area in October I would love to see you in the audience.  For performance information check out our Website!

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The Students with Diabetes Conference

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Students with Diabetes Conference.  It was a whirlwind of late night talks sharing our personal diabetes struggles, inspirational speakers and hilarious experiences.  Nicole Johnson, former Miss America (with type 1 diabetes!) was our fearless leader and took us down the road to validation, strength and connections.  

Since a picture is worth a thousand words and I need to stretch my sore dancer legs I leave you with a slideshow of our adventures!

Click the link to be taken to the video!

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Gold Plated Dance

Accidentally ripping the crotch of my suit!

For the past two weeks Sanspointe Dance has been touring all over Birmingham giving showings of "The Golden Record"  While we dance on stage often, we decided to dance in libraries to help bring dance to the people.  I had the pleasure of dancing with them.  It was my first modern dance performance and I loved it.  Here are some photos as well as a review from the Birmingham News.  I did my usual tummitote belt hide my pump thing and besides ripping the crotch out of my paper hazmat suit there weren't any mishaps!  Enjoy!

You can see my pump!

If extraterrestrial dancers could respond to music from a distant blue planet, it might look something like Sanspointe Dance Company’s interpretation of “The Golden Record.”

A far-fetched notion? Of course. But Rhea Speights and Lynn Andrews’ choreography, as danced Tuesday at Avondale Library, had enough earthbound whimsy, physicality and poignancy to ignite the imagination.

The gold-plated copper phonograph record known as "The Golden Record" was sent into space in 1977 aboard two Voyager spacecrafts. A broad range of images and messages, greetings in dozens of languages, sounds of nature and music from around the planet are included. Its instigator, Carl Sagan, likened it to launching a bottle into a cosmic ocean.

Heading off into space!

SANSPOINTE DANCE COMPANY:

THE GOLDEN RECORD


Birmingham Public Library

Avondale Branch
Tuesday

Four stars out of five

For the 30-minute dance, Sanspointe settled on an eclectic selection of J.S. Bach, Blind Willie Johnson, and music from Peru, Senegal and elsewhere. Four white-clad dancers sent out “signals,” their arms searching like antennas in symmetrical motion to an ambient sonic hum.

**For the full review click here

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