American Diabetes Association - Wisconsin

Call 1-800-DIABETES (800-342-2383) or email [email protected] for guidance and support. 💙

: This week, our experts went live to answer your questions on ways to lighten your mental load when managing a condition like diabetes. 🧠💡Watch the recording now at bit.ly/3SJP7Dx.
American Heart Association

Check out the latest episode of , Are You Ready For It? Preparing for College Life with Diabetes. Our special guests, who are also living with type 1 diabetes, explore the challenges and triumphs of beginning college with diabetes, covering topics from dorm living to the resources you can tap into. Dive into the discussion by listening at bit.ly/3SSwwoX. 🎧
The Diabetes Link

🤝 Join us in making a significant impact! Our Camp Carefree (New Hampshire) and Camp New England Winter Weekend (Vermont) are finalists for the Red Sox Foundation's 10th Annual IMPACT Awards, presented by the Manning Family Foundation. Help us win a grant to enhance our camp program by voting every day until August 22 at atmlb.com/3nyP0yA. 🏆

: Through the Collaboration for Equitable Health powered by Bank of America, the American Diabetes Association® has provided a grant to Camino Health Center in Charlotte, NC. This grant aims to enhance training for staff members to improve their understanding of diabetes, including type 2 diabetes in younger individuals. To learn more, visit bit.ly/3QLhhw6.
American Cancer Society
American Heart Association

Camino Health Center receives grant to help staff better understand diabetes More than two dozen staff members got training when it comes to type two diabetes in young people and navigating the mental and emotional journey.

Every dollar counts in our fight to end diabetes. Help us raise $84,000 as we mark 84 years of dedication. Donate today at bit.ly/3Jh2Cpn!

This , think about creating a will if you haven't done so yet! 💙 Learn more at bit.ly/4aIxxGf.

Tackling diabetes can be tough—let's talk about burnout. Join our Ask the Experts event on August 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET and learn coping strategies. Caregivers, join us too! This event will be available in English and Spanish. Register at bit.ly/3WeoV54.

: Early detection and treatment of diabetes can decrease the risk of developing complications related to diabetes? Learn more from the American Diabetes Association® and The Leapfrog Group by exploring our patient resources page at bit.ly/3A50pMk. 📚💡

🌟 Keep your diabetes management seamless at school! Get the American Diabetes Association®'s Safe at School® Wallet Card today and ensure your child's cellular device is recognized. Download now at bit.ly/3ocwaNU.

Carbohydrates have the biggest impact on your blood glucose (blood sugar). The Nutrition Facts label shows how many grams of carbs are in each serving of packaged foods. One way to lower your carb count is to eat a smaller portion size.

🎉 Exciting news! Our Camp Carefree (New Hampshire) and Camp New England Winter Weekend (Vermont) have been nominated for the Red Sox Foundation's 10th Annual IMPACT Awards thanks to the Manning Family Foundation! Help us secure a grant to aid our camp program by casting your vote every day until August 22 at atmlb.com/3nyP0yA. 🗳️

🌟 Exciting news! Mark Andrews and the Baltimore Ravens invited the American Diabetes Association®’s Camp Charm City campers to join him this week at the Under Armour Performance Center (UAPC) for training camp! A big thank you to Mark for inspiring everyone, both on the field and in the type 1 diabetes community. 🏈 💪
NFL

We're less than ONE week away from our webinar on August 14 at 1:00 p.m. ET about the rights of children with diabetes in the childcare setting! Learn, ask questions, and get answers from the experts. Register now at bit.ly/4cZfA8y. 📚

We're celebrating 84 years of impact in the diabetes community! Join us by contributing to our $84,000 fundraising goal. Together, we can end diabetes. Donate today at bit.ly/3Jh2Cpn!

Haven't joined one of our Tour de Cure® events yet? 🚴 It's not too late! Gear up and join the 6,000+ cyclists across the country who are riding in support of those living with diabetes. 🌟 Secure your spot at a nearby event and register today at diabetes.org/Tour. Let’s ride to end diabetes! 🚲

Managing your diabetes helps prevent diabetes complications, like nerve damage (neuropathy). Get access to valuable insights and guidance for managing diabetes and living well by subscribing to our Healthy Living e-newsletter at bit.ly/3wo1I77.

Healthy Living eNewsletter SignUp | ADA Sign-Up Today! Healthy Living e-newsletter features information about fitness, nutrition, body & mind, self-care, blood glucose management, resources, research, treatments, and technology.

🗣️ Got questions about diabetes burnout? Get them answered on August 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET during our Ask the Experts event! Learn how to lighten your mental load while living with diabetes. Sign up at bit.ly/3WeoV54.

👁️🌟 Great news! The American Diabetes Association® and Genentech have kicked off a new initiative in the Washington D.C. area, focusing on improving eye health care access for Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino communities. This program aims to enhance eye care equity through community outreach, education, and screenings for those affected by diabetes. Discover more at bit.ly/3AfuUPQ.

Enjoy a diabetes-friendly meal with our Air-Fryer Salmon Bowls with Yum Yum Sauce! The salmon is marinated in a light, flavorful mixture that provides a touch of sweetness, balanced by the warmth of fresh ginger and a tang of pomegranate juice. Perfect for a nutritious lunch or dinner! View the recipe at bit.ly/3VGFtlW.

No matter your age, having a will is essential. Consider including the American Diabetes Association® in your will to support the causes you cherish long into the future. Learn more this at bit.ly/4aIxxGf.

Thank you, Sun Life U.S., for being a proud supporter of our Project Power for youth program! We’re thrilled to partner with you in empowering young people to make healthy lifestyle choices and develop life-long habits. To learn more, please visit diabetes.org/ProjectPower.

RUN WALK RIDE is our annual event whose mission is the prevention, education, and finding a cure for diabetes. The 5k (3.1 mile) route is chip timed for more serious runners, and a nice escape for anyone just wanting to take a stroll through some of the beautiful rolling hills and farmscapes in Baraboo. Or stop by for some early morning Zumba at race start time and visit some health booths at the registration tent. Ages 1-17 are free registration…all finishers get a t-shirt!

Car show enthusiasts will love seeing the cars, trucks & motorcycle show compete for cash prizes and all participants get Rewards Play. You must be 21+ to participate in the show and receive Rewards Play.

With proceeds going to the American Diabetes Association - Wisconsin for participants of the 5k run/walk and car show, it’s a day of fun, all for a good cause. We hope to see you here! 👟🏎🙌

Click to Register: https://bit.ly/3DtyIws

Today, we would like to highlight one of our amazing Chicagoland Tour de Cure Red Riders, Joe Holland! Thank you for sharing, Joe - you are an inspiration to us all! Here is his 'Why I Ride' story:

1959
I was diagnosed at two years of age and have one pre-diagnosis memory of sitting in a high chair eating a windmill cookie, intrigued by the smoothness of an almond slice along the surface. I also have a collage of memories of the diagnosis, including a clear image of the ward I was on for two weeks- an eternity at that age. I remember thinking I was going to be left there. Then there were so many blood draws, probably in the ER. I remember being told "Just one more" when I said something like "not again" after I was stuck with so many needles to either take blood out or put insulin in. It seemed like it would never end. And it sort of hasn’t.

I consider being diagnosed at two years of age a blessing now, only because I didn’t have much of a lifestyle to rearrange in making room for and managing T1D. And because I have no specific date to count from I count my T1D years on my birthday. June 25, 2022 I marked my 63rd year with this disease. Wait a minute... start this year, subtract the diagnosis year, add the first two years, and holy crap! I’m 65? That can’t be right, I feel 28. I enjoy proving wrong anyone who begins a sentence with “You can’t (or shouldn’t) do...” and ends with “because you’re diabetic” or "because you're too old."

I have more faith in there being a superior being running this earthly show simply because I was born to a common-sense registered nurse, and I question whether I would have survived my youth if not for Mom’s knowledge. Mom once told me how she had to argue with the ER doctor on the day I was diagnosed. He apparently thought my convulsing was evidence of being epileptic. He eventually ordered the blood draw my mom was demanding and it confirmed diabetes. She was risking her career, because it was unheard of for a nurse to tell a doctor what to do in 1959. Probably still is today.

I never liked being the “special” kid in elementary school. The kid that had to carry 9 sugar cubes wrapped in foil in case I felt shocky, the word we used for what I now call running low or bottoming out. I also didn't like being the kid that didn’t have to ask permission to use the bathroom. But it was a comfort to have a 1st grade teacher- Mrs. Fenner- who was also T1D. I know now that she watched for any indication of a low Bg, but I remember too that she always shared sugar-free chocolates with me when a birthday or holiday treat was brought in by a classmate.

1965
Born into a musical family I started learning the acoustic guitar at age 8. This would prove to be an important tool in my survival of some most unusual circumstances. Except for getting some basic chord training and a lot of encouragement from my dad I pulled away, preferring to figure out my own way to play, ending up being mostly self-taught. The acoustic guitar has provided me an outlet for my many moods. When I was 17 I co-wrote my first song, and despite never learning to read music I’ve written maybe 300 songs since then. In the 80s and 90s I took a shot at being a singer-songwriter, which taught me that while audiences wanted to be entertained my songs were best described as providing therapy. Some examples of my songwriting (all recorded in my "personal living room studio") can be found here. Should that link fail, go to https://www.reverbnation.com/artist/artist_songs/1546165

1967
In my pre-teens I learned that obedience was not my strong suit. I needed to explore outside the box of doing what I should to see what effects various forms of doing what I shouldn’t had on me. I’m still known for making suggestions that begin with “Let’s see what happens if we...” In the early days I used Clinitest for glucose testing, which was replaced by Tes-tape, in the mid-1960s. Both measured glucose in urine and was the only home test available for tracking insulin accuracy. I had to record the test results 4 times each day for the doctor to make dosing adjustments, and I remember finding days left blank and hurriedly filling in whatever numbers made it look good before getting caught and reprimanded by my parents.

1968
When I was in 5th grade my class was given reading and comprehension testing. I was told that I rated at the 3rd year college level. Looks like growing up without TV paid off! This was at a time before AP classes existed, so I was left to matriculate with my age-matched peers. This was also at a time when most college students were experimenting with a wide variety of drugs, so the bar wasn’t set very high. Kidding, of course. This rating coordinated with information I received some 25 years later while going through analysis to get my thinking rewired. I learned then that my IQ tested at 145. Who'da thunk it? That also explained how I knew or understood things I had never been taught, sometimes employing advanced techniques that just seemed obvious to me. This was the year I smoked my first cigarette. Not the whole thing mind you, just an unextinguished half someone dropped outside of a store. Both my parents smoked at one time. Dad had quit, but Mom had persisted. By the time I was 16 I was smoking when not in school or at home, until we moved in 1973.

1973
My family relocated from the Milwaukee area when I was 16 to a rural unincorporated town where my parents bought a tavern and did a remarkable job of converting it into a restaurant. Dad was great at creating wonderful dishes and was well-regarded by other chefs in the area. We drew some customers from as far as 100 miles away. I very quickly learned how to tend bar and how to drink to excess. Looking back, one might think that a high school student with easy access to alcohol would be popular, but I think my outlook was too negative to achieve popularity.

Despite my father’s great creativity and artistic sense in music, woodworking, and cooking, he displayed what I later learned was borderline personality disorder. I had seen it in small measure for years when he had a day job before the move, but once he was around 24/7 and under the stress of learning how to run a business to support the family it concentrated the frequency and intensity of his episodes. After the move I recognized some distinct modes of operation. One was his creative and giving self- a great guy to be around. Another was entirely egotistical, taking credit for everything positive anyone in the family had ever done. This mode switched to the paranoid entity that launched attacks if contradicted or challenged, or if he decided that something any family member had done, was going to do, or was accused of doing that could be seen as negative or wrong in his view, was obviously an attempt to destroy either him or his business. These triggers were often things that were imagined or exaggerated. This often led to the mode that was wrapped up in anger and rage, like a 6-year old throwing a tantrum. Bear in mind that his being 6’ 4” and weighing 250 lbs. made such tantrums dangerous to witness, especially when he turned to throwing either objects or punches.

Throughout my teens my self-esteem diminished to virtually none, in part because I was a teen, but more so because from my youth I was reminded frequently by my father that I was of no value, had nothing to contribute, and was going to die in prison (specifically for lying.) He once announced to an empty living room “I have 4 kids. One’s near-sighted, one’s got a nervous tick, one’s diabetic, and the fourth one hates me.” After the move I used to wake up in the morning, light a smoke, curse the sun for shining, curse the day for coming, and brace myself to put up with one more day eager to be through with life. I was smoking and drinking heavily on a regular basis, living on candy bars and potato chips, and needless to say, not managing my diabetes at all. I mixed my daily injection of Regular and Lente and went about my day. I didn’t realize until about 10 years later that from the time I drew on my first cigarette I was trying to destroy myself. Slowly, yes, but certainly. As things degenerated following the move I had devised an unbreakable lock on my bedroom door, figured out an escape plan through my window (2½ stories above the ground) and had hidden items around my room to use as weapons in the event Dad ever attacked me in my sleep.

1977
Dad’s worst episode that I remember was shortly before my mother's death. I arrived home after the business had closed and was met at the door by Mom cautioning me that Dad was on a tear. He pushed her aside and was nose-to-nose with me screaming about my trying to make him look bad and destroy his business. Rather than backing away to wait for his rage to subside I drew a line in the sand, first telling him that he didn't need to shout, I could hear him clearly. I then told him that I had seen Mom's bruises (from an earlier rage episode that week) and that if he ever hurt her again I would kill him, and described the throat punch technique I would use to do so, and what it would do to him. His anger ceased, he stepped back inside, walked silently back to his bedroom, got under the covers and was literally and truly sound asleep. A few minutes later he got up and quietly asked who was doing all the shouting, it had awakened him. I'm not sure if that was in literal reference to his sleep or metaphor for my taking a stand.

Following my mother’s death from a fall (Dad was in plain view when it happened) I attended Tech School for 2 years. In March of 1980, a couple of months before graduation I chose to quit my 2+ pack per day cigarette habit cold turkey. I joke now that I made that decision for financial reasons as the price had risen to 75 cents a pack. In reality, it was because I realized that someday I was going to be diagnosed with something the doctors couldn’t fix. What I later realized was that I had begun to see the light contrasting with the world of darkness I had embraced for so many years.

This was the first of a series of changes, or perhaps refinements, that happened going forward. I later recognized from this and some other occurrences in my life that I lived in a manner similar to philosophies stated by Yoda, Mr. Miyagi, and others in movies, in that I do things, or I do not do them- I am rarely half-involved. This is why I went to distance cycling, distance walking, lifting crazy-heavy weights, etc. It also explains why when I smoked and drank each was to excess, and why quitting such heavy smoking was easy. I simply decided that I was no longer a smoker. A similar transition happened on 12/31/1987 when I decided that after the one drink worth of tequila remaining in my bottle I would stop drinking forever.

1980
I moved back to my home town to find work and ended up landing a factory job. While there I befriended a fellow employee who introduced me to free-weight lifting. I took to weights like a duck to water, learning proper form and developing a hunger to lift more and heavier weight. Over the next 2 years I became huge, having developed upper arms measuring 17.5” and my chest was 48” on my five foot ten inch frame.
To put my strength into perspective, I was an avid pool player, and on a bet, while holding my cue stick in my right hand I placed my left hand under the end of a 600 pound pool table and curled it about 4" off the floor. In those days my lifting buddy and I would joke about playing Frisbee with manhole covers and starting an overhand bowling league. I had never before embodied such power! Weight lifting taught me many things while restoring my long-absent self-esteem, including most importantly the difference between internal and external power.

1982
My life took a left turn in February 1982 when I was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy. I had burst a vein in my left eye, called my ophthalmologist to request a confirmation of my diagnosis, got in that day, and was sent immediately to The Eye Institute at Froedtert Hospital. There I had to immediately suspend my weight training and observe a 15-pound weight restriction. My initial response was to ask the doctor if we were on candid camera. But I complied and had severe shooting pains through my muscles for the first two months I was off lifting.

We began several laser photocoagulation sessions. It was another 5 years before I could lift again. In all there were 3,000 laser firings, each causing a new blind spot. In the end I was left with an estimated remainder of 5% to 10% functional retina space. That is central vision, the part used for most everything. However, there are big holes in my picture where objects and even vehicles can disappear. This was worsened when about 12 years later my right retina spontaneously started detaching. 3 surgeries later I was told the eye would not see again. Despite that I was able to drive until 2016 without an accident. And in January of 2018, after totaling my 3rd new car in two years, I stopped driving.

1986
In 1986 I was T-boned by a car while motorcycling. I developed chronic left knee pain that spread to both knees due to compensation. After 3 years of treatment with prescription pain meds (T3s). I was at home one evening and the left knee began aching. I discovered I had used the last of my T3 supply and went to the pharmacy for a refill. At the moment the pills were handed to me the pain stopped. I recognized that a game was afoot and put the pills away. Whenever the pain came up I eased into a light trance and told the pain it was false and needed to stop. After about 2 weeks it ended it's daily "chronicness" but still fired up every once in a while, and didn't respond to trance work. My primary doctor referred me to a knee guy who examined my knee for almost a whole minute, wiggling the knee cap all around, swinging the leg straight and bent at the knee, and if he ever looked at an X-ray it was before I arrived.

In that short time he concluded that I had worn out the cartilage on my knees and would be confined to a wheelchair in 5 years, sooner if I ever climbed stairs or walked on any surface that wasn't level and paved. The following day I put my gear for work into my backpack and walked 2 miles to work by a route that took me through Havenwoods State Forest Preserve by way of gravel roads and chip trails. I continued doing this for 3 years until that job ended. I began walking distances of 10 to 12 miles as often as time permitted. Once, to confirm my pace was above the ordinary 3 mph standard, I walked a 16 mile route in 4 hours flat.

1990
After a year of walking to work a friend interested me in bicycling. My knees had firmed up nicely, and I had always loved biking as a kid. The first change necessitated by biking was to get a blood glucose meter. I had never had one, in part the fault of my primary doctor for never suggesting or requiring that I use one. But with biking it was necessary, as was starting on a pump about a year later rather than injecting. I grew to love biking 75 to 100 miles in a day. Never a speedster, my biking slogan is Not fast, just persistent. My longest single-day ride took place when I decided one morning that I wanted to see the entire Glacial Drumlin Trail, which runs 52 miles from Waukesha, WI to just outside of Madison, WI. I biked 16 miles to the trailhead, then to the end of the trail, and back by the same route. In the end I had covered 136 miles that day.

Since I started biking I have ridden just over 74,000 miles. Not bad for a guy who was supposed to be confined to a wheelchair. Because I have never been a fast rider those miles have kept me in the saddle more than 6,000 hours. I biked the 10 miles to my previous job for years, once pushing my way into December. My last ride that year was when the roads were free of snow, and the temperature was only 5° F. And while I used to average 3,000 miles per year, in my highest mileage year I rode 5,876 miles. That was the year I purchased a new bike on June 1st, and on June 21st I took it to the dealer for its 90-day check-up. The dealer referred me to the 90 day part of the policy, but agreed to do the service when I explained that in the first 20 days I had ridden 900 miles.

The only downside to my kind of distance biking is that most who ride long distances are fast riders averaging up to 25 mph. Those who ride at my pace, anywhere from 10 to 14 mph (depending on the wind direction) are usually shorter-distance riders. So the cheese bikes alone. And with my no longer driving many of my rides are utilitarian- to church, or more challenging: grocery runs. My heaviest loads on the return trip were 30 lbs. from a store 12 miles away, and 70 lbs. from a store only 2 miles away. That load kept me very aware that I live at the top of a hill!

I’m also a fan of what I call grocery hiking. This is where I choose a walking route to a store, and once there I fill a backpack with as much as I dare haul home. My longest grocery hike was to a store 4 miles away, and once I got home I set the backpack on my scale to learn that I returned with 50 lbs. of groceries. That was a good leg burner! I hope to get a chance (or a reason) to better it- farther, heavier, or both!

I worked with a counselor off and on for a few years long after analysis ended. The most important thing I learned from him was that people raised as I was typically died in either prison or su***de. That was frightening because of the number of times my dad had driven into me the idea that I would die in prison. The one thing that set me apart from the rest, he said, was my IQ. It gave me the ability to conceive strategies and solutions beyond my immediate situation, while employing survival skills that others in a similar situation didn't have. He said that the “condition" (for lack of better term) had a survival rate of 1 in 200.

I find it odd that despite my knowing how false all of the negative messages of worthlessness that I received in my youth and adolescence were, they can still affect me today. They can work their way into my self-esteem and decision-making processes as if I never received any form of treatment to counter them. Or perhaps they are being countered by my recognizing them early on. If it wouldn't change who I am today I might wish there were a way to eradicate them.

2000-2003
For too many years I was doing the 3-job shuffle, working a full time job and two part time jobs kept me working 65 hours per week between the three jobs. To get into better pay for fewer hours I decided to put myself through college, earning a Bachelor of Science in Management in four years. During those years I surrendered one job freeing up 5 hours per week. While I continued working 60 hours and carrying 30 credits per year I found time for only 1,500 miles per year biking, and had seen my weight soar to 225 lbs. for the first time ever. I consulted with a Certified Dietician who was also a Certified Personal Trainer and found an exercise and eating plan that allowed me to reduce my weight to 178 lbs.

I learned I have the rare ability to awaken at any hour and function on very little sleep. An article in Time magazine explains that this is caused by a gene mutation. I lived on 3 hours of sleep per night for the 4 years in school. These days I sleep when I’m tired and wake when I’m rested. I have the ability to decide when to wake up and it usually happens within 2 to 10 minutes of that time. While I always set an alarm when necessary, I wake to an alarm only once or twice per year. These days 4 hours sleep is plenty. I believe that if I were needing more sleep when in school I wouldn't have graduated magna cm laude.

2011
In June 2011 I was hit by an oncoming car that turned left into me while on my bike. Injuries included torn and ruptured left shoulder ligaments, left shoulder adhesive capsulitis, broken left wrist (scaphoid), 2 broken ribs (left side), and sciatica, the gift that keeps on giving. After two surgeries (shoulder and wrist), about 200 hours of PT, more hours than I can count spent stretching, I was able to ride a little after only 2 years. Since then I've gradually risen to riding 2,200 miles in 2020.

2018
January 29th of 2018 I totaled my 3rd brand new car in 2 years by hitting another car that I should have seen, just as happened with the first two crashes. Fortunately no one was injured, and I chose to stop driving. Life is challenging without the ability to drive, especially when work is 20 miles away. I can bike commute when the weather allows. If I were to take the bus it would be a 4-transfer 3 hour 20 minute ride each way. When I took a cab that was a $50 ride each way, and UBER costs about $30. Fortunately I have a fellow church member who drives me to work in the morning and a brother who picks me up in the afternoon, both for no charge. However, either could choose to stop at any time. This also has led me to retire 4 years earlier than I had planned.

After the 2018 crash I cancelled my gym membership because I like to lift at 3-4AM so that I’m not bumping into people and there is a much lower chance of tripping on a dumbbell that was left on the floor by, well, some dumbbell. It also makes it more practical for leg presses. I wanted to see what I could do in leg power, and found I exceeded the limits of the cable-and-weight-stack machines. But the free weight leg machines allowed me to develop to higher strength. My favorite is the leg press. I was successfully pressing 945 lbs. when I had to stop driving. Working that much weight has a bonus- I got an upper body warm-up simply by carrying eighteen 45 lb. plates from all over the weight room and loading them onto the machine. But this took most of the 45s in the gym, and it’ll take more to reach my goal of 1,005 pounds. Two reasons I like to lift early include my tying up most of the big plates on leg day and lifting heavy in the morning can lead people to think I’m crazy, so they give me lots of space.

Pressing so very close to 1,000 lbs. made exceeding it a worthwhile goal. I thought it would be fun to be able to do a set of 10 presses with 1,005 lbs. just to be able to say I pressed more than half a ton. This remains a goal while I look for a way to incorporate this into a fundraising event. I'd like to get one or more corporate sponsors to donate $1,000 to ADA for each rep I complete with 1,000 lbs. Based on experience, if I start back after 3 years away my strength should be back to where I left off in about 5 weeks.

2019
My weight reached a new all-time high of 249 lbs. last year. I had to exhale to tie my shoes, and biking was bottoming out my Bg more easily than ever before. Inspired by a picture a friend gave me of myself 10 years earlier, I started snacking on cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, and baby carrots instead of the many healthy but carb-containing foods in my kitchen. By so doing I dropped my weight by 29 lbs. to 220 lbs. Then I gave up my beloved diet soda. I was going through a six pack of 24 ounce bottles daily at work, and 15 to 20 two-liter bottles at home per week, replacing them with a much lower volume of plain seltzer. Within a month my weight dropped to 208 lbs. For reasons still being researched it has crept back to 220, but I will defeat this.

Closing Notes
I crunched some numbers for a fundraising poster at work that included these figures:
• Between finger sticks, pump and sensor insertions, and injections I've been stuck by more than 120,000 sharp objects.
o Maybe that's why I don't see body piercing as a fashion statement.
• I've pumped and injected about 3 gallons of insulin into myself.
• Without health insurance my diabetes would currently cost me more than $100,000 each year.

My favorite T1D slogan:
When it comes to managing Type 1 diabetes, don't kid yourself. I just make it look easy.

Responding to being asked how difficult it is to manage my T1D:
On a good day it’s like herding cats. On a bad day it’s like stacking marbles.

Responding to a question about my food preferences:
I don't eat food, I eat numbers.

Joe Holland