Introduce yourself

[Gina]

Tell me a little bit about yourself!

[Jon Schlaman]

I will start this one off. My name is Jon and I am a single father. My son, Chris, is 16 and has had type 1 since his 8th birthday. He is currently pumping with a minimed 715. I work in San Francisco as an electrician, and I help Gina maintain this website in my spare time. Gina and I created Diabetes Talkfest to meet other people living with diabetes. Okay, who is next?

[Betty J]

My name is Betty and I live in Philadelphia. I have lived with Type 1 Diabetes for 48 years.
Until computers I had no support group or anyone to share thoughts re: D....I love computers.
I use to work for over 20 years for our school district but had to retire after 23 years because of complications. Now my health is the best it's been in all the years I've lived with D. I was referred to an educator who taught me how to have tighter control/management of my D. I enjoy networking with others living with D.

[Six Until Me - Kerri Morrone]

My name is Kerri, and I've been diabetic since I was six. I write a diabetes blog called Six Until Me and I am an editor and columnist for dLife.

I'm engaged to be married (huge grin) and I am a beach fanatic. Oftentimes, you'll find me at the gym, holed up with my laptop in some coffee house, or chasing Siah Sausage out of the plants in the living room. I find a lot of peace in networking with other diabetics, so I'm happy to see another support mechanism online for people with diabetes. :)

[Daena]

hi, i'm daena, i live in singapore and am singaporean by nationality and chinese-peranakan by ethnicity. i was diagnosed with diabetes in a very dramatic fashion which invovled DKA so severe that i was close to unconsciousness, and surgery. that was in at the end of april of this year. i'm alright now and coming to terms with things.

i am nearly 20, and i 'work' as a uni student. i'm a communications/media major and i'm working to specialize in either journalism or public relations. other interests of mine are playing/listening to music, photography, reading, writing, talking (alot), laughing (even more), shopping - but of course, and hanging out at coffee houses or cafes where i waste my money on tea as i don't like coffee... and of late, working out - which i sincerely enjoy, and stabbing my tummy with a syringe full of insulin and poking my fingers to get blood samples. ;)

am looking forward to getting to know all of you! (:

[Jodi]

HI
I am Jodi and I am the mommy to 3. We live in NY. My daughter Sarah was diagnosed with type 1 in March of this year.
We are all set to start omnipod the end of July.
Sarahs twin sister Allison was tested through trial net in April and came back with 3 out of 4 positive autoantibodies to develop the disease. She has been through the oral glucose tolerance test and that came back with abnormal results. So now we wait for signs and symptoms to begin. Its been a tough few months and I feel like I am still trying day to day to get used to all this.
I am happy to be here - looks like a nice community of people.

[Allie Beatty]

I'm Allie Beatty. I blog for The Diabetes Blog and I run Shop4Cures -- a weekly newsletter that summarizes what people are saying about the medical news.

Having been a diabetic since 1985, and having heard "the cure is coming" way too many times (to no avail) I started questioning the better technologies only to realize they are not better, just different. A lot of what has evolved in diabetes has been marketing spin. The opinion of diabetics has been dismissed by corporate interest. Of greatest importance – where are the cures?

I have learned from my experience with diabetes to see for myself what works best and not rely on Big Pharma to look out for me. Curing diabetes is a movement -- starting with questioning authority. I invite everybody to broadcast your opinion on Shop4Cures. Tell the world what you think about medical news and fund the promotions with online shopping commissions.

[Karen Vecchitto]

Hi Allie! I was diagnosed in May of 1981 with Type 1 diabetes. I was 10 years old. At that time I was told "A cure is 7 years away." I repeatedly heard that for many years after my diagnosis. Well, alot of "7 years" have gone by. I've had this rotten disease for 27 years. I've lost 2 pregnancies late in game (one at 37 weeks and one at 35 weeks) due to this crap. I have had 2 healthy children but it was not easy. My kids are 10 & 11. I just went to my diabetes specialist and told her I had "had it with this" and am completely ready to give up. Every day is a battle. I'm tired of testing my sugars 4 or 5 times a day. I am so insulin sensitive that one too many units of either of my insulins will put me over the edge. I've had to have 3 Glucagon injections this year alone. The older I get, the worse this gets. So when my doctor asked me what was wrong I replied "Nothing a large caliber hand gun can't fix."

Do you ever feel this way?

[Liz Hindman]

Dear Karen,
I have been diabetic since 1965 - I was 7 at that time. Have I learned to live with it? Well, sort of but I do agree with you that it doesn't get better as you get older, it does get worse, in my case a lot worse. I gave up seeing specialists years ago - they kept me waiting for three hours only to tell me that I was overweight - which, incidently, I wasn't they just wanted me to weigh less. I have had no help or advice for years but I can not find anyone who does not tell me that I am the right weight - I weigh about 9 stone( that's English weights!) or 60 kg, which for my height of 5ft4 is OK but my last GP in England - who was incredibly fat - had the audacity to sit there and tell me that I was clinically obese.
I have had 2 glucagons in one night so three in a year is not bad at all. Pregnancy is foul - I have just one child - now a man- and was advised not to try for a second as it might kill me.
The real shit about all this is that no one wants to find a cure. I was told in 1965 that a cure was "just around the corner" - oh, yeah!
Don't give up though, people do live with worse and keep smiling. Be strong and enjoy those children.

Liz Hindman

[Marston A]

Hey all,

I'm Marston, I've been a type-1 diabetic for 15 years or so. I'm originally from San Diego / Hawaii but now I'm staying in Holland.

I take NovoRapid and Levemir pens though at times I get tempted by pumps. I also founded SugarStats.com, I created it so I could track and graph my diabetes stats online from any browser. I used to be horrible at managing ANYTHING diabetes related, it really took a toll on me. Now that I'm tracking things I've gotten things under much better control (and my body thanks me ;-) ).

This is a great community and I hope to meet more of you as time goes on, feel free to drop me a message.

[Kim Nater]

SugarStats is awesome!

[Rodney Dragoo]

Hello all

I am Rodney Dragoo

I live in northern California (Bay Area) born and raised in the Midwest….yes I know, another Midwesterner in a U-Haul! Wait until we move to the Portland, OR area, yikes!!! A Californian in a U-Haul! Even worse!

Originally I found this site just after a diagnosis of diabetes and feeling kind of alone. I have learned a few things from various sources including this place.

1. We are all different in how we deal with our challenges
2. We are all very similar and share the same feelings
3. No matter how bad it may seem others need our help, and still others are there for us.

My wife is my most respected friend and more. She never once gave up on me, not once, and now three years later, after two stays in critical care, we are closer than ever. She is truly a good person and I consider myself lucky to know her.

Thanks for listening. Next!

[Shelley Kummer]

Hi everyone, I'm Shelley, I'll be 29 in two weeks (uggh) I have had diabetes for, gosh, almost 16 years now. I have a minimedpump and am waiting to get the real-time system (once it is covered by insurance.

I am the mother of two (4 and 1 1/2). So far so good with them, I was/am nervous they will become diabetic too.

I defended my PhD in microbiology/immunology in Feb. and went through a grueling 11 years of college with the goal of doing diabetes research someday. Unfortunately, there is none of that going on in Syracuse, NY, so for now I am stuck with the lesser exciting topic of DNA replication and cancer research.

I was on the old site, and migrated to this one. I come here in spurts depending on how busy I am with work/kids, but I really enjoy talking with everyone, and am especially interested in the chats you sent up with people who are actually doing diabetes research.

Cheers,
Shelley