Today

***This is a re-post of a blog I wrote 4 years ago.  It's just as true today as it was then.

This is my daughter, Elise.  She is 9 years old. She loves to play soccer.  Paint and draw.  Read.  She loves to dance and sing.  Making her little brothers laugh. The colour green.  Roller-coasters and waterslides.  This Halloween she dressed up as Hermoine from Harry Potter.  She's a girly-girl with a tough side... the absolute best of both worlds. 

She makes me laugh.  Loves everyone she's ever met. Blows me away with how smart she is.  She has the innate ability to drive me bananas, but at the same time; I am so very proud the be her Mom.  And today, she makes me thankful.

Without today, Elise would not be alive.  If it wasn't for today, I would have had to say goodbye to my first-born over 8 years ago.  If today had never happened, this would be one of the last pictures I have of my daughter...

During a month that is supposed to be filled with thanks, I am most thankful for today, November 14.

Because on this day, in 1891, a baby boy was born in a small farm house in Ontario, Canada.   He would grow up and make an astonishing discovery that would save my daughter's life 119 years later.  Not just the life of my daughter, but the lives of countless others too. 

Because in addition to everything I wrote about her above, Elise also has type 1 diabetes.  Her body NEEDS insulin to survive, but no longer produces it. 

It was nothing she did. Or didn't do.

Nothing she ate. Or didn't eat.

There is no cure.  No special diet.  No secret spice.  There isn't a bark that grows on a tree that can be brewed into a tea.

But there is insulin.

Today, I don't have to watch my daughter literally starve to death because of a faulty pancreas.  And that is why I am thankful for today, the birthday of Dr. Fredrick Banting; inventor of insulin. 

He saved my daughter's life.

Today

***This is a re-post of a blog I wrote 3 years ago.  It's just as true today as it was then.

This is my daughter, Elise.  She is 8 years old. She loves to play soccer.  Paint and draw.  Read.  She loves to dance and sing.  Making her little brothers laugh. The colour green.  Roller-coasters and waterslides.  She's a girly-girl with a tough side... the absolute best of both worlds. 

She makes me laugh.  Loves everyone she's ever met. Blows me away with how smart she is.  She has the innate ability to drive me bananas, but at the same time; I am so very proud the be her Mom.  And today, she makes me thankful.

Without today, Elise would not be alive.  If it wasn't for today, I would have had to say goodbye to my first-born over 7 years ago.  If today had never happened, this would be one of the last pictures I have of my daughter...

During a month that is supposed to be filled with thanks, I am most thankful for today, November 14.

Because on this day, in 1891, a baby boy was born in a small farm house in Ontario, Canada.   He would grow up and make an astonishing discovery that would save my daughter's life 119 years later.  Not just the life of my daughter, but the lives of countless others too. 

Because in addition to everything I wrote about her above, Elise also has type 1 diabetes.  Her body NEEDS insulin to survive, but no longer produces it. 

It was nothing she did. Or didn't do.

Nothing she ate. Or didn't eat.

There is no cure.  No special diet.  No secret spice.  There isn't a bark that grows on a tree that can be brewed into a tea.

But there is insulin.

Today, I don't have to watch my daughter literally starve to death because of a faulty pancreas.  And that is why I am thankful for today, the birthday of Dr. Fredrick Banting; inventor of insulin. 

He saved my daughter's life.

Today

***This is a re-post of a blog I wrote 2 years ago.  It's just as true today as it was then.

This is my daughter, Elise.  She is 7 years old. She loves to play soccer.  Paint and draw.  Read.  She loves to dance and sing.  Making her little brother laugh. The colour pink.  Roller-coasters and waterslides.  She's a girly-girl with a tough side... the absolute best of both worlds. 

She makes me laugh.  Loves everyone she's ever met. Blows me away with how smart she is.  She has the innate ability to drive me bananas, but at the same time; I am so very proud the be her Mom.  And today, she makes me thankful.

Without today, Elise would not be alive.  If it wasn't for today, I would have had to say goodbye to my first-born over 6 years ago.  If today had never happened, this would be one of the last pictures I have of my daughter...

During a month that is supposed to be filled with thanks, I am most thankful for today, November 14.

Because on this day, in 1891, a baby boy was born in a small farm house in Ontario, Canada.   He would grow up and make an astonishing discovery that would save my daughter's life 119 years later.  Not just the life of my daughter, but the lives of countless others too. 

Because in addition to everything I wrote about her above, Elise also has type 1 diabetes.  Her body NEEDS insulin to survive, but no longer produces it. 

It was nothing she did. Or didn't do.

Nothing she ate. Or didn't eat.

There is no cure.  No special diet.  No secret spice.  There isn't a bark that grows on a tree that can be brewed into a tea.

But there is insulin.

Today, I don't have to watch my daughter literally starve to death because of a faulty pancreas.  And that is why I am thankful for today, the birthday of Dr. Fredrick Banting; inventor of insulin. 

He saved my daughter's life.

WDD Speech

Awhile back, Elise wrote a speech and delivered it on her school's TV announcement system for World Diabetes Day.  I kept meaning to post her practicing it (we didn't get the video of the actual announcement), and now a month a a half later, here it is!



BTW, she's amazing.

World Diabetes Day Shirts... Deadline extended

We ended up having enough people order shirts to make a second run.  So if you missed out, you have until 10:00 pm CT today, October 31st.

If you want to order:

• Send me an email with how many, sizes and your address.  For a size guide, click here.

• Go to PayPal and submit your payment.  The shirts are $12 each.

• If you don't have a PayPal account, I can email you a money request so you can submit your payment via PayPal using a credit card.

And don't forget to send me your pictures of you all decked out on November 14th!

Sorta Wordless Wednesday: They're Heeeeeeeeere!

The shirts!

Coming soon to a mailbox near you!

(We're sending them out today)

Edited to add: If you missed the deadline and are sad that YOU won't be sporting an uber-cool WDD shirt on November 14, there's hope yet!  If we can get 10 more orders ASAP, the printer will do another run and we can get them out to you in time.  The price is still $12 per shirt, and you can email me at shirts@deathofapancreas.com to get your order in.

WDD shirts: Last call!

Since most people don't read blogs on the weekend, I'm going to do my last-call-for-shirts post today.  Sunday, October 20th is the ACTUAL last day, but I want to make sure everybody has a chance to get their order in.  Here's the info in case you've missed it:

• Just send me an email at shirts at deathofapancreas dot com.  Please specify how many shirts and what sizes.  For a handy size guide, click here. Don't forget to include your address so I know where to mail your shirt(s).

• Send your payment of $12 per shirt using Pay Pal.  The account is the same as the email address.  I promise you will get your shirt.  And if something goes horribly wrong, you will get your money back. Any profit made will be donated to the JDRF on behalf of Team Elise.

We made the number on the shirt a bit different... to see the old and new images, click here (I cannot figure out how to embed the image in my post).

If enough people want to order this shirt, but with a "Type 2" on the back instead of Type 1, we might be able to make that happen.  Just send me an email at shirts at deathofapancreas dot com.  It would take orders of about 20 shirts for it to work.  If I get enough orders, I will send you a request payment through Pay Pal.  If you don't receive anything, there wasn't enough interest.

Next year, I'm hoping to be able to offer shirts for ALL types; 1, 2, 1.5, and 3!

Remember... the deadline to order is THIS SUNDAY!

World Diabetes Day: Only 6 days left to order your shirt

Did you know that World Diabetes Day is only one month away?

And did you further know that the deadline to order your WDD shirt is less than a week away?

EEEEK!

So get your shirt orders in.  The deadline is this Sunday (Oct. 20).

Need a refresher on how to order?  

• Just send me an email at shirts at deathofapancreas dot com.  Please specify how many shirts and what sizes.  For a handy size guide, click here. Don't forget to include your address so I know where to mail your shirt(s).

• Send your payment of $12 per shirt using Pay Pal.  The account is the same as the email address.  I promise you will get your shirt.  And if something goes horribly wrong, you will get your money back. Any profit made will be donated to the JDRF on behalf of Team Elise.

It's that easy!  Order by Oct. 20, and you will have your shirt in time to celebrate World Diabetes Day in style!

I dug around in my archives and found these adorable pictures from WDD 2009:

World Diabetes Day Shirts: A how to order re-post

It looks like we have enough people to go ahead with the shirts orders.  So if you really want one, here's how:

Step 1: Send me an email at shirts at deathofapancreas dot com.  Yes, even if you left a comment on my first post.  I need to have all the orders in one place to maintain what is left of my sanity. Please tell me how many and what sizes.  Not sure what size you need?  Click here. Also include your mailing address in your email.

Step 2: Now you need to pay.  I know this takes a lot of trust on your part; giving some crazy lady who lives in your computer money.  You will get your shirt.  I promise.  If something goes horribly wrong and the order doesn't happen, you'll get your money back.  I promise.  I would never rip anybody, let alone a D-peep, off.  And there are people in the DOC who know where I live who would gladly come beat my ass if I did.  

The price is $12 per shirt.  That includes shipping. The Paypal account is the same as the email.

Step 3: Do all of this before October 20th.  That is the deadline.  And if you miss it, I can't help you out. The printer is doing a one time run and there's no going back after the fact.

Step 4: After you receive your shirt and wear it on November 14th, please send me a picture so I can post it on my blog, like these fabulous people did 4 years ago.

If you want to look cool for World Diabetes Day, order now!

World Diabetes Day: A step-by-step guide to ordering your shirt

It looks like we have enough people to go ahead with the shirts orders.  So if you really want one, here's how:

Step 1: Send me an email at shirts@deathofapancreas.com.  Yes, even if you left a comment on my last post.  I need to have all the orders in one place to maintain what is left of my sanity. Please tell me how many and what sizes.  Not sure what size you need?  Click here. Also include your mailing address in your email.

Step 2: Now you need to pay.  I know this takes a lot of trust on your part; giving some crazy lady who lives in your computer money.  You will get your shirt.  I promise.  If something goes horribly wrong and the order doesn't happen, you'll get your money back.  I promise.  I would never rip anybody, let alone a D-peep, off.  And there are people in the DOC who know where I live who would gladly come beat my ass if I did.  

The price is $12 per shirt.  That includes shipping. Here's the Paypal account: shirts@deathofapancreas.com

Step 3: Do all of this before October 20th.  That is the deadline.  And if you miss it, I can't help you out. The printer is doing a one time run and there's no going back after the fact.

Step 4: After you receive your shirt and wear it on November 14th, please send me a picture so I can post it on my blog, like these fabulous people did 4 years ago.

If you want to look cool for World Diabetes Day, order now!

World Diabetes Day: Return of the shirt

Remember this?

About four years ago, I designed a shirt for World Diabetes Day.  Made it available through my blog, and had over 30 people order them and wear them on November 14.

Well, I want to do it again.  So I'm gauging the interest out there in the DOC. Want your own WDD shirt to show off on November 14?  Leave a comment and let me know how many you would order and what sizes.  If I get enough response (say more than 50 shirts), it will be a go!  They will be priced in the $10-$12 range, depending on shipping.  Any profit made will go to Team Elise (which goes to the JDRF).

Here is the mock-up:

Interested?  Let me know!  And please pass this post along to as many people as you think would be interested. Let's get our blue circles on!  

Today

This is my daughter, Elise.  She is 5 years old. She loves to play soccer.  Paint and draw.  Read.  She loves ballet and tap.  Making her little brother laugh. The colour pink.  Roller-coasters and waterslides.  She's a girly-girl with a tough side... the absolute best of both worlds. 

She makes me laugh.  Loves everyone she's ever met. Blows me away with how smart she is.  She has the innate ability to drive me bananas, but at the same time; I am so very proud the be her Mom.  And today, she makes me thankful.

Without today, Elise would not be alive.  If it wasn't for today, I would have had to say goodbye to my first-born over 4 years ago.  If today had never happened, this would be one of the last pictures I have of my daughter...

During a month that is supposed to be filled with thanks, I am most thankful for today, November 14.

Because on this day, in 1891, a baby boy was born in a small farm house in Ontario, Canada.   He would grow up and make an astonishing discovery that would save my daughter's life 117 years later.  Not just the life of my daughter, but countless others too. 

Because in addition to everything I wrote about her above, Elise also has type 1 diabetes.  Her body NEEDS insulin to survive, but no longer produces it. 

It was nothing she did. Or didn't do.

Nothing she ate. Or didn't eat.

There is no cure.  No special diet.  No secret spice.  There isn't a bark that grows on a tree that can be brewed into a tea.

But there is insulin.

Today, I don't have to watch my daughter literally starve to death because of a faulty pancreas.  And that is why I am thankful for today, the birthday of Dr. Fredrick Banting; inventor of insulin. 

He saved my daughter's life.

Things diabetes has taught me this month: November edition

-We really, really, REALLY need to get it out there about the difference between the two types. The ignorance is laughable, really. When I called my mail order pharmacy company to find out what my out-of-pocket cost would be on the new strips we were going to have to use with the pod, the guy asked me, "how many times a day do you test your daughter... one? Two? Keep in mind, he knew she was 4 and on insulin. ARRRGHHHH! I actually laughed at loud at him and said, "I wish!"

-Pumping is awful. Not wait, it's awesome! No, it sucks. No, I love it! I'm starting to feel like I have a split personality.

-Pumping DOES make holidays like Thanksgiving easier, though.

-I thought I had gotten past letting Elise's numbers affect my mood, but they still do. I guess I had forgotten because we hadn't seen such ugly numbers in a long time.

-Seeing anything on Elise's meter start with a 5, followed by two numbers makes me want to hit something.

-People are STILL trying to order the World Diabetes Day shirts I designed two years ago. I get emails from people enquiring about them and one guy even sent me a payment through paypal (which I returned, of course!). All this interest has me thinking of getting my act in gear and whipping up a batch for next year. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, here are some pictures from WDD 2009.

Sooooo, perhaps we'll have to do this again for World Diabetes Day 2012! I'm going to try and plan to NOT do something chaotic (like start pumping or have a baby), so I'll have time to organize this if anyone is interested.

Dropping the ball. Or maybe the big blue circle

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. November 14th is World Diabetes Day. In the next 28 days, the DOC will be awash will all sorts of things to enlighten the the general public about all things diabetes.

And I'm kinda feeling like a failure on that front. I've dropped the ball. As much as I'd love to be an advocate, I'm just too burned out right now.

Because of things like strep throat.

Pump training.

And husbands travelling for the last 3 weeks.

Days when I fall into bed at midnight and realize I never got to eat dinner.

Or the time when my car died after I dropped Elise off at pre-school. Fred was out of town and our other car was at the airport.

I know, it's just life. But right now I feel ill-equipped to deal with one more thing. So I'm slacking on National Diabetes Awareness Month. I will probably forget to take part in the Big Blue Test. Or to wear blue on Friday. I missed sending in our address for the post card exchange. And forget about taking part in D-blog day... I'd like to, but all the preparation I'd need to do for it makes me want to cry.

Yeah, I'm a little stressed out.

But thankfully, there are some incredible NON-slackers in the DOC. People I can ride on the coat tails of. They are the ones who are rockin' this advocacy thing and I'd like to point them out:

Team Type 1 Running Across America
Duuuude, these people are my heroes. Every time I read about this, the song I Ran so Far Away comes to mind. Anyway, here's the skinny on this one (stealing this word for word from Meri's blog)... Starting in Oceanside, CA, 10 runners—all with type 1 diabetes— will run 3,000 miles to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes. The run will end in New York City on November 14, World Diabetes Day. Meanwhile, TrialNet will be racing to screen 3,000 people—one for every mile that Team Type 1 runs. This will bring the total number of people taking part in TrialNet research to 100,000. There is more info about the run at Laura's blog.

Cookbooks for a Cause
Speaking of Laura... her mother and her sisters (so, Laura's Aunts) have written cookbook. All proceeds going to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). To order one, visit Laura's blog.

The Big Blue Test:
Between Nov. 1 and 14, the good people from Diabetic Hands Association and Roche are asking you to do the following:

-Test your blood sugar
-Do some sort of activity for at least 14 minutes
-Test your blood sugar again
-Share your numbers here.

Roche will donate $75,000 in connection with the number of people that take part in the Big Blue Test. These funds will be re-granted among 6 humanitarian diabetes programs (1 international and 5 US-based) to support more than 8,000 people with diabetes in need.

World Diabetes Post Card Exchange
I'm thinking it's probably too late to participate, but it deserves a mention... Lee Ann from the Butter Compartment has organized a post card exchange for people dealing with diabetes from all over the world! What a cool concept. I wish I had gotten Elise's name in in time, but hopefully next year. Can't wait to see pictures of all the cards that were sent. Go here to read all about it!

Blue Fridays
(Again, stolen word for word from Meri)Blue Fridays is an initiative to bring attention to World Diabetes Day, and to advocate and bring awareness for diabetes and the people living with it. Diabetes is more than a national issue; it's a world epidemic. This year, Cherise from wants to rally the diabetes community to celebrate World Diabetes Day and Diabetes Awareness Month by asking people to wear blue every Friday during the Month of November and on World Diabetes Day (November 14). How easy is this one? I think we can all get on board here!

D Blog Day
Gina from Diabetes Talkfest has decreed November 9th as D Blog Day (although you can participate whether you have a blog or not). To participate, take a piece of 12x12 paper and use your imagination to create a scrapbook page. There are some things Gina has asked you to include, click here to read more. On the 9th you can post the pic of your page on your blog, and then mail it in to Gina so she make a scrapbook from families all around the world! I also just read that you can still participate if making a scrapbook page makes you want to cry... this year topic is: Why you feel the Diabetes Online Community is so important? especially to you personally?

Princess and the Pump
Hallie (from the above-mentioned blog) will be hosting FOUR giveaways this month! Click here for more info!

National Health Blog Post Month
I'm not doing this (although so far I'm 2 for 2 this month!), but some of my best peeps will be posting every day all month long! Below is a list of those that I know are participating. If I missed you, just comment on my post and I'll add your name!

Meri
Laura
Heather
Karen
Colleen
Amy
Michelle
Kate

Happy National Diabetes Awareness Month!

Thanks Tips4type1!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (or at least that's how it feels to me), I was the winner in a pretty cool giveaway.

Shannon, at The New Normal Life teamed up with Tonya from Tips4type1, and the lucky winner (ME!) received two rockin' bottles of nail polish.

A little about Tips4type1:
Their objective is two-fold; to raise money and awareness for type 1 diabetes. It was started by Tonya Homme whose daughter was diagnosed with type 1 in October of 2008,at the age of 23-months.

Tips4type1 offers polish in two beautiful colours; blue (for the diabetes awareness circle), and silver (for the diabetes awareness ribbon). The colours are named True Blue Hope and Tips of Steel. Tonya donates $10 from the sale of each set of polish to the Diabetes Research Institute. So you can look glorious and feel great about yourself at the same time!

And I was the winner of the giveaway on Shannon's blog that happened so many moons ago! Go me! Even more excited was Elise, who bugs me almost on a daily basis to paint her nails.

So as soon as the polish arrived, I set to work. My tootsies didn't get a new coat, because I'm still sporting the polish from my birthday pedicure and couldn't find the polish remover. But Elise was only too happy to offer up her hands and feet.

So pretty (the girl AND the polish)!

Elise LOVES her pretty nails and was so excited to show them off at the birthday party we went to that weekend (the fact that it was a boys party and was Cars-themed was lost on her). Thanks to Shannon and especially Tonya at Tips4type1! We love the polish.

Now go check out Tips4type1 and get some polish to paint your nails for World Diabetes Day!

WDD in pictures. Plus a few words thrown in too

We had a nice WDD here in North Texas. We met up with the Houston clan for lunch and some fun on a carousel. Then we joined some other Moms from the local yahoo group at Dave & Busters (think grown-up Chuck E Cheese). We don't go to many of the get-togethers with the yahoo group, only because their kiddos are a lot older than Elise. But we had a great time and it was nice to meet some new people.

Pictures from yesterday:

nails painted blue? Check!

Mattias wore blue too!

Woo-hoo, carousel fun!

Elise, Sophie and Emma

Fred and Elise

Wearing the shirts from last year

More carousel

Jim and Super Nate!

Even Fred painted his nails

Family pic... Mattias is a little camera shy

Showing off our nails

All in all, a pretty good day. Numbers behaved (until last night), and Elise LOVED hanging out with all the kids. I feel like I dropped the ball with the shirts this year. I had so much fun getting the shirts printed up and shipped out to everyone, but I just didn't have the time to do it this time around. Hopefully next year, I will have my stuff together, and be able to take orders starting in the early summer.

Happy WDD everyone!