Diabetes Art Day 2014

My family moved states three months after my diagnosis. My mother figured I was having a hard time with everything, and took me to see a child therapist. She pulled out a bucket of McDonald's scented markers (really) and told me to draw a picture of how diabetes made me feel. At this point, I just stared at her for a few minutes until she changed tactics. It was a good try with a sound theory, but my primary means of expression has been and probably always will be words. Writing. Emphatic speaking.

I made my entry back in October, but I never really explained it.

I started saving my insulin bottles after I was really getting into DSMA chats, specifically to create this image. The idea is that everyone in the DOC experiences diabetes differently. We are bound by our carb-counting ways, by medication and misunderstandings. In that regard we are the same. To me, diabetes management means one thing. For you, it probably means something a little different. For someone who is not diabetic, but is really trying to understand diabetes, they have to take in each shade of experience and blend them together to get the full picture. My management is red, and yours might be blue, but diabetes is altogether a spectrum that can't really be measured through one experience or one color.

And that, my friends, is the idea behind this image. 

Spare a Rose, Save a Child: Ditch Flowers this Valentine's Day.

February has just begun, and Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. The traditional gifts to give your sweetheart include chocolates and flowers, but what if you could give your darling something equally as inexpensive but infinitely more meaningful? What if I told you that for the cost of a rose ($5), you could provide a month's worth of insulin to a child in need? Through the Spare A Rose campaign, you can.

Why? In many countries around the world, a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes is a death sentence, and a child can die within a year of diagnosis.

Let me tell you a story about how it feels when I don't get insulin and my blood sugar goes high. It's hot. It's dry. I'm super, super thirsty. This unquenchable thirst would be bad enough on its own, but every time I take a drink I become more nauseated. So, there's general discomfort, tiredness, thirst, and nausea. Oh, yeah. There's also the peeing. Lots and lots of peeing. I'm sorry, but there really is no describing the total discomfort that comes along with high blood sugar if you've never experienced it. It's terrible, and this is how I feel after a few hours without insulin. I cannot fathom how it feels to exist like this for an entire year, not knowing if it will end.

So if you're looking for a way into your sweetie's heart, consider sparing a rose to save a child.