Tag Archives: running

Wego Health, Pinboard Day

16 Monday Apr 2012

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Pinboard. Create a pinterest board for your health focus. Pin 3 things. What did you pin? Share the images in a post and explain why you chose them.

Here are a few images from my “Living Well With Diabetes” board on Pinterest:

First, thanks Kim Vlasnik, because there is something beautiful about illness.

Next, this is meant to remind me not to beat myself up over a bad number. Take a deep breath and keep going.

 

 

 

 

Finally, this image reminds me that a life in balance = happiness. I am a much better mom, wife, friend, daughter, runner, writer and diabetic when my life is in balance.

Tattoo-ing my Omnipod

24 Friday Feb 2012

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I recently interviewed Jessica Floeh, designer and founder of Hanky Pancreas about her cute and fashionable “wearable diabetes technologies.” Interested in the social and psychological issues of living with chronic illness, she describes her product line as:

“a series of fashionable products for wearable diabetes technologies. Current products consist of scarves, neck pieces, and decorative elements that envelop these devices. The goal is to ignite positive conversations and holistically improve health for those living with diabetes.”

Jessica and I had a great conversation about what it means for women to wear a piece of ‘durable medical equipment’ on our bodies every single day. She and I both wear the omnipod and she is working to create a design that will be omnipod appropriate. (Can’t wait!) Her current designs work on wired insulin pumps such as Medtronic. Jessica said she often feels conflicted when clients tell her they love her products because they are “a great way to hide the pump.” That’s not what she’s after. Jessica says she wants to address the current shame that comes with wearing a pump, and the desire to hide, rather than display, this life saving device.

This got me to thinking about my own love/hate with the omnipod. I love what it does for me, but I hate that I have to wear it.

It’s ugly. It’s plastic. It hurts sometimes. It sticks out under my clothes. It’s always there.

So I do my best to hide it. (Sorry Jessica!) and sometimes, I go without the omnipod in the summer when I’m wearing sleeveless dresses, tank tops and bathingsuits. I’m vain, pure and simple. But maybe not….maybe, instead of hiding and feeling embarrassed of my omnipod, I could make it look cool. I could make it pretty?

So I asked my son to tattoo my pod and here’s the result. I have to say I think it looks pretty cool. I even felt like showing it off this morning on my run, while I wore a sleeveless shirt because of this freaky warm weather, and it made me feel cool. Thanks Jessica for the idea, and thanks Will for the great art!

Coping Skills…When Diabetes Gets You Down.

09 Thursday Feb 2012

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I like to think that I have pretty good coping skills. I’m lucky for so many reasons and when I’m having a bad day, I can always call my mom who makes me feel better. I’ve got all those things that matter: a loving and supportive husband, great kids, and my writing. I’d like to say that I’ve got my health too, because a lot of the time I feel pretty strong and healthy (when I’m running), but I won’t because I have a chronic illness, and on days like today, when my blood sugar won’t get below 250, I feel sick. I feel tired. I am short with my kids. I am stressed out about finances and don’t know if my blood sugar is high because I’m stressed, or I’m stressed because my blood sugar is high. On days like today it feels like a lose/lose, and there are no coping skills strong enough (exercise, red wine, coffee, reading, writing, fresh air, extra insulin….) to pull me through.

I hate to complain. I hate to feel sorry for myself. “There is always someone worse off than you,” my grandmother used to say, and I know she meant to make me feel better, but it didn’t. I want to curl up in bed and escape into a book, but I’ve got my boys who need dinner and baths and books before their day is done. I want a day off from Diabetes. I want to be able to eat without thinking, to run without worrying about being low, to wake up without worrying about being high, to run my hands over my skin and not feel a pump. One day off would be nice. Either that or some improved coping skills, because mine aren’t cutting it….

Running with the Omnipod

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

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Most of the time when I am running, I feel strong, healthy and powerful. I am fast as I run through the slowly waking neighborhoods surrounding our house. The streets are dark and sometimes, the newspaper delivery guy in his small red car speeds past, tossing papers in their blue plastic onto the wet from dew driveways. I am strong and gaining speed, I don’t feel like someone with a chronic illness. Most of the time anyway.

Some mornings if I am slow, I worry about my blood sugar…am I high? am I low? I carry my glucose tabs in my hand, switching from left to right as I go. I wear my pod on my lower back or my arm and in the winter it doesn’t matter because no one can see the pod beneath my running clothes. A recent question posted on tudiabetes about running with an omnipod peaked my curiosity. A member wrote:

Hey everyone! I have my appt. next week with my Pump Educator to get me going on the OmniPod! I was wondering about you people that are runners, can you share any tips? In my mind I am thinking I will like having the pod in my triceps area, but maybe you can share with me what sites you have found that work well while out running.

I immediately wrote about about how I wear my pod on my arm or my lower back and how it’s never a problem and I think I jinxed myself.

Last night I changed my pod and placed it on the back of my right arm. This morning I went out for my run and halfway through I felt a stabbing pain. I ignored it for a few minutes and eventually had to stop. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and had to pull the neck down so I could look at my arm and I have to say, I expected the worst. I thought for sure I’d see blood. But there was nothing. So I kept running and tried to ignore the pain but I cursed the pod all the way home.

The pain went away when I stooped running, but I know it’ll pinch again tomorrow morning. It hurts a little when I move my arm around so i’m guessing that I just got unlucky…I hit a bad spot when I attached the Omnipod. What I don’t want to do is remove it and waste a $30 pod. (Plus the 50+ units of remaining insulin).

What bothers me the most is not the money, but a run that hurts. A run that is hindered because of my insulin pump. A run where I don’t get to feel strong, healthy and powerful.