yayislets!

2011-07-24T08:32:00.002-04:00

Sitting outside listening to the early morning in Pohdunk Mi makes living here in February worth it.

I haven't been writing much not because I'm burned out or anything like that, but because everything is just so normal.

It's exactly what the whole thing was about.

2011 Chicago Marathon

2011-06-19T16:29:00.004-04:00

Runners it's not too late to sign up for the 2011 Chicago Marathon. Cellmatesontherun still has entry slots available. Registration ends June 30. more info here.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Chicago Santa Speedo Run, Dec 4. 2010.

2010-11-15T19:39:00.004-05:00

You know you want to!

Strip down to your (almost) skivvies and run in the cold for a charity (not to mention the beer and snacks before hand at Shenanigan's in Downtown Chi).

The event's organizer is Type 1, her brother is also type 1 so you know the cause is close to their heart (and mine). Last year they had around 150 runners and this year they're hoping to double that so all of you crazy runners out there get even more crazy and take it off (well not all of it) for Diabetes!

Details @ http://www.chicagosantaspeedorun.com/

and on Facebook.

More Derby

2010-10-17T21:55:00.003-04:00

I think I'm in an abusive relationship with roller derby, and I love it.

I am sore like you wouldn't believe it today, not because I took some massive hit that is worth talking about or that I skated my booty off.

noooo

I got new wheels. It's exciting. The ones that came with my skates were not appropriate for the floor we skate on so I bought better, more maneuverable, way way pinker wheels and I fell on my butt in the middle of my kitchen floor 15 minutes after I put them on.

Can you say ouch boys and girls?

Practice today was pointless. I only lasted an hour and a half.

My ribs hurt, my shoulder is never going to heal, and I have a giant bruise on my right butt cheek.

However when I gave up on practice my blood sugar was 92.

So yeah, that's good.

oh and I finally picked a Derby name.

Black Islet

kinda has a ring to it, no?

Dinner, Polymer Chemistry, and yay! I managed to not puke. ;)

2010-10-14T20:21:00.006-04:00

So the dinner for The Chicago Diabetes Project was awesome. When I got there the first thing I saw was a bigass camera and thought "oh crap" but lucky me they were gone by the time I spoke and poor Sandy, one of my fellow islet recipients had the joy of being followed around by CBS Chicago. You can read the brief article and watch the video that was aired in Chicago Monday night here.

Speaking was easier then I thought it would be and I was just so honored to be there and be able to talk to the people that make everything possible. At dinner I sat at a table with one of the researchers from Slovakia. He's working with polymers for islet cell encapsulation and he talked a little bit about both primate and human trials being done with encapsulated islets around the world.

The dinner was very nice, I especially enjoyed meeting all of the amazing scientists, donors, researchers, doctors, and other islet recipients and I didn't puke or cry while I was up there speaking.

so proud! ha

go cdp!

What I thought about right before I started speaking. ;)

Oh yeaaah,

That's me.

In a mermaid costume...

To puke or not to puke, that is the question.

2010-10-06T22:20:00.003-04:00

Sooo, I got a phone call today from one of the nurses at UIC and was asked if I'd speak at the Chicago Diabetes Project's dinner on Monday.

Of course, I said yes, but usually when I'm in front of a crowd, the crowd consists of kids age five to ten, and I'm making balloons animals.

So yeah, I'm already nervous.

I think I'm going to puke

or cry.

probably cry, cause damn, I'm like that.

*sigh*

Long Time No See

2010-10-02T20:01:00.007-04:00

I can't believe it's been over two months since I've posted. Yikes! Time flies when you're uber busy with, um, stuff.

In August my A1c was back down to 6.0, exercising has paid off. Big surprise eh? Yeah, the hard part was finding a form of exercise I really enjoyed cause I've always been the "running is for when scary people chase you" kind of gal.

That being said, I discovered skating and I've become a tad obsessed. Now when I say skating I don't mean the Dorothy Hamil kind or even the skateboarding kind, which I do enjoy, I mean the put on some quad skates, a short skirt, a bad attitude, and knock your fellow roller girl over kind of skating. Yep, I joined my local roller derby and I think I'm in love. ;)

Skating on an almost daily basis however has done some weird things to my blood sugars. I've started having random lows in the range of 50-70 about once a week and I have to stop to eat after skating an hour or so to refuel or I definitely feel low. Power bars and Taco Bell have become my best friends.

My shoulder is still screwed up, it's not as painful but I still don't have full range of motion. I have an appointment with an orthopedic doc in a couple of weeks. Hopefully he'll have something new to suggest. If not I guess I'll have to try PT for the third time. Or I could just ignore it and hope it goes away. I'm sure the latter would not be approved by Dr. Transplant and the folks at UIC. ;)

and speaking of approval, I haven't mentioned the whole Roller Derby thing to them so, yeah, shhh! cause exercise, good, track rash from not so sanitary track floor, not so good.

In other news

October 11, I'll be in Chicago for "dinner and dialogue" with the folks at the Chicago Diabetes Project. I'm looking forward to it. In addition to being able to meet my fellow islet transplant recipients, and learning something new about the whole process, I'll also be able to talk to the research scientists that make it all possible. That, to me, is the best part cause how do you say thank you for something like that? For the most part they're behind the scenes and don't get to see the results of their efforts. Hopefully being there to say thank you in person will make things more tangible.

what I'd like to do is line them all up and hug the shit out of 'em.

woot!

yay scientists!

and I'm off

cause I'm late and there's a pair of skates and wood floor nearby that have my name on them....

Transplant Games

2010-07-27T20:40:00.003-04:00

The 2010 U.S Transplant Games begin July 30. Check it out!

So the picture is cut in half. click on the video to go to youtube and see the whole thing. :)

Electrolytes anyone?

2010-07-21T22:33:00.003-04:00

So Monday I went to work and at said fine fine establishment there is what I affectionately call "The SmellyZone". Its an area of the building close enough to dumpsters that in the hot summer reeks like, for lack of a better way to describe it, hot diapers and decay. It's just that lovely. Any way, I had the joy of working in the SmellyZone on Monday. It was not fun. Immunosupression drugs seem to make me uber sensitive to smells. Said smells tend ot make me nauseous. You see where I"m going with this?

yeah. I was pretty crabby by the end of the day.

So, my work day over, I went about my usual after work type of business and around 5pm passed out on the couch in a well deserved nap and woke up about 30 minutes later in excruciating pain when every muscle in my toes, foot calf, ham strings and butt cheek decided to spasm. After what was probably the longest 3 minutes of my summer, I finally got my partners attention and she stuck a bottle of Gatorade in my face and my muscles relaxed enough that I could move.

Gatorade seemed to have fixed things but that night i had cramping again. In the morning I talked my transplant coordinator about it and after having some blood work done discovered my thyroid levels are too high and magnesium and sodium levels too low.

Today, after a day of magnesium supplements, I feel like a new woman. No muscle aches, no joint pain, no nausea.

It's amazing what a little salt lick will do for you.

As for my thyroid levels, meds can easily be adjusted.

Moral of my story?

It's summer time. if you have diabetes or spend a lot of time in the heat keep hydrated, but not only that keep salted.

Trust me on this one.

You'll be glad you did.

On the Islet front.

2010-06-27T13:21:00.004-04:00

My trip to Chicago for the most part went well. My islet cells are still producing huge amounts of insulin while by blood sugars are running a little higher then they should. Why I'm having issues with insulin resistance is a puzzle since I'm not over weight and didn't have resistance before my transplant. The game plan now is to increase aerobic exercise in order to increase insulin receptors in my muscles.

I have since started walking minimum of 3 miles a day and I'm seeing some results already in my fasting blood sugars. Now we just need my post meal numbers to start coming down a little faster!

While in Chicago I had a test called CIMT done. CIMT is an ultrasound of the walls of the carotid (neck) arteries, the thickness of which can be reflective of the health of coronary (heart) arteries. I also accidentally had C-reactive protein (a marker for heart disease) tested instead of c-peptides. Both the carotid artery u/s and c-reactive protein results were excellent. Which makes me happy since I've had diabetes for 30 years, been on cholesterol lowering meds for 20, and both of my parents had heart disease at a young age.

Kinda makes me feel like I'm doing something right. It's either my snack obsession with popcorn or celery. I can't think of anything else I do all that consistently, but eat those. ;)

I'm guessing its the celery.

or else the popcorn.

It is a whole grain after all...

Green Bean. Caught in the midst of mischief. Naughty bird likes wires.

Chicago Marathon 2010

2010-06-18T12:31:00.000-04:00

The Chicago Marathon is sold out, however if you'd still like to run, you can join CellmatesOnTheRun, and help support diabetes research at the same time.

You can find registration info here.

2010-06-17T12:03:00.002-04:00

I'm heading to Chicago Sunday for a 3 month follow up appointment with the islet cell transplant team as UIC. I'll be having two more metabolic tests done. The first an IV glucose tolerance test and the second a glucagon stimulation test. Both will give the research team a better idea of how my islets are functioning. I'll finally be able to talk to them about the results of the metabolic tests I had done in April.

Hopefully this next set of tests will be better then the April's. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me and I'll let you know what they say.

btw. June's donation goes to the American Cancer Societies Relay For Life.

It's Tranniversary Time!

2010-05-15T10:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of my islet cell transplant. I'm still off insulin, have minimal side effects from the current immunosupression meds I'm on, and even though my blood sugars are occasionally higher then I'd like to see them my over all control is great.

Would I do it all again?

you bet.

Happy tranniversary to me!

Chicago and Back Again

2010-04-24T07:37:00.002-04:00

I went to Chicago this weekend for yeartly metabolic testing. This time the results weren't exactly what I wanted to see.

The first test, an oral glucose tolerance test, my blood sugar spiked at 216, which isn't all that bad, but it ended at 152 when it should have been under 140. They also said that my c-peptides were high. Really high. like 9.6 when the upper end of normal is around 3.4.

Once again I don't think they really know what to do with me because they're not sure why I get the results I do. They've mentioned that it could very well be my weird anatomy and whacky vasculature, but like I said. they're not sure.

I have two more sets of metabolic tests to be done in June and hopefully they'll be more normal like. We'll see, until then I haven't been told to change anything.

On the non islet front, I was diagnosed this past week with frozen shoulder. It's fairly common with people that have type 1 diabetes and I'm not sure what triggered it, but I start physical therapy this week. yay

Dr. O at UIC has reluctantly said I can use Motrin if I need it during P.T as long as I drink a lot of water to help protect my kidneys. Nsaids in combination with immunosupression medications are harsh on the kidneys.

Yet another good reason for islet cell encapsulation to be approved for human trials soon. And that sadly takes funding on a national and private level, neither of which are free flowing in the current economy.

*sigh*

we all want a cure, no one wants to fund it.
btw. this months donation goes to CellmatesOntheRun because Dr. O ran in the Boston Marathon on Monday. And how else to I say thank you for being a crazy person that runs all the time to raise money for people like you and me?

sigh

2010-03-30T16:26:00.002-04:00

I got a bad haircut today. Not just a little bad, really bad. Bad, as in, I'll be getting a second haircut in a few days to fix the enormous badness of it all kind bad.

That being said I donated it again to Children With Hair loss, and a child will be getting a new head of hair out of it, so it's all good.

So here's my theme song for the day.

Yay bad hair.

Community Heath Charities

2010-03-21T13:17:00.004-04:00

This month's donation is heading to Community Health Charities.

CHC's Michigan chapter supports a number of health related charities in Michigan including the American Diabetes Association.

You can find your state's chapter here if you are so inclined.

Links of course in the side bar.

Haiku And

2010-03-20T12:52:00.006-04:00

So much depends on
the singing of a bird on
a cold winter's day.

Green Bean two days after my last trip to Chicago.

He gets upset every time I leave him for more then a night and chews his feathers until he's naked.

His feathers are finally starting to come back in.

After my transplant the only feathers he had left were the ones he couldn't reach on his head.

So sad.

It's rough being little and green.

The poem is something I wrote soon after I got my first bird 20 years ago.

Next Stop, Chicago Marathon

2010-03-19T21:47:00.005-04:00

Cellmates On The Run met their fund raising goal of $10,000 for the 2010 Shamrock Shuffle this weekend. The race is Sunday so it's not to late to help blow that goal out of the water!

Check it out.

Random Entertainment - Tilt Shift

2010-03-05T10:59:00.003-05:00

Small life in Saxon Switzerland.

by Christoph Schaarschmidt

Music:
Rocky Votolato
Uppers aren´t Necessary

Children's Rare Disease Network

2010-02-13T19:03:00.001-05:00

We decided this month's donation should go to Children's Rare Disease Network.

Children's Rare Disease Network provides education, support and resources to parents, families of children with rare diseases, as well as the researchers that support them. Diseases like Ivemark Syndrome and MODY syndrome. Diseases that are less understood and well, largely underfunded in the research spectrum.

You can find more information about CRDN here.

Just Because

2010-02-12T18:38:00.007-05:00

For some reason the people in my life like to give me salt and pepper shakers. I'm not a particular fan of salt and pepper shakers, but I suppose it's better then being given candy dishes or sugar bowls and honestly, I've come to appreciate them for the gifts that they are and the thought behind each odd pair that I now own.

My most recent set are two love birds. They stand about 3 inches tall and my parrotlet seems to think they're pretty cool. He sat there and chattered at them until he got bored and went off to play with the parakeet.

He's a goofy little bird.

Bank Of America Shamrock Shuffle / Chicago Marathon 2010

2010-02-07T23:05:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year again.

If you're thinking about running in the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8k Sunday, March 21, 2010 or in the 2010 Chicago Marathon, October 10, 2010 please consider joining CellmatesOnTheRun in running for a cure for diabetes.

You can find information about CellmatesOnTheRun and the Chicago Diabetes Project here, and for a personal look at the work the CDP with diabetes research and islet transplantation feel free to peruse my blog or email me at parrotletzoo@gmail.com.

Oh and by the way, my liver biopsy was all normal like. I haven't heard if they found any islets in the tissue taken during the bipsy yet. I'll keep you updated as soon as I hear anything more.

Yayhealthylivers!

Home Again, Home Again, Riggity-jig

2010-01-21T12:22:00.003-05:00

My gallbladder is out, I'm home, off pain meds and all is well.

Sounds great but the road was rough getting here. Because I have Situs Inversus or more accurately Situs Ambiguous. along with vascular abnormalities, my surgery took longer then normal. Four times longer. The surgery went well, the healing is also going well but the first few days I kept having muscle spasms in my abdomen that left me gasping for breath and well, crying, which really is not like me. I usually can handle pain. Not this time. I was a whiny blubbering baby about the whole thing. But damn, it hurt like hell!

Once one of the doctors figured out I was having muscle spasms and gave me a muscle relaxer the whiny blubbery-ness went away and I went home. Yay!

I also consented to having a liver biopsy done at the same time. I have tumors on my liver two of which have already been determined to be hemangiomas and another was one of those things no one is really sure about, so yeah, good times. I also gave permission so the researchers could look for islets in the liver tissue and all such happiness. I'll let you know what the results are as soon as I find out.

Keep your fingers crossed for tumor - benign, and islets - many.

Thankyouverymuch!

Robots and Gallstones.

2010-01-09T20:28:00.004-05:00

The gallbladder is coming out. Thursday. It's the one organ in my abdomen that's in the right place and it's jumping ship.

I've known for a while that I have gallstones but they've finally gotten annoying enough that my gallbladder needs to come out.

So tomorrow I'm off to Chicago for my quarterly appointment and surgery on Thursday. Dr. Transplant is going to do the surgery robotically and all I can think of is Logan's Run, because that movie seriously warped my impressionable brain way way back in the 70's when I first saw it. Now every time I think of robotic surgery I think of this scene and the machine going all bazerkers and shit.

So anyway, yay robots!

Maybe I'll tell Dr. Transplant he can give my gallbladder to someone that needs it more then me.

It's all about giving this year.

btw. this month's donation goes to Leader Dogs For The Blind.

Holidays and Resolutions

2009-12-23T22:03:00.002-05:00

Well, it's that time of year again and I've been thinking about holiday giving and New Year's resolutions.

Every year my siblings and I, along with our spouses do a gift exchange. I had a difficult time deciding what to buy this year because lets face it. Most of us, by the time we are the ages of myself and my siblings, don't really need anything. This year we already bought gifts but we've also decided to give a donation in someones name in addition to gift giving.

And my partner and I have decided to keep on giving this year as our New Year's resolution. Every month a different charity, each month giving in honor or someone we love.

We actually started the donation of the month club in October with Cellmates On the Run, and the whole Chicago Diabetes Project/Chicago marathon thing that I wouldn't stop blogging about. November, we donated to a local shelter for victims of domestic violence and this month Heifer International.

Diabetes and Organ donation aren't the only passions in my life and I'm an annoying blogger like that, so you know I'll be posting monthly links to each organization. If you have any suggestions please either email me or post comments.

Our only guidelines? Nothing political and donations need to either be 1. medical research related or 2. directly impact individuals in need.

Thanks for your suggestions and Happy Christwanzakah.

Encouragement goes a long way.

2009-12-13T23:46:00.007-05:00

So today I was in line at the gas station all queued up to buy coffee. A woman was in front of me holding an apple. She kept eyeballing the candy bars nearby and then looking at the apple, over and over. I could almost see the thought process going on in her head.

Apple, or chocolate? Apple? Chocolate?

Finally, with visible resignation she reached towards the candy and I found myself whispering, "Don't do it!".

And she stopped.

I wasn't sure if she even heard me until after she paid for her apple and gas and walked past me on her way out the door,

and whispered, "Thank you".

Funny how (minus the coffee) I ate better today too.

Sometimes it's just good to know you're not in it alone.

Santa Speedo Run Chicago 2009

2009-12-02T22:47:00.004-05:00

When: 11:00 am, December 12, 2009

Where: Shenanigan's Bar, 16 W. Division, Chicago

Details: Santa Speedo Run for The Chicago Diabetes Project

It's only a mile down Rush St and back up Michigan.

You know you want to!

Well, at least sponser a crazy person. Here.

Danke.

Did you know?

2009-11-17T12:25:00.002-05:00

# More than 100,000 men, women and children currently need life-saving organ transplants.

# Every 11 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.

# An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.

# In 2008, there were 7,984 deceased organ donors and 6,218 living organ donors resulting in 27,961 organ transplants.

# In 2007, approximately 30,000 grafts were made available for transplant by eye banks within the United States.

# According to research, 98% of all adults have heard about organ donation and 86% have heard of tissue donation.

# 90% of Americans say they support donation, but only 30% know the essential steps to take to be a donor.

Find your state's organ donor registrey here.

Thank you from the bottom of my liver.

World Diabetes Day 2009

2009-11-15T00:23:00.003-05:00

I made this as part of a project that I'm doing for work this month.

Vaccinations and Small County Livin'.

2009-11-06T18:51:00.005-05:00

I live in a small county right next to a much more populated county, and by "right next to" I mean quite literally, across the street. The kids from the schools that are closed due to H1N1 in my county could throw stones at the kids from schools closed due to H1N1 in the county next door. Oh wait. the majority of them go to the same schools. but guess what? (I bet you've already guessed where I'm going) The peoples in the more densely populated county right across the street, working in the same offices. going to the same public places and the same schools, have access to H1N1 vaccinations, and the peoples in my county? Not so much.

Big county next door got H1N1 vaccinations almost two weeks ago. Podunk county? Three days. I called both counties offices. Big? available to the highest risk group, kids, people working with kids, pregnant peoples and people with compromised immune systems. Podunk county? They've got them but not for the chronically ill and immuno compromised unless you happen to be under 19.

So what's a paranoid girl to do?

Travel 10 hours round trip to Chicago to the clinical research center at UIC on Monday. They've got vaccinations for all of the patients in the study, and I oh so appreciate that they do, but Monday's going to be a long long day for one silly shot that IMO should be available right next door.

I was never paranoid about germs before immuno suppression.

Really.

I wasn't.

Things I learned from my mother about Diabetes,.

2009-10-21T15:43:00.011-04:00

My mother lived with type 1 diabetes for 52 years.

She taught me everything I need to know about it.

Read. Educate yourself. Never stop learning.

and never ever quit trying.

Good lesson for a lot things in life.

Have I Ever Mentioned?

2009-10-14T00:36:00.000-04:00

Just how much I appreciate those of you that register as organ donors?

I do!

Yayyou!

p.s if you haven't signed up yet, find your state's registry here

Cellmates On The Run in New York!

2009-10-14T00:30:00.002-04:00

Some of the fine folks that ran for CellmatesOnTheRun in the Chicago marathon will also be running in the New York marathon on November 1st.

They'll be listed as a partnering charity.

It's not too late to give some love and donate!

yay!

Appointments and Marathons

2009-10-12T19:27:00.002-04:00

I had my quarterly appointment at UIC's clinical research center last Tuesday. My A1C was 6.3 for the second time in a row so I've been put back on Januvia. My fasting blood sugars are good. My blood sugar is staying up longer then it s should and while 6.3 isn't a horrible number I agree with Dr. Transplant that Januvia is a good idea.

My gallbladder will most likely be coming out in January. Unless I have symptoms again, then it will come out sooner.

I also have an angiomyolipoma on my kidney. It's a benign tumor. 2003 is the first time I can remember it showing up on any kind of scan or ultrasound and nothing has ever been done about it. I was told once it was benign but I've never had any follow up so UIC wants it checked out as a precaution. That will be happening sometime in January too. yay

on funner notes

We went to the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. We got there at 7:30. There was a high school race (I think 3miles?) then the wheelchair racers started, professional runners started and then everyone else. It was really cool to be able to be down there to cheer everyone on. I finally lost my voice from yelling around 1pm and we decided to head out even though there were still a lot of people running.

Now, I appreciate even more the runners that raised money for the Chicago Diabetes Project and diabetes research in general. CellmatesOnTheRun wasn't the only Diabetes related charity represented. We saw a few different organizations' shirts run by.

So to everyone that ran for a charity. Thanks!

To CellmatesOnTheRun, especially Dr. Oberholzer for encouraging people to run, and Amber, nurse extraordinaire, for raising more the twice her original goal and for being awesome in general, Thank you!

Yaycrazypeoplethatrunforacause!

What I Did Today

2009-10-09T18:17:00.003-04:00

climbed this big stinking hill.

And got lost at the top.

Thank the gods for GPS.

btw. I didn't need glucose tabs!

yayislets!

Marathon Time!

2009-10-08T23:30:00.002-04:00

This weekend is the Chicago marathon.

NO, I'm not running, but I'm going to be there to cheer on Dr. Oberholzer and Amber and the other fabulous folks that are running for CellmatesOnTheRun.

If I haven't already talked about it enough, let me say it again. CellmatesOnTheRun is an international group of physician, nurses, researchers, staff and supporters of the Chicago Diabetes Project.

Chicago Diabetes Project is in turn an international group of physician, researchers, nurses... you get the picture right?.... working to cure diabetes. UIC's islet transplant program is an integral part of CDP. I had my transplant there so of course I'm a big fan.

Let's be honest tho, I'm a big fan of anyone working as hard as the people at CDP to cure Diabetes. I figure cheering till I haave no voice left is the least I can do for them, considering everything they've done for me and diabetes research in general.

Anywho, I'll be there Sunday at Mile 25 (Michigan and 16th, on the west side of the street), Chicago.

Come join us.

The show starts at 7:30am.

yay!

Scattered Entertainment

2009-10-07T01:35:00.002-04:00

It's been months and I have no excuse so here's some music to entertain until I'm home and can post more about islets and stuff.

Chicago Marathon is this weekend, so yeah guess where I am. Cheering on some crazy folk that like to run. good entertainment.

watch this

Pomplamoose is yummy

Surprise!

2009-07-31T22:36:00.003-04:00

Sooo, for the past few months I've been dealing with what I thought was heartburn, an ulcer, one of my meds causing stomach pain or something along those lines, but today I got a phone call from transplant coordinator nurse extraordinaire, and she said in not so many words "surprise! you have gallstones!".

How do they know this?

July I had my annual lets make sure nothing has gone horribly awry with study patient, abdominal ultrasound. Turns out something was awry. I go back to Chicago in a week for an added appointment and I'm sure said stones will be discussed then.

Meanwhile, you can sell your stocks in Tums. Sales will be plummeting. I'm going to stop eating them like they're Skittles.

They never helped anyway.

Why I Love My Islets

2009-07-24T22:20:00.004-04:00

Summertime around here is one crazy whirlwind of a season. Let me explain.

My partner and I have a party rentals / kids entertainment business that for the most part functions April through October every year. In addition to this we both have day jobs that provide steady if somewhat meager wages and medical benefits.

The party business has a bounce house, popcorn poppers, cotton candy machines, and sno cone machines and in addition to that we also do face painting, and balloon twisting for things like birthday parties, church functions and corporate events. This season has been busy to say the very least and this leads me to the reason for the title of today's blog entry.

Today was a perfect example of why I love my islets.

I got up at 3:30am to get ready for my day job.

Worked from 4:30 - 9:00. It was a short day, thank Buddha.

10am we picked up a popcorn popper from a week long rental.

12noon bounce house set up. Now mind you, the bounce house weighs 275lbs, requires four 50lb sand bags to weigh it down, and the only equipment we use to get said items where they need to be are our van and a dolly. (can you say exhausting boys and girls?)

1pm -4pm balloon twisting, and general supervision of 50 kids in and out of the bounce house while their parents take full advantage of an open bar and the crazy lady with the balloons. Meanwhile Moe drove back across town to drop off a sno-cone rental.

4pm tear down, roll up, and load bounce house back into van, while trying to keep curious kids out of the way.
.
5pm drive back across town again to pick up sno cone machine.

6pm get home, unload popper, sno-cone machine, clean and sanitize machines and get supplies ready for tomorrow.

8pm, order a pizza and realize the last thing I ate was a bag of Cheetos at 6:30am.

8:15pm test my blood sugar and its 98.

and that is today's reason for loving my islets. ;)

yaysummer!

Labs Labs Labs and Some Irrelevant Stuff too

2009-07-13T18:51:00.003-04:00

Ok, I Promised, I shall deliver. Be prepared for boring.

Glucose (fasting) - 98
A1C - 6.0
Fructosamine 243

A1C and fructosamine are a little higher then I'd like them to be, but considering what I've eaten in the past month. yeah, I'll take it.

I don't have c-peptides yet and everything else is normal with the exception of hemoglobin (low at 10.9) and Platelets (High at 515). Neither of there are particularly concerning so yeah. good times.

In other not so interesting irrelevant news, chipmunks keep pulling up the radishes in my garden. I'd be all fine with sharing if they actually ate them, but no, they're like toddlers that want something and then decide its nasty after they try it. I got home from work today and there was a little pile of dried out roots on the ground.

Little buggers! It's a good thing chipmunks are cute.

Keyword Analysis

2009-07-09T23:20:00.005-04:00

Yeah, I have no life.

It's been awhile since I last checked to see which keywords were getting people to my blog. Today, I was curious, so here are a few of my favorites this time around.

1. nakid beaches. - sadly, none here.

2. one that included the phrase "hot nakid lady" with another phrase that together even I wouldn't post on my blog and I'm not easily offended. (all I'm saying here is ick)

keyword analysis makes me think that most people are really bad at searching the interwebby thingummy cause porn and nakidness, like savoire-faire, are everywhere and google searching for said items shouldn't be difficult or bring you here. It's mind boggling. Sometimes I just stare at such phrase and think "uuhhh??wuh??".

3. islet transplant abuse - none of that here either.

4. my friend mr. green - I hope, if you are still searching for your friend that you find him soon.

and my favorite

5. diabeticalness - I thought I made the word up!

gmta.

Millennium Park Chicago

2009-07-08T23:36:00.011-04:00

When I go to Chicago for my quarterly follow ups with UIC's islet transplant team I usually stay downtown at Hostel International Chicago. HI Chicago is on Congress at Wabash, which is about five blocks from Millennium Park. If you live in the Chicago area and have never been there I recommend and if you happen to be touristing in Chicago, skip Navy Pier and see the park. You won't be disappointed.

While I was there I took some photos with my junky camera phone. I'd have used a real camera but well, I failed to bring mine with. Such is life.

Crown Fountain consists of two towers facing each other with a shallow reflecting pool between them that people wade in. The towers are made of glass bricks. Each tower has video of various faces staring out smiling, not smiling. you get the picture.

The fountain spits. Cool beans!

Flowers in Lurie Garden, Millennium Park. There are flowers everywhere in Chicago. Millennium Park has a lot of flowers that grow wild where I live. It's odd to see them in the middle of the city.

Even odder were the bunnies we came across eating lilies. Pigeons I expect in cities, Squirrels, sure. The bunnies just caught me off guard and it seemed quite used to being stared at by goofy camera toting tourists. ;)

Chicago and Back Again

2009-07-07T22:05:00.008-04:00

I just returned from Chicago after my quarterly bit of fun. This visit involved two glucose tolerance tests, a CIMT (ultrasound of the carotid arteries), an abdominal ultrasound and an ekg. I did not however see Dr. Transplant. He is after all a transplant surgeon and can't always plan when organs are going to be available, so he was in surgery.

Going by the accuchecks that were done during the glucose tolerance testing I can pretty much guess that all is well in isletland. The ultrasound on the other hand is one of those things that just can't be judged by the testing itself, cause I know about my situs inversus (backwards innards) and polysplenia syndrome (too many spleens) and the other odd things associated with them (you can look those up yourself if you are so inclined) but the radiology tech didn't so ultrasound took a long time and there was much discussion about said goofiness. That being said I never really can tell if they're discussing new findings or just interesting (only to medical dorks, erm, professionals) findings,

My CIMT was good. This I know, because Paul over at Radiant Research said I have nice open arteries and that's a good thing boys and girls. CIMT is an ultrasound of the carotid arteries. The health of your carotid arteries reflects the health of your coronary arteries so clean carotids = clean coronaries.

When I get other labs back like A1c and such I shall post more. Promise ;)

Last but not least on my agenda tonight before I hit the hay, Amber, one of the awesome nurses over at UIC clinical research center is going to be running in the Chicago marathon with CellmatesOnTheRun. Her goal is to raise $1500 and she's almost there, so pretty please help her out and help diabetes research too!

Amber's fundraising site can be found here.

Thanks!

yayamber!

Happy 4th!

2009-07-03T14:09:00.002-04:00

Or in my tiny little Podunk world, happy 3rd cause that's when Podunkville celebrates it. Don't ask me why.

In the spirit of the holiday here's some important guidelines to help you get through the weekend.

enjoy

It's been awhile

2009-06-21T13:46:00.003-04:00

so you know I have to ask.

Have you registered as an organ donor yet?

All the cool kids are doing it.

Find your state's registry info here.

thanks!

yayyou!

Sponsor a Cellmate!

2009-06-20T15:11:00.003-04:00

If you haven't already checked out the above link for Cellmates On The Run, a fundraiser for the Chicago Diabetes Project, please do!.

If you already have and are thinking about donating or sponsoring a runner you can do that that here.

Thanks, from the bottom of my liver.

Squirrel Nut Zippers and well, Squirrel Nut Zippers

2009-06-02T01:43:00.006-04:00

One of the joys of being euglycemic is I can now peruse the bulk bins of nasty stale candy that no one really wants to eat at local farm market. At said local farm market one must walk past the candy to get to the things that farm markets might call checklanes and pay for one's goods. Today I found a bin of these:

so I bought some, cause even kind of stale and crunchy on the edges Squirrel Nut Zippers are yummy and delightful. mmmmm

The candies got me to thinking about another bunch of yummy and delightful Squirrel Nut Zippers. Yep, these:

so I thought I'd treat you to this:

have a nice day.

Random Entertainment 5/22

2009-05-23T00:21:00.000-04:00

Hypothyroid + intolerance to cold = a good thing?

2009-05-05T01:08:00.003-04:00

I spent the winter freezing my everything off because 1, my apartment has no insulation and 2 my thyroid levels were off. No thyroid + not enough synthroid = big fat brr!!!

so now my thyroid meds are at the appropriate level (yay), and it's spring time and warmer and such and hell if I can't sleep because it's too freeking warm in here.

*sigh* where's the intolerance to any temp under 80 when you need it?

btw, the islets are still going strong.

yaybetacellfunction!

Random Entertainment for the week 4/30

2009-04-30T23:13:00.003-04:00

It's been a while, so here's a two for one special.

Cheryl Wheeler, Gandhi/Buddha and the counter to it.

btw. she has a new album out. you can order it from Goldenrod Music if ye be so inclined.

This one's for Moe.

and I'd like to think Moe would never counter with this version, but yeah, she puts up with a lot from me. :)

Two weeks and a second opinion later

2009-04-21T18:00:00.003-04:00

Dr. Endo at UIC has decided I don't need radioactive iodine. yay. I'm all content with that cause it was something I really didn't want to do.

I had my quarterly followup in Chicago with the islet transplant team. My A1c was 5.9, a little higher then in January but nothing to be concerned about. I had two metabolic tests done one was an oral glucose tolerance test and the other a glucagon stimulation test. Many of you are familiar with the oral gtt. It involves drinking yummy (bleh) orange syrup and then waiting around for a couple of hours while they draw blood. Glucagon stimulation testing is pretty much the same only glucagon is given rather then the tastey orange gunk.

Anyway, my ogtt results were normal. At the last blood draw my blood sugar was 108. I don't have the results from the glucagon stimulation test yet. I could get it but it can wait until my next appointment in July.

I have to apologize, I've gotten boring in my current state of euglycemia and good health.

Have I mentioned lately that I love my islets?

I do.

Yayislets!

btw, if you haven't already, check out the CellmatesOnTheRun site and think about supporting a runner. Good Karma dude!

Random Entertainment for the Week 4/6

2009-04-06T21:28:00.000-04:00

Thyroid Scans and a video to boot!

2009-03-24T22:36:00.005-04:00

Two weeks ago i had a TMS scan to make sure all of my thyroid tissues are gone after surgery and cancer and all that happy jazz. It was pretty non-eventful. Over the course of a week, I had two injection of thyrogen, a capsule of radioactive iodine and was scanned from head to knees. Why head to knees and not head to toe you ask? I wondered the same thing. Apparently they're not worried about thyroid cancer migrating to the shins or ankles or something like that

Anyway, I needed to get a copy of the radiology report to take to my next trip to Chicago and since I have yet to hear from my local endocrinologist about said test results I figured today was a fine day to drop by the hospital and get me a little piece of paper that I was sure would say I was all good and cured and such.

Well, I'm not sort of. Cured probably. Good kinda. Maybe. What I'm trying to say is there is still thyroid tissue showing up in my neck after having had my thyroid gland removed. Since they can't guarantee that it's not left over cancer cells the report recommended more radioactive iodine to obliterate it. Yay,

But like I said, I haven't heard from Dr Endo yet, so we'll see what he has to say and what Dr. Transplant thinks when I see him in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, I have a little rant. Warner Brothers and Youtube are in a spat so all videos with WB content are being pulled, including more then a few videos I've posted as Random Entertainment over the past year.

So fine, here's an original from David Choi. I had to pull one of his videos for above reasons and I like David Choi's music.

WB can stick it. Originals are better anyway.

You can check out David Choi's youtube channel here if you are so inclined.

oh and BooWarnerBrothers!

greedybastards.

Once again, It's That Time Of The Month.

2009-03-22T19:09:00.001-04:00

to remind everyone you love to go register for organ donation.

It's good juju.

If you live in Texas, check out LifeGift.

Elsewhere in the US? Find your state's registry here.

and in Europe check out the European Commission website on Organ Donation.

Thank you.

2009 Chicago Marathon Anyone?

2009-03-21T18:23:00.008-04:00

I know, I know, it's not until October but if you're thinking about training for a marathon, you're thinking about it already.

Personally, I reserve running for times when really scary people are chasing me, but I'm happy to support the crazyees that do enjoy a 26.2 mile bit of self induced torture.

And in turn some of them support the diabetes community.

CellmatesOnTheRun is a team whose goal is to raise money for The Chicago Diabetes Project, an organization near and dear to my heart (and liver). CDP helps fund UIC's islet transplant program. I talk about CDF and UIC incessantly so I know, you know they're the peeps that did my islet transplant.

If you live in the Chicago area they'll even help you train and such. It's a win-win situation!

so yeah, go sign up.

All the cool kids are doing it.

YayCellmatesOnTheRun!

Random Entertainment For The Week 3/21

2009-03-21T17:51:00.001-04:00

Welcome to spring.

Random Entertainment For The Week 3/13

2009-03-13T11:13:00.001-04:00

Random Entertainment For The Week 3/8

2009-03-08T15:44:00.002-04:00

Ok it's really Random entertainment for two weeks because I was lazy and didn't post last week.

bad me

have fun.

ha ha

2009-02-22T02:09:00.003-05:00

honestly, I don't get twitter.

anyone care to esplain?

btw click on the foto to enlarge.

Random Entertainment For The Week 2/21

2009-02-21T22:46:00.005-05:00

My father loved Peggy Lee's music. I have his record collection. Yes, flat, black and vinyl. I even have a honest to golly turn table from back in the day. Guess what I did this afternoon?

Geezer-dork that I am.

This was one of Dad's favorite songs.

Have You Registered Yet? - or it's all in bad taste.

2009-02-16T22:11:00.001-05:00

It doesn't really happen like this. ;)

Go. Now. Register here.

Do it for someone you love.

Thank You.

I just wanna say

2009-02-16T18:51:00.002-05:00

Today is a good good day.

No reason.

It just is.

Yay!

Happy Happy!

2009-02-14T04:51:00.000-05:00

Happy V.D to the ones I love.

Amber Ryan McKenna Cade Kate Sully Moe Dan Per Sea Penny Marilyn Dad Greggie andAllTheBirdsInTheFlock (YouKnowWhoYouAre)

Random Entertainment For The Week 2/12

2009-02-13T16:08:00.000-05:00

punk music is a joke
it's really just baroque.

heh

Islet Transplant Article on Diabetes Health

2009-02-11T20:06:00.002-05:00

Diabetes Health has an article about the Chicago Diabetes Project and islet transplantation. Excellent article but then I might be biased.

Cause, yeah, I heart my islets and the transplant team at UIC.

They're the bomb diggity.

You can find the article here,

More bird news.

2009-02-10T21:23:00.004-05:00

My birds are still all sick. Well, two out of three are sick and the fourth one is dead. Dr. Vet man says what ever they have they got from me (or more likely, from Moe since she was the one with the sinusy gunk last month), cause birds don't get gram positive type bacterias unless they get them from humans. Anyway, I feel bad that they're sick and angry with me for torturing them with antibiotics. Green Bean seems to like Cipro but judging from their reactions, the Budgies think it tastes something akin to ass. Butter quite literally spit it in my eye tonight, and while I stumbled around trying to get the sticky stingy pink gunk out of my eyeball, he flew around the house bitching at me like, well, the angry, crazed parakeet that he was. I can't blame him. I'd be angry too and quite frankly if he's healthy enough to put up that much of a fight. Go him!
Hopefully, when I take the birds back to the vet next week for a recheck they'll be all good. I hope so, cause at $165 a visit I can't afford to keep taking them every other week.

*sigh*

I love my avain vet. He's awesome, and worth every penny.

Can I add the birds onto my work benefits?

"Really Dr Vet man, they're on my family plan, prescriptions covered too..."

heh

dream on.

oh and since I haven't said it in ages

Yayislets!

my blood sugars are still all normal like.

Random Entertainment For The Week 2/8

2009-02-08T23:58:00.000-05:00

LOL

Sad, Sick and, well, sleepy.

2009-02-03T20:43:00.002-05:00

Just as Green Bean started getting better the other birds started getting worse. Marble, my youngest budgie died on Sunday with out any indication of having been sick. Sky, who shares a cage with Marble seems fine but Butter is having a rough time recovering from what ever is ailing my feathered friends. Needless to say the birds are all on a 2nd round of antibiotics and Marble is, well, in the deep freeze otherwise known as my deck box, cause how do you bury a bird when you can't get to the ground much less dig it up? Pray for cold weather until I can figure out what to do with him.

*sigh*

Poor Marble. He was never quite right, but that's a story for another time.

I'm sleepy, and I'm heading off to bed.

One of these day's I'll be online for more then 30 minutes.

Promise.

Random Entertainment For The Week 2/2

2009-02-03T20:42:00.001-05:00

Late again.

This is for my dorkish friends.

You know who you are.

Random Entertainment For The Week 1/25

2009-01-25T21:23:00.001-05:00

Paganini Caprice no 24

Li Jie

Bird's Gotta Visit the Doctor Too Ya Kno.- and an Islet Update, Kinda

2009-01-25T20:12:00.005-05:00

Bean had his annual avian vet check on Friday and he has a cold so he's on antibiotics for ten days. He likes his medicine. It's all strawberry flavored and most delicious judging by his behavior. Today I set him on the counter by the syringe after he got his meds and he started chewing on the end in a kind of "gimme more!" manner. I won't complain, Butter (Green Bean's cage mate) despises the whole ritual and clamps his beak shut until he gets so mad at me he starts biting. I can sneak the medicine in then but he usually manages to spit out it all over me. He's a stubborn little bugger and I'm sure it doesn't help any that the entire time Green Bean yells because durn it! he wants the attention and treats! *sigh* I'm telling you its just rough being feathered and loved.

and on the islet front.

I have nothing to report. All is well. In the past month I've had all of one blood sugar reading over 200, one over 150 and the rest have been between 95 and 140. Euglycemia has settled in. I like it.

Now if can just get my thyroid in order I'll be all normal like.

and won't that be weird?

yayislets!

Poor Birdies

2009-01-22T22:25:00.002-05:00

Not only is it cold season for us poor human folks but for our feathered friends as well. The number one phase in my blogs keyword activity this month is "bird won't stop sneezing".

Poor little doods.

Folks if your bird is sneezing continuously, that's a sign of respiratory infection and/or cold. Take them to a qualified avian vet for a check up and antibiotics. The over the counter versions don't work and can make your bird worse.

Find an avian vet here.

If you can't find a certified avian vet in your area listed on that site call you local pet store, or bird breeder and ask for a recommendation.

Birds don't generally show signs of illness until they are very sick and need medical attention. soo yeah, don't wait.

danke.

Labs Labs Labs

2009-01-22T18:43:00.003-05:00

I'm not talking dogs here.

All of the whining I've done over the past six months or so about my A1c creeping up and my goofy random numbers in the +200's, and this quarters A1c was down to 5.5. I've never had a 5.5 not even in the first year after transplant. Apparently mine islets like the Cellcept better then they liked Sirolimus.

My fasting c-pep was 1.3.

Per usual, my cholesterol is up, so Dr. Endocrinologist switched me from Lipitor to Crestor. hopefully this change will also be good for me.

My TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was high, possibly because of the switch in immuno supression meds so my thyroid meds were increased again.

Everything else was all normal like, except for my low vitamin D level which is more likely due to the fact that I live in a state with little sunshine this time of year then to do with anything diabetes or transplant related.

I'm happy about the A1c. Confused a bit because my islets seem to like to randomly function perfectly and give me a most excellent A1c and then go back to their usual goofiness and pop out a high one, so I'm not holding my breath until April. if my A1c is most excellent like again in three months, I'll celebrate.

Oh yeah and my hemoglobin level was 12.6. I'm so donating blood next month if I'm given permission.

yaycellcept!

yayislets!

btw wish me lower TSH levels in five weeks so my stinking energy level gets back to normal. This sleeping 15 hrs a day bites and its bad for my social, erm online life too!

Random Entertainment For The Week 1/18

2009-01-18T22:33:00.002-05:00

It's long.

make popcorn.

Warner Brothers decided have a little spat with Youtube, so all videos containing WB artists, or their music, or covers of their music have apparently been removed from the site. Sorry.

If it gets your goat:

Contact WB. Let them know how you feel.

http://www.warnerbros.com/main/help/customer_service.html

Random Entertainment For The Week 1/10

2009-01-09T23:44:00.001-05:00

I <3 tea.

yes, i less then three it.

yaytae

All Is Quiet On The Islet Front

2009-01-07T14:00:00.003-05:00

I had a three month follow up in Chicago yesterday and it was pleasantly uneventful. At least so far. I haven't heard back on labs/blood work and if I don't hear back the same day it usually means nothing is worth calling about. Eventually, I'll get copies of blood work if I request them.

The main issues that were addressed were my cholesterol level, blood pressure and general wellness now that I've been on Cellcept for over a month. I'm betting my lipids are elevated per usual, since that seems to be my pattern for a long as I can remember no matter which med I'm on. My blood pressure has been oddly low and I'm now off of one of my meds for that, and my general wellness has been, um, well. No mouth ulcers, no overwhelming need to sleep 24/7, no feeling fatigued and nauseous all the time.

I'm a whole new me on Cellcept.

With nothing to blog about.

Happy for me. Boring for readers.

I'm not apologizing.

I like it.

yaycellcept!

I'll post lab results when I get them. Promise.

Random Entertainment For The Week 1/2

2009-01-03T10:42:00.006-05:00

Warner Brothers decided have a little spat with Youtube, so all videos containing WB artists, or their music, or covers of their music have apparently been removed from the site. Sorry.

If it gets your goat:

Contact WB. Let them know how you feel.

http://www.warnerbros.com/main/help/customer_service.html

Random Entertainment For The Week 12/31

2008-12-31T00:16:00.003-05:00

Randomness fitting for the end of a year.

Randy Pausch's: A Final Farewell

My New Boy Friend

2008-12-29T20:37:00.003-05:00

Sully showed up last night at 9:30 and my heart was his by 9:35.

How is it possible to fall in love so fast?

btw, Sully's The Dude.

He came out sporting a faux hawk!

A boy with style!

*sigh* I'm in love.

Happy Holidays And All That Jazz

2008-12-24T10:57:00.003-05:00

I don't have anything to day except

Happy Happy!

oh and true to form, I woke up yesterday with a mouth ulcer.

Yayme!

I'd post a Christmas video but Christmas music not so much my thing.

So watch this instead and have a great day.

How Many Layers Can A Girl Wear?

2008-12-21T20:25:00.003-05:00

It's seriously cold here. I am currently wearing long underwear and two pair of pants, a tank top, two t-shirts, a sweatshirt and two pairs of socks. And I'm still cold. Why don't you just turn the heat up, you ask? Well, let me tell you and you know I will. My partner is one of those freakishly warm people who enjoys subzero temperatures and high winds. And I live in an old old apartment building, so no matter what I do, it's still cold and really there's only so much I'm willing to spend on heating when it's pointless.

So I layer. It's not attractive. Good thing I've been married 20yrs and Melissa no longer cares what I'm wearing as long as I shut up about the cold.

What you ask does that have to do with diabetes or islet transplantation?

absolutely nothing.

if you want related material, my bloodsugars have been awesome this week.

Yaycellcept!

My sister's doctor but her on glipizide for the last two weeks of her pregnancy and she's been testing her blood sugar 6x a day like a good momma. I'm so proud of her. She grew up watching our mom and I with diabetes and she's doing it for the new squeak so she has some incentive but still. You gotta give it to her for not just deciding that for two weeks they'd be fine on diet/exercise. Diabetes aside, she's a better mom then I'd ever be. I've always known that. It's why I love her. She's given me kids to claim as my own and spoil. I'm keeping my fingers and toes and eyeballs crossed that her gestational diabetes leaves and that diabetes doesn't rear its ugly head again. In her or her kids.

Geh, I hate this stinking disease.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love islets?

Yay!

Mr. Hypo Concludes

2008-12-21T17:58:00.001-05:00

and thus we come to the conclusion of Mr. Hypo is Your Friend.

yay for friends in short shorts and shorter skirts!

Watch for Mr. Hypo in PDF format hopefully coming soon!

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 30-31

2008-12-20T17:53:00.001-05:00

Silly clown! Tricks are for bad kids!

Smart kids are in control all the time!

I wasn't a smart kid.

Do your Friends gave you low self-esteem boys and girls?

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 28-29

2008-12-19T16:49:00.000-05:00

Here Mr Test Tube flashes us and Mr. Ketostix makes he's debut.

Do you know Mr. Ketostix?

I bet you do!

Random Entertainment For The Week 12/19

2008-12-19T15:15:00.002-05:00

I tried. I really really tried to avoid posting this video as Random Entertainment because how much ukulele can the general diabetes blog sphere handle in a year?

But dang it! I like Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele!

and I like this song!

So enjoy it, or don't. ;) It's up to you.

You have the power.

And if you too find you like Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele you can find him on youtube here and on myspace here

Album out February 3, 2009.

yeah I can't wait.

What You Won't Find Here

2008-12-18T23:44:00.003-05:00

Each of the following keywords somehow brought my fellow humans to my blog in the last month. However, none of the following shall be found here.

I'm not sure why people bother once they get past the profile bit about "diabetes, islet transplant, pet bird" but they keep on coming back.

Anyway, here's this months list of Favorites-You-Won't-Find-Here

hot hot nakid girls
green flingers
magic coffee tree (if you find one will you send it to me please? thanks)
nakid boys
black people nakid
nakid native American men
and
they're doing good grammar

1. the only nakid I do around here is nakid green birds and by birds I mean the feathered parrot type.

2. I'm not sure what a green flinger is but its not here.

and 3. obviously I don't do good grammar. please see my disclaimer in the upper right for further instructions on that matter.

So sorry to disappoint on the lack of nudity on my blog.

Maybe next year.

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 26-27

2008-12-18T16:47:00.000-05:00

It was so easy to cheat back in the day.

ahh the nostalgia!

Update On Immunosupression Meds

2008-12-17T19:19:00.004-05:00

It's been almost 4 weeks since I started taking Cellcept and three since I stopped Sirolimus. The difference in how I feel is amazing. I have energy and I don't feel the need to constantly nap or sit down or just not do anything. But the oddest thing about Cellcept?

Food actually tastes good. It's a whole world of weirdness for me because honestly, I can't remember eating and thinking, ooooh, yum more! Really, I've always had this mindset that food was a necessary evil and that if I didn't need to or wasn't just eating out of boredom I'd never eat.

So suddenly this week the world tastes a little different and I'm liking it.

Probably not such a good thing for my waistline, but for the moment I'm enjoying it.

Dinner anyone?

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 24-25

2008-12-17T11:37:00.000-05:00

Do you feel dressed up when you have to pee?

Dora does!

and yes, Mr. Test Tube did get hot and Mother got very annoyed when you dropped Mr. Test Tube on the tile floor in the bathroom and Mr. Chemical-filled-hot-pee went every where. Not that I'd know from experience.

Nope, not me. I never dropped Mr Test Tube cause he was uh, hot.

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 22-23

2008-12-16T16:30:00.004-05:00

More friends in tutus that all live together in a Clinitest Set house. Sounds fun!

oh and stale urine is BAD!

I don't remember peeing twice back in the day, but I'm glad I don't have to do that now.

eesh.

such maintenance.

10 Years Ago

2008-12-14T20:04:00.003-05:00

10 years ago today my friend Chris died of Aids. Chris was a DJ in a bar in a town I lived in 15 years ago. I used to go listen to him spin on nights he worked and the place would be packed. He was one of the best damned DJ's I've ever heard and I didn't appreciate his talent until I'd been to clubs in major cities around the country and thought, "I miss Chris, Chris is way better then THIS!". He was the most laid back high energy kind of guy. His work reflected it, and so did the crowds he drew.

He loved hard house, so this one's for Chris.

He'd appreciate.

enjoy.

LSG - Netherworld (1997)

Warner Brothers decided have a little spat with Youtube, so all videos containing WB artists, or their music, or covers of their music have apparently been removed from the site. Sorry.

If it gets your goat:

Contact WB. Let them know how you feel.

http://www.warnerbros.com/main/help/customer_service.html

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 20-21

2008-12-14T14:01:00.003-05:00

pages 20-21

In tomorrow's saga...

Testing your urine is important AND fun!

Yay for home chemistry sets!

Do you like Mother's apron?

I sure do.

double click on picture for larger image.

Best Buy founder takes on diabetes with $40 million gift

2008-12-13T21:28:00.003-05:00

While it's not the center I had my transplant at, I still think its way cool.

Best Buy's founder, Richard Schulze, gave $40 million to University of Minnesota to help fund their islet transplant research.

Read the story here.

Now get off your duff and go buy something at Best Buy this holiday,

and while you're there say thank you.

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 18-19

2008-12-13T13:55:00.002-05:00

pages 18-19

Do you feel "funny" between meals?

Is it because you don't EAT ON TIME?!!

such guilt.

makes me appreciate Lantus, and insulin pumps and

yayislets!

(c'mon, you know I had to throw that in there!)

Just 'cause

2008-12-12T21:13:00.001-05:00

yaysnowmans!
(and winter birds)

Random Entertainment For The Week 12/12

2008-12-12T20:19:00.001-05:00

Story time!

And for those of you that have asked, look for Mr. Hypo in PDF format just as soon as I get to it!

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 16-17

2008-12-12T13:51:00.001-05:00

pages 16-17

Are you ready??

Two Days Home From Chicago and Heading Into Crayzeeville

2008-12-11T19:41:00.004-05:00

Chicago was as non-eventful as any trip to Chicago has been for me. We drove. No train this time. It rained. It was freakishly warm. We got there late, slept, got up and went to the clinical research center per usual at 7am the next morning.

I had blood drawn, physical, answered their questions, met new person in the study and answered a few of his questions and went home. Later that day Transplant Nurse Extraordinare called to tell me to increase my Cellcept from 1gm to 1.5gm 2x a day. My cholesterol level is slightly elevated even though I'm now on 40mg of lipitor a day, I apparently have another UTI (yippee),and my hemoglobin level is up a bit, which makes me happy happy!

On the crayzee side, my local ob/gyn put me on Provera. It's only for 10 days, but I'm only on day 3 and I feel sorry for my co-workers cause everything just ticked me off today! It's really too close to Christmas to be working retail and taking drugs that alter your mood in a negative way (not to mention altering weight in a upwardly way)! Geh, I'm questioning my sanity in agreeing to take it right now.

Note to self - next time take crayzee making drugs after crayzee making season is over.

good times, hopefully the provera will work and jump start my system cause according to Dr. ob/gyn not having a menstrual cycle in 3 yrs is abnormal even if for the past 20 you've only had oh say 2 a year, if that. hrm, I'm not so sure I'm buying it but whatever. We'll try it for awhile.

and that boys and girls was tmi.

sorry.

*sigh*

tomorrow is Friday,

yay for Friday, random entertainment

and a day off from thinking about this shit.

:)

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 14-15

2008-12-11T13:29:00.002-05:00

pages 14-15

A word about Ms. Fluffy Cotton.

Ok, I was the littlest gayest kid around and I thought Ms. Fluffy Cotton was H. O. T! I wanted a poster of Ms. Fluffy Cotton in my bedroom. Oh, wait, no I didn't. WTH? Did they really need a Betty Boopesque mini skirt wearing female character in this kiddie book?? Who writes this shit? no wonder I'm a dyke!

Even at age nine I thought it was um,

un-necessary.

Mr. Hypo Is My Friend 12-13

2008-12-10T13:25:00.002-05:00

pages 12-13

They're ACROBATS boys and girls!

ooooh!

I love the picture of INSULIN all gassy from being shaken.

He needs bean-o.

double click on picture for more larger more readable fun!