The Birds and the birds., and some diabetes musings too...

Not only do I have a parrotlet but I also have three bugdies. Butter, Sky, Marble. Butter and Sky are smitten. They have been since day one. They've never shared a cage mostly for that reason and because Butter and Green Bean get along really well so the boys share a cage and the girls have their own cages. Until today.

I usually let the budgies play together every few day. Socialization is a good thing right? Well, today it was a budgie porn fest! (not their usual behavior, I guess spring is in the air) and I've decided to let the girl bird nest and see what happens. Last spring she nested but none of the eggs hatched. They probably won't this year either, but I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. Mean while Green Bean is jealous and mad that his friend is with THAT girl bird!

On the diabetes front, I have mouth ulcers from the immunosupression meds. Eight of them! They hurt, everything I eat hurts, thinking about eating hurts, so I'm not eating much and as a result my blood sugars have been most excellent. Honestly, the mouth ulcers are bad enough some days that I wonder if its worth it, but then I think about the long term and about how things were before the transplant and I know I'd still do it again.

So I'm going to quit whining and go watch my birds now that the nookie is over :) and think about eating something, maybe.

Pizza is evil.

I ate pizza tonight. I should know better. Pizza is evil. Even post transplant it raises my blood sugar. 230mg/dl, 2hrs poat prandial and I feel like crap.

Why do I do this to myself?

Torturing My Partner

Tonight my partner and I ate dinner at Fazoli's (fast food Italian type restaurant). We both had pasta and way way too many bread sticks (can you say heart attack on a plate boys and girls?) so to make my night even more enjoyable I forced her to let me test her blood sugar and compare it to mine at 2 hours post prandial.

Hers: 133
Mine: 140

After testing I patted my belly and said "good liver, nice islets, want some cookie?", but I refrained. My brain might appreciate what my islets can do but my scale doesn't...

Yay YouTube

It's not related to anything diabetes or birds or transplants but I work about 1/4 mile from this walmart at the red walmart, you know who I mean. (btw, red walmart was built on the same wetlands - they called it Marsh rd for a reason!)...

Traitor!

Green Bean has a new friend!

Since I brought him home from the bird store Green Bean has been my buddie, my best friend. He loves me most! This I knew with every bit of my soul. until today! Well really until Wednesday.

Friends of ours came over for dinner. One them asked to see the birds and since Green Bean is the only one tame enough to come out when I know I might need to just reach over and grab him to put him back in his cage he's the one I brought out. He liked J. immediately and flew to her. He never does that! I was surprised. No biggie. After a short visit it was bed time and I put him to bed. The next day we're all back to normal. And then today happened!

Once again the same couple came over for dinner/super bowl and she asked to see Green Bean again and as soon as he saw her he was off! He sat on her shoulder the entire evening, gave kisses, preened her hair and when it was time go to back to his cage and go to bed he bit me! I think I'm jealous!

The little bugger!

Interested in islet transplant?

I got an email from someone asking where they can find information about islet transplants and Dave, since I don't know which of the many forums I frequent that you found me on, I'll put my reply here for the world to see. ;)

Anyone interested in islet transplants can check out The Chicago Project and The University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago's islet transplant program . If you have specific questions, I'm happy to answer them, but I have hard time with requests of "please tell me your experience", cause really, I started the process over three years ago. It's not easily summed up in one email.

If you happen to be on the dorkish side (no insult people, I include myself here) The Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry has more detailed information about the protocols, complications, side effects, stats and all the happy crap. There is also a map you can click on to find centers in North America, Europe and Australia if you want to contact a center closer to you.

so yeah, happy researching.

have I said YayIslets! yet today?

Vacation cure!

My transplant doctor says I need to take a vacation to the mountains. I'm anemic. (side effect of immuno-supression meds yay sirolimus!) Higher altitude = higher hemoglobin level but yeah, not gonna happen.

Anyone know of a medical insurance company that will foot the bill?