1. Type 2 diabetes is more than a “lifestyle disease”. It is complicated by genetics, and quite possibly autoimmunity.
2. Diabetes, no matter which type or subtype, is not just about the body’s inability to process sugar correctly. It is about all carbohydrates. Some carbs react slowly, others react fast – and the amount of protein and fat consumed alongside those carbs can impact that reaction time. Different people react differently to different kinds of carbs. Even the same person may experience different reactions to the same carbs from day to day, month to month, year to year – thanks to outside factors like hormones, travel, and whether they are wearing underwear*.
3. A high percentage of people with diabetes live with cats. At least from what can be seen around the DOC.

*I’m just kidding about the underwear thing. I think.

As someone managing type 2 diabetes with diet/exercise/metformin, I cannot really think of much in this category. Umm…

Maybe a blood glucose monitor with snappy comebacks like, “what the f— did you eat?”, or “you are awesome!”, or “better luck next time”. Not unlike a magic 8 ball?

Or something like a polygraph machine, only where it shocks me when I haven’t exercised in over 48-72 hours.

Ok, I thought of one that many of us, regardless of diabetes type, could appreciate. Time zone stabilizer, ensuring that jet lag does not wreak havoc on blood sugars. (Other factors may still apply to wavering blood sugars, and you may still experience insomnia.)

Consistent blood sugar checks.

It is much too easy when things seem to be going well with diet, exercise, and taking metformin to slack on even a daily fasting blood sugar test.

I have always stressed the importance of people with type 2 testing daily, even when not on insulin or oral medications capable of producing hypoglycemia. There is something to be said for identifying negative trends early, after all.

Yet, I forget my own advice sometimes, especially as someone prone to reactive hypoglycemia. That’s where if I eat a higher carb meal before or after vigorous exercise, I end up crashing to 60-75 mg/dl three hours later – not a level that is especially worrisome, just enough to produce unpleasant shakes and sweats. The simple answer is a blood glucose check 2 hours after the meal or exercise with an appropriate snack to follow.

Trends, they are important tools to bring to the doctor. Knowing when you need a snack, that is important to avoid an unnecessary sweat fest.

This is the card I picked out of the karma fairy’s hat at work last Halloween.

While I was far from feeling true resilience then, I kept it in my wallet all winter, alongside the 2-dollar bill my father gave me when I was nine years old and the picture of the maternal grandmother I never knew.

I struggle terribly sometimes with anxiety and depression, which impacts weight and blood glucose levels and blood pressure because I give up on exercise and eating healthy. But when things go better for me, when I am feeling little anxiety and little misery, I come back and push myself to eat better, to exercise more, to keep feeling good, to regain some sense of health in spite of type 2 diabetes.

Each and every time.

How amazing was it, then, that this is the card I picked out of the karma fairy’s hat?

Taking this topic in a bit of a different direction. You’ll see why.

Many of you know Kelly. Many of you laugh with her, many of you advocate with her; many of you cry with her.

The past two and a half years, it seems Kelly and I have led somewhat parallel lives. Thrown major health concerns unrelated to diabetes in December 2009. Worlds turned upside down in 2011, in decidedly different but still heartbreaking ways. (On a positive note, we are both such proud aunties.)

The thing is, Kelly still makes me laugh and still makes me want to advocate, even while she’s shed her own tears. She exhibits a kind of strength that I wish I could and to which I aspire, in the worst of times.

Happy birthday, Kelly. May there be many better days ahead. xoxo.

1. Half priced fancy bakeware; discount on a Jay Cutler jersey.
2. Breakfast for lunch on my birthday for the second year in a row. :)
3. Birthday greetings from near and far.
4. 46:40 (unofficially) in a 5k walk, a personal best.
5. A Friday the 13th that didn’t suck.