My goofy boy Milo.

From @bonnienclydekitties: “How to trap a cat. #workseverytime” #catsofinstagram [source: http://bit.ly/2vmn56f ]

I get these bouts of sadness. Just sitting curled on a couch thinking about how diabetes isolates people so much. Not just diabetes but chronic ilnesses as a whole…

Despite being parts of groups and communities and friends with people who are fighting similar and very different battles, I still sit thinking.

I think about how much easier it was before.

Before all the injections every day. Before the constant bruisings and needle scars. Before the black marks on my fingertips appeared from constant pricking. Before realising that almost everything I ate came at a cost of a needle and medication I could only be advised at how much to take in a way. Before it became so easy to one minute be at peace and in a half hour I am sat on the floor in sweats, shaking and heart thudding painfully for glucose. Or to be suddenly gasping for water, while also having a desperate need to go pee.

Basically before I had to act as one of my own body’s most vital organs.

I want us all to be free from the worries and torments of chronic illness. I hope we all still stay a community when we can finally say “ I used to be chronically ill.”

So, I’m diabetic.

Two years ago I was at my physical prime - goal weight, running half marathons, strength training, etc. I was pre-diabetic then. One day, I just...stopped. I was tired of it. I started eating ALL THE FOOD. Coincidentally, I quit smoking at this time 🤔

Fast forward to Oct 2018. I’ve now gained back all the weight I lost. I took a promotion for a lead role at my job, and the stress is exorbitant. Finally broke down and went to doctor for annual exam. I didn’t know one could ‘fail’ their physical - I feel like I did. First I came home with high blood pressure and high cholesterol pills. A few days later, my A1C test came back...confirmed diabetes.

I cried. For an hour. Work was killing me. Stress was crushing me. And now this. Food had become my life, my escape, my comfort.

“So, you can’t eat sugar?” Was my husband’s reaction. Which is many people’s reaction.

One diabetic counseling session and several hours of research later, I can say with confidence that the answer is no. It’s carbohydrates in general. Pre-Dx, carbs were 95% of my diet. Pizza, pasta, ice cream...my favorite things. To maintain Type II diabetes, those things are pretty much taken away now.

I’m managing. I take Metformin, and check my blood sugar daily, which I hate because needles. My blood sugar levels are starting to come down, but still not normal.

Searching for diabetic-friendly recipes provides a plethora of low carb meal options, but it’s confusing. Some authors provide “net carbs” - which doesn’t help a diabetic. Carbs are carbs, so I have to be careful when looking at a supposedly ‘low carb’ recipe...there may be way more carbs than what the recipe suggests. I miss cheeseburgers with the whole bun.

On the bright side, since that awful doctor’s office checkup, I’ve lost 21 pounds by changing only my diet. Work is still killing me, and finding time and energy to exercise is continuing to prove challenging. I feel better now though - for months, I felt sluggish and generally not well. Changing my diet has really improved my health already, even if my A1C or sugar levels aren’t in a normal range yet.

so since summer is finally FINALLY starting, i have one big thing i want to say:

Don’t push people in the pool, lake, or ocean!

There are many (fairly obvious) reasons you should never do this! I will list them

they cannot swim!

whether it’s because they don’t know how or because they physically aren’t able to, being thrown into a body of water when you’re not confident in your abilities can be terrifying

they are wearing a device that cannot get wet!

yes, it could be a phone, but it could also be an insulin pump or heart monitor or any other type of sensor that would be compromised when immersed in water and cost thousands of dollars to replce

they are afraid of water!

drowing is a very real, and fairly common, fear or phobia,taking away someone’s control by throwing them in the water can be very triggering

they don’t want to be in the water!

if someone doesn’t want to be in the pool/lake/ocean, they don’t have to have a reason for their boundaries and desires to be respected

I no longer go to pool parties because so many people (especially drunk college students) have a penchant for throwing/pushing people in the water without their consent, and I have had an $3k insulin pump DESTROYED because someone thought I was being ‘lame’ and 'a party pooper’ because I wouldn’t get in the pool, and decided to shove me in instead

pool parties and lake parties and beach parties are tons of fun and everyone should be comfortable and able to enjoy themselves while they are there, regardless of ability or preference

Evie got some Thanksgiving turkey.

Whether you’re in Standing Rock or your hometown, allies are a vital part of the movement. Here are some tips on showing up responsibility. 

favorite part of this: the hole in the wall where the cat has CLEARLY run straight the fuck through it.

Exactly 700 actual beds were precisely laid out on a beach and used for the cover of Pink Floyd’s album, “A Momentary Lapse Of Reason”. None of them were cardboard cutouts.

(our team once did some work for a transgender gentleman client. one evening we went out to have a drink. the bar we happened to go to did not have the kind of bathroom facilities he needed, so he had to make quite a trek to just use the restroom. he never complained, but I was ashamed of ourselves. we shouldve known better. how did he manage day to day? how do you go out, to work, to libraries, to court, to the dmv without being sure that very space will be able to accommodate your biological needs? this isnt about bathrooms. it is about pushing people who are different from yourself out of public spaces, to make these spaces unlivable for them. demonizing them. we are failing our trans* neighbors. we need to do better.)

(including you, caitlyn.)

(thanks to @nightmare-court for the link)

@angryjewishharpist wins the internet. I just spent a solid five straight minutes laughing until I cried.

REBLOG WHILE YOU STILL CAN

Keep it going

President Obama appreciation post

For the motherfucking cheap seats. 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

How stupid was the author of the article? What did you think would happen?

[image: tweet of usa today opinion article titled “I voted for trump not against planned parenthood”]

“It doesn’t make any sense for Trump, who said he would defend the American people from politics as usual, to sign a bill like this.”

…?

(thanks to @tenfeetnyc for spotting this in the wild)