For the love of God, the Oklahoma weather keeps me on my toes.  Over the past couple of months, we have been terrorized by the local media that we will not be able to leave the house – stock up.  Grocery store(s) seriously looked like a war zone and one of them was actually out of chicken breasts. ???

I have created a check list of the “must have” items for a number of Oklahoma weather scares for a diabetic.

Tornado: candles, battery operated radio, flash light, cell phone charger, insulin, blood testing machine, mouth guard and red wine.

Ice or Snow Storm: books, games, popcorn, plenty of medicine, blood testing machine and red wine. (more…)

It was my first day home and my mom looks wicked stressed. It was time to take my first shot and I recall her shaking while drawing out the insulin. I sat on the steps in our dining room and she came in for the kill. I don’t remember freaking out because I knew what was going down, we had done this in the hospital a few times.

She began to sweat and I thought she might pass out. She splashed water on her face and came back. I took the needle from her and gave my first shot in my thigh. She was relieved and I am free, free from having to rely on anyone else. (more…)

I believe I was in the 4th grade and had a pretty good handle on what was expected in this new life with diabetes.  I kept Cheez-It’s in my desk and a secret stash of graham crackers in the office.  Cheez-It’s were for my afternoon snack and the grahams were to be eaten before PE or in an emergency.  I tried to keep these things on the “down-low” because I didn’t want to draw attention to myself.

Well – word got out that I had snacks in my desk.  The class bully/jackass, Blaine, made it a point to bring this to everyone’s attention. I was humiliated. The teacher figured out what was going on and quickly shut down the hurtful comments. Later that day or maybe later that week, I chose to no longer be embarrassed about my snacks. (more…)