Awareness

November is Diabetes Awareness Month.  I find it a bit ironic that  we become aware of diabetes, directly following the sweetest, candy-filled holiday of the year, but it is awareness, none the less.  I have definitely noticed more attention to diabetes this month than I have in Awareness months past, but I am sure it is due to the alarming number of diagnosis' these days.  Over the course of the rest of the month, I am going to highlight facts, lessons and the flat out truths of living with diabetes, in hopes that it will make someone more aware.

Today I will begin with facts, myths and common misconceptions of Type 1 diabetes, a chronic disease that my brother and I both live with.

• Type 1 diabetes is NOT caused by too much candy, unhealthy diets and laziness.  Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, which results in the body attacking the pancreas.  This attack leaves the pancreas unable to produce insulin, a hormone that the body uses to regulate the amount of sugar in the blood.  Type 1 leaves a person insulin dependent, which requires someone to either take multiple daily injections or use a sub-q insulin infusion pump.  For many decades, Type 1 was commonly referred to as "Juvenile" diabetes, but is now occurring throughout the lifespan.  It is unknown what causes the body to attack itself, but it can be due to a viral infection, illness or genetics. 
• Type 2 diabetes has more links to genetics than type 1, because often times it can be caused by lifestyle choices.  Many times, type 2 diabetes can be controlled by simple changes in diet and exercise, but can often require oral medication which aids the body in the absorption of insulin.  It is not uncommon for a person with type 2 to require insulin administration if their body does not make enough for itself.  Type 2 diabetes can be described as an insulin resistance, which simply leaves a person unable to absorb the insulin that their body naturally makes.
• Just because someone is an adult or overweight, do NOT assume that they are type 2.  I am an adult and my weight has fluctuated, but I have also lived with Type 1 diabetes for almost 18 years.  I will take offense if you tell me I have type 2... so watch yourself.
• Do not assume that if someone is on an insulin infusion pump, that they have the "bad" diabetes.  An insulin pump was designed to mock the actions of a pancreas, which allows someone to dramatically reduce the adverse affects of having diabetes and tailor their care just for them.  I have controlled my diabetes using multiple daily injections and an insulin pump.  At this point in my life, an insulin pump allows me to have tighter control and gives me the freedom and luxury to make changes in my insulin regimen, minute to minute.
• Insulin is NOT a cure for diabetes.  It is the only thing that will keep someone with diabetes alive. 

I will not preach anymore on my soap box, but I do encourage you to educate yourself.  Very few of us can say that we don't know someone who lives with diabetes.  I can't even begin to tell you how ignorant the medical community is when it comes to living with diabetes-- which might be the most frustrating thing in the world.  The fact of the matter is, diabetes is manageable.  It is not always easy, not always fun, but I take one day at time, one blood sugar check at a time (out of up to 20 a day sometimes!!) and deal with it.  Life could be worse and I am thankful for the lessons that diabetes and the people that came with it have taught me. 

Stay tuned for more info on diabetes and become aware and educated on the disease that affects over 366 million people in the world.

Freedom

free-dom [free-duhm]: noun; 1.  the state of being free and at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint; 2. political or national independence; 3. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery

I am not only lucky to have freedom, but lucky and blessed to have family and friends who fought for us to have freedom. 

Top middle:  Helen Stribling
Top right: Bruce Latimer: Major in the US Army
Middle Right:  Leon Latimer: US Army
Bottom Right: John Latimer (my grandfather): US Army
Bottom Middle:  Jim Latimer:  Retired LTC in the US Army
Bottom Left:  Hugh Latimer:  Major in the US Army
Middle Left:  Boy Latimer:  US Army
Top Left:  Mildred Latimer: US Army
Middle:  Levi & Grace Latimer: my great-grandparents

Stuart & me with my cousin, David, who is a helicopter pilot with the Mississippi National Guard.

Josiah & Susan with my dad, who is a Retired LTC in the US Army.

Not pictured, but not forgotten, Hugh Wayne "Butch" Latimer who was a Captain in the US Army and in the Mississippi National Guard.

Thank you to all the veterans in my life who provide us with daily freedoms, which are most definitely not free.

The Past in Pictures

Since I have been such a slacker, I decided just to catch everyone up on our past few months with pictures.  So here you go!!

Girls Weekend for Emily's Wedding!! 

Ballin'

Home for Mary's Wedding!!

Sweet Jack:)

Mary's Wedding

John Michael and Lainey

My new dance partner

Reunion!!

SJB's new boo:)

Halloween 2012

Heroes in a half shell....

Hope you have enjoyed sneaking a peek at our lives' most recent adventures.  Next up... a HOUSE UPDATE!!

Put Me In Coach....

Well I am out of retirement on the sports circuit and am now playing on the "Creative Kickers" on an intermural kickball team.  Stuart and I both made our kickball debut last night.  Little did we know that the first team we were up against, was the team that placed first in the league last year.  So you can imagine how well that game went.  Then we had our next game and actually had a fighting chance.  We didn't look so bad.  Of course, I play catcher, but my athletic skills really shine through in the sport of kickball, definitely more so than in softball.   

Picture this... bottom of the 3rd inning, runner was coming home, I square up on home, one foot on the bag and the pitcher throws the ball.  Of course, I catch it, still having my foot on the plate, but apparently the runner did not see my neon orange shoes or my bright purple jersey.  Success!!  She was out.... and so was I.  I realize that I am now sitting on home plate with dirt down my left side.  I received my first kickball injury to my elbow, with a slight skin abrasion.  What I didn't realize at the time was I also fractured 2 ribs during the illegal tackle.  Even with my injuries, I was able to score a couple runs to add to my teams points, but it wasn't good enough to pull through with a victory.

 

 

Needless to say, I am now on the injured reserve list.  Seeing that it is painful to breath, cough and make sudden movements, I am not sure I will be good for much more than team Mom.  Let's just hope that Auburn doesn't have a game like I did!! 

 

 



 WAR EAGLE!!

Quite the weekend...

What do you get when you add a wedding, a football game (1st of the season, in fact) and a holiday?!?  You get an A-mazing weekend of fun. 

Friday night we went to a wedding with great friends and had good times!!  The setting was perfect, the food was fantastic and the friends were the perfect start to the weekend-o-fun.  We kicked off our Saturday pretty early, making our way to Atlanta for the season opener for Auburn and Clemson.  Once again, we had amazing food, fun memories with friends and plenty of laughs... which included Auburn's performance against the Clemson Tigers.  While I am no way a fair weather fan of the Auburn University Tigers,  it was a disappointing loss at the Georgia Dome and made it a not-so-fun time.  That is until we were on our 3 hour tour home on the Marta.  What we didn't know was the dragon-con convention was also being held in Atlanta.  So as forged our way back to our hotel, we got to experience Atlanta's public transportation system with 30,000 tiger (Auburn and Clemson) fans as well as animals, creatures and people who work in the zoo.  While wrong trains and long waits made the trip ridiculous, we definitely had many laughs.

To top the weekend off, we were able to make our way home from Atlanta and do....NOTHING!!  Since yesterday was Labor Day, SJB and I both had off and it was wonderful.  We were able to get things done that during the week, we can't seem to fit it in the schedule.  SJB also got to get a round of golf in before the busy week kicks back up.  We have been narrowing down some more house choices that we will hopefully see this week, so all in all, it was a great (long) weekend. 

Oh... and bulldogs in Mississippi.... get ready!!  The tigers got their loss out of the way and are headed to Starkville!! 

                                
                                                                WAR EAGLE!!

True Story...

Have you ever had one of those days that you have to ask yourself, "is this fake planet?"  Well not only have I had one of those days, I have had one of those weeks.  It all started when our hot water heater had to be replaced last week.  Luckily SJB's dad was able to get it taken care of in a very timely manner.  Next up, every shelf in my closet decided it should be in the floor.  And even better... this happened as I was getting ready for work on Monday morning.  Just so you get the point, let me provide a visual...

Yes.  This happened.  True story.  At the time, seeing that I was already running late for work, I decided to just leave it and deal with it when I got home.  Luckily, I have a handy husband who is excellent at building and fixing things.  He hit the road to Home Depot and gathered some supplies to whip up a closet organizational system.  While he played Bob the Builder, I went through all of my clothes (since I was told they were too heavy for the closet), and made quite the donation to Goodwill.  Once the shelves and everything were all installed on Tuesday afternoon, I slowly re-organized my closet until it looked like this.

What you don't see.... is as this picture was being taken, the left side of the shelf with 2 layers of hanging clothes decided it needed to be back on the floor.  Once again, clothes were everywhere... and I simply didn't care.  I decided it could wait until Wednesday, as I simply didn't have the energy to deal with it.  As SJB and I were settling down for a long night's nap, we hear the faint noise of water dripping.  SJB investigated and found the H2O dripping in our air return vent.  We He decided it would be best to turn off the air for the night until his dad could come back and check it.  I definitely do not favor hot conditions, but surprisingly, slept OK.  Thankfully, we are back in business with cool air, a closet that is put together and hot water.  Is it too much to ask to space out the problems?  Needless to say, as I grab my pajamas out of my organized closet, after a nice hot shower  and go to bed in my air conditioned room, I am thankful things were not any worse than they were.  But I definitely still ask myself... "was that fake planet?" 

House Hunting 101

Little did I know just how stressful house hunting would be.  We put a contract on a house that SJB and I both fell in love with and were riding on cloud nine until the inspection.  Inspection is now a word that I will be terrified of.  While we felt that our house would be perfect for us, the wall's insides and wiring had a different plan.  I am very thankful and relieved that we discovered this while we could still get out, but disappointed as I had my hopes placed on a pedestal and then knocked off with a bang.  I guess it's back to the drawing board for us!!

In the meantime, SJB and I have stayed super busy, getting back in the "school" swing of things (SJB, not I) and staying pretty busy.  We are both very excited to see the Auburn tigers kick off the season in Atlanta.  Also, I just returned from a trip from Chicago, helping host a DTreat Conference.  It was a great time and very exciting meeting new Dfriends and catching up with the old ones.  I am already excited for the future of our programs and feel proud to be on a team with such great friends!!  I also got to go to Huntsville for less than 48 hours to help my mom get out of the house (for the 2nd time since July 12).  While it was no easy feat, we were successful in our outing and even started some Christmas shopping!!

While this weekend doesn't include much, it will allow me time to dive back into the world of house hunting and hopefully find a few more appropriate prospects for us to peek at.  Cross your fingers and wish us luck!!

What DTreat means...

DLeaders at "The Bean"

The whole group.... by our school bus, on the way downtown!!