Inspired

As far back as I can remember, I’ve never been a performer. Never went on the stage to act in a play, to dance or to sing. I was never great at sports; still, I tried a bit but was thrown out of teams pretty quickly. Looking back, I do feel like I should have tried a bit more to do something and find my passion rather than just kill myself studying all the time but I still don’t regret any of it. On the other hand, I love performers and inspirational characters. Heck, I’ve seen ‘The Last Lecture’ a million of times! There’s so much that I need to learn from these great people, so many important lessons to live my life. Whenever I see or hear one of them, I am usually very inspired and feel great standing up and clapping for them. Just joining my hands and clapping for them to show my appreciation makes me feel really good! Ever wondered (or experienced), how it feels like if someone is clapping for you because you inspired them so much that they just want to show their appreciation? I haven’t. That’s because I am not one of those great people. I am just another software engineer who’s sitting in his balcony writing a blog for himself!

I participated in an ADA fundraising bike ride today where a number of people - some diabetics and others non-diabetics - come and bike hoping for a cure for the disease. All the diabetic riders in the event are given a special status of ‘RED Rider’ and this super-awesome Jersey that says ‘I Ride With Diabetes!’ I was wearing that jersey and was super-duper excited about it! As we lined up at the start line, the announcer asked if there were any Red Riders in the bunch. 6-7 of us raised our hands (and because I was super-duper excited, I also shouted out ‘whoooohoooo!’ at the same time!). And then to my surprise, everyone started clapping for us! The clapping went on for a couple of seconds and in those 2 seconds, I was more sure than ever that I getting diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes was really not as bad a thing as I thought it was! I wasn’t doing anything really great – I was going to bike 45 miles just like everyone else in the bunch. Ofcourse, like always, I had to make sure that I keep track of my blood sugar levels while I am doing it. But, I felt really really good standing there and watching people clap for all of us. It felt like all of them understood what it takes to live 24x7 with this disease. Now, I know that most of them were there for just a fun-filled ride on an awesome day and they probably thought that if it was for a good cause, that’s an icing on the cake. But, all of them raised funds, came to participate in the event, and clapped for all the red riders in the crowd – it’s a good enough motivation for me to keep going, thinking that all of them are standing beside us in our fight against diabetes.

There’s one line that Prof. Randy Pausch said in his last lecture that has had a huge impact on my life: “We can’t change the cards we’re dealt, just how we play the hand”. The thing that made me happy about today was that may be, by a really really remote chance, I inspired one of those people in the crowd to think about this and just play the hand that they are dealt.

Diabetic Files: The Attack of Syringes

Here's my first attempt at stop motion video.

A War: That's what it is ...

Here's a video I came across on youtube. It's not very dramatic, not a boring lecture, and not funny. Just a simple plain account of a day in the life of a kid with Type I.

My life as a Pin Cushion! Love this guy!

Diabetes Police: Aptly named!

Turk from Scrubs

I watched this episode some time before I was diagnosed ... had no idea what diabetes was at that time ... now when I watched this clip back again, it's hilarious! Have a look:

The Airplane Analogy

I found this great analogy (http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottsDiabetesExplanationTheAirplaneAnalogy.aspx) for making people understand the difference between Type I and Type II. I've modified it a bit suiting my 'use case'. Here goes :

You are flying from L.A. to New York. You have to maintain a consistent altitude the whole way.

Note: For this analogy we will focus on a good cruising altitude and pretend that taking off and landings aren’t important.

Food raises blood sugar (altitude.) Insulin lowers it. Non-diabetics don’t have to think about altitude, as you all have a working pancreas (autopilot) and don’t sweat altitude. Diabetics, on the other hand, have to constantly wonder if they are at a safe altitude. Staying at a consistently high altitude (high blood sugar) will eventually make you sick; while a low altitude (low blood sugar) will kill you quickly.

When I prick my finger to check my blood sugar with a glucose test strip, that’s an altitude check. I want to know how I’m doing. Each time I do it, it costs about $1.

Each time I feel I need to lower my blood sugar, I take insulin. I take a manual shot by measuring the insulin and filling the syringe by hand (or I use an Insulin pen). I would typically take about 2 or 3 shots a day (presently).

Here’s where the analogy gets interesting. Remember in the analogy we are flying from L.A. to New York, except we only get to check our altitude seven times. And, we only get to change altitude (take insulin) less than ten times. But, when I check my blood sugar, I’m actually seeing the past. I’m seeing a reading of what my blood sugar was 15 minutes ago. And, when I take insulin, it doesn’t start lowering my blood sugar for at least 30 minutes.

Now, imagine yourself in that plane with an altimeter that shows you the altitude 15 minutes in the past, and a yoke that changes the altitude – but when you press on the yoke, your altitude won’t change for a half-hour. It would be a challenging trip.

Kind of reminds one of the delays in controlling the Mars Rover by remote, eh? This is what Type I diabetes is like. It’s a daily “chasing of one’s tail.” This is why I prefer to eat at Subway when I’m in NYC or SFO. It’s consistent. I can count on it. I know how much insulin to take for a Steak & Cheese. Believe me, I’d love to eat new kinds of food every time I visit a new city, but I’d have to discover how much insulin to take and that’s and exhausting series of calculations and trial & error.