PICTURE POST II!

[Kommander]

Artist: Kommander
Medium: Plaster on wood and wire mesh
Title: My Boss Needs to Learn How to Fucking Not Crash into Buildings

If you look really closely at the texture, you'll see a picture of my boss's car embedded in a wall and him standing next to it looking upset and angry. I wonder how long it'll take him to notice?

 

[Gary7]

Ed: Changing to a link due to image being NSFW - CI

Whoops... sorry, didn't see that! Talk about prime camouflage.

I have to stay connected pretty much all the time, but there are a few exceptions. I change the site every 3 days (I've only done so once so far). I disconnect to shower, and during certain workouts where it would be awkward -- I can take it off for swimming, for example. But generally no more than an hour, because it delivers a microdose of insulin every hour, and because the pump doesn't use a long-acting basal insulin. Basal insulins stay in your blood for about 24 hours. The pump uses only short-acting insulin, which stays in the blood around 4 hours, so diabetic ketoacidosis can set in much, much faster if a dose is missed. I could have it off for longer than an hour, but I'd have to reconnect on the hour for a minute to get the dose, or take a shot.

I'm glad to hear that this device helps make life easier for you. I can appreciate how much of a pain it is to get regular shots instead. Hope it all works out well.

 

[Gary7]

In the spirit of having felt like a dummy for missing that exposure in the last one...

 

[Emher]

^It will be hard to adjust, and I don't think I'll know until I've had it for at least a couple weeks whether or not it's better than shots, but so far it's looking good. It is awkward to wear, but I think the benefits will far outweigh that. This allows for really tight control with micro doses of insulin. With shots you're stuck with 1 unit intervals, which is fine for type 2 diabetics, because type 2 diabetes involves insulin resistance. Type 2's and really insulin resistant people, like very overweight people, can take 20, 30, even 100 units in a meal, but I'm sensitive, so I might take 1 or 2 units. The pump is so precise that I can dose as low as 0.025 units. This means way better control.

Also, I don't handle Lantus insulin well, the long-acting insulin. I have a lot of side-effects, including weight gain. With the pump, I'll be off lantus. Plus, people who pump live on average 5 years longer than people who treat with injections. So, I think it's going to be worth it.

I had no idea the tolerances where so precise with type 1. Considering that and your other complications, this would seem the better solution. Here's hoping it works for you

 

[Sephiroth]

didn't know you were so sensitive, also, does it play MP3's as well?

 

[TheSeeker]

Haven't shared this outside TNZ, but it's my 3rd day on an insulin pump, and I'm actually starting to feel more confident about it. At first I was a bit depressed about how ugly it is, but I'm starting to feel better about it. Last night I even went out, and I think I managed to look pretty nice despite it.

The pump:

Me wearing it, I think I'm going to try the thigh next, I find the abdomen a little tender:

I don't have it so bad compared to the first insulin pump, though:

It's interesting that you posted this when you did. I was browsing CTV News yesterday and came across this article and it looks like they are talking about the very device you are using, except they are referring to it as an artificial pancreas.

 

[thestrangequark]

The pump:

You're bionic!

I know! I'm a cyborg now -- and as weird as it sounds, the Nerd is so strong in me that this is one of the main things keeping my spirits up!

I'm glad to hear that this device helps make life easier for you. I can appreciate how much of a pain it is to get regular shots instead. Hope it all works out well.

Weirdly, shots don't bother me. Insulin shots are quick and easy, I've been doing them myself since I was 12. The needle is only about 1/4 inch and the thickness of a human hair. The introduction needle for the pump's cannula, on the other hand, is about 1.5 inches and 5 times the gage. It freaks me out way more than shots!

I had no idea the tolerances where so precise with type 1. Considering that and your other complications, this would seem the better solution. Here's hoping it works for you

didn't know you were so sensitive, also, does it play MP3's as well?

It does look like an oldschool mp3 player, doesn't it!

Yeah, insulin sensitivities vary from person to person, and even in the same person from day-to-day and hour to hour, bur since type 1 is a disease wherein the body cannot produce insulin at all, as opposed to type 2, which is a disease wherein the body becomes resistant to its own insulin, the sensitivity levels of type 1 diabetics tend to be orders of magnitude lower than type 2s. However, a type 1 diabetic can also get type 2 diabetes.

In other news, here is my nephew and some of his artwork. My sister and brother-in-law are teaching him well:

 

[lurok]

Matt Smith is a Bolian ?

Seriously though, I love the way kids don't give a crap about colour. I'm looking forward to my godchildren's psychedelic scrawls.

 

[thestrangequark]

It's interesting that you posted this when you did. I was browsing CTV News yesterday and came across this article and it looks like they are talking about the very device you are using, except they are referring to it as an artificial pancreas.

Just missed this!

The pump and the artificial pancreas aren't exactly the same thing, though the artificial pancreas involves a pump. The pump has been around for ages, and the artificial pancreas is still very much in the testing phase. The artificial pancreas involves what is called a "closed-loop" system -- a glucometer and pump, either internal or external, that monitor and regulate blood sugar on their own. Current pumps, while they can link to glucometers wirelessly, and can be programmed to do a lot of things automatically, are still ultimately under the control of the individual. Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technology is still very new and imprecise, and frankly, closed-loop systems scare the crap out of me and I don't think I would ever want one. This sentiment is shared by a lot of diabetics.

I'd actually prefer the implantable pump, but you can't get it in the US anymore,there are currently 4 US patients still using them, but they have to fly to France every 4 months to get them refilled. The reasons for them being discontinued are not medical, but business and bureaucratic decisions. The implantable pump is not automatic like an artificial pancreas, but it is implanted completely in the body and controlled via remote. The big difference between the implantable pump and the pump I'm on now is that the implantable pump delivers insulin directly to the liver (instead of sub-q) which is how the body naturally does it. Delivery of insulin directly to the liver much better regulates blood glucose and eliminates hypoglycemia. It also requires much less insulin. Sub-q insulin has to be mega-dosed, because insulin is not naturally supposed to enter the system sub-q. Even the miniscule doses I take are mega-doses compared to a non-diabetic. Apparently this results in type 1's being sick and fatigued all the time, but since you don't know how it feels to feel normal, you don't notice. Patients who've had the implantable pump report feeling like completely different people the instant they wake up from the surgery.

I'd love to feel that.

 

[Mary Ann]

since type 1 is a disease wherein the body cannot produce insulin at all, as opposed to type 2, which is a disease wherein the body becomes resistant to its own insulin, the sensitivity levels of type 1 diabetics tend to be orders of magnitude lower than type 2s. However, a type 1 diabetic can also get type 2 diabetes.

You've mentioned before that Types 1 and 2 are very different, but I didn't know they were that different. Thanks for this info.

In other news, here is my nephew and some of his artwork. My sister and brother-in-law are teaching him well:

There's nothing better than children's artwork. It's so completely uninhibited. Even better are the "Well, duh" looks some kids give adults when asked to explain their pictures. Us adults are just too stupid to figure it out ourselves.

 

[thestrangequark]

^He drew an Ood all on his own the other day!

Yeah, type 1 and type 2 aren't even the same disease. They are two completely different diseases with the same name. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Type 2 is a disease in which, due to lifestyle (poor diet, lack of exercise, overweight) OR genetics and age (some very physically fit and healthful people develop it too), usually a combination of lifestyle/genetics, the body becomes resistent to its own insulin.

Frankly, I'd be happy if they re-named type 1. It's not right that there's so much bias and blame for type 2 diabetes either, but I hate all the misinformation and assumptions that come with the 'diabetic' label. Type 1 is not caused by eating too much sugar, it doesn't mean I can't have sugar, it's not caused by being overweight, it is much more dangerous -- at least inasmuch as it can cause death pretty much instantly, as opposed to slowly through complications like type 2 -- and so on, and so on! RANT!

 

[Mary Ann]

Hey, it's well worth the rant. I go on the same way about autistic spectrum conditions, as you may have noticed.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Goddamn SPECTRUM disorders!!!

 

[cooleddie74]

When I was his age I had a habit of coloring Spock's face and hands red or blue and his uniform shirt yellow. It made for quite the amusing series of drawings and doodles but I had so much fun scribbling Trek and other fictional as well as cartoon characters and then coloring them the way I saw fit.

To be frank, blue skin Spock with a yellow shirt looked awesome. He was like an Andorian who made the rank of captain.

 

[Mary Ann]

I have no good memories of my grade 1 teacher, who was obviously just working for her paycheque, because she sure as hell didn't like children. One of my strongest memories of her is her humiliating a classmate for colouring a cow red instead of a "real" colour. Talk about stifling creativity and knowing nothing about child development. Thankfully there are far fewer of her kind in classrooms nowadays.

 

[thestrangequark]

^He got the TARDIS right, which is all that matters. Blue skin? Fine. Red TARDIS? Hellz no.

 

[Mary Ann]

Yes, there must be exceptions.

 

[cooleddie74]

Meh. It's just a Mirror Universe TARDIS, that's all.

 

[Finn]

I have no good memories of my grade 1 teacher, who was obviously just working for her paycheque, because she sure as hell didn't like children. One of my strongest memories of her is her humiliating a classmate for colouring a cow red instead of a "real" colour. Talk about stifling creativity and knowing nothing about child development. Thankfully there are far fewer of her kind in classrooms nowadays.

 

[Mary Ann]

Well done, sir!