Recent Posts
2022 Diabetes Wellness Review – Medications and Medical Devices
This is the second post reviewing two of the spokes (or clusters) of help in my Diabetes Wellness Wheel. This post focuses on Medications and Medical Devices. Below is the Diabetes Wellness Wheel and my criteria, assessment of 2022, and adjustments in 2023 for these...
Alcohol & Diabetes … Learnings & Adjustments From a Dry January
For me, most evenings include a pint or two of Miller Lite (occasionally red wine) just before or during dinner. It’s been a daily ritual for years and a way of transitioning from the ‘productive’ part of my day into a relaxing evening. I hardly ever have more than...
2022 Diabetes Wellness Review – Medical Professionals
This is the first of several posts reviewing the individual spokes (or clusters) of help in my Diabetes Wellness Wheel. This post focuses on Medical Professionals ... below is the Diabetes Wellness Wheel, evaluation criteria, my assessment of 2022, and the...
Tidepool … aka Loop
On January 24 the FDA approved Tidepool’s Loop algorithm that automates insulin dosing (*). The FDA approval process took two years and represents a first … a regulated and commercially available solution for patient choice in the algorithms and hardware they...
Marlo(w) Thomas!
It’s 6:30 am and time to wake up. The only problem is I’m low. And a bit creative. Kendra nudges me and we start talking. She suspects something as I’m not making total sense. She asks if I’m low. I respond with: Yes, Yes I am! I am so low that I am …. Marlo-o-o...
2022 Review & Diabetes Wellness Wheel
2022 is in the rear view mirror! It’s time to reflect on my diabetes wellness and make adjustments for 2023. It was another challenging year, still navigating our world of Covid and experiencing an unexpected hip fracture in Q4. After two bouts with Covid in 2021, I...
2022 Exercise Calendar
In prep for a self assessment of my diabetes in 2022, I’m reviewing the exercise calendar hanging in our basement workout room. Since 1987, I’ve logged my workouts on a physical calendar. This year’s results fell short due to a fractured hip on October 29. I was on...
The Case for Inanimate Objects
Inanimate Objects The toaster I’ve used for decades was ‘retired’ this week. My sister gave us this new toaster for Christmas and I’ve resisted the enthusiastic efforts from my wife and son to make a change. Why? Starting in my 20s, most days started with two pieces...
R.I.P Jack Burr, M.D.
This week marks my 60th anniversary of living with type 1. At the beginning of my journey was a pediatrician named Jack Burr. He is one of the first gratitude posts on this blog. As he and I reconnected over the past decade, his wife included me in their annual...
60 Years with Type 1
I don't post much on Facebook, but today is an exception as it's my 60th D-Day ... here's what I posted: Those who know me well are aware of my life’s journey with diabetes. Diagnosed at age 3, today marks my 60 year milestone living with type 1. It’s taken a village...
World Diabetes Day – 2022
Hello World Diabetes Day 2022! November is diabetes awareness month ... our day was started in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization and then reinforced by the United Nations in 2006. This is all about raising awareness of...
Icebreaker’s Lessons on Managing Diabetes
Yesterday was our company's monthly management offsite meeting and, of course, we started with an ice breaker. This one was more thought provoking than most ... here's the question that was posed: "What advice would you give to a new manager of people?" Here's my...
Best (and Worst) Practices
This is not a comprehensive list of how to live well with T1D. (You can find those in the categories that make up the Living Well Model.) But here are the handful of moves I consider the best - and worst – for living with type 1 diabetes. Best 5 Moves #1: Getting...
Summer has arrived and a great day to cycle, but wait …
It's Saturday morning and the summer heat and humidity has hit Kansas City. Was looking forward to cycling 30 miles with friends until ... I woke up with a blood sugar of 320. Crap ... what to do? Try and bolus it down with insulin? That means active insulin...
Chillin’ Sans Dex
My Dexcom sensor expired this past Sunday. I haven’t replaced it … it’s now Wednesday and I feel more relaxed and at ease. Blood sugars are in the background; less front stage and center. I’m one to dig into, interpret and work with data. I try to let go and have the...
Dexcom on Garmin
I started cycling in 2007 after a JDRF staff member asked me to be our chapter’s first type 1 to ride a JDRF sponsored century. I was also in search of a low impact workout as a substitute for high impact running. I hadn't been on a bike since college, but trained and...
The Grammys
I watched The Grammy’s last weekend and was amazed at the talent and creativity present in the room. The music and energy created in Las Vegas made their way into homes across the world, including ours. As I watched, I thought about how artists make and perform their...
Closed Looping – Round III
This month I took another walk with closed loop tech. The first was with Medtronic’s 670G in 2017 and then the Loop IOS app with an older Medtronic pump & Riley link. This third attempt was with a TSlim X2 pump loaded with Control IQ. The ride was like a hockey...
Crud Day
I’m having one of those days. Woke up with a blood sugar of 325. Proceeded to give a correction bolus on my pump to move it down. I look in the mirror and want the tag number of the truck that ran me over. I skip breakfast due to the high number, get ready for work...
Living Well Model – 2021 In Review
Whew … 2021 is in the books! It was a second year of respecting and navigating life with Covid. Doing that with diabetes adds another layer of complexity I’m a pretty resilient type, but I missed in person social connections and conversations with friends. Doing...
About Reed
