Lemonade Life

Monday, March 26, 2007

We Interrupt This Vacation To Bring You This Exciting Allison Moment....

I got my grades back!!

I passed Biology of Cancer!!

With a fcuking B!!!!!!

A BEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And 3 A- in my other classes (International Journalism, Dark Self, and Communication Economics).

My overall GPA is 3.03. A 3! I got to a 3!!!

I AM OFFICIALLY GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

And Now.... A Girl With No Luck!

(said in exagerated Monty Python and the Flying Circus style)

Okay, I want to write a wonderfully long and detailed story of my ridiculous day, but alas, it is 10:00 and I have to get up at a quarter to six tomorrow so I can fly to NEW YORK FUCKING CITY!

Ahem.

Sufficed to say (or is it "suffice it to say"...I never know which), NO ONE in my area sells medical id bracelets. One pharmacy had some, but they didn't have my disease. Ha. I wish I didn't have my disease either. Well, they had it as a necklace, but not a bracelet. So I took off the necklace pendant and strung it together with some beads and made it a bracelet with a massive pendent. It's odd-looking, but functional. I swear, I think the gods of medical id bracelets were punishing me for being a hypocrite and looking like I wear a medical id bracelet when in reality, I don't.

Anyway, almost everything on my list has been finished. Except for the downloading music onto my iPod because I think my iPod broke. It freezes randomly and I haven't figured out why. It sucks. Maybe the Apple store in NYC can fix it.

Well, I have finished printing out my boarding pass. Au revoir until April!

Monday, March 19, 2007

48 Hours

Here's my pre-trip to-do list.

  • Study for Biology of Cancer.
  • Take my Biology of Cancer final (my LAST one!) Edit: If I don't graduate from college, it's because this final SUCKED ASS..
  • Do four loads of laundry.
  • Buy travel sized amounts of shampoo, shaving cream and face wash.
  • Buy more test strips - because I'm down to a bottle and a half.
  • Put together my portfolio.
  • Restring my medic alert bracelet (I know, I'm a horrible diabetic and role model for never wearing it). Edit: Okay, so now I have to go buy a new one because I left my broken ID bracelet on my desk in Eugene, and I'm currently in Portland. Dammit! I don't like ID bracelets to begin with and now I have to go buy another one??
  • Buy a pair of boots - because I hate heels and since it's snowing in New York City, I'm pretty sure sandals are out. Edit: I'm starting to lean towards ballet flats...
  • Email/call people to confirm I'm meeting them in either New York or Philly (if you were planning on emailing or calling me to hang out, I may be able to fit you in for a breakfast, but that's it. I am completely booked - however, OCapalooza is still open to the diabetes public). Edit: As of Tuesday night, everyone has been emailed, but NOT everyone has written back. Seriously, check your email to see if I wrote. Because I probably did.
  • Sell back my textbooks so I will have more cash for the trip. Edit: I bought $250 worth of books and guess how much I got back... $34. Buggers.
  • Do the dishes.
  • Download more songs onto my iPod.
  • Clean my perpetually messy apartment. Edit: Well... for the most part.
  • Clean my perpetually messy car. Edit: It will never be clean. I should stop deluding myself.
  • Dye my hair.
  • Take the bottles and cans to the recycling.
  • Pack.Edit: Yes, my entire life is in my suitcase. And it weighs more than I do.
  • Drive to Portland.
And not necessarily in that order. That's just what needs to get done.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Really, thank goodness it's Friday!

  • Thanks to Sean, I now have two job interviews at PR agencies in New York that I am very VERY happy about. I'm not as afraid to graduate now. And, yes, this is the real reason I am coming to New York City. I'm not sure if I actually ever said that on here, but I am job-hunting because I want to move to New York.
  • I have discovered the joy of buying my favorite songs on iTunes. So far: "All Around Me" by Flyleaf and "Faster Kill Pussycat" by Paul Oakenfold featuring Brittany Murphy (yes, that Brittany Murphy). This is going to get me into a lot of trouble.
  • I need to buy clothes this weekend. And a bigger purse. However, I am trying to limit myself to just one suitcase for the trip East, which I believe means I am certifiably insane. But get this: I am gone for 12 days, I am staying in 7 different locations covering three states. Technically I'm going to four, but I am not spending the night in Connecticut. Just there for the day. I do not want to drag a ton of luggage around tri-state area. One suitcase means less chances I will leave a bag somewhere or fall down a flight of stairs or miss a train. But yeah, I'm crazy. And the fact I'm going to four states in 12 days is still warping my little West Coast mind a bit.
  • But back to clothes. How does anyone expect a 21-year-old to know how to dress anymore? I'm torn between wearing clothes that I think are cute and risk wearing something that's too young for me, or buying clothes that I know are more "grown-up" and "safe for the workplace" but that age me about ten years. The clothes that I do like (namely, Anne Taylor and ladies section at Nordstroms) are about twice the price I can afford. The cheap clothes fall under the aforementioned "what are you wearing?" categories. I'm 21 and I don't know how to dress myself.
  • I am going to see this man at Powell's bookstore tomorrow. I am so excited. I love the Post Secret website. I'm addicted. I go every week. Sometimes multiples times a week to read the responses that are posted. I have never sent anything in, if you are wondering. But I want to. Post Secret and Powell's. Together. Amazing.
  • Less than a week until I am in New York. One more class to go. One take-home final to finish (erm, and to start). Two in-class finals. I really hope I pass my classes. It would be traumatizing to not graduate at this point.

Monday, March 12, 2007

P.S.

This is my last week of college.

I feel like I should be happy or excited.

But I'm not.

That is all.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Switches

Last Tuesday night, I ran out of test strips.

I mean, completely out. None for the regular meter, none for the back-up Ultra. Not even expired "this number is at least 30 points off" test strips.

Since it was 11 o'clock at night, my only choice was to wait patiently until the next morning to drive to the pharmacy to pick some more up.

The next morning I drove down to Albertson's before class. I went to the counter and explained to the pharmacy technician that I need to order test strips because I didn't have any. I also explained that they would have to call the pharmacy in the Quaint Little Portland Suburb That Remains Unnamed, because I accidentally transfered the prescription up there the previous weekend. The technician informs me that it will be at least half an hour before they will be able to call the pharmacy. I decide to station myself at the magazine rack while I wait.

About half an hour later, I get a phone call from the pharmacist.

"The pharmacy in Quaint Little Suburb doesn't have a record of your BD meter prescripton," she informs me.

Wha?? How do you lose a prescription? It's not like these things just get up and walk out of the pharmacy.

"But they have the new prescription for the Ultra from your endocrinologist." (I had finally decided a couple weeks ago to toss the BD once and for all and move to a more reputable brand - Lifescan).

Now, one would think this would solve all my problems and the world would be all sunshine and roses again.

Ha. Lest you forget the subject we're talking about: diabetes.

You see, my insurance company has once again changed the category that my test strips fall under. First, they were normal durable supplies that I could order from Medtronic Minimed during my tri-monthly supply run. I got everything from one place, at one time, every three months, with the insulin bottles the first week of every month. It was the next best thing to a dream come true (okay, it was about five spots below the next best thing, but you get the idea).

Then they switched it to a pharmacy supply. Test strips and insulin were bought the first week of the month, and the pump supplies every three months. Still relatively convenient in the grand scheme of ways diabetes can fuck things up.

Now they have switched it again to the peudo-technical category of "major medical durable supplies." Whatever the hell that means. It wouldn't that much of a crisis if it wasn't for the fact that pharmacies can't code for "major medical durable supplies."

The pharmacist goes on to explain that my doctor has prescribed 400 test strips, and that if I buy them, I will have to buy them at full price.

"I can put together a box of 100 test strips if you want," the pharmacist says, "Just so you can have some and then you can bill your insurance company." She tells me I would have to talk to my insurance company to find out where to get my test strips in the future.

After I get off the phone, I call my dad.

"Hey kid," he says as he picks up.

"Have I mentioned lately how much I hate diabetes?" I reply. I have an hour and a half until I am supposed to meet with some classmates, and I still haven't tested, taken a shower or had lunch. "Everytime I turn around diabetes is there to fuck things up."

After I explain to my dad what had happened with the change in insurance, he gives me our insurance information and tells me to go ahead and buy the test strips (well, obviously, what was he going to say? No, I think you should wait?).

An hour and a half after I arrived at Albertson's, I finally left with my 100 Lifescan Ultra test strips and drove home to discover a 258 mg/dl. After two months of averaging 202 mg/dl, this wasn't exactly a surprising number. But luckily, my numbers have been taking a nice downward turn towards "the middle." Well, for the most part that is. I have still hit the 200s a few times since Wednesday, but I have also gone low nine times in the past 5 days.

Nine times.

This includes an hour long low blood sugar episode last night. Woke up at 2:15 a.m. shaky and flushed (a new symptom! I have never had this symptom when low, but now I do! I am a part of the Hot n' Sweaty Hypoglycemic Club! Woohoo!). After testing (68 mg/dl) and grabbing an apple Juicy Juice from the fridge, I waited for the low to disappear. I had a hard time falling back asleep, so I decided to change the time on my pump and fiddled around with my cell phone trying to figure out how to change the time. It finally switched on its own. This is the first time I have ever changed the time on my clock at 2 o'clock in the morning, the "official" time-switching time. Then I realized the reason I wasn't falling back asleep was because I was 70 mg/dl. Oh joy.

While I'm secretly a little pleased that all the lows are lowering my A1C little by little, hypoglycemia is such a frustrating and painful experience for me that it's really something I try to avoid as much as possible. So we'll making more switches. That's all diabetes is sometimes... just switches... Switches in insurance, switches in meters, switches in injection sites, switches in injection methods (pump v. shots), switches in basal rates and bolus ratios.

Soon, I'm making an even bigger switch in my diabetes regime...

Friday, March 09, 2007

It's Like It Knows Me...

My friend did this on her Livejournal, so I already knew what her picture meant and decided that it didn't really fit me. There were a lot of beautiful images to pick from, and in fact, after clicking on a few more, several of them fit me kind of accurately... like horoscope accuracy...

But man. It's like it can see inside my soul...

The Part of You That No One Sees

You are compassionate, caring, and soothing.
You like other people to depend on you...
In fact, you don't feel right unless you are helping someone out.

Underneath it all, you feel the burden of everyone's problems.
Without your guidance, you fear that many people's worlds would fall apart.
You like to feel in charge, even if it brings you a lot of stress.


Creepy, no?

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Break the Silence: A Unite for Diabetes Video

This is a powerful and well-done mini-documentary on diabetes produced in South Africa during the International Diabetes Federation's triannual conference. The advocates featured in the video are some of the 25 Youth Ambassadors from around the world. They share their thoughts and struggles with diabetes.

Monday, March 05, 2007

So There's This Lady In Portland...

And this lady's name is Lori.

Lori and I have been chatting on Gmail for a few weeks now and when I told her I was going up to Portland (for a second weekend in a row - gah) for a friend's birthday, we agreed that it was about time we finally meet. Seeing as how I had lived in Portland for six months last year and we never got around to having dinner, I personally felt a little silly having waited to so long. March is the month for meeting people (what with OCapalooza coming in three weeks, and a visit to San Diego will yield a dinner with George, and hopefully Kelsey, mid-April), so it seemed like perfect timing.

We made plans to hit up my favorite restaurant in all of Portland, Rock Bottom, at 5 o'clock on Saturday. The rendez-vous started off slightly after 5 (after going on a mad search to find a Walgreen or Rite Aid so I could buy AAA batteries for my pump) in a restaurant that was surprisingly crowded considering it was so early.

Lori and her husband, Dr. Parts (that's not his real name, FYI), and I had way too much food for 3 diabetics, including an appetizer (humongous "titan toothpicks" - chicken, Jack cheese and peppers wrapped in fried), entrees and splitting two desserts (chocolate raspberry brownie and apple cobbler - which we didn't finish, in our defense). I had my "usual" - strawberry marga-jito (it was the first drink I had at the restaurant when we went there for my birthday). My blood sugar spiked, and the alcohol probably stabilized my blood sugar at an even 260 for the entire night. Note to self: Be one with the square bolus and temp basal.

Conversation included: my impending graduation (no, I still don't know what I'm doing), the physiological differences between type 2 and type 1 diabetes, the differences in attitudes towards health in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, reasons why Cheating Destiny is the most awesomest book ever, type 2 diabetics going on insulin and testing more often, why Eugene is boring, and Lori wanting to adopt George (you can't make this stuff up).

And here we are, two diabetics hyped up on more sugar than the body can handle:


Saturday, March 03, 2007

That Bridge Looks Mighty Fine...

THE SEVEN THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE (in no particular order)
1. Write a book. Just like the rest of the world.
2. Move to New Zealand to live with the Hobbits.
3. Be the last president of JDRF. (This one might be a long shot).
4. Have sex. (I'm a 21 year old virgin - it's high on my to-do list).
5. Get married.
6. Visit Israel, Edit: And the Anne Frank House! Thanks to Sasha for reminding me about it!
7. Adopt a child.

SEVEN THINGS I CANNOT DO
1. Remember more than small snippets of sound.
2. Be on time.
3. Remember to bolus before a meal.
4. Anything with math. I praise the Bolus Wizard Gods on a daily basis.
5. Understand how people cannot believe in a God. You don't have to be a Christian, but atheism just doesn't make sense to me.
6. Keep electronics from breaking.
7. Go an extended period of time away from the Internet. Hello, my name is Allison and I'm addicted to email.

SEVEN THINGS THAT I FIND ATTRACTIVE IN PEOPLE IN GENERAL
1. Intelligence.
2. Honesty.
3. Curiosity.
4. An interest in culture.
5. Tolerance.
6. Loyalty.
7. Kindness.

SEVEN THINGS I SAY
1. "Fuck." Which is funny considering how much I used to hate that word.
2. "No, it's an insulin pump."
3. "I'm majoring in journalism... No, my emphasis is public relations.. No, it's like... It's hard to explain."
4. "Stop lying. Lying's a sin!"
5. "Hey babe."
6. "You're weird." (And variations thereof: psycho, crazy, bizarre).
7. "I need coffee."

SEVEN BOOKS THAT I LOVE
1. Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl.
2. Life of Pi.
3. Blue Like Jazz.
4. Reading Lolita in Tehran.
5. Man's Search for Meaning.
6. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
7. Cheating Destiny (in bold, underlined, exclamation marks!)

SEVEN MOVIES THAT I LOVE
1. V for Vendetta.
2. Ghost World.
3. Garden State.
4. Lost in Translation.
5. Little Miss Sunshine.
6. Almost Famous.
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

SEVEN PEOPLE TO TAG
I tag the seven people who haven't jumped off the bridge yet.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

It's March?!

It's March 1.

Which means I have exactly 14 schooldays left before I graduate.

And I still don't have a job.

This past week has been on the Insanity side of things. On Friday I drove up to my parent's house near Portland because I was volunteering at the Children's Diabetes Seminar (think of it as a really small CWD) and Dr. Bruce Buckingham had been flown in for the 4th Annual James Hansen Memorial Research Seminar. Which is, at is always is, Research 101 for the uninitiated.

But I met him. Me! The girl who only interacts with people via a computer terminal! Okay, that's not entirely true, but I do have a penchance for standing around for twenty minutes, mulling over my opening line, before casually tip-toeing over to a person and squeaking out a "Hi...I'm Allison...we kind of know each other already but..."

Unless I'm hyped up on five cups of coffee. Then you can't get me to shut up without a roll of duck tape and some rope.

Nothing new or unusual to report. I go to a lot of these seminars, and I swear, I think Amy has done a better job of bringing me up to speed on research and technology than any doctor's seminar. Sometimes I think I go just so I can say I've gone. And to give parents my words of wisdom. Which, surprise surprise, happens a lot.

Monday, I had a Biology of Cancer midterm. Which I didn't study for. Go me.

On Tuesday, I had a 3 page paper due. Which I wrote Monday night. Go me.

On Wednesday, I had a 5 paper paper due. Which I started Tuesday night, finished on Wednesday, and ended up being 6 pages long. Go me.

Up next: 5 page group project in International Journalism, plus my final papers and exams.

14 more days... 14 more days. Holy crap.

Then seven days in New York, four days in Philadelphia (with a quick little jaunt up to New Jersey to see extended family). Then a week in Portland. Then a week in California.

Before I said my life ends on April 18.

But Lori has promised to take me out and get me drunk on April 19.

So now I have plans for April 19.

Go me.

Coming Soon: When Diabetics Meet and Drink.