yellow curtains

No Laughing Matter

2006-11-21T18:25:00.000-05:00

Howdy y'all... this here is a piece I just put together and am planning to submit to a few places including Dodingdiabetes.org and Cozmore.com. I wanted this to be both silly (freakin funny) and informative, so enjoy...

My name is Andy Tiedeman; I am 25 years old and have had type I (juvenile) diabetes for over 12 years.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I took a late night trip to the emergency room at Children’s hospital and was told by a doctor with a half-smile that I either had diabetes or someone had switched my blood sample with blueberry syrup. I remember laughing at that and figured that he was joking, what a comedian. Earlier that evening my family and I had gone out to a local diner and I had already decided in advance that I would order a chocolate milkshake. I had an upset stomach on the way to the diner and so we had headed home instead and finally to Children’s hospital. How long, I asked the doctor, until I could get out of here and get that milkshake. Well, he said, you’ll be here for at least another day, and as for the milkshake, that will have to wait a bit longer. How much longer, I asked, a few hours, a few days? No, he said, more like a few months, or quite possibly a few years. He said I would have to learn how to balance my body’s blood sugar levels first by using insulin injections and that it would take time before I could eat something with that much sugar. He said that from now on I would have to limit the sweets and other carbohydrates that I ate to be based on the amount of insulin I was taking. You’re joking, I said, no one person could do such a balancing act on a daily basis for every meal that they ate. No, he said, if I was joking I would have said that a horse walks into a bar and the bartender asks why the long face.

Okay, so maybe that’s not exactly what happened the day that I was diagnosed, but the important thing that I remember is how ridiculous the whole experience felt. Here I was a confused twelve year-old barely able to pass algebra 1 and all of a sudden I was saddled with the responsibility of having to measure ratios of insulin and carbohydrates just to drink a glass of milk or eat a piece of toast. The difficulty of measuring insulin to carbohydrates on a day-to-day basis is why I am so excited to start treatment using a device called the CozMore insulin pump. An insulin pump is a small mechanism about the size of a cell phone that delivers insulin via a plastic catheter placed underneath the skin. The CozMore, made by Smiths Medical, has the ability for the user to input the carbohydrate amounts either manually or by using the on-board food database and the user’s blood sugar levels and, based on this information, calculates and delivers the required amount of insulin. Advances such as this give hope to people with diabetes like me who think that a brain freeze from a chocolate milkshake is bad enough, never mind a headache from the math!

blazing

2006-10-12T21:59:00.000-04:00

So, let me explain the origins of this fine blog... The name comes from a poem I wrote some time ago, enjoy.

"yellow curtains set ablaze

like contrary emotions

set slightly out of phase

they twist and turn

and bend and fall

like elderly people lost in a mall"

Nice.

diamond sutra

2006-10-04T18:47:00.001-04:00

Happy Wednesday people, its hump day now so get your arses in gear!

I'm new to this here blogging thing but since I'm up I wanted to share some shocking news about our friends Screech (aka Dustin Diamond) and Mike D (is your name Michael Diamond? nah, my name's Clarence... aka Country Mike).

Its time to clear the air of another urban legend now people, the fraternal bond many had assumed existed between these 1980s icons is just that I'm afraid... a myth. Ch-ch-check it out:

Michael Diamond, a.k.a. Mike D (born November 20, 1965), is a founding member of New York hip hop trio the Beastie Boys. Mike D raps, sings punk rock, and plays drums alongside fellow members Adrock and MCA.

Mike D was the founder and president of Grand Royal Records, the Beastie Boys' own record company. Along with the Latch Brothers, Mike D created the soundtrack for Jet Set Radio Future for Xbox. He appeared on the U.N.K.L.E. album "Psyence Fiction" in 1998.

He attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York for six months. It is rumored that he was expelled after throwing a keg from the 9th floor of Jewett tower. It is the common consensus that this is a myth.

Mike D. is married to Tamra Davis, director of the film Half Baked starring Dave Chappelle.

Contrary to the persistent rumors, Mike D. is not the elder brother of Dustin Diamond, better known to most as Screech from "Saved By The Bell".

Now Lizard People... the vote is still out on that one it seems.
Later taters!