August 29, 2014
I admit it: I’m a D-vangelist. Everywhere I go, I look for opportunities to tell people about my savior. Insulin saved my life 42 years ago, and am not ashamed to stand up and testify. A couple of weeks ago I was at a water park, wearing my pod on my arm. The guy behind us in line asked me…
In the Facebook group, “You Know You’re  Type 1 Diabetic When …” Randall Dennis quipped, “I have decided that I love my diabetes because it has stuck with me longer than any of my wives.” That got me thinking: How is living with diabetes like or unlike living with a spouse? First, here’s how living with diabetes is LIKE living with…
August 4, 2014
It was the perfect day for a bike ride for me, and it was an embarrassing one for my wife. At 7 a.m. I clicked into the pedals on my dark blue Specialized Allez road bike and pushed off toward my friend Ed’s house. I looked up at the cloudless pastel blue sky with yellows and reds radiating from the east. Goosebumps appeared…
It all started innocently enough. The hospital nurses gave me a model car to put together, probably to keep me in my bed rather than romping through the hospital hallways with the other kids on the children’s floor. This was back in 1971, and hospitals were not yet in the practice of moving patients out as soon as possible. I had…
July 21, 2014
My wife and I were in the delivery room about to give birth to our first child. Now, before I get too far into this story, I need to explain that my wife, Heidi, is from New Jersey. If that fact means nothing to you, go to Netflix and watch a couple episodes of “Jersey Shore.” Or don’t and be…
I’ve learned a lot about living a healthy life with type-1 diabetes on my mountain bike. Now, let me be clear. I’m not writing as an expert professional cyclist or an expert endocrinologist. (I’m not a doctor, although my wife does sometimes call me “Dr. Love.” Actually, that’s not true at all, but I wish it was.) I’m just an ordinary guy who…
Diabetes is not for dummies. People who keep tight control of their diabetes must be either mathemeticians or own (and know how to operate) a Texas Instruments calculator like the one pictured on the right. Let’s do the math: That’s one unit for every ten carbohydrates, plus one more unit for every 40 mg/dl over my target mg/dl, minus an expected value of glucose fluctuation based…
June 25, 2014
1972 was a big year for me–the year of the Olympic Games, and I was participating. I was 12 years old and won 27 gold medals. At least I should have. The other competitors, Tim Ward, age 11, and Jeff Ward, age 10, competed too. The events all took place in my backyard, garage, basement, and around our neighborhood on…
June 23, 2014
Relying on your mom to give you your insulin injections has its disadvantages, especially when she’s mad at you and hasn’t taken (what she called) her “nerve pills.” Like the time when I was 13 and I got mud on her freshly cleaned kitchen floor, and later when she gave me my shot, she wiggled and twisted the needle around…
June 20, 2014
I could give a shot to an orange, a grapefruit, and a nurse, but I couldn’t inject myself. I was 11 years old and had just been diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes. I spent the next three weeks in the hospital, where the nurses schemed to teach me to give my own shot. After three weeks of trickery, deceit, and blackmail,…