Not a lot of anything

First of all... Yes, I am on a pump. A MiniMed Paradigm 512. To all my readers who have yet taken their exams...GOOD LUCK!!!
I would also like to report that I have a new addition to my family... To go with my two fish (Sydnie and Bruce) I bought a fiddler crab. It's so cute. It has one big claw and one little one. It sorta just does laps around the bottom of the fish bowl and it sits on the little sand-colored castle in the bowl.
Quick question... I was watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I love that movie) I wanted to know why none of the children were diabetic? Would that have been a cruel joke? Just wondering.

Scary Scary Kickoff to Vacation

Assessments are over and I passed all my classes. Phew. Also, I am very happy to report that the thing on my finger popped! It was indeed an infection...a big one. It finally broke Thursday morning before I left for a 3 1/2 hour road trip to Eureka with the basketball team. The Alverno athletic trainer and I were really excited. She might not know everything about diabetes but she knows enough; and she knows that when a diabetic has an infection it is serious. She made sure I drained all the icky out and then we wrapped it up. It has been 4 days now and it looks really good. Yay! The staph infection looks really good too. The bumps under my arm are almost completely gone! Score!
So, I'm going to tell a little story. Thursday the Alverno Inferno played the Eureka Red Devils and lost :-( but in the second half we really stepped it up. Anyway, I made sure to clean out my little finger extra well after the game and we were back on the road for our 3 1/2 hour ride back home. Everything was going fine. I was finally back down after a adrainaline high of 308 and we got something to eat (Pizza Hut...yum). I slept a little on the van ride back-it was about 10 by the time we were back on the interstate. Because it was going to already be 1:30ish when we got back I had already made plans to spend the night in Austin Hall with a close friend...
It was about 4 in the AM and I woke up in a cold sweat. I must have woke up my friend because she asked if everything was ok. I told her I felt low and in my head I was in the 60s range. 60 would have been great. I was 42! When I go low I tend to think everything is funny so I start laughing and simply lay back down to go back to sleep. I was tired so I thought I would just sleep it off. Thank God for my friend because she freaked out and made me eat some powdered doughnuts that she had in her room. After eating those she made me walk with her to the vending machine to keep a Wild Cherry Pepsi close. So, thank you Jenny for saving my life cuz if I would have gone back to sleep the morning would have been much much different.
It is late and I am going Christmas shopping tomorrow. I will meet up with you all in the cyber world at somepoint. Remember...Alex loves you all!

Assessments and Shopping

First of all, I would like to say thank you for the nice comments. I'm glad there are people out there who are reading this.
I would like to report that my Staph infection is getting a lot better! The antibiotics seem to be working and I hope that this time it stays away. I also had that thing going on with my pinky and I think that is clearing up too! It's not soar anymore and it is returning to normal color. Yesss!
Today was my last assessment (that is exam in Alverno terms). I had 3 papers due and 1 biology assessment. I turned in two of the three papers but forgot about one because our instructor first told us we didn't have to do it but then her boss said we did so she said just do something and hand it in and I thought it was only going to be the 12th today so...oops, my bad. She'll get it tomorrow though and things will be ok. It is the bio. assessment that had me worried though-not enough to the point were my blood goes bonkers but I was nervous. We'll see how it goes I guess.
Now it is off to the mall! CHRISTMAS SHOPPING! Get back and let me do my thing: a screen and roll here, a studder step there and a quick head fake and to the register we go! JK... It will be more window shopping for me today. I only got $38.50 from selling my $224.00 books back today so I'm just going to give my friend the ride to the mall. It will still be fun. :-)

Six Until Me

Six Until Me

Sleepyness

Good morning. Let me tell you something, it was so hard getting up this morning. We had a basketball game last night and we were expecting to get back around 11:30-12:00 and we didn't get back until 1:00 AM! I slept most of the ride back but in a 12 passanger van with 6 other college women and two female coaches up front sometimes the conditions for sleeping aren't always the best. By the time we got back and I drove home, took a shower, and fed my mouse, Bit, it was about 2:00 in the AM and I would be waking up in about 4 hours to get to work by 7:00. I'll be dragg'n today but that's alright, the semester is almost over-3 more classes and basketball. I'll catch up on sleep then. I really have been trying to get caught up on sleep. Last year I would be coming home anywhere around 11:30-2:00 and waking up around 6:45 to get to class by 8:00. I felt ok but I know that my body needs more sleep so I'm trying really hard to commit to that. I know it's important and my body needs sleep to heal...and do I need some time to heal. I am still recovering from a left ankle stress fracture, a right ankle sprain, a jammed right pinky finger, and now I have a blood blister on my left pinky and a staff infection on my arm pit! I'm fall'n apart. I'm most worried about the staff infection though. As I'm sure most of you know those of us with diabetes can't fight those infections as well and I'm on horse-pill sized antibiotics for it. I noticed little bumps under my arm a little more than a month ago and was on antis for a week but it must not have been enough cuz it came back. Now I'm on the antis for two weeks at a bit of a stronger dose. My doctor doesn't want to mess around with this. We hope a sist isn't formed/forming cuz that would mean needing it surgically removed...icky...I don't want that.
Anyway... I'm not even sure anyone out there reads this so I'm going to stop writing now. Have a great day to those of you who might see this. :-)

My First Entry

Good day. I am Alex. I am a 19 year old student at Alverno College. For those of you who don't know, Alverno is a women's liberal arts college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I play soccer and basketball for the Alverno Inferno. I am a very active college student and love it although it is sometimes extremely hectic.
To introduce my life is not the reason I am now on this blog. It is because I am inspired by other bloggers such as Six Until Me, A Shot In The Dark, Sweetblood, and Cyber Pancreas. I have had diabetes for 16 years and so far (knock on wood) have had no complications with the exception of a few ER visits due to infections my body could not fight on it's own. I know that even as few as 15 years ago living this long with diabetes was rare and it makes me open my eyes. I think I had a reality check when I wrote a short paper on Mary Tyler Moore and the work she's done for Juvinile Diabetes. I really want to live another 16+ years and I need to make some changes in order to do that. Diabetes is a silent killer and I do not want to be it's victim anytime soon. I am hoping that this blog will help me make the changes I need to.
I am a college kid and as most of you know that means it's a lot of living on the seat of your pants, eating junk food, and personal health does not always mean a hell of a lot. I mean come-on, I'm a college kid, we live forever right? Anyway, I'm trying to be a better person about my disease and by making it public for all of you to witness I thought it might help. So, if you have any words of advise let me know. Also, if you know of a newbie that is having a rough time with it tell them to give me a shout out; I'm willing to help. Well, I have basketball practice in an hour and more to do before then. I will be back at somepoint.