My Diabetes Mine guest post

A big thank you to Mike Hoskins and Diabetes Mine for featuring me today on the site for Father's Day! In addition to some nice words from Mike about my book you'll find a guest post from me titled, "The Outcome Is Not Important" and a giveaway.

I hope you get a chance to surf over and check it out... Diabetes Mine is one of the great sites and Mike's writing is top shelf - spend some time there (after you read my bit).

Softball Aristotle

Just a quick thought for Friday...

Arden played in her first All-Star game of 2013 last night. She was 3 for 3 with three singles and two RBIs. She caught two fly balls, made two long throws to first from third base and didn't let one hit ball, of which there were many, past her at third. She is eight years old, probably the smallest girl on her team and did all of this in-between having her blood glucose tested, getting insulin and having me adjust her basal rates through a fence while countless people looked on.

After the game we drove home together and Arden started to talk to me about the game. She said that she felt bad for some of the girls because it seems like, "They feel a lot of pressure when they play". She went on to talk about how she wished they didn't feel like the game rested on their shoulders and went on to speak about how she keeps her head clear when she plays. She actually said that it's important to play relaxed.

I talk all of the time about the perspective that diabetes lends to people who live with it in their lives everyday. I always think about those lessons in terms of what they bring to me but last night in the car... I began to see the perspective that type I gives to Arden. She is fiercely competitive, to the point where I have to bolus for her adrenaline when she competes, but she doesn't feel pressure when she plays. How is that possible? She isn't nervous or overwhelmed, she doesn't get too high if they win or too low if they lose (not diabetes high and low, emotional) and she's even aware of other players feelings as the game is played.

The only answer I can come up with... Looking at your meter when it says 39 while listening to the four frantic beeps of a CGM telling you that it's time to worry about your immediate well-being, must really prepare a person to handle life's pressures.

Mail Order Medication Exceptions: Did you know?

Well I guess that you do learn something new everyday...

We are leaving for a family vacation next week so I went online and ordered a few diabetes supplies that we need for the trip. We use a mail order pharmacy and when I placed the order on their site, I was told that our insurance wouldn't allow Arden's Apidra prescription to be refilled until the 9th of June. This normally wouldn't be an issue but since we are leaving only a few days later, the insulin wouldn't arrive in time. 

So I called the 800 number and do you know what I found out?

There are exceptions that our plan allows for. I never knew before but I do now and I hope that you find out that your plans have similar fail safes built in. The best part of the exceptions? They trump insurance rules and restrictions! When the CSR tells the system to enact a restriction the order sails through the system and nothing can hold it up. Sweet!

I was told that there are three types of exceptions and that they each can be used three times a year if necessary, they are:

Emergency Exception: In case of an emergency, any emergency, I can call and have supplies sent that we require. 

Therapeutic Exception: Let's say that Arden suddenly begins to require far more insulin than she has in the past. Until I can get to her Endo and have the prescription rewritten, I just use the therapeutic exception.

Vacation Exception: Going away? Need extra stuff? Not time to refill yet? No worries... "Hello, I'm going on vacation, please send some more Apidra".

I hope that this information finds you well and is helpful the next time you run into a supply issue.

New OmniPod Training Site has been UPDATED

Insulet has launched MyOmnipodTraining.com, a site for new and current OmniPod users. The site has a video (bottom of this page) that speaks about the new smaller pods, a FAQ section, tutorials and a rich resource section that houses a bunch of information including this CareGiver Guide.

Just added to the Resource section of the site today, June 4, links to the New OmniPod Interactive Training Module online and PDF version.

Also just added, this New OmniPod Training Video: The New OmniPod System: Quick Start Training

I don't have any official knowledge, but I'd bet my car that this is it... It's coming people!

The day I made Katie Couric laugh

I gave my first on camera interview for my new book exactly one week before I made Katie Couric laugh. I was really happy with how that interview went considering that I never saw any of the questions before we began and, well, it was my first time. That first interview was a bit on the serious side so there weren't many opportunities to be lighthearted but still, I left the studio that day wishing that I would have found a way to represent my entire self and not just the part of me that earnestly loves being a stay-at-home dad.

When the first interview aired my wife Kelly said that it took me too long to "warm up" and that she wished that people could have seen more of my humorous side - I must admit that I had to agree with her assessment.

I never thought that I'd have the opportunity to take her advice so soon...

One week later I was approached by an ABC News producer who asked if I'd be interested in doing an interview with them and of course I was. I couldn't believe what I was hearing as the producer explained that I was going to be interviewed by Katie Couric! I remembered thinking, "there's only one Katie Couric, right?". The plans were made fast and furiously and six short days later I was standing in the ABC News studio waiting for Katie to arrive.

After I got out of make up (I know right?) I was escorted to the back of the studio where I watched Miss Couric conduct her first interview, I was to be third. As I was listening to the interview I began to think about all of the other interviews that I've seen over the years and I wondered why I could only remember a handful of them. I thought about the one that I gave only a week before and I realized that while it was good, and I was clear and engaging... it wasn't memorable. I wasn't me in that moment, I was the guy that I thought the interviewer wanted to talk to. Please don't misunderstand - my answers were completely genuine and I am one hundred and fifty thousand percent the thoughtful father that gave them but there is more to me that I didn't allow to come out. Maybe I was nervous that first time or maybe I was just being careful, but whatever the motivation, all it left the world with was a one-sided view of the man that wrote Life Is Short.

So while I was waiting to sit down with Katie, I decided. "I don't care if I go down in flames, but I'm not giving a one-sided view of myself today!". So I went for it, I swung really hard for the fence.

I decided that people could handle hearing a man who genuinely loves his family and respects his wife's sacrifices in one answer and the guy who talks freely about the world of married sex in another. I didn't strive to be funny, I just talked to Katie the same way I speak to my friends. I was myself - a bit irreverent, sometimes sarcastic and honest about my thoughts. Katie began with a serious question and I gave her a serious answer, but when she asked about the chapter of my book titled, "I Remember Having Sex... and the Baby Proves It!", I just let go and told a story. Part way thorough my answer Katie began to laugh, then she cringed and then she guffawed! Katie Couric was busting her gut and I could feel the other people in the studio laughing too.

When the interview ended Katie leaned over and told me that I was, "great!" and she continued our conversation as if we were long-time friends. We took a few pictures and I signed a book for her before I went down the hall to change and have my make up removed. I walked out onto the streets of New York City knowing that someone was going to remember that interview... hopefully it won't just be my wife's parents (who I apologized to on camera after telling the "sex" story).

The interview is scheduled to run the week of June 10th on Yahoo and ABC News dot com.