It's a Beautiful Day

Mondays are never good. I spent my weekend having a blast [especially at one little boy's b-day party :)] albeit seasonal allergy complications with our oldest son. However, we still managed to enjoy a beautiful weekend.

Mondays can suck the "fun" right out of me. I want to be outside having fun: playing with our boys, riding my new bike, etc, etc. But alas, I'm updating projects, tuning systems, creating documentation, and (sigh) attending meetings.

All workdays must, and I do mean must, come to an end. As soon as I get home, I embrace my family, strip off the business clothes, and change in to my "fun" clothes for an hour of non-stop playing. I even got to ride my new bike for a little while. It was truly awesome!







It was a beautiful day...

Thoughts on my 40th

Today, I was born 40 years ago and as I reflect on my life, I know that I am a truly blessed man.

If someone were to have said to me--back when I was a sarcastic teenager--that my life would one day be filled with special people, filled with love and joy, I probably would've scoffed. If someone were to have said that surviving through the trials and tribulations, I would be a much better, stronger person, I would've laughed.

But here I am, on this my 40th birthday, with more optimism and motivation than ever before in my life:
- I am married to the woman of my dreams; my best friend and forever love
- I am blessed with the two most adventurous, loving boys
- I am surrounded with lots of loving family and friends
- I have experienced the triumphs and challenges of managing a disease [32+ years with diabetes] with hope for a cure
- I gave my life to God, through His Son, who watches over me and our family everyday. His love endures forever

God willing, I am hopeful to see another 40 years and witness a great future. There is hope today for a better tomorrow.
God's love to you all,

Mark

Victory!

Well, close enough...

I received a call from my Insulet service provider, late yesterday afternoon, with great news. The OmniPod pump is headed my way!

Yeah, baby!!!

We (Insulet and I) conquered the trials and tribulations with acquiring this thing. We encountered miscommunication, faxing, re-faxing, doctor calls, and constantly hounding insurance companies to move forward. All of this just to get an insulin pump!

If there's anything to be said, it's this: Don't ever give up. Don't stop fighting to take care of yourself. Believe that you have the ability to accomplish great things. Live for others so that they may understand and help find a cure for diabetes.

Never give up!

Surviving

Many of you know that I suffer from diabetic proliferative retinopathy. I have an exam every 3 months to check on any new capillary growth and how well my eyes are healing. Yesterday, I had a 3 month follow-up appointment to examine bleeding that occurred in my left eye back in January.

The good news is that the healing is going extremely well. A vitrectomy was not needed, nor was a laser surgery. I can't thank you all enough for your thoughts and prayers. The prognosis was also hopeful with the slight chance of future bleeding. But my doctor was very confident that if bleeding did occur, it would only help in the healing. I know this sounds weird, but I have faith in my retinal opthamologist.

Now the bad news. For the last two days, my blood sugars have been like a roller coaster. This is due to all the stress I've been under since early Monday. Stress such as the eye appointment, project deadlines [work], and employee-personnel changes [work] have killed my blood sugar levels. Even as I write this, the anxiousness hasn't worn off; I can feel it affecting me.

Thankfully, I am monitoring my sugars every 2 hours and making adjustments as I go. The OmniPod insulin pump can't come here soon enough...

UGH!

This morning was "unofficially" my first full month of riding my exercise bike every morning. YEA!

But, like every twist and turn in our lives, something went amuck. My stationary bike's speedometer crashed. I had to stop riding at the 5 mile mark, since the squeeling noise was so bad and the speed kept bouncing from 10 mph to 40. Not good. Needless to say, I was severely bummed. Especially since I was sooooo excited to work out this morning. :D

Alas, I will continue my trek after I make a few adjustments/repairs...