My Weekend, Part 2: TCOYD!

This past Saturday, my sleepy-eyed husband and I woke up at 6 a.m. to get ready for the TCOYD Conference! Since it was held just 15 blocks from our apartment, we walked to the Convention Center, grabbing our Starbucks Peppermint Mochas on the way!

What an amazing event! If you get an opportunity to attend one of these conferences, do it! They're very informative, and even if you know most of the information, it's a great source of inspiration (and reminders too!) Headed by Dr. Steven Edelman, of San Diego, this conference always ends the year, sort of like a homecoming :)

The first morning session lasted over two hours, while Dr. Edelman and Dr. Polonsky (see yesterday's post) gave their presentations. I experienced a typical situation for me whenever I'm sitting in confined situations, i.e. class, church, presentations, etc. I overdo it in my attempts to keep my blood sugar from going low. It's so odd because I feel my lows very well and always have something with me. For some reason when I'm in an environment where it seems inappropriate to be eating, I freak out and end up going high. This is where a CGMS would serve me very well!

Anyway, their presentations were great and really set the tone for the day!

We then had a break, when people could browse the vendor displays in the exhibit hall. We stopped at the Minimed booth to look at their CGMS. The representative asked me if I used a pump, and I replied, "Yes, I have a Cozmo." She then asked me how long until my warranty ran out, to which I replied, "Not for awhile, I've only had it two months." She didn't have much to say to us after that. Kinda rude. This pharmaceutical world seems kinda cut throat!

Later we stopped by the Smiths Medical booth and I got to meet Allison, the rep who I'd been corresponding with via email. She was the one that gave my name to Dr. Polonsky for the insulin pump therapy interview. It was great to be able to put a face with a name!

After the break, 5 speakers gave brief presentations (they each led a workshop later in the day.) Dr. Edelman's wife, Dr. Ingrid Kruse a podiatrist presented "Be Sweet to Your Feet." It was great and it reminded me why diabetic foot care is so important. It also made me incredibly sick to my stomach! The pictures she showed us of foot injuries and ulcers were almost more than I could take! Gross.

Other presenters were CDE Diane Pearson who talked about our glucose meters being "little laboratories in the palm of your hand." She was really enthusiastic and fun! Fellow diabetic Bill King, the marathoner inspired me to get back into running. A diabetes specialist from Canada, Dr. Ian Blumer (or the Canadian Dr. Edelman as he was referred to!) talked about how to make your endo appointment a success. Very practical and useful information (which also made me realize I need a new endo!) And finally, Diabetes Advocate Kriss Halpern (a lawyer with type 1) discussed some of the ways diabetics are discriminated against. I'd never even considered a lot of the issues he brought up. Quite educational.

So, that was our morning. Intense!

After a nice, low carb lunch (with a list of carb counts... so cool!) we headed off to our first breakout session of the day, Diabetes and Women's Health Issues. Being married and in my mid-twenties, I chose this session because I hoped to learn more about pregnancy issues. Well, I was in the minority. The endo giving the presentation turned out to be an expert on diabetes during menopause. The majority of attendants were older, type 2s. Can you guess where the discussion led?

My poor husband! We sat in the front row and he kept sinking deeper and deeper into his chair as these women launched into very graphic descriptions of their personal "women's health" issues. Did I mention Dennis was missing the Michigan v. Ohio State football game for this?! He's the best :)

So, I learned a lot about how diabetes will be affecting my body 30 years from now, so that's good. I managed to slip in a couple questions about pregnancy and thyroid issues, but that was about it. Oh well, live and learn.

As we left that session, I said to Dennis, "See all that we women have to deal with?"

To which he replied, "Yeah, I was thinking: How do you guys even get up in the morning?"

Hysterical laughter ensued. :)

Our last session of the day was on insulin pumps and CGMS. I didn't learn a whole lot that I didn't already know, but John Walsh helped me to understand one of my misconceptions about the duration of insulin action features, so that'll be helpful.

Wow, quite a day. I'm so glad my husband shared this experience with me, because he learned a lot about what this disease really entails. As for me, I came away very inspired to keep working on my control, particularly my standard deviation and avoiding hypos.

The day was perfectly capped off when we returned home to see that the football game had indeed been recorded.

Plus, football is so much more fun to watch when you can fast-forward through the commercials :)