I am back!!
I took a sabbatical from the D.O.C. And other online forums for a while, due to a myriad of factors. But I have so missed the camaraderie of Tudiabetes I have returned. I have had to re-prioritize my life and reestablish my time management skills, which are woefully lacking on occasion. However, here is a brief update on “what’s going on” (kudos to the late Marvin Gaye:
I have returned to work for my former school district as a speech/language pathologist. I go to the homes of medically fragile children with severe disabilities to provide communication therapy. Many of them have severe disabilities, with g-tubes and tracheotomies. However, each child is a jewel and unique. I enjoy working with them and engaging with their parents, nurses, and teachers. Challenging work, but very rewarding. I do not like driving around the county so much. That and the prep time add a few hours to the 10 hours per week " hands -on" time I work. But the schedule can be flexible for both me and the parents who call in to change; and I do not generally work on Mondays or Fridays. So it is all good.
I decided to return to the word of the working because of my reduced retirement income and increased deductible on my medical insurance led me to do some diabetic no-no’s: rationing test strips, keeping the infusion sets in for 4 days, not using the sensors at all,( and I really needed to reset my basals), guesstimating boluses. My control suffered and I wasn’t feeling my best. So I decided that those behaviors HAD to stop. I went back to work. A wonderful Tufriend is sending me some extra supplies from her overflow. Will be stocking up on test strips at a reduced price, now that deductible is finally met. So all appears to be well on that count.
Other issues are confounding me, though. I have reached the stage of life where it seems sickness and death is surrounding me. Thanks all for the birthday wishes and comments (I turned 58 yesterday). Two weeks before thanksgiving, My mother had to have emergency colon surgery due to diverticulitis, which caused severely bleeding intestinal polyps. She was in surgical Intensive care, but is making remarkable progress and called me two days ago, saying she was sitting on the porch in the sunny GA sunshine, enjoying a stroll down our driveway without the walker, just her cane!! She is 84 and awesome! I praise God every day for her wonderful progress!! However, many friends and acquaintances have not fared so well. It used to be that it was “Suzy’s cousin’s best friend in Virginia had a stroke last week. I will have to send a card.” NOW, it is my c0-workers, parents of friends, my relatives, and people I really know and care for, who are ill. My former teachers are dying. Two young women in my hometown (where I visited my mom for the week of Thanksgiving , just dropped dead. They were in their 40’s. Strokes, heart surgeries. The saddest thing happened just yesterday, when a former co-worker and twin sister of one of my best friends, passed yesterday, my birthday, from the effects of an asthma attack on /Sunday morning. Her family is devastated. I went to the hospital to see them just prior to her transition on yesterday, my birthday. So it was a day that was bittersweet for me. I celebrated and was so grateful for having another year of health, happiness and surrounded by His support and that of my friends and family, but was feeling so much pain seeing my dear friend so sad at the passing of her sister. Not the world best birthday at all.
However, God has been by my side and I know HE will never leave me nor forsake me; and will do the same for my friends. He is my ever-present comforter and healer. This is just the season of life I am in.
Well so much for the long ramble...So glad to return to my TuFamily.

God Bless,
Brunetta