TuDiabetes

Judith
  • 59, Female
  • Portland, OR
  • United States
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Yield to Life and Dance.....

Latest Activity

I've been ignoring my Doc for several years. Bernstein is scoffed at still in many official circles. It is too bad. I owe him my 4.9 A1c. You stick to your guns, my dear. Keep analyzing what works for you and as you go along, make adjustments as nee…
15 hours ago
I agree---I'm at 7,000IUs/day.....
15 hours ago
Brava Sweet Blood! Thank you---that was my war, too, and I am always glad to hear news of those brave vets.....Wishing you well.....
on Sunday
Sending you love and hope from the wilds of Minnesota!......Fondly, Judith
on Friday
Brava, my friend! My 4.9 is due to Bernstein, also!.....
on Friday
Danny left a comment for Judith
February 2
Love the Pearl District, Ricky Joe. Lots of great spots for coffee or lunch. Will look forward to that when I get home.....Saw your other note---check with any of the Administration folks. Manny has been having problems with Ning. There's a discussi…
February 2
Sniff, sniff! I missed this and would have loved to have been there. I'm not getting any group announcements or e-mails like I used to get. Did I get taken off the list some how?
February 2

Profile Information

Hometown (where you come from):
Minneapolis, MN
Do you have diabetes?
Yes
I have:
Type 2
Date diagnosed
February 1, 2007
Most recent A1C (Blood Glucose Average) Value
4.9
What glucose meter do you use?
OneTouch Ultra 2
Type of treatment you use
Diet and Exercise
What is the address for your Twitter profile or other web site, if any?
http://none
How did you find out about us? What were you searching for?
Googled artists with diabetes looking for help with diabetes and creative process.
Who referred you? (if anyone)
n/a
What do you do for a living?
writer; textile/costume designer; choreographer; jewelry maker

Bits of a Life.......

Seeker, there is no path. The path is formed by walking.....Antonio Machado.....

Hello All: My name is Judith. I'm 59 years old; a newbie to diabetes (type 2) and also to chat rooms, forums and online communities. My path has been: dancer--choreographer & teacher--costume designer--writer for theater--poet--textile artist--jewelry maker--50 years since donning that first pair of tights. Also gardener and stray-cat-haven-provider and mom of a son still born at 8 months (1972) and an amazingly Alive daughter (1973) and mom-in-law of her equally amazing partner and gramma of their endlessly delightful 3 year old and astonishingly I guess in this day and age quite profoundly coupled with the same soulmate since 1979. Whew! Also Aunt of two Very Most Precious and Brilliant and Loving nieces!

I grew up in Minnesota & value all I learned coming of age in a place where Mother Nature tries to kill you at least once a year (as Garrison Keiller says); joined my beloved sister and her dance company in Portland in 1976 where I was only going to stay for 2 years and here I still am. I have an equally beloved big brother in Santa Cruz where I like to visit a couple times a year. My 87 year old mother is a fragile-now "tough old broad" of Swedish heritage. I was close to my dad who died in 1989, probably of diabetes complications though it wasn't talked about.

I was diagnosed last winter while still sorting out emotionally just what it meant to have my female core removed surgically, including all the wild hormonal swings that go with surgically-induced menopause. An emotionally messy time I have been in and it continues, I'm afraid.

I am having trouble melding the rigidities of diabetes control with my creative process which is an equally demanding and unruly mistress. I call my glucose meter The Leech. Just last week I ripped it out of its case, threw it against the wall and then in the garbage. Such a tough little sucker, though. It's back online and ruling my life as before. I do appreciate that for many of us it is a miraculous technology, but for me it is still new and intrusive and it galls me--especially as a dancer who has lived deeply in her body since age 7-- to have a nasty little machine telling me what to do with my life.

I wish you all well!.....

Judith's Blog

Judith

Disintegration.....

And so the shape of my days is changed in a flash of neurons going whacko in my mother's brain.

For most of a year, I have been calling her in Minnesota 5-6 times a day to remind her to eat or take her meds. All in the family, as well as neighbors, have established a network of support and community in keeping her at home as long as possible.

Thursday, when she picked up the phone for my afternoon vitamins and snack call, she appeared to be speaking a very non-English language and complained t… Continue

Posted on December 13, 2009 at 1:58pm — 16 Comments

Judith

30 years Together!.....

Unbelievable. Today is our 30th anniversary. We're too broke for a restaurant, but D is fixing us a luscious meal of scallops in garlic butter with one of his phenomenally delicious lightly sauteed vegetable mixes. Champagne, of course, and a not-too-expensive cabernet which is my current fave.

To those of you younger in your marriages, I would say that if you can battle your way through the tough times with respect, it only gets better. The last 4-5 years have been some of the most loving of o… Continue

Posted on October 27, 2009 at 5:08pm — 31 Comments

Judith

Emily Sums Up What TuDiabetes Has Meant To Me...

THE PROPS ASSIST THE HOUSE
By Emily Dickinson


THE PROPS assist the house
Until the house is built,
And adequate, erect,
The house supports itself;
Ceasing to recollect
The auger and the carpenter.
Just such a retrospect
Hath the perfected life,
A past of plank and nail,
And slowness,—then the scaffolds drop—
Affirming it a soul.



Got a ways to go on the concept of a "perfected life" of course. And given the diabolical whimsey of The D, I think the house is built for the rest of our lives. Bu… Continue

Posted on September 26, 2009 at 4:04pm — 8 Comments

Judith

Returning from the Outer Limits of the Brain....

Dear All....Just coming back slowly from the first serious Fibromyalgia Flare-up I've had in almost 3 years. Have lurked benevolently a little bit each day, but too pooped to pop, as my Mom would say, and the shakeys and the cognitive impairment that goes with such an event makes it difficult to process info, much less form a coherent response......

I stupidly stayed up too late working on a project. Rest and sustenance are the only rules one should never break with this particular scourge. I d… Continue

Posted on September 17, 2009 at 3:20pm — 16 Comments

Judith

Too Too Too Hot.....Help!

We in the NW could use some help coping----it's an endless string of days in the 90s and 100s. Records being broken daily, both for highs and lows. Some of us are also breaking records of highs and lows in those nasty little diabetes log books we have to keep! Take pity on us, all you folks who know about the heat, and share some coping strategies.....

Anybody got any cooling stories to distract us all from our Misery? Post them at our NW Group page or here so we can all try to put ourselves in… Continue

Posted on July 29, 2009 at 12:39pm — 11 Comments

Comment Wall (483 comments)

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At 6:49am on February 2, 2010, Danny said…
Judith, I really appreciate your response on my blog (actually I like yours the best out of all of them). Kind yet to the point:)

Hope you are having a wonderful day up in the great Northwest my friend!
At 8:54am on January 31, 2010, Marie B said…
Judith, wishing you peace and strength of heart on your journey. We love you so much here, yours is a unique voice in our community. We will be here when you return, with outstretched hands. Update us if you can, but we know you are always with us. Love, marie
At 6:42am on January 31, 2010, Kristin said…
Hi Judith! Good to see you here... hope that your time with your mother is blessed. I know this must be very difficult. Hope that you can both find peace...
At 12:25pm on January 3, 2010, David Westmoreland said…
Judith:

so way back in March of 09 you left me a kind message re pacific northwesterner's that have diabetes. please forgive, i haven't been to this site for some time.
you also mentioned that there may/is a gathering for us pancreatically challenged who live in the great north west. does this still exist?
hope all is well and happy new year,
dave
At 7:24am on January 3, 2010, Brandi Satterlund said…
Thank you so much! I'm very excited to be a part of this site. I will sign up on the other site. Have a blessed day!
At 9:52pm on January 2, 2010, Jody D said…
Thanks Judith, don't get up to Portland much, unless I have a bus load or a couple vans full of Middle Schoolers following me, lol.
At 4:53pm on December 26, 2009, Doris D said…
Judith How you doing this holiday season? Are you and your mom doing OK?
At 12:10pm on December 20, 2009, The Poor Diabetic said…
thanks I hope to keep reading some of your works as well. merry xmas n happy new year
At 6:08pm on December 17, 2009, tmana said…
Thanks for the comment on my recent blog entry. I put up another perspective on Chanukah in my Blogabetes post, "Maccabees, Miracles, and the Mundane" -- comparing the flask of oil to vials of insulin, and how miracles are always and everywhere around us.
At 11:41am on December 12, 2009, Marie B said…
thinking of you, dear Judith...
 
 

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