I had a dream…

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Last night, I had a dream. It was more of a nightmare. But not quite. I was waking up trying to pull down some cobwebs that seemed to be everywhere. It was something straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Then I turned, and everything was different. I was suddenly walking down my hallway from my bedroom. I was then looking out my sliding glass doors and saw a litter of kittens and I tried to get them because they were drowning and trying to jump out of the box they were in. I kept reaching for them but couldn’t and finally, I realized it was only a dream. But I still reached for them because I wanted to save them. I finally managed to get a stick only to realize the kittens disappeared. I was suddenly very sad and I woke up.

I’m sure any psychiatrist would have fun with that one.

Diabetic Footcare

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The other day, I was doing some searching for some water shoes, so I might be able to go swimming in a pool. If anyone knows me, swimming in the ocean is out of the question for me, as they freak me out and are probably not a good thing with my immunosuppressant drugs. This includes rivers and lakes. I won’t swim in them, they’re dirty, and no thanks. I know a pool is probably just as bad, but at least there’s usually chlorine in those. Anyways.

So I was looking for recommended water shoes for diabetics like me and I discovered something Really intriguing to me. A lot of people don’t know about foot care for diabetics. I can understand this. There’s no reason for anyone to know about unless you have diabetes or know someone who is. However, it just seems like everyone is getting diabetes these days because of various reasons. Everyone thinks it’s just all about pricking your finger and testing your blood. Sorry, it’s a bit more than that folks.

For those of you who in danger of becoming diabetic, this post is for you. If you get diabetes, this is what you will have to live with, FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. (sorry for the caps)

For me, it’s a routine. I know what I’m going to do, and it’s Really automatic for me. I’ve been doing it for so long I guess it’s second nature. I’ll use the bullet method:

  • Inspection of the feet – Any Thomas Covenant readers out there? Remember that routine he did where he’d visually inspect his entire body? What did they call it, VISE or something like that. Anyways, that’s what I do with my feet at the end of the night before I go to bed. However, I take it one step further and feel my feet just in case I missed anything.
  • Never go barefoot – ever. Don’t do it. Why? Because you can cut your feet, you can accidentally step on anything that might just burrow into your foot. And the clincher here is, for some diabetics (like myself), you can’t feel anything with your feet. Yeah, it’s kinda weird walking. That’s why I walk with a cane. I lose balance Really fast, and if I fall, that’s a bad thing too.
  • Dry your feet after a shower – I know this may seem like a duh moment, but honestly, for many diabetics (like myself) we get neuropathic pain in our feet. That means you have the tingling sensation like your foot goes to sleep all the time. You know for everyone it just go away after you wake it up? Well, it never wakes up for some of us. And just the touch of a towel can be excruciatingly painful. Even sheets! You know, I don’t remember the last time I went to bed with the sheets over my feet. I always leave them out.
  • Be very careful when clipping toenails – because the numbness is there, you won’t be able to tell when you clip off toenails or your own foot. I know some diabetics have someone cut their toenails for them, but I can’t bear anyone else touching my feet. It’s just too painful. Hell it’s painful just to take off my socks.
  • Keep them moist but not too moist – Use some kind of lotion. Again, this may be a duh moment, but you don’t want them too moist because then you might get a fungus. (or something worse!) If your skin cracks, then you’re in trouble. Remember, diabetics take longer to heal, and because it’s on your feet, you might not know about it! Especially if you don’t do your visual checks!
  • Watch for heat and cold – As a diabetic, you may as well forget about heat pads, icy hot patches, things like that. These are all bad things for you. Because of any numbness that might occur, you might not know if it’s too hot or too cold. Especially on your feet.
  • Always wear socks – Did I mention this before? Yeah, it’s that important. If you don’t wear socks, then at least wear a non chafing slipper that will encase the whole foot. i.e. no open heel slippers.

What are the complications if you don’t do these things? Well, there are plenty of them. And I’ll tell you oh, they’re horrible. But you know what’s the worst? AMPUTATION. That’s all you need to know. If you don’t take care of your feet, they’re gonna eventually cut them off. It’s as simple as that. Have you heard of people losing their toes or feet to diabetes? Yeah, this is how it happens.

So hopefully, if you’re a newly diagnosed diabetic who happened to find this page and learned something, then my job is done. If you haven’t learned anything, then either you already knew about it, or you’re ignoring everything I say, in which case, you’ll find out sooner or later.

I just hope you don’t have to lose a foot to learn something.

Google+ and all it’s glory

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So lately I’ve been using Google+ more and more. Perhaps you’re a follower, or perhaps you’re not and haven’t been tempted by it. Regardless come take a visit and see what I’m all about. You can find my personal profile here.

So what’s the big deal about Google+? Lots of things I’d say. First of all, it’s a new thing, and everyone on the Internet likes new and cool things right? I mean everyone likes to be “first” or part of the beginnings of something that has potential. I remember when Twitter came out, no one thought it was cool. They said, “but it’s only 140 characters. What could you possibly say in that number of characters?” Look at it now. I’d say 95% of the people in America know what twitter is and are either members or have no need of it (or so they say).

Google+ is very similar I think. It’s like a hybrid if you will. I think the way they designed it is not exactly what people are using it for, but it’s working. People are sharing, and reading, and finding out new things with it. It’s more than a social network IMHO. It’s kinda like a central place where you can find out news, the latest gossip, what’s going on in your friend’s life, and so much more.

If you’re a sharer, (if that’s even a word – I’m sure spell check says no) then Google+ is also a great thing. The method of sharing is great. If you want to share something that’s tech related and don’t want to fill up your friend’s stream that doesn’t care about that stuff, you can. With circles, you can share with people who share the same interests explicitly.

Also, you can use circles to see in your stream only the news you want to see. So maybe your cooking club is sharing recipes, and you only want to see that and not all the Chris Pirillo updates. You can do that.

So I’ve been hanging out there for this bit and honestly, it won’t replace a blog, but it’s coming pretty damn close. Are you on Google+? If you’re not, I’ve got 150 invites to throw out there. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll send you an invite.

It never ends: Iritis

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So today I had to go to Urgent Care in Group Health for my eye. Yesterday I woke up with serious pain (8/10) in my eye which only got worse when I looked at any light (photophobia). Throughout the day yesterday, I pretty much slept or tried to sleep, and kept my eyes closed. I figured I’d sleep on this until this morning and see how it goes.

Well, this morning it was no better. Tylenol helped but very little. After seeing the doctor, he determined it was Iritis. Basically, in my case, it looks like my pupil is locked in one position, and it’s just wide open. Hence the reason I can’t stand bright lights and have blurry vision in my right eye. He also mentioned my right eye is slightly swollen, and that’s what seems to be causing the pain. It’s like having a migraine in your eye.

So now I’ve got steroid drops for my swelling and some other drops to keep my pupils dilated all the time. So I’ve gotta wear the dark sunglasses so it’s not so bad, an icepack handy to keep on the eye. It never ends.

Health update and anniversary

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As some of you may or may not know, on July 29th, 2009, I went into surgery to receive a kidney which my awesome sister was willing to donate. Well, it’s coming on the 2nd year anniversary, and I’m doing pretty good. I think a shout out goes to my sister. She’s pretty damn amazing to be willing to give me her kidney.

I’m not 100%, but I’ve still got so many other things that are wrong with me, not all of them have to do with my brain either! But I’m hanging in there.

I think a majority of my recovery has to be credited to my awesome wife, Meesh. I think without her, I’d still be in bed all day, feeling even more sorry for myself than now. I think she underestimates herself as my primary caregiver. She thinks she doesn’t do anything, but just being there has done quite a lot for me.

As for the rest of what’s going on, the pain comes and goes. I suppose you could probably call my case a mild case of Fibromyalgia, just to get a sense of what Neuropathy means. But I think anyone who has FM will tell you, there’s no such thing as a mild case. You either got it or you don’t. It just hurts that much. In my case I guess I’ve got it better in terms of pain. But it does hurt. I mean there are days when I feel like I want to die. Those are the bad days. The good days are the days where the pain is a 2 or 3 out of 10. There is never a time when I don’t feel pain. Never.

Along with the pain, when I eat, I sweat. I mean literally. I don’t sweat because it’s hot, or because I’m eating spicy food, but because my brain is too confused from all the damage it’s gotten and when I eat food, instead of feeling like “wow, this is the best food I’ve ever eaten”, I sweat. I have accepted it. Although I have to say with the warmer temperatures, it seems worse now.

So as not to sound like a total whiner, I won’t Really talk about all the other stupid complications I’ve got going. If you’re online and feeling bored, you can always ask me about it, and I’m sure I’ll tell you all about it. Because it’s all about me, you know. :P

What’s your social network?

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So with the advent of Google+, should Facebook be worried? I Really doubt it. I mainly say this because Google+ is not Really the same thing. It’s more like Twitter on steroids and more. It’s very similar to Pownce (remember that?) where you can share something with certain circles only. It’s not a new concept, but no one has successfully implemented it. It’s also similar to Foursquare. You can check into Google+ and share your location. It’s like an all in one tool.

With all these changes, it’s tough to determine which social network you’d like to stick with. If you ask me, it’s probably best to use both. I only say this because not everyone is going to use both like you. Maybe they’re not as tech savvy as you are. Maybe they just don’t have the time to utilize both social networks. Regardless of the reason, I know you want to use both of them.

There are some issues you probably should be aware of. Google+ is still growing. It’s still in development. So don’t panic. Grab your towel. Google+ will get better.

However, there have already been issues. Remember people getting suspended from using Google+ because of their names? Yeah that Really happened. I’m not sure if they intend to have a “verified” logo like Twitter does, but, that was Really annoying.

Facebook isn’t without its faults either. Have you seen the new chat? Seriously? It takes up a quarter of the screen! I don’t want to know who is offline. Why would I want to know that? It just mixes the online and offline people in one window. Then there’s an issue that Danalyn had. She uploaded a karaoke video of herself singing Sweet Child O’ Mine. Yeah, they just deleted it immediately.  WTF? Seriously? It’s HER. So now, is it bad to upload videos of people singing copyrighted songs? OK, I can accept that. But say that it’s a copyrighted song and it’s not allowed on Facebook. Don’t just delete it right away and don’t say anything. Especially if the video is karaoke. Last I checked, there are tons of karaoke videos up on there. This is only one of many reasons I don’t like Facebook. I don’t mean I don’t like Facebook for the karaoke videos. These issues are why I don’t like Facebook.

So what’s your social network? For myself, I’ll continue to use both, but lean towards Google+ more unless something changes the favor to Facebook. Somehow I doubt it.