D-Street Cred.

Today I volunteered at the Omnipod booth at the 2012 Minneapolis American Diabetes Association Expo. I didn't sleep all that well last night thanks to being glutened, but still awoke at 6am cheery and excited (albeit bloated and gurgly) to work at the Expo. Due to the intestinal swelling from the glutening, I was unable to wear the outfit I had originally planned, but found something else comfy to wear. I was originally only going to work at the booth for 1-2 hours, but so many people were coming up to me with questions about wearing the Omnipod that I ended up staying at the booth from 9-3. It was literally nonstop for 6 straight hours. I had to treat a couple of minor lows, from not eating the entire time I was there, but no big deal. It was an amazing experience to meet SO many neat people with amazing spirits and stories; so many people interested in changing up their current D-regimes in an attempt to gain better control, and others who are already on pumps who were just curious about my pump. Type 1s, type 2s, and type 3s all came up to me. I'm pretty sure I swayed more people to get on an Omnipod pump than the sales guys! For me, it's not work. It is something I live with daily and truly believe helps me to manage my diabetes and I think my passion was evident. People expect that the sales guy will tell them how wonderful the product is, which is why so many of them waited around until I was available so they could ask the "real" questions they didn't want to ask the reps. Since I'm not on the payroll, I had no problem telling them what I loved about the pump, and also about what I feel are the limitations (just a few). I offered real life, 1st hand accounts of day-to-day experiences. I'm a fellow D-soldier. I have D-street cred.

At the end of the day, the territory manager asked me if I would be willing to be their local advocate for their other diabetes events. "Of course!" I said. I will be at the JDRF Reach & Teach U on 11/17. I do not get paid nor do I get reimbursed with pump supplies (I wish, lol). I just want to help other D-people.

What also made today amazing was running into Scott Johnson, Heather Leide and Kelly Rawlings from the DOC. SO COOL!!!!!!!

On a separate note, after having discovered that my new insurance doesn't cover Freestyle test strips, AT ANY COPAY LEVEL, I will be switching to a new brand. My choices were Accu-Chek and Bayer. Having had a Bayer Contour in the past and not loving it (I love that it's pink but don't like that it doesn't light up so I can't test in the dark when I'm sleeping), I'll be going with the new Accu-Chek Nano. I saw it in person today and boy is it COOL. It's so small! It has adorable skins and cases available, too. I love this case. I saw it in person at the expo today. It's SO much cuter in person than on this website. It's metallic and shiny and so cute. Everyone wanted it! Hope there's some left :/

So now I'm sitting on my couch, with the dog, kicking back and eating reheated chili. Yumm. It will be a quiet rest of the night for me. Reading, tea, maybe a little DVR'd Dr. Phil :) Tomorrow is food prep day for the week, so gotta rest up now! In light of last night's gluten-ing event, next week's menu will be blander and milder than originally planned. Light on spices and hot sauce, and more tummy-healing foods like sweet potatoes, avocados, cooked veggies.