254
The number of days between the start of this project
and today.
11,323
The number of days between this
 |
| August 9, 1975 |
and this
.
 |
| August 9, 2006 |
T1D:
marks on the body
marks on a memory
marks on a life
Sunshine and Shadow
July 29: eight months of work on "MOB", as I've come to know this piece (with affection). Early this morning I photographed it in the Outdoor Studio:
Looking at the photos it occurred to me that all lives -- whether or not consumed with chronic, terminal illness -- are touched by sunshine and shadow.
Laughter and tears.
Joy and sorrow.
Pleasure and pain.
This is a comforting thought.
June 29, 2014
Sunday marked seven months of stitching. This past month its been easier to stitch every day, rather than miss one or two and have to catch up.
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| Upper Right Arm June 29, 2014 |
The work is steady, soothing, lovely to do in the cool of the morning or evening outdoors.
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| Right Hand June 29, 2014 |
Sometimes the purpose gets lost in the rhythm,
as if making the marks is part of the rhythm of everyday living.
Six Months!
I began this piece in the cold and snowy days of the end of November...but this week, I was able to mark the 6-month "anniversary" (May 29) with a photo shoot in my "Outdoor Studio":
152 Days Out
Stitching continues. As of April 29, 2014...
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| Right hand |
Reluctant to stitch up into the hand till all fingers are covered.
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| Top stitches: outside the body; bottom stitches: right upper arm |
Colour Key:
RED: blood sugar testing -17 stitches per day
PALE BLUE: life before diagnosis - 3 stitches per day
FLESH TONES: insulin injections - 24 stitches per day
For more information about the calculations, visit THIS POST. :-)
Reason for Hope
I'm a bit behind in posting for March 29, which marked four months on this project. A good part of the delay was brought about by a hard-drive crash on the evening of March 17 (the fact that it was St. Patrick's day is purely coincidental!) My computer's now repaired, so it's all systems go from here on out!
In this post, I wanted to share the hope and expectation I felt after leaving the "Infosium" in Edmonton on March 16.
JDRF approaches its research on three fronts:
In this post, I wanted to share the hope and expectation I felt after leaving the "Infosium" in Edmonton on March 16.
JDRF approaches its research on three fronts:
- Finding a cure for Juvenile Diabetes (Type 1);
- Finding treatments to improve the lives of those living with TID; and
- Finding ways to prevent the disease in the first place.
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The speaker at this year's "Infosium" was Dr. Paul Fernyhough, who has come from the UK to work at the University of Manitoba in the area of neuropathy. That is, he's working to understand how T1D affects the body's nervous system, effectively "killing" the nerve endings and resulting in inability to feel temperature and exernal sources of pain, in producing painful sensations in limbs, and in slow deterioration of internal functions such as swallowing, digestion, etc.
In his presentation, Dr. Fernyhough talked about research in general, and about his work in particular. He explained the process by which pharmaceuticals are discovered, developed and brought to market (or not). Starting from scratch can be a very expensive and time-consuming process. Human clinical trials aren't entered into without careful consideration!
So...researchers into the treatment of diabetic neuropathy are now looking at "re-purposing" drugs in current use to find out if they are relevant, and they are also looking at rare diseases that also produce neuropathy to see what drugs might work with them.
At present, Dr. Fernyhough is involved with two other scientists -- one in San Diego and one in Toronto -- in developing a medication that acts to regenerate the dendrites (branches that go out from neurons and carry "messages" to and from our nervous system) that are destroyed by T1D. A company -- Winsantor, Inc. -- has been founded to produce and test the medication -- pirenzepine -- that is their current focus. This drug has currently being used for the treatment of gastric ulcers. The fact that it is well known and already used by humans (having been tested for safety) makes it more cost-effective for Dr. Fernyhough and his team to research alternative uses for it -- such as its affect on neurons in T1D patients, and perhaps in cancer patients who suffer nerve damage during/after chemotherapy.
The exciting news is that this drug can be administered topically -- in gel form, on the skin -- and yet it has been found to be absorbed into the circulatory system so that it could travel internally to work on nerve damage that affects the gastrointestinal tract, for example -- as well as working to repair nerve damage in feet and fingers, hands and arms.
Even more exciting is the fact that there is a clinical trial with humans being scheduled for this fall (2014).
When I think of the losses my DH suffered from the damage to his neurons: feeling in his feet (eventual amputation of both legs below the knee); feeling and mobility in his fingers; a general slowing of his entire gastro-intestinal tract, affecting swallowing, digestion and elimination of waste; and loss of sensitivity in his aural canal, resulting in gradual loss of hearing...
I am so thankful for the work of Dr. Paul Fernyhough and his colleagues, funded significantly by JDRF.
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| A second 'full' hand -- WIP, March 29, 2014 |
P.S. At the "Infosium" I met Barbara Armstrong, the Regional Manager of JDRF (North-Central Alberta and Northwest Territories); there is a possibility I will be taking "MOB" on the road to meet potential corporate donors in Red Deer in the not-too-distant future. Meanwhile, the journey continues...
February 28, 2014: Preparing to Rotate
As any conscientious person with Type 1 Diabetes will tell you, insulin injections do nasty things to your skin and muscle tissue when you inject it into the same (or close to) site on a habitual basis. This is why people with T1D (and their care-givers) are taught to 'rotate sites' on the body...and why my "body" has distressed areas in several places.
Since I began this work in November, I've 'rotated' only the blood-testing 'sites' -- because I "ran out of fingers" on one hand. I've long given up the notion that the "person" portrayed in MOB is going to have a realistic illustration of the places used for blood-letting. Here's where I am on "Hand #2" as of February 28, 2014:
Yep...creeping along the middle finger of the second of the two hands...which means that before this project is over, both hands will be covered in 'pin pricks for blood testing', however unrealistic that is.
And as of March 1, I've rotated the injection sites to a new area -- the other upper arm. Along with that, I'm stitching the blue "air" on the side of that other upper arm, for symmetry (perhaps) and for illustration of how few care-free days there were in my DH's life prior to his diagnosis. Here's what the first arm/side looks like after 3 months of stitching:
I'm still planning to go to the Sunday afternoon Symposium in Edmonton on March 16. If you are in the area, and have an interest in T1D research, you might check it out. Full details -- and an RSVP -- are HERE (scroll down). NOTE: If you are somewhere else in Canada, this same link will tell you where to find the one nearest you.
Since I began this work in November, I've 'rotated' only the blood-testing 'sites' -- because I "ran out of fingers" on one hand. I've long given up the notion that the "person" portrayed in MOB is going to have a realistic illustration of the places used for blood-letting. Here's where I am on "Hand #2" as of February 28, 2014:
Yep...creeping along the middle finger of the second of the two hands...which means that before this project is over, both hands will be covered in 'pin pricks for blood testing', however unrealistic that is.
And as of March 1, I've rotated the injection sites to a new area -- the other upper arm. Along with that, I'm stitching the blue "air" on the side of that other upper arm, for symmetry (perhaps) and for illustration of how few care-free days there were in my DH's life prior to his diagnosis. Here's what the first arm/side looks like after 3 months of stitching:
I'm still planning to go to the Sunday afternoon Symposium in Edmonton on March 16. If you are in the area, and have an interest in T1D research, you might check it out. Full details -- and an RSVP -- are HERE (scroll down). NOTE: If you are somewhere else in Canada, this same link will tell you where to find the one nearest you.
Everyone has a cause. This one is mine.
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