Inside Out

This month, I thought I'd show you the 'back side' of this stitched piece... as if it were a view "inside" the body...

Back side - hand stitching

Back side - thigh stitching

Back side - shoulder and "air" stitching

Of course these webs of stitches on the underside of this textile project, while complex, are nothing at all like the complexity found inside the human body, and its workings at the most microscopic level -- whether someone has Type 1 Diabetes or not.

We can really only understand insulin production, release and utilization in very elementary ways, with very basic images, such as this one from an article published on the Beta Cell Biology Consortium website:

Diagram of Insulin Secretion

And so I stitch on, trying to represent T1D's Mark on the Body...from the outside...in...

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

- Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

Feb 28/March 1, 2015: Rotation, Rotation

Just for a lark, I checked the topic of my February 28, 2014 MOB post...and it was about rotating injection sites around the body.

So was my January 31, 2015 post.

And...what was the hot topic at JDRF for the end of February 2015?  Lipohypertrophy!

Say what?!

"Lipohypertrophy" is the medical term for the fatty tissue lumps that develop as a result of too many subcutaneous insulin injections in one place...and it's the reason rotation of insulin injection sites is important for those with T1D -- so important, in fact, that JDRF Canada just concluded an entire week devoted to Lipohypertrophy Awareness. (Link to JDRF Canada's Facebook Page.)

Lipo Larry Teaches JDRF Canada 

About Lipohypertrophy

And...that's why I too rotate the stitches marking insulin injections -- their Mark on the Body.  In February, I moved from the abdomen to the left thigh....and yes, I also moved to a new finger on the left hand...with the stitches that mark blood testing.

(L) "Injection" stitches on left thigh
(R) "Blood test" stitches on ring finger, left hand

Type 1 Diabetes: It Leaves Its Mark on the Body

Additional resources:
Lipohypertrophy: What's the Big Deal 
JDRF Canada on Facebook

The Spread

Photo courtesy of
http://www.lantus.com/day-by-day/day-two/rotating-injection-sites5

Those with Type 1 Diabetes are generally taught to rotate the site of their insulin injections to avoid the development of hard lumps or extra fat deposits under the skin.  Some thoughtful planning is important, though, because insulin is absorbed at different rates from different parts of the body -- the abdomen's being the quickest and the buttocks being the slowest.

Even if you rotate carefully, over many years, insulin injections leave their Mark on the Body.  I've been illustrating injection rotation by where I've placed the flesh-coloured stitches -- first one upper arm, then the other, and in recent months, the abdomen.  (In this two-dimensional piece, those stitches are intended to include the buttocks.)

As of yesterday's anniversary -- the end of Month 14 of the project -- these stitches have just about spread across the entire "belly"...

I can tell that within the next few weeks I'll be moving down to one of the thighs...

And the stitch goes on...

Working Smarter

The development of "Smart Insulin"

would reduce the 

Mark on the Body

made by T1D.

Less blood on our hands

has gotta be

A Good Thing.

I think Jack would agree...don't you?

"One Finger at a Time" - December 29,2014.

365

Today is the First Anniversary of my Mark on the Body project, which means that yesterday was my 365th day of stitching.  Here's how the piece looks, 1 year in:

Left Hand

Right Hand

Stitches representing blood testing - 6,205

Left Shoulder

Right Shoulder

Abdomen

Stitches representing insulin injections - 8,760

Before T1D - Left

Before T1D - Right

Stitches representing days before T1D diagnosis - 1,095

More than the numbers

Type 1 Diabetes leaves its mark

on the body

on the mind

on the family

on life.

National Diabetes Awareness Month 2014

finishes tomorrow.

The impact of T1D marches on.

Won't you help find a cure?

In loving memory

Howard Martin Blank

Friend, husband, father

Born November 29, 1952 

RIP  August 9, 2006

October 29, 2014 - Spreading

The 'spread' of the stitches is even more evident this month...marking 11 months of stitching.

The Abdomen: Spreading Toward the Centre of the Belly

Left Hand -- Spreading Over the Fingers

Pre-diagnosis -- Spreading Ever So Slightly

The impact of the disease -- its Mark on the Body -- compared to the "impact" of days pre-diagnosis -- is really beginning to become obvious....

To love is to suffer -- did I
know this when first
I asked you for your love?
I did not.  And yet until
I knew, I could not know what
I asked, or gave.  I gave
a suffering that I took: yours
and mine, mine when yours;
and yours I have feared most.

                                 - Duality, Section I - Wendell Berry*

*"Entries" - 1994 - from New and Collected Poems, Counterpoint Press 2012.

September 29, 2014: Rounding the Curve of the Year

It's raining today, and there's a breeze -- stiff at times -- that plays with the vine outside my window.  Fall is definitely here.

I've been working on "Mark" for 10 months now.  If the speed at which September disappeared is any indicator, the first anniversary of the project will be here before I know it.

I've taken a "full piece" photo this month to show how the stitching is spreading, particularly on the abdominal section to which I moved at the beginning of the month:

Mark on the Body - WIP, Sept. 29,2014 (C)

Taking a closer look, here's one hand:

and the other -- the one on which I'm working right now:

Here's the "blue sky" above one upper arm:

and working across the abdomen:

To live in this world

you must be able 

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.

Mary Oliver

New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

Beacon Press, 2004