April 29, 2015

Mark on the Body is a 33-month project.  Today marks the end of the 17th month -- more than half-way there.

As of today, all of the key areas for insulin injection depicted on MOB have some indication -- via stitch -- of the Marks on the Body those injections make.  And the fingers of each hand are covered with Marks made by blood sugar testing.

April 29-2015 - 'Thigh' stitching

April 29-2015 - Hand stitching

As of tomorrow, the stitches will be moving more broadly into the space of the body.  The hands will be more fully marked in those red stitches.

This is the process of Type 1 Diabetes too.  With longer involvement, it moves out more broadly into the space of the body.  As it's impact interferes with blood circulation in the miraculously tiny blood vessels of the kidneys, the brain, the eyes, the nervous system, it leaves its mark.  Those systems begin to deteriorate; their functions begin to shut down.  The losses seem small at first, but they are cumulative.

Over time, the body is "covered" with the marks of T1D.  There may be bleeding into the eyes, blindness, mini-strokes that impact memory and speech, loss of hearing, slowed digestion and waste evacuation, loss of feeling in fingers and feet resulting in injuries that don't heal, and perhaps amputation...

At the same time, the people living with T1D -- including well spouses or parents or siblings -- know that despite the encroachment of the disease, every day is an opportunity to manage its mark on their lives with hope and joy, to live the kind of life that's as full and rich as possible in the face of its impact.

Tomorrow is another day.

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.