cyborg pancreas decision trees etc

in

A brief example of T1D decision-making, even with cyborg pocket pancreas and being a Bluetooth-connected device: had to change out my CGM this morning because it was 18 minutes from the end of its 10-day lifespan but it was a running day and I’d have to run with the thing warming up so, even though it’s a beautiful, pre-wind advisory Sunday morning – my favorite day to run, so long as I don’t end up on the path of Amish buggies on their way to whoever among them is hosting church that day – I decided to stay home and box instead. Main reason being that the CGM was going in my abdomen this time and the last time I tried to stab myself in the stomach with its flexible stabby thing the goddamn thing failed during warmup, so I had to put it in my arm again which isn’t always fun and I didn’t want to have to deal with another one failing and going three for three in my poor left arm.  Good news: this one is working fine, and my gambit paid off - even if my blood sugar won’t be quite as happy as it would like to be; I am nothing if not a moderately-functional part-cyborg Bluetooth device. Victory, for the time being.

resiceptance

in

While nuHerbie the insulin pump (second one, first Herbie was felled by a recycling dumpster corner) been life-altering – in 99.9% good ways – the .1% has been a source of frustration and confusion since day one: on some days, I'm able to get in a good four mile run before I become a hypoglycemic mess, on others, barely a mile. No matter the settings, no matter if I use exercise mode, or how much insulin I take, vexation. Though it's taken me awhile – nuHerbie and I are heading towards our third anniversary of symbiotic collaboration to keep me not dead – I've finally landed on a solution: give up on distance, focus on intensity. Get what I can get out of the run and call it good enough; can't decide if it's resignation or acceptance (still sussing out the difference). Probably both. Resiceptance.

me v the (autoimmune) asshole

in

After almost a decade of T1D, I've accepted that on my really, really bad days – like yesterday, which started off great (ok, burning through my welding glove with the laser welder and crustifying the top of my thumb kinda – and still – sucked) continued to be great, then culminated in an evening blood sugar crash while playing HELL IS US that left me on the kitchen floor in a mop-clean-up-required pool of sweat, copious amounts of sugar and glucose gel consumed, and a 330-point bg swing, a tidal wave crashing back to earth overnight – my only goal is to not let the autoimmune asshole win: nothing else matters, everything else swirling can go fuck itself. Except for learning to get cards out of my wallet without the use of my left thumb for a bit. Relieved that I took up sleight of hand and card manipulation when I quit smoking (14 years and counting and yes I miss it every day). Ambidexterity rules, T1D droolz.

3D printed T1D treatment?

in

🤯

To achieve that high density, Perrier and his colleagues 3D printed islets from a “bioink” made of human pancreatic tissue and alginate, a type of carbohydrate derived from seaweed. Live insulin-producing cells were mixed into this material.

“We put this bioink with the [human] islet into a syringe, and we print a special motif [with it],” says Perrier. This porous grid is designed to allow new blood vessels to grow around and through the structure.

In the lab, this technique “works very well”, says Perrier, noting that about 90 per cent of the islets’ cells survived and functioned for up to three weeks. “The next challenge is really to validate this finding in vivo.” Perrier and his colleagues presented their research at the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) 2025 meeting in London on 29 June.

exertions plus AI

in

After two years of diminshing returns of running – thanks to nuHerbie's insulin pumping – I wanted to switch things up and, lo, this first morning of a new workout routine, thanks to Claude AI. Can't overstate the amount of help Claude's been here: it's been amazing to have an analytical compliment who, when given my exact needs and insulin requirements, can generate a workout routine that will replace daily running while doing things that I've already been doing AND condense those into one long morning session (in this case, 40 minutes of yoga, 35 minutes of muay thai (swapped in for boxing to make up for the loss of leg motion without running, followed by a 10-minute cooldown yoga session). We made a few changes to incorporate "exit points" in the event of hypoglycemic moment, but other than that, this has been great - especially the change in my CGM arc from a crashing tidal wave to a gentle climb and gentle landing. Tomorrow is the same routine, but with HIIT instead of muay thai, while the next day is a strength and running combo. A most welcome change.

in

And we're back to sub-mile daily runs wrought by blood sugar crashes. First time since I started running 12 years ago that I ran the first route, "around the block," that got me started. Wanting to believe that it's an omen of my rebuilding back to my daily 5k (I've given up hope of ever reaching my once-daily 10k in this, the age of NuHerbie) but I'd rather stuff my face with pink Starburst right now TYVM. Another insulin decrease duly initiated.

in

First run of more than a half a mile in days. Usually aim for a 5k every day, but as per standard T1D practices, weather and a sudden downshift in insulin requirements (not that I'm complaining) over the last several days precluded me being anything but a glucose-tablet-and/or-pink-Starburst-stuffing mess after more than half a mile. Managed a little over two miles this morning which hopefully signals that nuHerbie's dialed in to the new, decreased requirements and drip-drip of life. Hopefully I’ll make it back to 5k+ this week though who knows.