Yay Mom! And: Medical Stuff.

First of all, thank you so much for all of you who have been praying for my mom.  Her surgery went really well, praise the Lord, and while I'd like to let her blog about the details if she feels so inclined, I will say that the awesome surgeons cleared the blocked artery and put in "the Cadillac of Stents."  Yay insurance!  She is tired but doing well, and her email was especially coherent for someone who just had heart surgery the day before.

But, of course, tons of other things have to happen at the same time as this.

I got a large box in the mail today that contains my new Freestyle Navigator.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a continuous glucose monitor, like the Dexcom  I blogged about a while back.  It's a bit different, and it has a few more features (though apparently the Dexcom Plus has those now) that I like.  I've been told not to start using it until I am trained, so I will be eagerly awaiting a call from my trainer.  On a slightly different note, I would like to very much thank my insurance company for covering the Nav and other CGMSs.  I am very grateful to have insurance that understands that progress and new technology are themselves medically necessary and is willing to support them and help keep its patients healthy.

I am very sad, though about this.  I found out here.  For those of you who don't click on links, those basically say that my pump manufacturer, Smiths Medical, is pulling out of the diabetes market.  My pump has a little over three years on the warranty, I think, but I will have to get a new pump from a different company then.  Smiths Medical is slowly withdrawing, meaning that they will be gone in about four years, when the warranties for the newest pumps expire.  I can still get infusion sets and replacement pumps if mine breaks, but I can't renew my warranty, and that makes me sad.  I love the Cozmo and the Cozmore System.  It has so many amazingly brilliant features, and I must admit I will miss being able to test my blood sugar directly on my pump.  I'll start doing my research, I guess.  Smiths Medical/Deltec, thank you for the amazing customer service, the amazing system, and all the support and amazing features.  I will miss you.

Well, there's tons of other fun stuff going on as well.  Such as that Multivariable Calc test tomorrow.  (I am purposely not opening the Navigator to stare at it in wonderment and gleeful awe until after said test...)

Endlich eine Deutschnebenfachin!

I finally declared my German minor!  Right after the German class during which I spent the entire time with a low blood sugar.  It wasn't one of those nice low blood sugars either; it was one of those that makes me get all emotional about everything and starts me crying.  Thankfully, my professor and classmates are awesome.  One even brought me a bottle of orange juice, and a couple asked me what they could do if that happened in the future.  (I did tell my professor about my diabetes, by the way, so she knew at least some of what was going on.)

Anyway, just thought I should share that.  Yay German minor!

Dexcom Trial

I usually don't do much blogging about my diabetes, so this post is very different from my others.  Beware of the diabetic lingo!

Anyway, I finally just finished doing something I've been wanting to do for a while:  try out a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS).  CGMS's approximate one's blood sugar every minute or so (time period depends on the model), but since the method CGMS's use to approximate blood sugar is not quite as accurate as a normal blood glucose test, some normal blood glucose tests are still neccessary to calibrate the CGMS and to verify unsavory blood sugar results before treating them.  CGMS's are useful for predicting high and low blood sugars, though, and they show trends very well on pretty little graphs so one can see the effects of one's eating, bolusing, and exercising habits on one's blood sugar.

After I mentioned to my endocrinologist that I wanted a trial, she reccomended I go to a local Inova branch, where the insulin pump/CGMS trainer would set me up with a loaner.  The trainer, who also trained me on my very first insulin pump trial about seven years ago, was very helpful and friendly.  She inserted the sensor, and it barely hurt—no more than a good infusion site insertion, I'm happy to report.  Since she wasn't allowed to loan out the Navigator (the CGMS I want) because it is so new, I got hooked up to a Dexcom Seven, just to let me see what using a CGMS is like in general.  I had thankfully already accepted the fact that I would feel like even more of a cyborg than usual, so with that hurdle out of the way, I was ready to give this a good shot.

The Dexcom Seven CGMS I used, shortly after pulling out the sensor.

The first twenty-four hours were only moderately accurate.  After the initial calibration, the Dexcom showed me trends pretty well.  To turn the Dexcom's reported numbers into my actual blood sugar readings, however, one would have to add about 30 mg/dL to each one.  It kept vibrating and beeping at me to tell me that I was below 40 mg/dL when I was between 70 and 80 mg/dL.  It kept that up for a couple of hours, at which point I was almost in tears.  I wanted to bring my blood sugar up so I could go to sleep without going low during the night, so I was eating some carbs to bring my BG up, but I was pretty scared that the Dexcom would keep me up all night, telling me I was low.  Argh.

Eventually, my numbers came up, I went to sleep, and life was good.  The Dexcom started looking like it was getting more useful and accurate readings around 2 or 3 PM the next day, and as long as I calibrated it when my blood sugar was relatively stable, it stayed about as accurate as it could be (there is a bit of a delay between traditional blood sugar tests and CGMS readings).  It caught several lows and highs during the nights of the week I used it, which was very useful.  Really, no diabetic likes waking up low at 3 AM.  Or waking up to the alarm clock each morning, testing, seeing a low result, and wondering how long they had been that low; that's just plain scary sometimes!  Thank you, Dexcom, for sparing me of that for a week.

On the con side, those late-night lows were annoying, and since the Dexcom alarms every 15 minutes if one's blood sugar is still below target, sometimes I got to sit around for a while to make sure my blood sugar was stable and high enough for me to sleep.  Better than waking up extremely low and discombobulated at the normal time, though.

Today, when I had to take the Dexcom off to give it back to Inova, I was kind of sad.  This device had been my constant companion for a week, watching my blood sugars even when I normally would not.  Watching the trends has been enlightening, and I'm sure I will do things a bit differently in my bolusing now.  I am even more certain now that I want to get my own CGMS.  I am fairly sure my parents' insurance will pay for it (Thank you!).  Now I just need to get started with that lovely pile of paperwork.  But for the safety factor I have appreciated for the past week, I think it will be worth the hand cramps of signing my name a few gillion times.

Oh man, how could I forget...

It's World Diabetes Day!  If it were earlier in the morning and I had remembered to post, I might have suggested you wear blue to show support.  But unfortunately I have been crazy busy.  Classes are almost over for the semester, but right now it is the final crunch.  The end of finals is slightly more than a month away.

Anyway, check out the website:  http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, by the way.  Hopefully when things calm down soon I will post more.

It's Diabetes Awareness Month

I just saw that on Kerri's blog that it is Diabetes Awareness month.  And I missed the day to blog about my diabetes (yesterday)(oops!), but that's ok.

I kind of feel like I should commemorate this.  Maybe I can use it as a catalyst to get the Virginia Tech dining halls to post nutrition facts information (sometimes it is hard to tell how carbariffic some of the foods here are...). How will I do that?  No idea.  Maybe there's a website for it or something already.  I just haven't found it yet.  Any ideas?

Walk!

I just did a Walk to Cure Diabetes today in Roanoke.  It was about an hour away from the VT campus, but it was still a lot of fun and I didn't get too lost (only going to Coldstone afterward...).  It was at the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which was really fun because my tiny team and I wandered around, looking at trains and taking funny photographs balancing on railroad ties and such.  (To be posted eventually, hopefully.)  They also had food, which was very good.  Mmmm... Chick-Fil-A brownies!  I love CFA...

I have to say, after all the research I've been doing about Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems I've done and the blog entries I've read, it felt really good to see so many people show up to support Type 1 Diabetes research.  CGMs may take years to be deemed "medically necessary" and there might not be a cure for a while, but there is support.  And the more support we have, the more it seems possible to live life to the fullest as a diabetic.

Well, even though it was only two miles (and two-and-a-half-ish hours in the car), I'm exhausted.  I should get the rest of my dormwork done and go to sleep.

Last Minute Walk-a-thon

Hi!
I'm doing the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes here in Roanoke on Sunday.  If you want to donate to my team ("Hokies for a Cure"), I would be very happy.


Here's the link:  http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87177414


Of course, if you wanted to come and walk with us, that'd be awesome too.  But donating to help aid Type 1 Diabetes research would be greatly appreciated.  


Thanks!

Your Virginia Tech Information Source: Cars and AC!

Well, after a long hiatus, I checked my Google Analytics page again.  And the search results that get people here, other than the "diabetic waffles" one (lol) seem to be on the topics of whether freshmen at Virginia Tech can have cars and whether the dorms are air conditioned.

So, the answers:
Freshmen can have cars.  You have to get a parking permit, and you can only park in Lane Stadium or the Cage (Duck Pond Lot) if you live on campus, and if you park in Lane, you have to move for football games, but you may have a car.  It's pretty useful; even though the bus system here is pretty good, it's nice to not have to depend on it.  So you can spend as many hours in Wal-mart as you want.

Are the dorms air conditioned?  Only a couple, but unfortunately for freshmen they're pretty much upperclassmen dorms.  I think the RLC theme dorm is in one of them, though, and that's available to freshmen.  But for the most part, no.  But you know what?  It isn't a big deal.  There are lots of places to study and work that are air conditioned (including all dining halls, which rocks), and it really isn't that hot here.  It does get pretty warm some days, but right now, on my fourth week, I am perfectly comfortable in my dorm wearing a t-shirt and jeans.  Of course, it's nearly midnight, but even during the day, having a couple fans on makes it comfortable.

Also keep in mind that even an air-conditioned building will seem warm after you walk five minutes to get there and get all sweaty.  At least in this season.  But after a few minutes, you cool off and it's fine.

But to all people who may become freshmen at VT sometime soon:  bring fans.  That's what helps keep it cool, along with keeping the window open.  In some of the dorms, you can even keep the window open when it is raining without any problems; I live in Slusher Wing and have no problem.  If you put a fan in your window, the room stays cooler.

The question in a few weeks:  When do the radiators turn on, and how hot do the rooms get?

Can't help you there.  Yet.

First Chem Test = Over! Now: Food!

I just took my first real college Chem test! And I think I did pretty well, but we'll see.

In other news, I ordered a salad today at lunch. Which, if you know me, is really odd, since I usually despise salad. This one wasn't too bad, though I'll order different dressing next time (I got Fat Free California, I think?). But for some reason, they throw in large chunks of swiss cheese, velveeta, turkey, and ham shaped like oversized french fries. Most of that was good, but the velveeta could have been left out. And of course, this salad also included red onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Which I promptly ate around or pushed to the side. Ick. And I think there were some dandelion leaves in there, which weirded me out. Yeah, they're edible, but I guess you could eat rocks if you wanted to as well.

Yes, I'm a picky eater. Why do you ask? =)

Anyway, I'm going to go to Stammtisch soon, which (if I didn't explain it last week) is where anyone who speaks any German at all can go to dinner/drinks (if you're 21, which I'm not) and speak ONLY German. I'm pretty nervous, like last time, even though last time was fun. I think I was the only freshman there, and the only one taking the section of German that I'm in. And I was one of three people who ordered food. I think I'll eat beforehand this time, especially since this meal is off-campus and therefore not on the meal plan. The food is good, though; if you go to Gillie's in the future, the quesadillas are good. I got mine with black olives, spinach, and mushrooms. Major yum.  Though definitely something worthy of a SWAG bolus.

Well, I'll go get some food, probably after changing my site.  And then go embarrass myself to Stammtisch.  =)

I like smileys, don't I?  Heh.  =)

Yay confusion!

I just went to Gobblerfest, and it was pretty intense. There were a gillion organizations, some student-led, some local, some bigger. There were two booths that interested me most, though.

The first one I ran into (not literally) was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation booth. They were advertising the Roanoke Walk-A-Thon, so I got some information for that. And since for Hypatia we have to do six hours of community service, I might as well. Especially since I support the cause!

The next one I ran into was the Humane Society. I had heard in the Hypatia seminar that some Hypatians a year or two ago volunteered at the Humane Society or at something that was involved with it. I talked to the people in the booth about getting it started and got someone's email address to contact. Which I fully intend to do. I'm just confused about how to do all this. I hope I'm not stretching myself too thin, since I think I'm the only Hypatian who talked to them about it. There are other girls here who want to work with the HS, but I don't know 100% who they are. Please pray for me. I don't know if I'll end up leading this, or whether it will drop off into oblivion, or whether... I don't know. Ack. But I want to help out. I just hope I can make it more than just the thought that counts! I'm confused and admittedly not sure if I can not mess this up.

Wow!

Firstly, I would like to thank Kerri for linking me about Diabetes Awareness Day. I enjoyed raising my voice, even though it was only on a little personal blog with a boring gray background. (Believe me; I intend to fix that someday. Hmmm…) I don't know how much planning this holiday took, but I am all up for doing it next year as well, assuming I remember.

And thanks, Glee, for the hug. Hugs to you too, and to all diabetics out there. This is one of those times where I can probably accurately say that I know what you're going through. It ain't easy.


…I'm suddenly getting the urge to start working on a cooler blog background. I really have to push that one off until AP testing is over, as much as I would love to fire up Photoshop Elements right now and fix things up…

Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day!

Well, today is the much-anticipated Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day. I won't say much, but I will point you to Kerri's blog and say that I am very happy that she came up with this idea. Also, this flyer is a very good explanation of type 1. For anyone who wants more info, please check it out.

Well, I would type more, but I'm exhausted and have a Calculus test tomorrow. Oh joy. The cause of my exhaustion will have to be blogged about soon. = ) So I'll just say that, if you see a diabetic today, give them a hug. They deserve it; diabetes is unpredictable.  And most diabetics are more than willing to answer questions, so ask them!  (But I'll tell the world right now that no type 1 diabetic is at fault for his or her disease. It isn't caused by eating too much candy or being irresponsible; the immune system just gets a bit crazy and destroyes the beta cells inside the Islets of Langerhans (which are in the pancreas) so that the body can no longer produce insulin. Believe me; if I had control over my immune system, I would not tell it to do that! = ) )

Er…  Studying.  Right.  I think I'll log off now.

Type 1 Diabetes Alert Day!

Ah, it's been a while.

Anyway, a blogger I read fairly regularly, Kerri, has declared Monday, April 14th to be Type 1 Diabetes Alert Day. Since Type 2 Diabetes has its own day on March 25th, type 1 has to have one, right?

Here's her post. It explains the idea better than I could. So read up on Type 1. Here is the Wikipedia article, which does get kinda technical, but it's good info. And by all means, if you have diabetes (of any type), tell people! You never know what could happen.

More VT!

Today has been an informative day. I went to the General Engineering information session and learned a lot, such as the general freshman classes and about co-ops and internships. During that presentation, they mentioned that the Electrical and Computer Engineering info session was a 2 o'clock, so my dad and I went to that as well. That info session was much smaller (two parents, two teens, one department person) and a bit more informal, but we got a lot of questions answered. The woman who led that info session confirmed that, yes, Virginia Tech does do study-abroad programs with the Technische Universität Darmstadt (the one I got to visit in Germany). Sweet. And she said that people wanting to intern or co-op are not limited by the internships Virginia Tech students "usually" go to. I could blaze the trail and intern at Apple if I wanted. It would be a great way to find out if I actually want to be an engineer at my favorite computer technology company. I'll explore my options—I'm not only going to research Apple.

I actually took notes this time, so I won't bore everyone out there with every little bit of info I got so I can have a future reference. I found out the reason the Engineering department requires its students to use tablet computers: While taking notes in class, typing in mathmatical formulas or examples; graphing equations; and using Greek and other symbols is a bit tricky. One would have to either go into Paint or Matlab or some other mathematical notation program, quickly input the stuff, and then try to catch up on what the teacher said. But students can write on a tablet and convert the symbols later at a more relaxed pace. Hence, fewer mistakes.

And you can turn in your homework—handwritten on the computer, if you want—online.

I got to play with a tablet in the bookstore, and for a Microsoft/Windows-computer-maker product, it's not bad. The operating system is optimized for the pen and/or the trackpad/mouse, and it can recognize handwriting, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if one could download the teaching powerpoint presentations from Blackboard and then take notes directly on them. I like that!

I hope Apple makes a tablet. Maybe in time for me to go to college.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, and it isn't long. But there was another girl wearing an insulin pump on the tour. She saw mine but didn't say anything. Our tour guide mentioned something (I think the time he passed out while giving a tour (I think he is diabetic too, but I'm not sure)), and her mom mentioned that her daughter had diabetes. I, of course, said "Hey! I do too!"

Just thought it was cool. There wasn't as much of that diabetic-to-diabetic connection as I thought there would be, but we were on a a college tour and moderately distracted.

A few random VT facts:

-A person in their fifth year at VT (such as from their co-op,from missing classes while studying abroad, or from a five-year program like architecture or BSMS (five-year Bachelor's and Master's degree program) ) is called a SuperSenior.
-It is possible to do an internship and a study-abroad trip. The presenter at the General Engineering info session said one of her friends did just that. A co-op might be tricky, but VT is all about making the most out of college (hence the amazing undergrad research opportunities).
-Apparently, VT has more undergrad research opportunities than MIT. I'm starting to think that going to VT for undergrad would be a good idea, and I could go get my Master's at an elite school later.

It's almost time for supper. I should have asked one of the presenters what restaurants are good. Oh well; we'll wing it.

Google/Blogger, please fix your spell checker on Safari. Please.

I'm back!

…sans four teeth. Of course, that's fine, seeing as that was exactly what was supposed to happen. My wisdom teeth would have otherwise redesigned my entire mouth's layout, precipitating a need for me to get braces. I've never had them and plan to keep it that way. I'm feeling surprisingly good today. There's a bit of dull pain where the teeth came out and I look a little like a chipmunk, but I've been acting almost normal for several hours. Thanks, Mom, for all of the pudding! Although I managed to eat soup for dinner, so I'm making progress. Oh, and I just ate some chocolate. Bar chocolate. Chocoholism will get me back onto solid foods.

And I can feel my lower lip and tounge now. When I came to after the surgery (I did not wake up in the middle, praise the Lord) I wondered why they had wrapped my tounge in an inch of gauze and left something weird sticking out of my mouth. I soon learned that my tounge was not wrapped in gauze—it was only two gauze pads between my upper and lower jaws to catch the blood and facilitate clotting—and that the weird thing coming out of my mouth was my lower lip. Both were numb for a few hours, which I spent reading, doing German homework, and watching Homestar Runner on DVD. And napping, And changing the gauze pads. I'm glad I'm done with those. ***knocks on wood*** They're gross.

And somehow, I managed to bring my blood sugar in at 166. I feel sorry for poor Glee, though. I accidentally corrected my blood sugar to 120 instead of 150 right before I went to sleep, so she had to keep coming into my room, testing me, setting temporary basal rates to get me up higher, etc. Thanks, Mom!

Anyway, I need sleep. Thank you all for your prayers! Everything went fine. I just hope life returns to normal soon. Though I do like the whole veg-out-in-front-of-computer/TV-with-book-close-at-hand-eating-chocolate-pudding-and-ice-cream thing. I'll enjoy what I can while I can.

Man. The spell checker still doesn't work. Bad Google/Blogger! Bad! Bad doggie!

I'm nervous.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I've been stocking up on books, and I have my yet-unwatched DVDs of the five-hour A&E rendition of Pride and Prejudice. And a couple of Homestar Runner DVDs that Hol&J sent me for Christmas. Ready to veg out, pig out on jello, pudding, and mashed potatoes, and generally feel like yuck for a week. Ugh. At least I have entertainment. And summer homework. Some of it is interesting.

But I've been a bit more clumsy today than usual. I'm tripping over my tounge more often. I've heard the horror stories—how my mom had a couple of hers taken out in a not-so-clean office but survived (she didn't tell me about any infections or anything, so I think it was more creepy than infectious), how a few teens have woken up halfway through the procedure, negative reactions to the pain medication, etc. If my oral surgeon uses the wrong saline for my IV-thingy, I may have another horror story to add to the hall of pain: steadily climbing and later insanely high blood sugars. The doctor said he would use Ringers (I think I'm spelling that right, but since this is only the second time I've been knocked out, and the first was when I was three, I'm definitely guessing on these IV-liquid names. I am such a newbie to the horrors of the medical world.) for my IV if my blood sugar was 150ish or above on the morning of the surgery. He said if it was much lower, he would use D-5 (again, guessing on the name. It was D-something.). He only reached that decision after my mom argued with him; he wanted to use D-5 from the start. But my mom said "You do know the D stands for Dextrose, right? Her blood sugar is going to go really high." (not exact words. My memory's not that good.) Hence the above arrangement. No pressure on diabetes control, Ky. None. As long as it's around 150. Exactly would be great. Try to beat Mom's record of 152 on the morning of a surgery when she told the surgeon she'd come in at 150.

Heh. Pray for me. I think everything will be fine, but there are so many things that could go wrong.

Double Awesomeness

Yesterday was busy, as I had an orchestra concert. So I'm posting this now.

A couple of months ago, I got a letter from Smith's Medical/Deltec saying that a new Deltec Cozmore system was coming out (looks the same, but with many new features, new software, etc). And it was free to me if I wanted to upgrade. I'm not going to say no to a free upgrade, so I did the online training and the little "what have you learned from staring at pump demonstration videos for two hours" exam. A couple of weeks ago, I finally faxed the form into my pediatric endocrinologist. I never heard anything back from my endo about it.

Meanwhile, since I am going to Germany soon, my mom mentioned that I may wish to get a new digital camera; my camera was between four and five years old, and I would want something little and light that I could shove into my purse. So, after much deliberation and trying out the lovely features of the Canons I was considering at Best Buy (including the "Come on, random person in the video game section. Look over here so I can try out the face detection! Why can't you read my mind!"), I settled on the Canon 800 Elph (something like that. I have also heard this series referred to as the Ixus series, and the model number in Europe is different, I think). My dad and I ordered it online.

After I got home from school, I remembered that my camera was supposed to come in within hours, and since there were no notes on the door from our friendly neighborhood UPS man, it hadn't come yet. Soon Radar, our chihuahua, started barking; there was a UPS truck outside. A guy walked up to the door with two medium-sized boxes. Thinking it was my new camera, I excitedly asked who to sign for. The UPS man, not knowing exactly what I meant, replied "Smith's Medical." (I was actually asking if I should sign one of my parents' names, since they had given me permission and my mom was nearby anyway, but whatever.) Just hearing the word "medical" took a little of the magic out of it (I thought it was infusion sets or test strips), but my mom signed (she came over partially out of curiosity and partially because I don't know how to deal with delivery guys that well) and we got the boxes. We then realized that one of the boxes was from Amazon. And then I realized that Smith's Medical was my pump company. I always think of it as Deltec, which sounds waaay cooler than anything "medical," so I hadn't realized what the box contained. But my camera and my pump came in on the same day!

I won't go into camera specs here, but I will mention the pump. It has amazing new features, such as a basal testing feature complete with blood sugar testing alerts, a disconnect-reconnect bolus feature, and a weekly schedule for bolus alerts and basals. It even has HypoManager, which tells the user how many grams of carbs to eat if he or she tests a low blood sugar. There are a few other features as well, but my favorite is CozFoods. CozFoods is a database that is located and edited on the computer using the new software provided with the pump. Over 400 foods, complete with carbohydrate, serving size, and other nutritional information come pre-loaded. The database is downloaded onto the pump, and the MealMaker feature can be used to add up the carb total for a meal. The user only has to find the food he or she is eating in the well-organized database and enter how many servings he or she is eating, and the pump calculates the bolus and adds it to the MealMaker total. Once the MealMaker has all of the components of the current meal, the user pushes Done and can double check the bolus and change it. Extended and Combination bolus options can even be used with MealMaker. It's amazing. If you want a new pump or are considering pumping for the first time, definitely consider the Cozmo and the CozMore system. The pump has a blood sugar meter attachment that can tell the pump one's blood sugar, and the pump can decide how much insulin or how many carbohydrates are needed. The software is easy to use, but if you use Macintosh computers, you will either have to break down and buy a Windoze computer or use Parallels/Boot Camp/some other emulator. And you need an IR port. The pump itself is wonderful as well. Check it out.

Fooooood…

Mmmm. I'm stuffed. Kind of to celebrate me finishing my SAT's (even though I still have two Advanced Placement Tests to do, and those are harder) and kind of because we had coupons, we ate dinner at Don Pablo's tonight. I always get the shrimp burrito with beans and a corn cake on the side. The burrito is nice and spicy. And shrimpy. I hope I bolused correctly, but with some restaurant foods, it's a lost cause; I'll still wake up tomorrow morning in the 300's.

But it was worth it. Some foods are. Like good Tex-Mex, or smoothies, or my mom's chocolate-chip-and-crasin scones. Yum. (I had some of the scones yesterday after the SAT. Like I said, YUM.)

Just thought I would make everyone feel hungry before putting the ol' laptop to sleep for the night.

SATs

Okay, every time I read my cousin's blog it makes me want to post. Thanks, Hol!

Anyway, I took my first SAT test today. I'm not allowed to say anything specific about the questions until I get my score, so I'll have to remember the funny thing I wanted to say for a few weeks. I'll post it if I remember!
It was an interesting experience. Because of my diabetes, I got approval from the College Board to get extended breaktime and permission to test my blood sugar, eat, and drink water during the test. (No extra test time, though.) What I did not realize was that I would be in my own private test room with my own proctor. It was kind of cool, especially because I did not have to worry about being rushed into taking the next leg of the test. The proctor was a very nice lady. She would talk to me about college plans, etc during the breaks and always asked me if I was ready to move on before she started reading the directions for the next part of the test. She even wrote start and stop times out for me (very useful!).

I took a SAT Subject Test—World History—last year without accommodations. It was strange. We were all in my school's Auxillary Gym sitting at the tables used for AP testing (for which I also have accomodations, but I only get my own room if my blood sugar goes wacko in the middle of the test. That's fine by me; I don't always like being "special."). It took a long time to fill out the oh-so-fun bubble sheets (writing out our names, birthdays, etc and then bubbling in the same info so the computer can read it). The test was almost like the AP World History Exam I had taken not a month before—I was positive that it had stolen a question from the AP exam. Which would make sense, because both are run by College Board anyway. Heh.

Anyway, that went well. I have to admit the SAT was a bit fun for me; nine sections of problem solving and an essay section. I enjoy problem solving and am fairly good at writing essays. The only bad part: My shoulders hurt from hunching over my test. Not because I was scared anyone would look at my answers—I had my own room, and I doubt that the proctor or the copy machine in the room would have any use for my answers—it's just a bad habit. Oh well.


In other news: I will more than likely be getting a new digital camera soon. Since I will be visiting my penpal in Germany (only 45 days left!) right as school ends, my mom convinced me (okay, so it didn't take that much convincing; I want a new camera) that I should get a new camera to record all of the memories, places, etc. Most blogs I read start each day with a picture. Hopefully, with a new, non-clunky camera, I will become one of those people who carries a camera around ad infinitum and takes pictures of everything funny, interesting, weird, etc. And then blogs about it. Regularly. Seriously, people—I think this is it. I may have found a way to blog more than twice a year. So I might actually build up a huge fanbase consisting of all of seven people. Or maybe eight.

I should seriously do my homework now.