All of the forums listed here are from the last 5 years I've been online. I don't have much time for chatting these days but regularly visit Diabetes Station, Children with Diabetes and Insulin Pumpers Enjoy these chats that I've had before.
Coping With Diabetes~~
This forum was held 11/7/96 and was based on an article I found on the net called "Victor or Victim". I was lucky enough to find that I had saved this article, as it is not posted at the Diabetes Interview site anymore! So I have posted it here! The information discussed at this forum is a real eye opener and somewhat controversial. There are links to other good articles about coping with diabetes listed in my diabetes page also.Thanksgiving Forum~~
This forum was about keeping tight control of blood sugars during the holidays. It was an interesting forum but it was cut short when the server went down. The information here is very good though.Lispro Forum~~
This forum was held 2/6/97. It is full of good information about the new insulin, Humalog (Lispro) and how it has been working out for people. Two pharmacists from Home Medical Supply joined us that night to answer questions about the insulin!Sick Days~~
This was an excellent forum held 2/20/97. It is full of ideas about how to handle sick days! There was also a small conversation about the prevention trials. This is a MUST READ forum!!Glucagon~~
This forum was held 3/13/97. Not as many people came to this one but it is full of good advice and ideas. In my invitation, I wanted everyone to read The Importance of Having a Glucagon Emergency Kit on Hand at All Times, a wonderful article written by Robin and posted at Children with Diabetes. If you didn't make this forum, this one is a MUST for you!!Summer Camp~~
This forum was held 4/3/97. It had alot of ideas about how to handle summer camp and where to find good camps! Also a sample doctor's referal was emailed to everyone. At the end of this forum, Ellen and I began talking about problems with schools and the 504 plan.Food & Diet~~
This forum, held 5/1/97, has many snack ideas and ideas on how to make a meal plan. There are many methods discussed, 2 of which are the Glycemic Index and the Good Health Eating Guide put out by the Canadian Diabetes Association. More links to great sites on the net concerning food and diet are listed in my diabetes page.National Nurses Week ~~
May 12, 1997 was the last day of National Nurses Week in the United States and I wanted to have a forum about the nurses in our lives and how much we appreciate all they do for us! There are some good stories in here along with plenty of other information!The Insulin Pump~~
On May 29, 1997, we discussed the insulin pump! We had planned on having two guests there who could answer some of our questions about the pump but they were unable to make it! If you have questions or comments you'd like to make about this forum, please EMAIL ME!! I will add your letter to this forum!Diabetes Webpages~~
This was a good forum, held June 12. 1997. I had found a list of personal web sites at Rick Mendosa's Online Resources for Diabetics that was like a goldmine of information for me! I wanted to share these wonderful pages I'd found! So I passed 9 of them out among the people on my mailing list and we then got together to discuss what we'd found!! A great forum with a wealth of information and where to find it!Research for a cure~~
What a fantastic forum this was! On July 3, 1997, we had Al Gordon, President of The Islet Foundation and J. Joseph Prendergast, MD, the founder of The Pacific Medical Research Foundation join us to discuss their foundations and their efforts to find a cure for diabetes! There was a wonderful turn out and my room went down for a short time! So we switched to another room and the forum took off! Al told us about the work that Dr. Usala is doing at Encelle and Dr. Prendergast told us of the Smart MODM Project and implantable insulin pumps! Lots of thanks and appreciation go out to Al Gordon and Dr. Predergast for their time and efforts!Back To School~~
This forum was held July 31, 1997! It is full of good information about school and how to make life easier at school! Also a few do's and don'ts that are very helpful! On Aug 6, we'll have a daytime forum on this same subject so those who couldn't make this one, hopefully, will be able to then!Daytime forum about Back to School ~~
On August 6, 1997, we got together for our first daytime forum! Quite a few people came to chat about going back to school with many interesting stories about their experiences! This, along with the previous forum, I hope will help many parents with their challenges at school!Clinton Opens His Pockets~~
Another wonderful and informative forum was held August 19, 1997. Eric Schutt, the Assistant Director of Government Relations for the JDF, joined us to answer questions and discuss the funds Clinton has allocated to diabetes... specifically, $2.4 billion to go towards diabetes research and the improvement of the lives of those who have diabetes! Eric pointed out that it will be the National Institutes of Health (NIH) who will be deciding where the money should go and to which projects! There were many questions concerning current research that Eric said he'd pass on to the appropriate people and get back with us on those! I will post his answers with the forum! Many, many thanks to Eric for joining us!Eric has gotten ahold of a NIH publication entitled " Setting Research Priorities" that was just printed. The information in the booklet may be obtained from the Internet at: http://www.nih.gov/news/ResPriority/priority.htm
Coping With Diabetes~~
This forum was so wonderful... our best one yet! 35 people signed in on September 11, 1997 to discuss the stress of living with diabetes! We started out discussing our pet peeves about diabetes and went on to discuss how our children handled diabetes and also talked about how our own attitudes toward diabetes may be effecting our children! It was such a relief to discuss, moan and complain about how hard diabetes is sometimes and find comfort and understanding in eachother! This one will make you feel better about how you are coping with diabetes!Glucose Meters~~
I think this had to be the forum with the most information! We got together on October 3, 1997 to discuss different meters! There are so many choices of glucose monitors out there, that it was hard to keep up with which one everyone was talking about! We talked about Accuechecks, One Touches, Glucometers, and even the latest hope... the non-invasive meters! Thank you everyone who provided evaluations of the meters you have used and especially thanks to Mark, who is 15, who provided all the information on the non-invasive meters! If you are looking for a meter, read this forum to get an idea of what people think of the one you are considering! I'd also like to suggest that you donate your old meter(s) to the Russian Collection we are doing! Please look at Melissa's Announcement to get all the details!Diabetes and the Siblings~~
We had a really nice turn out on October 23, 1997 for this forum about the brothers and sisters in the family! We discussed how diabetes can effect them and how the whole family's life changes when a child is diagnosed with diabetes!Teenagers and Diabetes~~
Teenagers and parents got together on November 6, 1997 to share feelings and opinions about living with diabetes! I was impressed with the honesty of the teens about their feelings and experiences! I hope we get another chance to do this again soon! We have some wonderful teenagers in our group!1997 Christmas Party~~
It was soo nice to get together to talk about christmas, share recipes and wish eachother Merry Christmas! This was a very relaxed forum! Hope you enjoy it and hope you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!The Complications of Diabetes~~
On January 15, 1998, we started the year out with a bang! 34 people showed up to discuss the complications of diabetes! As special guest speakers, we had Renee, who told of her daughter's kidney problems and recommended all children have their microalbium levels checked! We also had MD2 (Kelly Ellis), a researcher in immunology, and several of her guests! Judy from NY discussed with us the connection between thyroid disease and diabetes! They are both autoimmune diseases and we were surprised to discover how many of us not only have diabetes in our families, but also thyroid problems! And Deb Butterfield from The Insulin-Free World Foundation dropped in and told us of her pancreas transplant! Stevan Craig joined us also to tell of his Islet cell transplant in California! His story is VERY interesting! This forum was another "BEST" among many of our favorite forums!!Diabetes Forecast Articles
~~ I sent out 15 different articles that are posted online to my entire mailing list! Groups of about 20 people got 1 article each to read and summarize! On Jan 28, 1998 we all got together to share with eachother the articles! There were so many though that we didn't cover even half! *S* But the ones we did discuss were wonderful! Our first one was Hurry! Get the Glucagon! which started us off on a fantastic discussion! We then went on to On the Road Again, My Diabeastie , and Tales From Carboland ! We left off on 10 Pegs to hang your hat on, which we will cover at our next forum! Enjoy all these articles and the wonderful magazine that Diabetes Forecast puts out!The Emotions of Diabetes~~
On February 12, 1998, we were joined by Dr. William Quick and his wife Stephanie Schwartz! We had an interesting discussion about the many emotions we all go through after diabetes enters our lives! At the end of this forum, we had an impromtu discussion about the insulin pump that I thought you would find interesting!The Photocard Campaign~~
On February 1, 1998, we got together for a special forum to launch The Photocard Campaign! MAR was my special Guest Moderator and I'd like to congratulate her on a job well done! There were many questions about what exactly this was about and many suggestions on how we can take this campaign to our community! If you have anymore questions, please Email MAR!All About Insulin~~
I asked several people to help me with this forum on March 5, 1998, as I was in the hospital when this took place! There is quite a discussion about pork insulin VS humulin and other advice that I strongly recommend you discuss with your doctor before using in your regimine! Different insulins work differently in everyone! What works well for one person may not work well for you! Enjoy this one! There is lots of good information here!The Diabetes Prevention Trials~~
On April 23, I started getting back up to speed on forums again with a GREAT discussion about the DPT trials! Dr. Darrell M. Wilson from Standford joined us and answered MANY questions about the trial! This was held in the morning and we got a great turn out! If you ever wanted to know about the DPT trials, you've GOT to read this one! If you have ANY questions after reading this, Dr. Wilson and also Sherrie Harris from BDC will be happy to answer your questions! Email addresses are with this forum!Kids and Summer Camp~~
May 7, 1998 was the day we got together for a small forum about Diabetic summer camp! It was very interesting to hear that some camps are VERY good and others not so good! Be sure to check out the camp you want to send your child to well! Be sure there are enough medical personnel for the amount of kids expected at camp! Also, quality of activities and meals seem to be different from camp to camp! This was a good discussion! I hope you find what you're looking for here!Special Disetronic Pump Chat~~
On May 18, 1998, Disetronic had a special Monday night chat at their new chat room during a large sales meeting they had in Denver. Alot of Disetronic personnel were there and they were interested in seeing how their new chat room worked. This gave us all a wonderful opportunity to ask them questions about their pump and company. We had quite a turn out at this fast paced chat and they hurried to keep up with the chat on 2 computers! After reading this, if you have anymore questions about the Disetronic Pump, feel free to contact them!Many thanks to Disetronic for sending me a copy of the chat! This chat is different than my own chats and reads from the top, down!
Diet and Meal Planning~~
June 2, 1998 was the start of our JULY FORUM BONANZA!! We go together to discuss diet and meal planning! Everyone helped to provide good links and information about diets and where to find help on the internet! We discussed carbohydrate counting, constant carb diet vs. letting kids eat what they want, and even some good bedtime snack ideas! This forum is chalk full of good links! Have a look!Insulin~~
We had a really nice turnout on July 9, 1998. We talked quite alot about Humalog and how it works! There are some people who still have never used it and have the same fears about it that we all did when it first came out! It was nice passing on our experience with it and hope others can benefit from it! We also discussed inhaled insulin and I asked about the new very long acting insulin that's supposed to be out soon but no one knew much about that one!Choosing a Doctor ~~
July 16 we discussed choosing a doctor and what we'd like to see in a doctor! We talked about the team approach, the difference between ped endos and pediatricians, and how insurance effects the choice of doctor you make! Also we talked alittle about insurance reform and that will be the topic of our last forum this month! I hope you find alot of worthwhile advice and information from this chat! It was fun, as always! 
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Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by Melissa Davis. All rights reserved. Copies may be made for personal use but not for publication.
Pages in this website were updated 9/29/03