You have your cup of coffee, I have my insulin shot

I gave up drinking coffee and other caffeine products several years ago. I did enjoy the ritual, tho, warming my hands around the hot mug of fresh-brewed coffee, feeling my body and my mind slowly come to life as the coffee entered my bloodstream.

Now I have a new ritual upon awakening.

Taking care of my diabetes.

Again, this was caused by my antirejection drugs, specif. prednisone, of which I now take 10 mg in the morning.

This is wrong!

I do have visions of jumping ship and calling another transplant center here in Phila - let's see, Hahnemann, Jefferson, Temple, Penn - to see if they use prednisone. Not all centers do.

I certainly would not take matters in my own hands and stop it on my own. Never. Unfortunately I think my pancreas is ruined forever and produces very lil insulin.

You get used to jabbing yourself. Soon it doesn't bother you.

Lantus is the long-acting form of insulin I take before bed to keep my sugar regulated while I sleep.

Novolog is fast-acting.

When you're on insulin you can't lollygog about in bed, reading your autobio of NY art dealer Leo Castelli, an Italian Jew, who growing up in fascist Italy under Mussolini, was forced to change his name - Krausz - to something Italian-sounding.

Bio of Leo Castelli (1907-1999), the man who championed American art, and helped make NYC the art capital of the world.

Incredibly naive, Castelli was unaware of the threat to the Jews, until his father/law sounded the alarm and brot the whole family to NY.

The father/law, once a powerful and wealthy banker, had been denounced by the state and no one but fellow Jews would have anything to do with him, except for a few people who reluctantly came to his aid.

What a world.

Went downstairs, opened the door to greet the day, then sat on the couch where I shot up.



I was so proud of myself!

Diabetes is the worst thing that ever happened to me. Pls don't try to comfort me about it. It's dreadful.

You wait 5-10 mins after injecting before you eat your filling meal. While waiting, I decided to walk thru my backyard and greet Scott when he came home from work at 8:40 a.m.

He wasn't there. I walked all the way down the path, stepping over two fallen trees, and then did a turn in the parking lot of Keystone Screw, before returning home.

I'd forgotten he's on the Sat schedule and comes home earlier. I went over and said hello. He was watching a PBS show on how to take c/o diabetes. Cook pasta al dente so it won't cuz a spike in blood sugar.

Eat almonds and walnuts. I have almonds after every meal. Dessert.

The biggest pain is the return of my sciatica, which was xcruc'g in the hospital and sometimes here at home.

What I do to treat it is to walk as much as I can.

Did you read the Times article about Sitting is a Lethal Activity. I'd send it to my son Dan who sits in an office chair all day except he never reads anything I send him.

I'm typing this upstairs on my bed, belly-down. Any research on that?

Stephen and Arleen Weinstein stopped by yesterday and gave me a great gift: Picnic on the Moon by Charles Coe. What a wonderful poet and person he is.

The Weinsteins are also wonderful people. I met them at a Move.On house party I hosted, tho my then teenage niece, Jade Greene, did much of the work.



When my sister Donna was here yesterday, we were talking about the US govt and she asked Scott's opinion of Obama.

He's a bullshit artist, he said, and went on to say didn't keep his campaign promises to the middle class. Other times, Scott has called him a fraud. He also said Bush should be hanged for treason. He's serious.

Now of course w/ have all these lunatic Republicans in office.

Imagine trying to dismantle Medicare and Social Security, landmarks of a caring and compassionate society.

How did I start on this?

I'm liking my new Acer laptop and listen to music while I'm typing: John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.

My noon meal calls. How bout an uncured beef hotdog w/ spicy chipotle relish and moutarde, Friendship cottage cheese, half a nana-banana, whole wheat cracker w/peanut butter, small salad.

Time to shoot up!

PS - Scott and I love PBS videos, which you can view online. When I go to sleep at nite, I've been watching Secrets of the Dead. The best one I saw was a WWII recreation of Dogfight over Guadalcanal.



I mailed the URL to my former Cowbell neighbor George, who now lives in the old lady's home, cuz he fought in the Pacific theatre.

This 'dogfight' was about aerial attacks by Americans to stop a new runway being built. Two ace pilots faced each other in the air.

You have no idea what brave is until you see them in action: Sukai, descendent of Samurai warriors, age 30, vs "Pug" Southerland, Naval Academy grad, age 25.

Later in life, Sukai, blind in one eye from a mid-air gunshot wound, refused to kill anything, even a mosquito. He became a Buddhist and met some of the Wildcat fighters who had tried to kill him.