Diabetes Attitude
This morning I attended a pump club meeting in Woburn, just north of Boston. This is the second meeting that I've been too. About 18 people of various ages and backgrounds. This time there were four people who had diabetes for over 50 years. That's an unbelievable achievement, especially given how primitive things where even 20 years ago.But that's not the point of my posting here. We spent a lot of time just chatting about diabetes: technology; balancing it; complications; victories. In the two+ hours I was there I don't remember seeing a frowning face. In fact there was a lot of laughing, applause, encouragement, and generally positive feeling.
| But wait, isn't this diabetes. That chronic disease that's such a pain to live with? The disease that all these frowning-faced people are affected by? (Photos of some members on TuDiabetes.com) |  |
I know there are days when I struggle with this disease. But most days I just get up in the morning and deal with it until bedtime. Could things be better? Absolutely. What helps me? Sometimes a little pick-me-up like a Groovy Patch for my insulin pump.
Right now, I'm thinking the best fix I could have is a good diabetes T-shirt. Someone at this mornings meeting showed me a picture where a woman was wearing a T-shirt that read "Insulin-powered Engine". I liked that, but I wanted even more. A shirt with attitude.
Then I came across a post from Amy T. in 2005 looking for T-shirt slogans. She pointed to Gina at DiabetesTalkFest, but that page is gone! Thanks to the magic of the Wayback Machine, I was able to find the page from 2005 and the slogans are awesome! Some are listed below.
Wouldn't you feel better wearing a shirt that had one of the following?
- Diabetics are sweeter
- Diabetic: Gimme sugar and no one gets hurt!
- Diabetes - it's a blood sport!
- I’m not Diabetic, I’m sugar-challenged
- Insulin-powered Diabetic
- Diabetes, the thinking person's disease (a t-shirt I have)
If enough people are interested in owning one, I'll arrange to get the #1 slogan printed on a T-shirt and offer them for sale at cost. I already know a few people who'll buy one.
Are you in?
Labels: attitude, diabetes, slogan, smiles
posted by Bernard @ 8:50 PM
17 Comments:
I wanted to make a shirt with "Ninjabetic" on it. But my guess is I would be the only person who would want that!
My suggestion..
"I've got the bete"
I love these. Thanks for making me laugh.
I would definitely buy a shirt! I was actually looking for one a little while back on cafe press but none of them were as funny as the ones you've listed.
I am SO in for a few shirts!
One of my favorite quotes was one I saw on Zazzy's site.
It said "Be nice to diabetics, we deal with enough pricks already".
Another one I like is from Birdie's site that mentions the phrase "Everyday Courage". I'm actually going to incorporate that one into my next tattoo.
Oh, I love this idea so much!!! I'm not sure what you had in mind for printing, but spreadshirt.com does nice work, and you can set up a "store" where folks can order different designs. All you need is the designs (though they need to be vector... I'm happy to help out, if you could use a hand). And you set the mark-up, so if you just set it at 0, it would be cost for everyone and more than one design option and you would have no out-of-pocket $$.
Anyway you decide to go with this, though, keep us posted! This is awesome!
My vote: "Diabetes-It's a blood sport!"
Wow, these people had diabetes for over 50 years! That's great! You're right; things sure have changed a lot in the last 20 years.
The T-shirt thing sounds like a great! I'm all for it!
How would you prefer that we vote? Email? Here in the comments?
Rank-order preferences?
First vote - blood sport
Second vote - enough pricks already
Would these be text-only or would there be images?
I made a shirt for my son that says "Too sweet for my own good" and has our city group website beneath that, and I also made one with a pic of of pancreas, and above it says, (with an arrow) "I'm with stupid"
Both ideas are ones I saw on cafepress, but could not order in child sizes.
I also like "pancreatically challenged"
Your blog gives me a lot of insight.
I try to teach my son to be proud and to be a spokesperson for D, But, him being the first person in our family with D, I mostly learn from him....
OH! I also had taken a picture of a kid testing his BG at a concert, (at camp) and came up with a shirt idea,
maybe put a pic of a bg meter reading "50" and underneath, it says, "Diabetics can really get down" or something to that effect.
I really like this idea! I posted about putting a slogan on a t-shirt for Noah to wear on his birthday next year. "I BOLUS FOR CAKE"
My husband came up with: "Diabetes is a pain in my Pancre-ass."
"Each day diabetes borrows my finger,
one day I hope to give diabetes the finger."
"Sugers the bitch, not me."
Very good and positive slogans. It is indeed better to have a positive attitude towards diabetes. It can be controlled and managed, as long as the diabetic wants it to be.
bernard we have DTF contests all the time. the last one was the funniest diabetic related poem. the slogan contest was one of our first.
if you want me to sponsor the slogan contest we have a cafepress account and i would be happy to donate a tshirt to the winner.
we keep track of the contests through the DTF forum so that we can vote on them after to see which one was the best and then the members pick. its really fun! let me know if you want me to do it.
"MY PANCREAS IS BROKEN"
"HI, Im ready to shoot up"
"Im more entertaining than a drunk man"
"Hug Me, Im DIABETIC"
"Kiss Me, Im DIABETIC"
"Dang Im Amazingly Ballin, Even The Eagles Stare"
"Diabetics Are Sweeter"
I enjoy this article, thanks for sharing.
I just wanted to say that Diabetes Talkfest is not gone, in fact it is still going strong. The t-shirts have been very popular and are available in our online store. Thanks for mentioning us! www.diabetestalkfest.com Proceeds from shirt sales keep diabetestalkfest running.
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