Today we’re getting to know Molly Johannes, the creative behind Hugging the Cactus. Hugging the Cactus is a blog about living with diabetes and learning how to embrace it, prickles and all.

The more I talk to people with diabetes, the more respect I have for how all of us handle it so differently. I had a great time chatting with Molly about her life with diabetes, learning more about what works for her in her life, and digging into Hugging the Cactus and how we can all hug the cactus a little more in our own diabetes lives.

Meet Molly Johannes

Molly was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1997 at the age of four. She uses a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor and an OmniPod insulin pump to help manage her diabetes. She graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in English in December 2014. Currently, Molly works full time in the financial industry as an editor. In her spare time, she maintains her blog, enjoys spending time with family and friends, and loves anything involving Harry Potter, Disney, trivia, chocolate, wine, or her parents’ dog, Clarence.

Follow Molly on Twitter @mollyjoh_t1d and Instagram @huggingthecactus.

Wins & Fails

Colleen’s Win: I changed my set when it was just over two days old because I didn’t have enough insulin to carry me through a flight the next day. Usually I would try to eke out another day, but flights always suck up more insulin than usual, so I didn’t want to push it.

Colleen’s Fail: I spoke in front of 140+ people at a company conference and my blood sugar rode an adrenaline wave up to 212 mg/dL, starting about 10-15 minutes before I started speaking. I was unable to correct during my talk as my pump was tucked right under the lapel mic, and it took several hours to come back down to normal. Lesson learned: correct ahead of time!

Tip of the Week

Put reminders on your calendar to keep track of when you change your Dexcom G6 sensor. With a 10-day change time, it’s more difficult to keep track of than it was with the G4 and G5 sensors, which were 7-day sensors.

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Credits

Our music is by Joseph McDade. Check out his website here!

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