I am going to be honest. I think I have covered everything I can even think about in my webtext. there is a lot I need to work on such as taking the "its" out, making a better thesis, and adding more information to what I already have. I honestly cannot think of anything else. Maybe I need a different perspective? I did find some experimenal drugs out there trying to prevent different diabetes forms. One such one I found extremely interesting is called DEFEND. It is a drug that has not been FDA approved yet, but it was made to help preserve making insulin in someone with type 1 diabetes. Right now the drug is taken 8 consecutive days by the patients who signed up for the study,through intravenous infusions. It seems like it could be a miracle drug but they are doing more testing on it. If this succeeds it will give people with type one diabetes a more normal life. It is exciting to see a breakthrough in an incurable form of diabetes and i thought it could be exciting new news to add into my webtext.

slideshow

Since my audience for my multimedia webtext is teens in general, I would like my slideshow to be about sports and diabetes. It will tie into my podcast in the way that it will inform them that diabetes does not have to hinder their lives and that they can still do things normal people can do. I can explain the things that may need to be done differently than normal, why it is actually healthier for them to stay active and I can add in there things about different pro athletes that have been battling diabetes. My slideshow will show these kids that you dont have to feel like you are different and that you do not have to live in fear of your blood sugar. I can use my own personal touch to set my information aside from all the other information out there so that these kids will listen to my podcast. In addition to using athletes, I can also use my cousin as an example. He is rapidly becoming a major part of the Valparaiso Cross Country Team. He made it to varsity level as a sophomore which is a pretty big deal. I think in this way, it will show these kids that you can do it. That you do not have to be an exceptional quarterback like Jay Cutler to do sports. That this goal for themselves is actually attainable and that this disease will not hold them back from doing the things they love to do. I want to be sure they are informed of some of the different things their doctors will tell them to do to be safe. I believe that this slideshow will greatly benefit my whole presentation and will be a great fit to make it more upbeat, personal, and eye catching to teens.

podcast

Teens Dealing with Diabetes

Having Diabetes is a full on commitment that changes a person’s life in ways most teens would never dream of. The teens that have this disease have to change their eating habits. This means they cannot have sugary sweets like candy, cake, or ice cream (unless it is sugar free), or even regular pop (they must drink diet). Most teens would never even consider the possibility of getting diabetes, but it is real and it is becoming more common in teens as obesity rises in the United States. When a teen is diagnosed with this disease, they will be in shock and will not know how to cope with the information their doctors have given to them. My podcast is going to inform you on the ways to try and cope with this new disease and is going to give you ways to start leading a healthier lifestyle for diabetics.
The first step to overcoming this new information will be acceptance of the disease. It will be a shock and there will be changes that need to be made, but without coming to terms with the disease the teen will not be able to help themselves.

I would like to do my podcast on the effects diabetes can have on newly diagnosed teens and the different methods they can take to help themselves. I got the idea from a paper I was reading. I thought it was interesting because it is really hard for someone to come to terms with having the disease and changing their lifestyle around (especially at a young age). Usually people at the teen stage in life live off of candy and other sweets and when you are diabetic you can’t have it. I believe this will be a great fit for my podcast because I cannot find room to add it in my MM Webtext. It fits my audience of teens (since I want to relate the podcast to young people who get diagnosed) and my topic of diabetes. I believe it will be a great asset to have with my webtext since I talk a lot about the symptoms and about the different forms of diabetes. I believe this podcast will work well with this central thesis because it is geared toward teens and it talks about how to cope with the disease. I do not have anything in my webtext that resembles how to cope with diabetes.

peer review

I have just finished my 1800 word draft and included a lot about type 2 diabetes and neonatal diabetes. I have included hyperlinks and some related readings I have found. I have added my cousins success story to it and hyper linked an article written about him to the paper as well. Her peer review helped a lot in deciding what I should put into my paper and what I should take out. She was very insightful and I changed my paper accordingly. I did hyperlink readings that explain some of the bigger words such as hypoglycemia and insulin reaction. I will add to my technology section with the advances of the pill for neonatal diabetes and the humalog pens.

I do not have my peer review sheet back yet, but I am still working on revising and adding things to my work. During my conference we discussed putting my story section in with my describing the types of diabetes section. I am now working on tieing all of that in and i am also adding my quotations and references into my page. I need to make it intriguing to my readers because my audience is a younger demographic. I thought to try and get through to them adding a bit in about my experience would help appeal to them. I will post another blog when my peer review comes in.

New sources

Exubera Flop

This article was about how the inhaled insulin never took off in the diabetic community. Basically there was an increased risk of lung problems, the product looked like a can of tennis balls, and needles really are not as bad as they used to be, so people decided not to use it. It was designed to make diabetic life easier, but apparently it was already easy enough without a monstrous, hideous inhaler.

Weintraub, Arlene(2007). Pfizer's Exubra Flop. BusinessWeek Online, p22-22. Retrieved: October 11, 2009 from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&
db=aph& AN=19751532&site=ehost-live

Children with Type 2 Diabetes: The Risks of Complications

This article talked about different ways people can help kids with the disease cope. It talks about what characterizes type 2 diabetes, how to prevent it, and the different treatment options. It talks a lot about the importance of diet and exercise for people who have the disease and for people who want to prevent the disease.

Matthews, D.R., Wallace, T.M.(2002). Children with Type 2 Diabetes: The Risks of
Complications[Electronic Version]. Hormone Research, Vol. 57, p34-39.
Retrieved: October 11, 2009 from http://search.ebscohost.com
/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11377949&site=ehost-live