My friends at HealthCentral Network understand the value of a smile when it comes to living with compromised health.

Thus, they’re creating a new series of personal health stories in comic strip format. And they’ve done mine to kick off the diabetes series! Based on the recent Newsweek article about me…

Today, a shocking revelation about the JDRF: two employees have been caught embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars, the New York Times reports. This is pretty well the worst news I have heard since my diagnosis with diabetes four years ago.

Some of you took exception to my recent review of the “Skinny Songs” CD. Because skinny is not synonymous with healthy, correct? True. But not being too overweight is certainly a big part of being healthy. Still, the fact that I just took this music to be an amusing “soundtrack to getting in shape” tells me how far I’ve come since my own eating disorder days. I’ve almost forgotten how painful it can be when you’re unhappy with your weight/body image, and struggling.

Lots of buzz last week about that exciting development in stem cell therapy: Novocell researchers in San Diego, CA, managed to control diabetes in mice using human embryonic stem cells. A first! Validating the concept that embryonic stem cells can be coaxed into becoming insulin-producing islet cells right inside a living organism — rather than simply in a petri dish.

Rumors will fly. They always do. Don’t ever think the world of health and medicine is any exception to that rule. Here are some details I’ve dug up on three that readers have run by me lately:

First off, I wanted to clear up any misconceptions about my perspective on Medtronic’s Guardian RT continuous glucose monitoring system versus the DexCom. Many of you came away from my first post with the impression that I prefer the DexCom (Seven). Not true. So far I’m finding the Guardian easier to use and more accurate than the Dex. A few details to elaborate:

Speaking of CGM that’s not ready for prime-time, what the heck is the hold-up on Abbott’s FreeStyle Navigator, the third continuous glucose monitoring product originally expected to hit the market last year?

Last weekend we were hiking with some friends — former colleagues actually, who haven’t seen us in a long time. Hoping to make it a “diabetes-free day,” I tried to give the woman an ultra-quick synopsis of what I’m doing these days.

“A diabetes blog? So you write about diet? ”

So I’m hooked up… I finally got my chance to try Medtronic’s MiniMed Guardian RT, the only other continuous glucose monitoring system currently on the market besides the DexCom. I am one of the few who’s had the chance to sample both. So far, it’s been a somewhat bumpy beginning, which leads me to believe that my initial conclusion was spot-on: CGM is a great idea that’s still in its infancy and not quite ready for prime-time.

I honestly thought that with Type 1 diabetes, my immune system was shot to hell. But my husband and oldest daughter always get sick faster and longer than I do. Somehow I seem to fight off “bugs” better than they do. How can this be?