#the little dish with bracelets in it is featured because my older sister made a minori plate for bracelets as a gift for me

[idolyuris]

happy pride! heres my minori shrine

[cherrygorilla]

Ethan's Basic Info

Name: Ethan Dombrowski

Ok, I both did and didn't struggle with coming up with potential faceclaims for Ethan. I had no idea where to even start with looking for faceclaims for him for specific decades - I just don't think that I have that broad of a knowledge of actors lol. So, instead, I've split it into actors who I think capture more of how I imagine his physical appearance to be (Heath Ledger & Johnny Depp - both mostly for the hair, let's be real haha), and actors who I think could really capture the lovably chaotic vibe he brings to the table (Matthew Lillard & Milo Manheim). Unconventional - but then again, so is he, so I think it works lmao.

Nicknames: As much as he loves to dish nicknames out to other people, he's never really been given one himself. I mean, his parents didn't even think to give him a middle name - expecting them to be creative enough to come up with a nickname was a bit of a stretch. He would get called his surname in school quite a bit (mostly if he was getting in trouble), but other than that he usually just gets 'Ethan'. If anything, I think his abundance of nicknames for others is just making up for the lack of his own. I like to think he's just waiting for the right person to come along and drop one on him though hehe.

Age: 20

Date of Birth: 4th of April (which is very helpful for him, because 4.4.44 is a ridiculously easy birthday for his pea-sized brain to remember)

Zodiac: Aries

Birthstone: Diamond

Nationality: American and Polish

Sexuality: He doesn't care about labels - he'll sleep with anyone that breathes in his direction...within reason lmao

Birthplace: A rusty trailer home in Tallahassee, Florida

Current Residence: A slightly less rusty trailer home in St Petersburg, Florida

Occupation: Production Assistant and Sound Engineer in the TV & film industry, and the entertainment coordinator for a local bar. He's also (according to Mick) a professional idiot.

Talents/Skills: Playing the guitar, flipping beer mats, putting together flat-pack furniture (because he's the monkey they apparently wrote the instructions for - Miles' words, not mine), doing god-awful impressions, giving inanimate objects personalities, and, despite his deep-rooted clumsiness, he's pretty good on a skateboard.

Birth Order: Youngest of two

Siblings: His older sister, Billie (27)

Parents: Dominik Alfred Dombrowski (deceased) & Nadia Ruth Dombrowski

New Family: Hendrix, his rescue dog, and the closest thing he thinks he'll ever get to a stable family unit. He says he's a black lab for ease, but he only looks like a black lab if you squint and tilt your head; in reality, he's a mutt that the rescue shelter couldn't even pin down to any particular breed - that's part of what made Ethan so drawn to him though: they're both as misunderstood in the world as each other. In terms of human family though, his aunt (Janis) and uncle (Ford) took him in after everything went to shit with his parents - and although he doesn't see much of them anymore, it's comforting to know that he does have some sort of a real support system to count on if he were to need it.

Signature:

Height: 5' 7'' (so many of the actors I picked as his faceclaims are tall, so I tried to make it work for a while, but I just couldn't - he's just got such chaotic little-shit/confident short-king energy in my mind lmao)

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Brown

Glasses or contact lenses: He probably needs glasses, but he doesn't care enough to go get an eye test

Distinguishing features: Dimples, a burn scar on his right thumb from messing around with a lighter, a scar on his left wrist he usually hides with a bunch of bracelets/wrist bands, and a lot of really dumb tattoos.

Mannerisms: He's always fidgeting - like always. It doesn't matter if it's with a paper straw wrapper, the end of one of his many wristbands, or the piece of skin next to his nail - he'll even bounce his leg if it comes down to it; he just always needs to be moving in some capacity. He's pretty intense with holding eye contact in conversations too (despite them being half-closed 90% of the time) - and the concept of personal space is totally lost on him.

Health: Mild insomnia and depression. His drug habits also aren't the healthiest, but it's not like he's gonna go to get himself checked out; what he doesn't know can't hurt him.

Hobbies: Playing the guitar (what he spends the majority of his free time doing), walking Hendrix, making terrible decisions, dragging Miles into those terrible decisions (either to join in, or get him out of trouble), napping anywhere and everywhere, collecting cool lighters, smoking weed, getting spontaneous tattoos, thrifting bizarre items of clothing, eating Mexican food, and losing himself in an album for 45 minutes. and annoying the shit out of Mick

Greatest flaw (in their opinion): Probably his lack of drive. Whilst how laidback and carefree he is about life can be a great thing most of the time, it does make him feel kind of empty sometimes not having a goal to reach, or some kind of direction he wants to take his life in. Yeah, it makes life a lot less stressful just living it day to day - not having any responsibilities, or commitments to obsess over - but without any sense of ambition it can start to feel a little…pointless, I guess. 

Best quality (in their opinion): His ability to find the fun in any situation. He was dealt a pretty shitty hand in life, but he's never let it get him down. Sure, he may not always cope with it in the healthiest way, but he is coping - thriving, in fact. He floats through life without a care in the world, and will happily toss a pool noodle to anyone that needs one so they can join him. He's optimistic, and authentic, and downright stupid sometimes, but it's those qualities that help people see the bright side in hopeless situations; he draws the fun to the surface, and helps you focus on the simple joys life has to offer, without letting the weight of your troubles drag you down.

Biggest fear: Clowns are his big one - and always the answer if anyone asks. But if he's being totally honest (which is almost never when it comes to serious stuff like this), then it's ending up like his parents. He has a handful of fond memories of his family growing up - his older sister probably has more since she was around for more of the good years - but his unplanned arrival stretched the family's already tight budget razor thin, and it didn't take long for things to go to shit as a result. His dad never had a particularly strong resolve (something he's paranoid about having inherited), and so when things got hard, his already established relationship with drugs became less casual, and more heavily reliant. When the tamer stuff didn't cut it anymore, he turned to the harder stuff, and when the harder stuff stopped helping him feel better - he stopped feeling anything at all. Ethan's mom took her husband's accidental overdose hard, but she found being a single mother even harder. And whilst Ethan knew she was struggling, he's still struggling to forgive her for shutting down on her kids in the way she did. Yeah, fine, lose your job and sleep on the couch all day, ignore your children for days on end - whatever you needed to do to get by - but go out to get your latest fix and go down for 15 years for manslaughter? …That's asking a lot. Like it was mentioned earlier, with his parents out of the picture, his aunt and uncle took him and his sister in, and whilst they might not be the greatest role models themselves in terms of addictive vices, they at least showed him how to open his mind in a safe, supervised environment. Yes, numbing his brain to keep out the bad thoughts is an unhealthy coping mechanism, but it's also beautifully freeing - and there's a lot of fun to be had if you know what's safe and what kind of high you're looking for (which, thanks to his aunt's guidance, he always does). He has a great set of friends keeping him on the straight and narrow now, and his lawyer sister clearly turned her equally shitty hand in life around, but that nagging paranoia about screwing his life up like his old folks did still haunts his thoughts in the wee hours of the morning when he can't get his brain to fall asleep… But that's way too deep and depressing, so he'll stick with clowns - or Miles telling him he's found a new best friend 😢

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor (it was between that or Hufflepuff, but I think he's too recklesss and overbearing to be a Hufflepuff haha)

Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Cookies 'n Cream

Favourite Colour: Green - but he can be very easily swayed; he thinks they're all fun

Favourite Number: 420 babyyyyy 😎🍃🔥💨🤪💯

Favourite Movie: Wayne's World or the live action Scooby Doo - but his Wet Side Story universe pick would be A Bucket of Blood

Favourite Songs: Ok, this is a really tough category for him, because he has a very deep appreciation for a very broad spectrum of music genres. But, a (slightly) narrowed down list would probably look something like: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Creep by Radiohead, Enter Sandman by Metallica, Hotel California by the Eagles, Vienna by Billy Joel, Does Your Mother Know by ABBA, Happy Together by The Turtles, Life Is A Highway by Rascal Flatts, Fight For Your Right by the Beastie Boys, The Muppet Show theme song & Hurricane by Bridgit Mendler

A place they want to visit: Niagara Falls - purely because he wants a souvenir t-shirt

[type2diabetestreatments-blog]

Small But Mighty: D-Mom Creates Medical IDs Kids Like to Wear

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Small But Mighty: D-Mom Creates Medical IDs Kids Like to Wear

When you live day-in and day-out with diabetes, you often find clever, MacGyver-like workarounds to everyday problems -- like using toupee glue to keep a CGM sensor stuck on your arm. Or using a pump reservoir as an insulin source to siphon the stuff off and then inject it with a syringe. Or a D-Mom's use of one son's pump to give a bolus-through-priming to another son who doesn't have his connected. Or using a butter knife to pop open an OmniPod, and stick a syringe inside to snag some needed insulin.

Hey, we do what we have to do!

Some of us have even created small businesses to share these unique solutions with others, which is why we launched our Small But Mighty series back in 2010 -- to feature these enterprising folks! This month, we are looking at New Jersey-based Rescue Me IDs, founded by Rachel Kasper, whose sister, Anne, has type 1 diabetes, along with two of Rachel's three sons.

Although Rachel herself isn't a PWD (person with diabetes), she spent many years working at Joslin Diabetes Center as an islet cell transplant researcher. Then, after moving to New Jersey, her youngest son Jake was diagnosed in August 2004. A little more than a year old at the time, Jake couldn't wear most of the standard, adult-sized medical alert IDs, so Rachel devised an easier way to clip the important information to her tiny child's clothes. When her oldest son Matt was diagnosed in 2007, they expanded to suit the needs of older kids and teens. (Their middle child doesn't have diabetes.)

When Rachel's not at her day job working as a biostatician, she designs and produces Rescue Me's medical alert bracelets, dog tags, zipper pulls, and temporary tattoos that allow kids and adults to stay safe wherever they are. Bracelets come beaded or as a "bungee" band (made from a comfortable, stretchable fabric), while the medical ID tags are sold separately, making it convenient to mix and match different styles.

She took some time recently to chat with the 'Mine about how her personal passion as a D-mom fuels her small business:

DM) How did you get interested in diabetes research work?

RK) My sister was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes right before she went to college. I was always interested in medical research and so I picked the subject I wanted to look at and pursued it. My cousin was also diagnosed when he was younger. So I had been around it. But when my kids were diagnosed, then I realized that I didn't really understand just how much work it is.

Back then, I don't feel they prepared you the way they do now -- preparing my parents, or my sister, or anyone else. It was a little community hospital. My sister would only let me give her an injection. I was the only one who helped her in my family, but I don't know why that is.

What exactly did you do at the top research clinic Joslin?

I worked in the islet transplantation labs at Joslin as a lab tech. We did various studies and animal research on beta cell regeneration and mechanisms for islet cell transplantation.

Tell us about the transition from D-researcher to D-mom... a whole other world of "getting it," yes?

It's interesting because I worked in the lab and it was not clinical. The work is not with people. It's in a dish. When it's your kids, it's just completely different. We were definitely slapped in the face.

(That first diagnosis) happened about 10 years after I had stopped working at Joslin. I went on to get my Master's, and now work as biostatistician. I was always in the field of medical research, but at that point, when I had kids, you work with whoever would let you work part-time and close to home. We had just moved from Massachusetts to New Jersey, and my youngest son was diagnosed at 13 months. We knew nobody here. It was crazy. Then my other son, Matt, was diagnosed three years later when he was 9 years old.

What was Matt's diagnosis like compared to Jake's?

Matt's diagnosis caught me completely off guard. I never thought another one of my children would have this happen to them. (Note: see yesterday's post on this topic.) My husband was away at a conference and I had the boys out to dinner and Matt kept calling the waitress over for more drinks. He was frantic about it. That is when the light-bulb in my head went on and I knew what all the headaches and stomach aches he had all winter were about. I called my husband and told him my suspicion and we agreed that I would test Matt first thing in the morning. That night I heard him use the bathroom at least 10 times and I knew I didn't even have to test him. He was 350 fasting and off to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) we went.

How did their diagnoses lead you to launching Rescue Me IDs?

My youngest was only 13 months, and they (medical professionals) said you need to get him a medic alert. But what do you do with a baby? A bracelet would be too big or he would try to eat it. I didn't know what to put on such a little kid. So I would make little tags to put on his zippers. He was never alone, but if he was with his grandma or a playgroup, we'd put something on his sneakers or zippers. We couldn't find a lot out there, so we started with zippers and dog-tags.

When my oldest was diagnosed, he said he didn't want to wear anything. So he helped design things by telling me what he wanted to wear. If he wanted to wear it, then maybe other kids also wanted to see something else besides your usual silver or stainless steel bracelets.

Did you get any input from emergency personnel about the tags?

Yes! My husband, Scott, was a paramedic for years, and now he runs the paramedic service here in our town. We were able to put the alerts in front of medics to get their opinion and ask them, "Can you read it? Can you see it?" Paramedics do look at the clothing. If they are looking for a necklace, they will see it. And it's a great option for a little kid to make sure that it stays on it and it doesn't bother them to wear it.

What makes your tags different from other medical alert IDs?

We are trying to make it a little funner for kids to wear and make it comfortable -- because there just wasn't anything designed for them in the past. One bracelet snapped off in 2 days and there went $80! We try to keep it inexpensive. We treat it more like custom jewelry rather than a medic alert piece. We also have mini dog tags for girls and zipper pulls. (The IDs are also offered for autism, food allergies and other conditions).

We do no silver or gold; the tags are all made of anodized aluminum. The dog tags are stainless steal, and they come in various colors. The plates are interchangeable. Our biggest seller are the bungee bands and they are really soft. You forget you have it on!

We do have some window clings and tattoos for diabetes when the kids swim. We've had some triathletes use them for their races.

What advice do you have on raising kids with diabetes?

I think a lot of it depends on the age of the kids. I think you can't have preset expectations. Whatever plan you thought you had, you just have to make a new plan and everything will be fine. In other words, you can't be very rigid about things. High blood sugars will happen. Things don't always work out smoothly.

What advice do you have for other parents who might want to start a small business?

There are a lot of moms and dads out there who come up with their own little solutions to these everyday problems. Some are amazing ideas. Why not put it out there? This isn't a money maker, but that's not what you do it for.

Gotta love the creativity and desire to create products that help! Thank you, Rachel, for the great work you're doing to help young people live better with the Big D.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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