With so many December and January Birthdays, the cake needed to
be large. The birthday people had varying preferences in flavor, colour,
and theme. In addition to the size requirement, everyone was living the
sad reality of the holiday season ending and the associated candy being
almost entirely gone. In short, we all suffered from a distinct absence
of hyperglycemia.
Then during rounds one shift came the final
impetus for the cake. When discussing what determines the electrolyte
abnormalities of a new diabetic, I answered a question using a song by
University of Washington Professor Greg Crowther called "Glucose, Glucose".
If you haven't heard any of his songs before, please go listen now.
Your life will be so much better for it, and you'll be able to level-up
in nerdiness. After proving it was possible to out-nerd even a
specialist by signing along to an MP3 file, I went home and started on
this cake. When physiology jokes meet dinosaurs, unicorns, sports team
colours, and the search for hyperglycemic bliss, this is what you get.
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| The top tier involves T. rex trying to eat a unicorn, and really sets the tone for the entire three-day project |
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CLEARLY,
as the dinosaur eats a unicorn she says "ROAR", and after eating a
chocolate creature the size of your head (or a piece of the cake), your
GLUT-4 receptors will be upregulated. Since we're already looking at a
pink dinosaur eating a glittery unicorn, the dinosaur may as well be
able to yell, "ROAR, UPREGULATE GLUT4!"
Note the bottom tier is sky
blue, and involves yellow flowers and rainbows. It's about as mundane as
it comes on a cake with dinosaurs telling dinner/unicorns about
physiology behind the control system of glucose uptake.
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| This is what the type II diabetic dinosaur yells. Also known as the elusive Type II Diabetesarus. |
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| Side
view, with a smaller dinosaur rampaging along the frosting. Presumably a
hypoglycemic dinosaur, in need of a spike in blood glucose to lead to
insulin release and GLUT-4 upregulation. Alternatively the dinosaur could be hyperglycemic and in need to insulin to upregulate GLUT-4. If so, this is could totally be a Type II Diabetasarus, as discussed earlier! |
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Another
side of the cake, with three unicorns of varying size and color.
They're probably running from the rampaging dinosaur in the
other picture. Probably. Remember friends, adrenaline plays a role in
[glycogen]--break down leading to increased availability of-->
[glucose] in tissues. Totally fit into the context of the cake. This whole thing is legitimate, if you ignore the bits about unicorns being chased by dinosaurs. |
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| GUTS
of the cake. Bottom tier is rainbow (vanilla), middle tier is blue and
gold (for everyone's inner Buffalo Saber's fan), and the top tier is a
buttery yellow cake. |
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There you have it. The edible intersection of of glucose regulation/ pathophysiology, unicorns, dinosaurs, rainbows, and cake.
