Some Inspiration from the #DOC

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Okay, full disclosure here, I’ve stolen this idea from Diabetes Mine. Sorry guys! The Diabetes Online Community (#doc) inspires me every day, and here’s what’s caught my attention lately.

Two heads are better than one? In the case of Twice Diabetes, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve really enjoyed interacting with Kate and Melinda on Twitter this month @TwiceDiabetes. Beyond their great sense of humour, there’s also some really well thought out opinions on their blog relating to diabetes advocacy issues here in Australia.

I’m really stoked to see my blogger friend Mum of Type 1 finding her feet in the Twitterverse so quickly. You can follow her @mumoftype1. Her blog initially caught my attention for her raw honesty conveying her feelings about her son’s newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Last week she wrote an excellent analogy likening her son’s diabetes to looking after an egg.

My other blogger friend Kyle at Training T1D will be cycling 160km through the Barossa Valley in Adelaide next year in the JRDF Ride To Cure Diabetes. Check out Kyle’s story and fundraising page here. I really admire his determination, considering that exercise is not my sport of choice!

Another person you have got to follow on Twitter is Ally, better known as @verylightnosuga. She may be busy with her studies, but she doesn’t let it stop her from sharing her very honest opinions about almost anything related to diabetes and beyond.

One blog (and person) that I take a lot of inspiration from is Renza at Diabetogenic. Renza’s recent post knocked everyone’s National Diabetes Week complaints right out of the park (mine included) when she told us that living with ALL types of diabetes is crap, and that we would be far more powerful uniting and advocating together for ALL types of diabetes.

I related so much to Kelly’s post last week at Diabetesaliciousness, and how she found support from the #doc during a hypo. 

My #doc friend Laddie at Test Guess and Go wrote a heartfelt letter to her daughters in law earlier this month, in relation to the two infants who recently passed away from undiagnosed diabetes.

I read a hilarious post about type 1 diabetes misconceptions by parenting blogger Stevie at A Cornish Mum during UK Diabetes Week last month. I laughed the whole way through!

My #doc friend Rick over at RADiabetes shares some heartfelt stories about living with both Diabetes and Rheumatoid Arthiritis (hence, the RAD). He’s given me a fair bit of encouragement, wise words and laughs since I connected with him during Diabetes Blog Week. Thanks, Rick.

Well done to all of my #OzDOC friends who participated in Run Melbourne last weekend. We even have a fancy new mission statement. Join in every Tuesday night from 8.30pm AEST (GMT+10) by following #OzDOC/@OzDiabetesOC on Twitter.

I know that’s probably just a fraction of what’s out there. What else should I be reading/following out there in the #doc?

Thanks to Banting and Best, I Have a Chance

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If it was the year 1921 today, I wouldn’t be able to get up out of bed this morning. I wouldn’t be able to fight the urge to shut my eyes again. I wouldn’t be able to eat breakfast and drink my coffee. I wouldn’t be able to drive to work. I wouldn’t be able to talk, smile and laugh as I go about my day. I wouldn’t be able to buy that Sweet Treat Muffin and Hot Chocolate for lunch. I wouldn’t be able to crash on the couch at the end of the day with a good TV show. I wouldn’t be able to write this blog post. In fact this blog wouldn’t even exist, because I would have been long gone after my diagnosis with type 1 diabetes five years ago (and because, well, computers and the internet weren’t around back then either, but you get my drift…)

But thanks to Dr Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best, I have a chance. A very good chance, in fact, of a living a long and healthy life with diabetes. During this week back in 1921 (July 27, to be exact) and against all odds, Banting and Best first isolated insulin to treat type 1 diabetes.

Dr Banting didn’t let his lack of diabetes knowledge stop him from delivering a lecture on the topic. He didn’t stop himself from developing an interest in diabetes and fuelling his theories. He didn’t let his status as an unknown surgeon stop him from convincing the University of Toronto to give him a small laboratory to put his theories to the test.

Against all odds, Dr Banting managed to achieve the impossible. And if he was able to find a treatment for a disease that was a death sentence, then I think I am capable of achieving just about anything I put my mind to.

I feel like I’ve been spending a lot of time whinging about my diabetes on this blog at the moment. About all the ups and downs and highs and lows and crazy emotions inbetween. But when I think about what the alternative would have been back in 1921, I don’t think I have anything to be complaining about.

When I was lying in the emergency room five years ago, fazed by ketoacidosis, there were two phrases that I can remember the doctor telling my worried parents. The first was diabetes. And the second was something along the lines of me being able to live a normal life. And thanks to Banting and Best, that’s exactly what I’m able to do with type 1 diabetes each and every day.

There are some good reads about Banting and Best here and here.

My First Big Diabetes Advocacy Opportunity!

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I’m pretty excited to share with you my first big diabetes advocacy opportunity since I started this blog.

I’d been planning to write this post since it first happened a few weeks ago, however I later received another opportunity to share this story which I couldn’t turn down.

I woke up one Saturday morning to find an email from Insulin Nation, a diabetes website in the states, inviting me to pitch a column to them. I couldn’t contain my excitement, as it was my first big diabetes advocacy opportunity since I started this blog.

The idea for this column started when I went to the Chemist a few weeks ago to stock up on diabetes supplies, right before my holidays. And for the very first time in 5 years of diabetes, I found myself being questioned for taking too many boxes of Blood Glucose test strips.

You can read the full column over on Insulin Nation here: http://insulinnation.com/treatment2/medicine-drugs/feeling-guilty-test-strips/

Let me know what you think, and if you’ve ever had a similar experience.

Disclaimer: This column is entirely my opinion and written of my own free will. I did not receive any form of compensation for it.

Someone Else With Diabetes Was Here!

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It was our last morning in Canberra. I was pretty much all packed up and ready to go. With a bit of time left on my hands to kill, I decided to do all of those crazy checks of the room. I zipped up and re-opened my hand luggage, pulled the sheets off the bed, opened and closed each drawer on my bedside table. I knew there was absolutely nothing left in the room, but in one final moment of craziness, I decided to pull the bed away from the wall. And this is what I found.

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It was a ketone strip. And ironically, it even belonged to the very same blood glucose meter that I use.

It’s hard not to feel alone when dealing with diabetes, sometimes. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I like being independent. I test on my own. I inject on my own. I correct on my own. I fix hypos on my own. I get angry and frustrated on my own. I get all excited on my own. And I deal with all those crazy thoughts and feelings that go rushing through my head on my own. Okay, maybe I’m a little too independent.

I do my best to talk about diabetes to others, where I can. Last week, I was pretty proud of the fact that I decided to share the eye issues I was having with some of my friends at work. I’m also pretty proud to share with my family the progress that I’m making with this blog and all of the amazing support that’s come from it. But I still struggle to explain to others all of the things I have to do to manage my diabetes. And it’s still a struggle for others to understand that there is a difference between type 1 and type 2.

Outside of this blog and the wonderful diabetes online community, I don’t really know many people with diabetes. And this had to be the closest that I had ever come to someone else with diabetes. I saw that test strip and I was ecstatic. I shouted for the others to come in and see what I had found. I grabbed my camera and began taking photos. I even resisted the urge to post the photo up on Twitter.

Someone else with diabetes was here. Someone else, like me, had to drag type 1 diabetes along with them on their travels. Someone else, like me, had to sacrifice precious holiday time to deal with diabetes. Someone else, like me, had a frustrating time as they did their best to get rid of those ketones. And maybe, like me, they got so frustrated that they flung all of their used test strips on the floor.

In that moment, I was reminded that type 1 diabetes does exist in the real world, too. And in that moment, I felt just a little bit less alone with my diabetes.

Throwing Away all the Rules in Sydney

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I spend most days doing my best to resist all those foods that I know are bad for my blood sugar levels. Like the goodies my work Mums pull out of their pockets without fail. Like the birthday morning teas at work where pink donuts are mandatory. Like the packet of Tim Tams or slice of leftover cake with my cuppa in the afternoon. And then having to fight the urge to open a packet of chips afterwards for my something savoury.

Over time, I’ve gotten better at it, and I am more resilient. I’m proud to say that I no longer need to have that afternoon snack that’s been a part of my daily routine for my whole life. I still do allow myself these things on occasions, and Friday is still my I-can’t-be-bothered-I’ll-buy-my-lunch-at-work kind of a day. But it’s a hard job. So when I go on holidays, I tend to throw away all the rules.

I don’t go on holidays too often, and it will probably be a long time until I go back to Sydney again. And so, I get that feeling of needing to stock up. Moreso when you come from a tiny city like Perth. Of needing to get my fill, while I can. Before it all goes away again. And boy oh boy, did I find some good spots.

Like a cake and cappuccino at the best Pasticceria in Sydney, Via Del Corso. I think I stopped by there almost every day. I’m not even ashamed to admit that I went there one afternoon after I’d already had a coffee and cannoli elsewhere. The Choc Panna Cotta, the Baked Ricotta Cheesecake, the Tiramisu or the Snickers, there was no shortage of choices there to aid my difficult decision making!

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Then there’s the best Cannoli in Sydney, at Rossini Cafe on the harbour. If it wasn’t such a trek to walk, you would have seen me there every day for sure. When I finished my climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the dark last week, my blood sugar level had rebounded to a lovely 17 after my Hypo on the Harbour. It was dark and I was ridiculously high. But all I wanted to do was trek over to Rossini’s for one of their massive, freshly filled Cannoli served on a pile of thick, creamy custard. Public apology to my Mum, I had forgotten just how awesome these were since last time.

 

Then there’s the Lindt Cafe. You know, the one in Martin Place that was the setting of the tragic Sydney Siege last year. Going by the crowds inside, it’s hard to believe that something so terrible could have happened here. The hot chocolate was SO worth the trek. Again, I came here one afternoon shortly after a coffee and cake at Via Del Corso. And I guess it serves me right that I went most of the trip not realising there was another Lindt Cafe closer to where I was staying!

 

And finally, Darling Harbour. I think we ate here all but one night. The best thing here is the three-course-meal-and-a-glass-of-wine-for-$30 thing. Almost every restaurant here has some sort of tempting not-so-diabetes-friendly offer like it.

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The most suprising thing was how well my blood sugar levels managed all this food on the trip. Most days I went without breakfast or lunch simply because I was full from all the other crap I was eating. But I honestly don’t recall having half as many hypers or hypos as my last holiday. There were even some mornings where I woke up in disbelief seeing numbers below 10.

I CAN travel with diabetes. I CAN eat crap. And I CAN still produce decent blood sugar levels afterwards.

Bring on the next one.