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Showing posts from 2017
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Riding for the Great Forest - Bunyip 14.10.17 I’m going to start this piece of writing with this photograph to remind me of what a stunningly beautiful day it was when I rode in Bunyip State Forest, Gembrook.  On a personal level I was full of anticipation and nerves, having only recently recovered from   having split my knee open requiring 10 stitches and I had only been back on my bike for three weeks. I knew my fitness level wasn’t brilliant and the group that I was riding with were all new faces to me. I had been corresponding with Aidan for some months after seeing some of his #ridingforthegreatforest posts on Facebook, trying to find a day when I could join in with his group and ride in the great forests. That day was finally here.  On 14 October 2017, I picked Aiden up from Richmond station and we set off for Gembrook. Aidan is passionate about the forests, the ecology of the forests and of the connectedness of all life within the forests. That’s not just a ‘woofley’
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So it's Friday: End of the working week. It's been a hard gig writing a blog post every night after work. There's 2 days worth of dishes in the sink, but I don't care; the house is a mess, but I don't care; the dining table's covered in bills and junk mail, but I don't care It's my time, time to think and recreate myself. Today's topic prompt from the Bitter - Sweet blog is: More than Diabetes.   The prompt says: Lets wrap up the week by sharing a little more about ourselves, beyond the chronic illness we or our loved ones live with.  Share an interest, hobby, passion, something that is YOU.  If you want to explore how it relates to or helps with diabetes you can.   Or let it be a part of you that is completely separate from diabetes, because there is more to life than just diabetes!   There is so much else to what I am. Diabetes does not define me. It does not own me. It does not dictate my sense of self.  Here are a few of the things that
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Throwback Thursday: What Brings Me Down? Living with a chronic condition or illness is not easy.  Each and any day can bring issues with illness, medication, technology. Often the effects of unforseen swings in glucose levels can leave me weak, tired, nauseous, light headed, headachy. Finding myself caught out by failed technology or unpredicted highs or lows while at work, can bring an unwanted level of anxiety, especially if I am dealing with colleagues or external clients. At times I can feel as if I don't want to deal with any more issues. Associated auto-immune conditions each contribute their burden, the pain and restricted mobility of osteo-arthritis, the lethargy of Hashimoto's. Each condition makes day to day living a little difficult. Do they make me depressed? No. Frustrated, anxious, awkward, pissed off, tired? Yes. There's a lot of talk about 'Diabetes Burn-out'. When I read the stories of parents who are managing children with Type 1, my heart b
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The Blame Game - Blog #3 My own mother said, when I was diagnosed 35 years ago, " Ah well; fair, fat and... (forty). "  I was twenty five at the time, 172 cms and 68k. I soon set her right, but it was ten years later, after I'd married, had a baby, gained my bachelor degree as a teacher and moved to a regional town in north Queensland, that the visiting Endocrinologist really floored me when he said the same thing. By then I was a little heavier, about 72k, but by no means heavily overweight. This throwaway line of " fair, fat and forty ", has so many things wrong with it, whether someone is Type 1 or Type 2. At the time I just said to him, "I have juvenile diabetes, not the other sort. I'm insulin dependent! " and he looked at his notes studiously and didn't make any more remarks. I decided that he wasn't much good as an Endocrinologist and decided not to listen to anything else he had to say. Unfortunately he was the only specialis
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The Cost of Diabetes Since the Trump election, I have watched with growing concern, my American friends comments and fears (on Social Media) about the cost of their basic needs for living with Type 1 Diabetes. I am appalled that people have to beg the manufacturers to get insulin, I am appalled that insurance companies can dictate which 'brand/s' of insulin and other supplies, they will cover. I feel humbled by the knowledge that our system here in Australia, whilst far from perfect, ensures that everyone can afford their basic life-saving medication, and no-one, even the unemployed have to go without access to insulin. I guess you will see lots of posts that detail the actual expenditure to access supplies here in Australia, I'm not sure you will see many that explain how the system works. We have a system which affords every Australian two things, basic treatment and basic drugs. The system is made up of the following parts. 1: Cover under the Medicare legislation
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Being Type 1 I get a bit fed up with all the whingeing on social media. You know the ones, "no one sees the invisible illness, the scars I bear, the depression and the feeling sick, the feeling tired after overnight hypos" etc etc. Yes, that is part of it, but I always feel there is so much worse. Watch someone die of cancer and tell me you'd rather have that, than Type 1. Watch an interview with a refugee talking about what they have endured. Watch a parent loose a child. Just to put some context around this, I was diagnosed 35 years ago. I've gone from beef insulin to synthetic insulin, from needles to pens to pump, from 4 - 10 finger pricks a day to a CGMS. I count myself lucky that I didn't have to live with sharpening my own needles and boiling them or with only urine tests to track the state of my bgls. I count myself lucky that having this condition has strengthened me, demanding resilience, problem solving and self management skills. I co