On the road again

It’s been a while. Life has been very busy and we have been away from home for over a month. Blogging has not been on the agenda. While I have been away from my familiar environment, my oldest son, my cats and my comforts of home, diabetes has been ever present. It comes with me, no matter where I am and what I am doing, it is there and it demands my attention.

Flying today? Diabetes will demand a pump change on the run and a series of BGL checks to bring a pesky high down to an acceptable level. Climbing a mountain? Diabetes will bite you with a hypo and make sure you feel like hell. Needing to get up early for a day out? Diabetes will keep you awake and leave you feeling like you have run a marathon while you slept.

No matter if you are going a few hours away or flying across the world, diabetes will follow. You know what I am talking about if you live with diabetes and you have ever been away from home. Nobody else really knows this. It is something most of us keep to ourselves. We just do it. What choice do we have? It can make for a tiring holiday! And for me, being a working holiday, it has been exhausting.

It does not take away from the magic of being on the road. Or from the special time you have when travelling with family and spending time with them on an adventure. Exploring new places and waking up to a view that is so magical it can take your breath away. Slowing down and seeing that there are other places, other people, other ways of life.  It can however make your diabetes become even more present as you tackle its ups and downs, the way it gets its fingers into every aspect of your life and makes sure that you have to stop and attend to it, even when out of your comfort zone.

Will this stop me from travelling? Absolutely not. I love home yet I love to travel. I love the feeling of finding a new place and seeking new experiences. I don’t love diabetes. I do however feel comfortable with it. After 33 years you do get used to living with someone. At the end of the day whatever diabetes needs, diabetes gets. Even if it involves changing my pump site on the side of a mountain. After all life with diabetes is one big adventure and I for one am in it for life.

D-Blog Week Topic 6 – Saturday Snapshots

“Back for the third year, let’s show everyone what life with diabetes looks like!  With a nod to the Diabetes 365 project, let’s grab our cameras again and share some more d-related pictures.  Post as many or as few as you’d like.  Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures, or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves.”

My life with diabetes is just that, my life. So I am posting some of the pictures of my life and if you live with diabetes – you know it is in every shot.

Hiking in Tasmania with my beautiful family = plenty of jelly bean stops and lots of beautiful memories – plus a fair bit of COLD air!

Maxwell – my third baby, fourth pregnancy and first time one of my children did not need special nursery care thanks to Pumpy – one of the best moments of my life and you can even see diabetes poking its little face in

The wonder that is a South Australian Summer.

One of the best moments of my life – seeing dozens of whales at the Head of the Bight about to cross the Nullarbor Plain – just breathtaking and yes diabetes was there as I drove 8000 km and back again

On top of the world in Esperance, WA

Driving from Adelaide to Perth and back again in 17 days across the Nullarbor and I drove most of it – lots of stops for BGL checks! I find this kind of trip sends me sky rocketing.

My first baby, Cameron (in the middle) finishes school and heads to his formal – what a lot he has learnt about diabetes and about life 🙂 So proud – oh and his friends are pretty sweet young men too

Simply one of my best pieces of work

James and Maxwell’s hands when Max was just born

Would you believe it was cold on the Nullarbor! And no we did not see any camels.

Hard at work counselling people with diabetes

Another holiday – on the Sydney Ferry – so lucky to be able to have holidays with the kids. Far better than a freshly painted house or fixing up the cracks!

Each day when the sun sets I am grateful for my life – the sunset from my backyard

And the same goes when I get up each day – the sunrise on the Nullarbor – the most beautiful I have ever seen- the Truckie with Lady Di on the back just made it for me!

Can dreams come true?

My wonderful friend and now partner in Diabetes Wellbeing Services, Lauren Botting and I, were always destined to join together in our diabetes journey. Walking separate diabetes paths for a number of years, we met a decade ago and had an instant connection around our passion and belief in the importance of mental health and wellbeing in diabetes care. It was at this point that the seed for “Diabetes Wellbeing Services” and its unique diabetes retreat programme was planted.

Around the same time, the world was starting to realise that diabetes was more than “just a bit of sugar”. The complex nature of diabetes and the relentless tasks associated with its management was starting to be recognised. An International study, the Diabetes Attitudes Wishes and Needs (DAWN) study, proved that wellbeing was the single most important thing to people living with diabetes and health care providers agreed – yet there was a huge gap in services addressing these aspects of care which remains to this day.

Lauren has been providing diabetes education in community for many years as a Registered Nurse and Credentialed Diabetes Educator, founding her own diabetes education services  – “Diabetes Consultancy” and working with people across many  GP surgeries in Adelaide for the past 8 years. People who know me, already know that I have lived with type 1 diabetes for 33 years and that I am a social worker with mental health qualifications. I founded a not for profit charity organisation, Diabetes Counselling Online www.diabetescounselling.com.au  in 2001,  which has been supporting people with diabetes across Australia for the past decade providing web based support and counselling.

Lauren and I started to make our dream a reality with the launching of Diabetes Wellbeing Services in late 2010 together, with the ultimate dream to create a “Diabetes Wellbeing Centre” to leave a legacy for people with diabetes to have a place to go where they can receive assistance for traditional and holistic care, together – including things like individual and group education programmes, counselling, workshops, networking with other people with diabetes, cooking and nutrition classes, exercise classes, art and music therapy, massage, yoga and meditation.

There is a tsunami of diabetes in the world and with double the rates of depression in diabetes, low mood and high distress for many people, Diabetes Wellbeing Services is unique in its approach.  We have begun this journey with the development of “Diabetes Wellbeing Retreats” to provide a weekend away from everyday life in a peaceful environment, where people can take time out for themselves. The aim of a retreat is to learn strategies for improved mental health and wellbeing, alongside diabetes education and importantly, networking with other people with diabetes. This concept of “retreat ,relax and relate” uses Mindfulness as a core element. This assists with learning strategies on how to consider gentle changes in people’s lives.  The networking is fantastic for each person and they can gain a sense of freedom from thought processes and isolation and reassess healthy options for lifestyle and peace of mind.

We now hope to grow the vision of a “Diabetes Wellbeing Centre” with the retreat programme being a first step on the road to our ultimate dream!

The first 2 Retreats for 2012 will be on 27-29 April and 22 – 24 June. More details at www.diabeteswellbeingservices.com.au