Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2013
New Year
Well, 2013 is upon us and, like most people, this is a time that I like to reflect on the year prior, and ponder my plans for the following year.
2012 turned out to be a bigger year than I could have imagined.
In February, I received news that I was now going to be a Type 1 diabetic. Whether I liked it or not, this was going to consume a good majority of the year. I remained optimistic and still do. There were good days and bad days, which will undoubtedly continue for the rest of my life. This diagnosis led to the creation of this blog, which had been something I had wanted to do for the better part of my 20's. In the beginning, blogging was going to be a way to deal with my thoughts and feelings relating to diabetes. It was a way to get things off my chest. I had no idea at the time that it was going to introduce me to the world of the DOC (Diabetes Online Community). I have since started following several blogs by other PWD and gotten to know them via facebook, twitter and email. I realise it can kind of sound like online dating, but when it comes to the challenges that diabetes brings, these people get it and get what I'm dealing with. They live it everyday just like I do. And most of them have been at it for a very long time, so for someone newly diagnosed their knowledge is invaluable to me! Thanks DOC!
Other than learning about diabetes, my year was pretty typical. I did however take a trip to South East Asia for a month which was a trip I had been wanting to take for many years. The boyfriend and I took our usual trips to Thunder Bay, ON to visit family and to Vegas for some time away from it all!
2013 will likely be a big year as well. There are plans in the works to finally purchase our very own home which will be a welcome change for us. Other than that, my year looks pretty quiet.
But we all know that sometimes life has other plans for us!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
A Happy Low
I never thought I would ever in my life be thrilled to have a low blood sugar episode, but boy, was I every thrilled this week when it happened!
Let's back up about a week and a half....
The boyfriend and I had just returned home from our summer vacation where we went to visit his family in Ontario. We spent just over a week with them and 95% of the time was spent at their cabin. Much of the week was all about snacking, some drinks, and time in the sun. I was happy to completely discard of all schedules and simply relax and go with the flow. I managed my diabetes as best I could but for those of you that are also using insulin pens for injections, I'm sure you can all relate as to how difficult it can be to bolus when snacking all day long. By the time we got home my blood sugars were quite the mess. I was constantly high and even after sleeping for hours with no food in my system I would wake up with sugars around 10 - 12 mmol/L. I totally expected that after 2 or 3 days of my normal meal routine and cutting back on carbs, that my blood sugars would settle down overnight.
This was definitely not the case. It got to the point where I initially thought my insulin had spoiled during the road trip home. I swapped out my basal and bolus insulins for fresh new ones that I had just gotten from the pharmacy. This did not do the trick either. The numbers were slowly coming down but they were still very high between my meals and I was getting increasingly stressed and frustrated. I tend to feel very sluggish and fatigued when my sugars are high so I was anxious to figure out the problem so I could feel like myself again. I was correcting like mad and couldn't believe the amount of insulin that was being pumped into my body with very little effect.
And then it happened on day 9...that all too familiar shaky, nervous, clammy feeling of low blood sugar. I was pumped to check my blood sugar! Sure enough, I was sitting at 4.6 mmol/L! "Finally", I thought.
Things appear to be back to normal and I couldn't be more relieved. It amazes me at how long it can take to fully cleanse the system and to get back on track. It was all worth it though! It was a much needed time away spent with great family!
Let's back up about a week and a half....
The boyfriend and I had just returned home from our summer vacation where we went to visit his family in Ontario. We spent just over a week with them and 95% of the time was spent at their cabin. Much of the week was all about snacking, some drinks, and time in the sun. I was happy to completely discard of all schedules and simply relax and go with the flow. I managed my diabetes as best I could but for those of you that are also using insulin pens for injections, I'm sure you can all relate as to how difficult it can be to bolus when snacking all day long. By the time we got home my blood sugars were quite the mess. I was constantly high and even after sleeping for hours with no food in my system I would wake up with sugars around 10 - 12 mmol/L. I totally expected that after 2 or 3 days of my normal meal routine and cutting back on carbs, that my blood sugars would settle down overnight.
This was definitely not the case. It got to the point where I initially thought my insulin had spoiled during the road trip home. I swapped out my basal and bolus insulins for fresh new ones that I had just gotten from the pharmacy. This did not do the trick either. The numbers were slowly coming down but they were still very high between my meals and I was getting increasingly stressed and frustrated. I tend to feel very sluggish and fatigued when my sugars are high so I was anxious to figure out the problem so I could feel like myself again. I was correcting like mad and couldn't believe the amount of insulin that was being pumped into my body with very little effect.
And then it happened on day 9...that all too familiar shaky, nervous, clammy feeling of low blood sugar. I was pumped to check my blood sugar! Sure enough, I was sitting at 4.6 mmol/L! "Finally", I thought.
Things appear to be back to normal and I couldn't be more relieved. It amazes me at how long it can take to fully cleanse the system and to get back on track. It was all worth it though! It was a much needed time away spent with great family!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Packing with D...
Going to be a quick post today folks! Bright and early tomorrow morning the boyfriend and I are off the see his family in Ontario and spend many of the next 7 days out at their "camp". Camp is Northern Ontario speak for "cottage"! So as many of you know, packing for trips when you're a diabetic is definitely more work. I've already had issues in the past with over packing (and even under packing) but I think I did quite well. We're only going for 7 or 8 days so I didn't have a ton of calculating to do in terms of how much of everything I was going to bring.
Here's what I brought...
We like to take snacks and a mini lunch on the road with us to save money. And now with diabetes tagging along on our road trips, food is always good to have in the car. Here's our little lunch, complete with a fresh vial of insulin on top so I don't forget it in the morning!!
That's cheese slices, couple of ham sandwich's, yogurt fruit salad (care of Pinterest) and homemade fresh blueberry muffins made by my awesome Mamma!!
See you all when I get back!!
Here's what I brought...
- Glucagon was the first to go in!
- Basal and bolus insulin pens
- Large Frio cooling pack
- A full tube of grape flavoured Dex 4
- My vitamin pill holder, full with 1 multi-vitamin and 2 Vitamin D's per day
- Bayer Contour USB and test strips...my new meter which I have absolutely fallen in love with. But, that's a whole different post for when I get back!
- Verio IQ meter and 50 test strips...I haven't actually purchased my own Bayer test strips yet. I got 50 with the meter so I'm bringing the Verio as my backup
- Verio IQ charging cord which is also doubling as my IPhone charger.
- Lots of 4mm pen needles which I got as samples.
- And last but not least, my hypertension meds; Accupril (that's a new addition and another post as well)
And all these supplies fit very nicely in a Lantus bag that I got from my DNE...I finally found a use for it!!
We like to take snacks and a mini lunch on the road with us to save money. And now with diabetes tagging along on our road trips, food is always good to have in the car. Here's our little lunch, complete with a fresh vial of insulin on top so I don't forget it in the morning!!
That's cheese slices, couple of ham sandwich's, yogurt fruit salad (care of Pinterest) and homemade fresh blueberry muffins made by my awesome Mamma!!
See you all when I get back!!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Backpacking with my new friend.
A little while ago, I talked about being diagnosed with Type 1 in early February of 2012. I touched on some of the challenges I faced at the time of my diagnosis. Well not only was I trying to learn all about Type 1, but I was 5 weeks away from a 30 day back packing trip to South East Asia. This definitely threw a wrench in my trip and my trip threw a wrench in my diabetes!
Since I was about 21, I had always wanted to see parts of Asia but for some reason it never panned out. This past year, I had the opportunity to go with a friend who was also looking at going. We settled on Thailand (Bangkok and Chaing Mai), Singapore, Cambodia (Siem Reap and Phnom Penh) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City). My departure date was March 11th and I had a ton to prepare for in terms of my diabetes.
First, I had to break the news to my Endo and DNE. They were both totally confident that I would be able to go but knew that it left little time to ensure that I had all my ducks in a row. Diabetes was SO new to me at the time and there were so many things that needed to be considered. I had only been on insulin for a couple weeks so my Endo was still waiting to see if I would "Honeymoon". So far I was responding really well to my new regime but diabetes is so unpredictable so back up plans needed to be put in place in case this happened while I was away. I was provided with me Endo's email, pager and home number to use in case I was running in to trouble with my diabetes while I was away. My Endo also felt that I should use a different long acting insuling to help with the changes in my routine. I changed my long acting insulin from the Novo Nordisk NPH to the Lantus. The Lantus is said to be a much more stable basal insulin and I also work shift work as a part of my career so it would also be more stable while working my night shifts.
My next issue was how I was going to keep my insulin at room temperature while I was in countries that were experiencing temperatures of 34-45 degrees celcius. We pre-booked almost all of our accomodations so I was able to verify that they all had fridges in our rooms. They did, so that would take care of the extra supplies that I would be bringing. But the issue still remained that during the day when we were out sight-seeing, I would need to try and regulate the temperature of my insulin. I received many different suggestions but I was able to locate the most amazing product EVER! There is a company in the UK that makes insulin wallets called Frio's. They can be purchased in a large variety of sizes and contain an inner gel pouch that is placed in water and will then keep your insulin at safe temperatures for up to 45 hours. All they needed was a sink and some water! They are totally reasonably priced and can be reused. I bought one small (for my insulin pen) and a larger one (for my extra insulin when I wasn't near a fridge). These little guys were litterally a life saver and I will use them again and again!
Other than getting a letter from my Endo allowing me to bring sharp stuff on an airplane, I was pretty much ready to go as far as my diabetes went. So, on March 11 I took off overseas for just under a month. My trip went very smoothly health wise. It could definitely be a challenge at times managing my diabetes. There were so many things on this trip that effected it. The heat and activity in the heat definitely made my body require less insulin so it took a bit to get that adjusted at first. I have to admit, that I definitely did not test as much as I should have been. It was a very busy trip and there was lots to see and do so I was not eager to be held back by my new friend. We were up early almost every morning and kept active throughout the day.
I saw and did everything that I set out to do on this trip. It truly was a trip almost a decade in the making and I'm so glad I did it. When I got home though, I started to have a tough time accepting that diabetes was going to be a part of my life every single day. Forever. Although I had the most amazing experience, every day on my trip was a constant reminder that life was forever going to be different. I was angry about my diagnosis and felt like it took away from my experience. I felt like I was constantly pre-occupied with managing my blood sugars and I had anxiety about having lows while I was so far from home. It took me a good 2 weeks to settle back in and work on accepting and embracing what life had thrown my way. Yes, diabetes has forever changed me and my life. But it doesn't have to hold me back. Now that I've been home for almost 2 months, I now realise that I can do ANYTHING with diabetes. There's always a way to make it work. I mean, I went half way around the world with it only one month in! Take that D!
Here are a couple pictures from my trip...
If any of you are planning any trips, feel free to contact me for advice, diabetes related or not! :)
Since I was about 21, I had always wanted to see parts of Asia but for some reason it never panned out. This past year, I had the opportunity to go with a friend who was also looking at going. We settled on Thailand (Bangkok and Chaing Mai), Singapore, Cambodia (Siem Reap and Phnom Penh) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City). My departure date was March 11th and I had a ton to prepare for in terms of my diabetes.
First, I had to break the news to my Endo and DNE. They were both totally confident that I would be able to go but knew that it left little time to ensure that I had all my ducks in a row. Diabetes was SO new to me at the time and there were so many things that needed to be considered. I had only been on insulin for a couple weeks so my Endo was still waiting to see if I would "Honeymoon". So far I was responding really well to my new regime but diabetes is so unpredictable so back up plans needed to be put in place in case this happened while I was away. I was provided with me Endo's email, pager and home number to use in case I was running in to trouble with my diabetes while I was away. My Endo also felt that I should use a different long acting insuling to help with the changes in my routine. I changed my long acting insulin from the Novo Nordisk NPH to the Lantus. The Lantus is said to be a much more stable basal insulin and I also work shift work as a part of my career so it would also be more stable while working my night shifts.
My next issue was how I was going to keep my insulin at room temperature while I was in countries that were experiencing temperatures of 34-45 degrees celcius. We pre-booked almost all of our accomodations so I was able to verify that they all had fridges in our rooms. They did, so that would take care of the extra supplies that I would be bringing. But the issue still remained that during the day when we were out sight-seeing, I would need to try and regulate the temperature of my insulin. I received many different suggestions but I was able to locate the most amazing product EVER! There is a company in the UK that makes insulin wallets called Frio's. They can be purchased in a large variety of sizes and contain an inner gel pouch that is placed in water and will then keep your insulin at safe temperatures for up to 45 hours. All they needed was a sink and some water! They are totally reasonably priced and can be reused. I bought one small (for my insulin pen) and a larger one (for my extra insulin when I wasn't near a fridge). These little guys were litterally a life saver and I will use them again and again!
Other than getting a letter from my Endo allowing me to bring sharp stuff on an airplane, I was pretty much ready to go as far as my diabetes went. So, on March 11 I took off overseas for just under a month. My trip went very smoothly health wise. It could definitely be a challenge at times managing my diabetes. There were so many things on this trip that effected it. The heat and activity in the heat definitely made my body require less insulin so it took a bit to get that adjusted at first. I have to admit, that I definitely did not test as much as I should have been. It was a very busy trip and there was lots to see and do so I was not eager to be held back by my new friend. We were up early almost every morning and kept active throughout the day.
I saw and did everything that I set out to do on this trip. It truly was a trip almost a decade in the making and I'm so glad I did it. When I got home though, I started to have a tough time accepting that diabetes was going to be a part of my life every single day. Forever. Although I had the most amazing experience, every day on my trip was a constant reminder that life was forever going to be different. I was angry about my diagnosis and felt like it took away from my experience. I felt like I was constantly pre-occupied with managing my blood sugars and I had anxiety about having lows while I was so far from home. It took me a good 2 weeks to settle back in and work on accepting and embracing what life had thrown my way. Yes, diabetes has forever changed me and my life. But it doesn't have to hold me back. Now that I've been home for almost 2 months, I now realise that I can do ANYTHING with diabetes. There's always a way to make it work. I mean, I went half way around the world with it only one month in! Take that D!
Here are a couple pictures from my trip...
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| Tiger Kingdom - Chain Mai, Thailand |
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| The Grand Palace - Bangkok, Thailand |
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| Reclining Buddha - Bangkok, Thailand |
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| Ayutthaya, Thailand |
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| Angkor Wat - Siem Reap, Cambodia |
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| Angkor Thom area - Siem Reap, Cambodia |
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