Pocketful of Memory Cards

November is diabetes awareness month.  It was early November 1975 when I was diagnosed as a Juvenile or "Type 1" diabetic, which makes me in my 42nd year of living with this challenging disease. I've seen people online say they've been "battling" this disease for "X" number of years, and personally I disagree with the term.  If your going to be in battle mode for the rest of the life, your going to be losing all the time.  For me, diabetes is a disease you must accept and live with as best you can. There are ups and downs all the time.  They are sometimes unpredictable and seem to happen for no reason. You just have to do the best you can.  Kind of like life. Here's just a few of the ways diabetes has impacted my life according to a T1D footprint generator off the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) website.  You also need to add 58,256 insulin injections as that's the way I treated my diabetes (as many people did, and still d...

Here's the bravest thing I've done as a Type 1 Diabetic.  I've written a little ditty about my pump to the tune of All About That Bass and recorded me singing it on my smart phone while playing the YouTube karaoke version on my computer.  You might expect more from a "professional" singer, but it's just not in a good key for me, so the singing's not my best. I guess I could have just posted the lyrics, but I think you need to hear how the words fit the music.  And it was fun! I also wanted to make it clear that "it's all about that pump" for me in my own personal experience.  I'm not saying it's the best way for everyone.  Some T1's don't like the thought of something attached to them at all times.  I know a blogger who took a holiday from her pump and found she could get good control without it and hasn't gone back.  I have a friend whose father was diagnosed in the 1940's and is quite happy without having tried ...

Today's Project Blue November Instagram Challenge is to show where you've travelled as a Diabetic.  I've been extremely lucky to vacation all over the world and the two of the highlights for me were: 1.  Scuba Diving in Moorea in 2011.  By coincidence the dive instructor had been part of the team that dove with the first T1 Diabetic to receive her PADI certification. 2:  Hiking La Soufrière in Guadeloupe last winter. It was a very steep and challenging 800m elevation changed and I was thrilled to complete it thanks to my pump and my patient hubby. Travel can be challenging for the T1 Diabetic, with time changes, strange food, and unplanned exercise, but you plan for it and make it work.  The most challenging thing for me in recent years, has been crossing the Canadian border.  As I've mentioned in the past, I am a type one diabetic who uses an insulin pump. I travel by airplane a few times a year, leaving the country about once a year which requi...

Saturday’s Project Blue November challenge was to show how you keep fit to help control your diabetes.   We all know that being in good physical shape is beneficial whatever your challenges in life.   But I have to laugh when I read that exercise is essential in “helping to control your diabetes”.   I will not deny exercise is good for you, but for a Type 1 Diabetic, exercise can throw a wrench into your control.   (My dogs help me get in shape by forcing me to walk them daily.   This view at the top of Mission Ridge is great motivation.) Whether diabetic or not, how your body reacts to exercise depends on the type of exercise.   Is it intense but for a short period of time, like sprinting?   Is it moderate for a long period of time like walking a dozen kilometres of Mission Greenway?   Is it a combination of two, like playing hockey or soccer where intense activity is followed by periods of rest?   Or is it a hike over ter...

This morning on Facebook I wrote a post about carbohydrates or "carbs" as many people refer to them.  I mentioned that Type 1 diabetics have to determine how many carbs are in the foods they consume before they take their insulin.  How do you do that, you ask?  Here's where I tell you. There are actually several different ways to determine how many carbs are in your food.  The Canadian Food Inspection Agency requires that most packaged foods put a nutritional breakdown on the label. According to this label, there are 29 grams of carbs in 1/4 cup of uncooked oatmeal. When cooked that works out to about a one cup serving which is a much larger serving than I would eat.  I'd probably eat about a half cup (15 carbs), add cinnamon and walnuts (no carbs) and a couple of tbsp of apple sauce (6 carbs) and 1 carb for the almond milk.  This gives me total of 22 carbs for breakfast. I recently read that the number on the box can be out by as much as 30%.  ...