So regular readers of my little blog will know that I forgot the reservoirs for my pump while on holiday in Germany this year. Therefore I have decided to create a checklist to prevent myself and others making the same mistake that I do every year. This is designed for pump users but it does include everything someone on injections would need.
1. Your blood sugar testing meter
2. Enough electrodes to last double the time your away, trust me the amount of times I've had to do double the tests or stayed a few more days for whatever reason.
3. Spare blood sugar meter, in case the first one breaks. I take my Optium Xceed so I can use it to do ketones if I need to.
4. Needles for finger pricker, I'm useless at changing the needle in my pricker but you should do it.
5. Insulin enough vials for the trip and then at least one spare. One of mine cracked once and I didn't realise and spent 24hrs injecting air.
6. Insulin pens, even if you're on the pump. You need them if you're pump breaks. For example when I left my reservoirs at home in Germany I had to use my pens for a while until the reservoirs got to us.
7. Reservoirs!
8.Sites and spares, they can rip out or go bad so you will need enough for the trip and then spares too.
9. Your inserter, otherwise you'll be stuck on pens for the holiday.
10. Your choice of blood sugar level raisers. So sugary drinks or lucozade tablets or whatever you want. Just beware if you're flying the whole regulation thing.
I've probably forgotten something but hey that's what makes a holiday, right?
Rhona x
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Limitations
A popular saying is that *insert illness/problems here* didn't stop me doing anything. But sadly for some diabetics that is the case because our pancreas doesn't work properly, as one of my friends so cheerfully reminds me, we are limited in our job opportunities. We cannot have a job in the: Armed forces, Fire service, Ambulance Service, Prison service, Airline pilots and Airline Cabin crew, Air traffic control and Offshore work.
The reason that we can't do these jobs is so that we could put other people at risk if we were to have a hypo. I fully understand why we can't do it but a lot of people have great control that wouldn't have any sort of problem and would be fine in those jobs. It's not every job in those fields jut some of them.
Other limitations we face include, and I am generalising here, the DVLA. The regulations they have set for diabetics are insanely unrealistic. For example if you have a hypo you can't drive for 45minutes afterwards. How an earth do they expect people to wait almost an hour to be able to drive. For example you have an exam that you have to get to and you have a hypo okay so you've factored in time to get to you're exam and have time to get prepared once you're there. But by following the DVLA's guidelines you are definitely going to be late. I'm fully with them on the fact that you should NEVER drive when you're low it's the same as driving drunk.
I understand where the DVLA are coming from but it does beg the question about who exactly they consulted with when writing the regulations. I read somewhere, and don't quote me on this, that the panel for the regulations was made up of two diabetics, two DVLA officials and two independent people. So these two diabetics managed to make sure that the rest of the diabetic community are really stuck if they have a minor hypo and have an important thing to get to.
Of course there are ways of getting around this but I would never encourage you lot to mess around with the official regulations, not at all.
Rhona x
The reason that we can't do these jobs is so that we could put other people at risk if we were to have a hypo. I fully understand why we can't do it but a lot of people have great control that wouldn't have any sort of problem and would be fine in those jobs. It's not every job in those fields jut some of them.
Other limitations we face include, and I am generalising here, the DVLA. The regulations they have set for diabetics are insanely unrealistic. For example if you have a hypo you can't drive for 45minutes afterwards. How an earth do they expect people to wait almost an hour to be able to drive. For example you have an exam that you have to get to and you have a hypo okay so you've factored in time to get to you're exam and have time to get prepared once you're there. But by following the DVLA's guidelines you are definitely going to be late. I'm fully with them on the fact that you should NEVER drive when you're low it's the same as driving drunk.
I understand where the DVLA are coming from but it does beg the question about who exactly they consulted with when writing the regulations. I read somewhere, and don't quote me on this, that the panel for the regulations was made up of two diabetics, two DVLA officials and two independent people. So these two diabetics managed to make sure that the rest of the diabetic community are really stuck if they have a minor hypo and have an important thing to get to.
Of course there are ways of getting around this but I would never encourage you lot to mess around with the official regulations, not at all.
Rhona x
Tuesday, 13 August 2013
Sailing, Sort Of
So I've been sailing for a few months now, I did a weeks worth last summer and then finally got round to joining a club this year. Every Sunday is a race day and normally we go out on the catamarans which look a little something like this:
It is the most amazing feeling when you're flying over the waves, that is until you capsize and are left splashing around in the sea.
Anyway the other Sunday it was different we took picos (another type of boat, which is much smaller and less powerful) out in teams of four and the idea was that each person in the team would go round the course once each. So when it was my go I was awful, I just kept sailing into wind, I think, and getting no where. It was so embarrassing! Especially as it was in front of the entire club. But never mind it was fun.
To try and improve our chances in the third race we all sat on the boat, which is not a big boat let me tell you, so we were basically sitting in the water and each time we completed a lap of the course one of us would jump off the boat. This saved us time on swapping people on and off the boat but lets be honest it didn't work I think we may have come fairly near last. Thankfully the race official managed to get boats mixed up so we came 4th overall, apparently.
If you weren't on the boat there was still ways to help you're team out, for example you could detach the rudder, or run off with the dagger board. All parts needed to sail happily. My pump stays on while I sail, thankfully its waterproof.
However when I go out on the catamaran I find my sugar levels drop and I don't need the pump on, but if I'm sailing something smaller then my sugars are fine. What I think is the problem is that when I sail the Cats I'm a lot more excited and nervous as I haven't done nearly as much of that compared to sailing smaller boats. I could be wrong.
Rhona x
Monday, 5 August 2013
Gallivanting Around Germany Part 2
So I'm back home now in the not so sunny, in fact quite gloomy and soggy South of England. Thankfully there were no more major disasters with the diabetes, my sight fell out once dues to spending most of the day swimming in the lake, but that was easily solved. While we were away we were travelling around the country and that meant hours and hours in a car. So temporary basals were used.
I decided to name my pump, I have no idea why, and after much deliberation mainly between me and my brother but with a little help from the people of twitter I have named it, drum roll please, Phillip Gustav. Or Phil for short then I figured I may as well name my meter to so it became Martin. I know they're not particularly exciting names but they work for me!
In Germany we did so much sight seeing, I HATE sight seeing. It is so boring especially as there seemed to be a billion churches that we had to visit. Don't get me wrong the best way to explore a place is to go sight seeing on foot, but to do it for 3 and a half days out of 14 it's to much. That might not sound like much but bear in mind we were also doing a lot of travelling which took up 5 and a half days that's 9 days of boredom. Although it did provide me with a good photography opportunity and some photos look quite good. I managed to take nearly 900 over the two weeks, but having sorted through them I've got them down to a slightly more manageable 371. I haven't even started editing or uploading them yet, it's another task on my growing to do list.
We took a trip up into the Alps near Chimsee in southern Germany. We went up half the mountain on a cable car, which was so cool, and then went on a short hike. We stopped at a cafe 10,000m above sea level which had the most incredible views across the Alps and the land on the other side.
The people we stayed with at one point seemed to think me and my brother were five years old, and while they were lovely people they would tell us not to do something and then lecture us on it for a further 5minutes. For example we were in the city centre and the tram network runs all the way through, I was waiting for the trams to stop so I could cross and they did so I crossed. Other people were crossing at the same time and the trams were loading and unloading so there was no chance of the moving off for a while. Yet our guide still felt the need to tell me to be careful when crossing the track and I know his intentions were good but I am 16 and while I may live in the country I am used to crossing busy roads and ones with stationary objects. They seemed to feel the need to wrap us in cotton wool which are the type of people who really grate on my nerves. Though they had the best food we ate.
We stopped in Belgium to break up the journey and one day we went for a kayak. It was 21km long down this very shallow river and it was epic. It was so much fun but also hard work and let me tell the teenage boys on the continent are mighty fine!
Of course Phil gave me an awkward tan line but hey it shows I managed to tan rather than stay pasty!
Rhona x
I decided to name my pump, I have no idea why, and after much deliberation mainly between me and my brother but with a little help from the people of twitter I have named it, drum roll please, Phillip Gustav. Or Phil for short then I figured I may as well name my meter to so it became Martin. I know they're not particularly exciting names but they work for me!
In Germany we did so much sight seeing, I HATE sight seeing. It is so boring especially as there seemed to be a billion churches that we had to visit. Don't get me wrong the best way to explore a place is to go sight seeing on foot, but to do it for 3 and a half days out of 14 it's to much. That might not sound like much but bear in mind we were also doing a lot of travelling which took up 5 and a half days that's 9 days of boredom. Although it did provide me with a good photography opportunity and some photos look quite good. I managed to take nearly 900 over the two weeks, but having sorted through them I've got them down to a slightly more manageable 371. I haven't even started editing or uploading them yet, it's another task on my growing to do list.
We took a trip up into the Alps near Chimsee in southern Germany. We went up half the mountain on a cable car, which was so cool, and then went on a short hike. We stopped at a cafe 10,000m above sea level which had the most incredible views across the Alps and the land on the other side.
The people we stayed with at one point seemed to think me and my brother were five years old, and while they were lovely people they would tell us not to do something and then lecture us on it for a further 5minutes. For example we were in the city centre and the tram network runs all the way through, I was waiting for the trams to stop so I could cross and they did so I crossed. Other people were crossing at the same time and the trams were loading and unloading so there was no chance of the moving off for a while. Yet our guide still felt the need to tell me to be careful when crossing the track and I know his intentions were good but I am 16 and while I may live in the country I am used to crossing busy roads and ones with stationary objects. They seemed to feel the need to wrap us in cotton wool which are the type of people who really grate on my nerves. Though they had the best food we ate.
We stopped in Belgium to break up the journey and one day we went for a kayak. It was 21km long down this very shallow river and it was epic. It was so much fun but also hard work and let me tell the teenage boys on the continent are mighty fine!
Of course Phil gave me an awkward tan line but hey it shows I managed to tan rather than stay pasty!
Rhona x
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