Hello readers and fellow people with diabetes,
I miss you all! I started writing this post between Christmas and New Year which was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster between feeling relief that 2020 was over on NYE and the rollout of the vaccination programme underway bringing hope, the news that we were facing another full lockdown from the 26th December and the fact that our case numbers have just skyrocketed so quickly. But first let me catch you up at the end of my 2020 since I haven’t posted since I started college in September but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have things I wanted to share so this is a bit of a catch you up post.
One Year Looping Anniversary
In August I celebrated one year as a “looper” and haven’t looked back for a second (read about the journey to DIYAPS here). My time in range has improved so much, my HbA1c is stable at its lower number, I don’t have to put in as much effort as I used to before setting up my Do-it-yourself artificial pancreas and I very seldom have sleep interrupted by my sensor alarm. Overall, I’m spending very little time on my diabetes or even thinking about my diabetes.
Virtual Diabetes Events
The autumn was jam packed with virtual events worth attending, in October, our Clare group were privileged to have The Kerri Sparling from SixUntilme.com as our guest speaker but as it was a virtual event we had people from all four corners of the country and beyond. It was great to connect with so many and I sense that there will be a renewed vigour for setting up more local groups as soon as it’s safe to do so. I’ll be posting a little more about this event in another post.
Diabetes Tweaking
Once I started attending my online lectures in September and for the first time in almost twenty years had to create a nine to five routine my diabetes definitely needed adjusting to my new full time studying routine. A bit of tweaking here and there of my insulin to carb ratios at different times and also in my insulin sensitivity ratios. I stopped exercising too but that didn’t seem to affect my overall numbers at all and my clothes still fit so hopefully my weight isn’t creeping up.
Thriveabetes World Diabetes Day
In November, we did the Thriveabetes World Diabetes Day event and it was just what my soul needed. I really thought that it would highlight the isolation we were all feeling especially since we were in our second COVID-19 lockdown but I completely felt that I was with my people. I really enjoyed the day and our speakers were so inspirational and so uplifting. We recorded the main sessions if anyone is fed up of Netflix - click here.
Looking forward & Cling to Hope
I went to bed on New Year’s Eve/Day with a huge sense of relief that 2021 would be better and with a huge sense of hope. A couple of months ago I suggested to my family that we find something to look forward to in 2021, something to focus on that would take our minds off “today”. We were supposed to spend Christmas 2020 with the in-laws in Minnesota and, fingers crossed, by the time we see them in the summer of 2021, double fingers crossed, it will have been two years between visits, so we’re planning a US grand tour before Teen1 starts looking at college.
2021 Wish/To Do list
I came across a “2020 To Do list” that I set for myself last year and was quite pleased that I actually did some of the things on it, so I thought I would do this for 2021 because there are so many things I can’t wait to do again starting with meeting friends for coffees and going to the pub for a drink.
2021 Wish/To Do list “When we can hug again”:
Go to the cinema, theatre, concerts,
weekend in Dublin visiting friends,
meet lots of people for lots of coffees,
go shopping in comfort (put the therapy back into retail therapy)
See Sarah Millican in Limerick in October (already have 🎫 as a birthday present) 😄
But most of all I’m looking forward to:
Combining Virtual Diabetes Events with Face to Face ones
The virtual life has been very much appreciated but it’s still not as good as meeting people face to face for coffees, drinks, or even for meetings and I can’t wait until we can restart our diabetes meet ups especially for the local type 2 diabetes group who haven’t been able to access much support online and sadly we lost one of our members in June. I also think that with the explosion in the number of people seeking support and information online there will be a renewed focus to set up new groups where there aren’t any.
