Join the SLIN Australia Challenge!

The first ever Australian Riding On Insulin Ski/Snowboarding camp at Mt Baw Baw is rapidly approaching. It will be held on the weekend of 11-12 August.

Those of you who have registered will have received an email from Mollie Busby asking you to join the HubBub Challenge for the Australian ROI Camp (SLIN Australia).

There is currently a battle between SLIN Australia and SLIN New Zealand - whichever of these wins the Challenge will receive SLIN t-shirts for all of the participants at the winning Riding On Insulin camp. And, obviously, we want SLIN Australia to win!

Also, the Iron Andy Foundation has also pledged 5 scholarships each for the Australia and New Zealand ROI camps if each challenge is able to sign up a minimum of 35 players each.

So - whether you're going to the ROI camp at Mt Baw Baw or not, how about helping out and signing up for the SLIN Australia Challenge so that we can get those 35 players!!!

You can sign up using your Facebook account which is pretty easy - then just take a look through the activities. The SLIN Australia and SLIN New Zealand Challenges are "Mingle" Challenges - so more about networking than anything else. You can read more about this by clicking on the Description tab once you have joined the team.

So, just click on the image below to Join the Challenge!

The things we D-Mums get excited about!!!

Yesterday afternoon I was delighted to receive a message inviting the 2 kids to trial the BGStar and iBGStar BGL meters!

Why so excited?

Well, we've been waiting for the iBGStar here in Australia for a LONG time!

So, to get to be among the first in Australia to use this is just sooooo exciting!

Of course, I'm more excited than the kids.

The BGStar is a very small meter linked to BGStar Diabetes Management Software which can be shared with your Diabetes team.

iBGStar

The iBGStar is tiny - and (this is the exciting bit) - attaches to the bottom of your iPhone or iPod Touch and works with the iBGStar Diabetes Manager App which then stores your results which can be sent directly to the parent and/or your medical professional from your iPhone via email!

iBGStar

The kids will each be receiving the BGStar and iBGStar sometime next week.

The BGStar is due for release in Australia on 1 July 2012.

The iBGStar is due to be launched in Australia on 1 September 2012.

Can't wait to let you all know our thoughts on these much anticipated products!

Oh What A Night....

Last night the annual Jelly Baby Ball was held at Sydney Town Hall.

This was the second time I have attended the Ball - however, last night was a bit different. I was asked to give the Speech.

The only public speaking I have EVER done was debating - in grade 6 at school! And that was just in front of one teacher and a few other kids!

This was an enormous, grand old building, a black-tie event, with around 350 guests.

Photo taken by my beautiful friend, and fellow T1D Mum, Stephanie.

Not only that, but Issie was there also. We had a plan for her though. She had heard the speech already and it was fairly emotional (as was the intention) - but a bit much for her. She desperately wanted to be at the event but did not want to hear the speech again. She understood why I had to say all of those things, and essentially tell "her" story to a room full of people. So - she brought along a set of ear-buds and listened to music on my phone during my speech.

Issie at the entrance to Sydney Town Hall, waiting to go inside.

The first part of the night is pretty much a blur - I was so nervous I could hardly eat. I had one glass of champagne when we arrived but drank water for the rest of the night - this was not the time for alcohol fuelled courage!

After the speech - the only word I can think of to describe how I felt was "elation"! I had conquered one of my biggest fears (public speaking) and, in the process, educated a room full of people about this disease that we live with every single day!

The rest of the night Issie and I were inundated with people coming to congratulate us and offer their support.

Oh... what a night!

Oh, the joys...

Among the many things that our T1D kids have to deal with, particularly the younger ones, one of the most difficult is approaching puberty.

I was thinking about this today, thinking about how I was pretty much left to my own devices and didn't really have to bare my soul to anyone. Somehow I made it through, but for me at least, something that was very private remained private.

Not so for our T1D kids.

At her last Clinic Day I had to sit and watch my little girl's obvious discomfort when being asked by her Endocrinologist (thankfully female) all kinds of questions that would have mortified me at the same age.

(stock photo provided by SCIENCEphoto Library)

We later had a talk about how she felt about this and she told me that she did not want to discuss ANY aspect of this part of her life with her doctor.

I felt so bad for her. It is hard enough navigating this inevitable part of growing up without having to share every detail and have every aspect monitored by your medical team!

They don't have much choice about this though. Insulin is a hormone, and fluctuations in blood glucose levels, caused by too little or too much insulin, does affect development. Consistently high BGL's can delay the onset of puberty and can result in short stature, therefore, the T1D medical team has to pay close attention to a child's development.

Wouldn't it be lovely just to let our kids be kids...

taking a little time to adjust

We arrived back home on March 20th however it has taken a little while to adjust to "life as usual". The kids and I would all rather still be in Canada ...

Today is Easter Sunday, which, for a T1D family, means lots of extra testing and more insulin than usual - so that the kids can just be kids and enjoy the same Easter treats as everyone else.

I don't think my kids will EVER grow out of Easter Egg hunts!

One advantage of being a T1D Mum is that I get up at 3am to do BGL tests anyway - which now coincides with visits from the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus! I did make a suggestion to the kids that perhaps the Easter Bunny may focus his attention on younger children this year however the looks of horror on their almost 12 and 15 year old faces put paid to that!

Today also marks the 2nd anniversary of our entry into the world of T1D!

Issie was diagnosed on April 8th, 2010.

The last two years have certainly had their challenges although I can honestly say that we have all come a long way. We continue to learn new things about managing T1D through the wonderful support network created not long after Issie's diagnosis and both kids are now learning to become more independent.

While we are still yet to come through the other side of Issie's severe needle phobia (and I am NOT looking forward to her next Clinic Day when she is due for her annual bloods) I'm very pleased that Issie has now figured out that she CAN do sports and other physical activities without having any major problems - it just takes a little planning. This year, for the first time EVER, Issie wants to join the school soccer team! This is a huge step for her, which I am sure is the result of her seeing her brother throwing himself into sports even more, despite being diagnosed with T1D seven months after her.

I'm not sure that this post really makes a lot of sense, T1D diagnosis anniversaries - at least for me - mess with my head a bit.

Life in the Prairies...

Today is a rest day here for the kids and I out on the southern Alberta prairies. We've had a very busy few weeks so today we are having some long overdue down-time.

We've been on several ski-trips, dog-sledding and spending time with family and friends.

Yesterday we went to the new Spark Science Centre in Calgary.

Tim & Issie with two of their sisters outside the Spark Science Centre in Calgary.

Time for the kids to catch up on some school work and for me to catch up on my Blog and get some housework done. Yep, they even do housework in Canada!

Back home we live in the suburbs - so we're never more than 5 minutes away from pretty much everything. We've had the odd occasion when one of the kids had had a pump issue - broken line, bad site or site has come out - but since we're usually always close to home (and I keep spare pump supplies in the car) it's never really an issue.

I haven't quite got the hang of being prepared here though! Which is crazy, because if anything, I need to be MORE prepared here! We're not really close to anything at all.

Last week we headed up to the closest mall (about 1.25hrs drive away) in the afternoon before then going on to the airport (another 30 minutes drive) to meet our friends who were visiting us from Chicago.

About 20 minutes after arriving at the mall Issie tells me that her pump line is looking a bit "worn" where it joins onto the reservoir. Okay, no problem, I'll just get a new line out of the kit bag I threw in the car when we left the house...

Oh no... no infusion sets in the bag! Plenty of reservoirs, insulin, wipes, spare lancet drums, test strip cartridges, antibacterial hand wash, hypo treatment, spare batteries, ketone tester, ketone test strips - but NO INFUSION SETS - so, no spare line!

Driving back "home" would have meant an additional 2.5 hours driving. It was -10 degrees celsius and the roads were pretty crappy.

We went to Shoppers Drug-Mart at the mall to see if we could get some tape to try to patch up the line a bit - the tape was useless.

Oh well, we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening doing extra BGL tests and being really careful to make sure the tubing from her line didn't get caught on anything.

Thankfully we made it through the evening and did a full set change when we got home.

And, as soon as I got home I re-packed the D-Kit bag, making sure there were PLENTY of infusion sets - and put it straight into the car.

Times like these makes me understand why families who have access to tubeless pumps such as the OmniPod, the Solo MicroPump (FDA Approved but not yet for sale) and the JewelPump (here's a review of the JewelPump on DiabetesMine).

Goodness only knows when these pumps will be available in Australia and Canada!

R.I.P. Fluffy... (and the name change explained)

The 2 Kids and I are still in Canada for another couple of weeks.

However, as you all know, life goes on at home, even when you're on the other side of the planet.

That includes the not so nice aspects of life, our own, and that of our pets.

Last week during routine blood tests prior to a routine operation (organised by the 2 kids' Dad, who is pet-sitting for us), we learned that Fluffy was very, very sick. Further testing revealed that she had a large tumor. The vet told us that given how sick Fluffy was it was unlikely that she would survive surgery to remove the tumor, however, given that she had virtually no chance of surviving without surgery, the 2 kids' Dad and I decided to give her at least the one chance to beat it.

Despite her tiny size and the poor state of her health immediately prior to surgery, Fluffy made it through the operation.

However, the following morning, Tuesday 6 March (Sydney time), Fluffy was too exhausted to keep fighting and she passed away.

It's really hard when you lose a pet, and even harder on the kids. Throw in being on the other side of the planet and it's devastating.

Rest In Peace Fluffy - you were the most gentle and loving cat to have ever joined our family and you will be very sorely missed by ALL of us, including your best friend, Heidi Puppy!

"Fluffy"

3 March 2011 - 6 March 2012

Soooooo, since Fluffy was included in "2 Kids, 2 Pets, 2 Pumps" it was decided that a name change was in order.

This time I enlisted the help of the 2 kids.

After a few suggestions that were scoffed at by both kids as either "embarrassing" or "cheesy" I came up with "two little pricks" as a bit of a joke - their response, "YES!" - and they then refused to listen to ANY further suggestions!

So, there you have it.

The "Twitter" name has been changed also - to @twolittlepricks

You will no longer be able to access the 2kids2pets2pumps.blogspot.com website - effective immediately.

Any email addresses you have for me remain the same.