Different country, different climate, different FOOD!

After a few days of battling lows, particularly with Issie, we're now at the other end of the scale!

At first I was worried that perhaps our insulin supplies didn't like the trip over very much, despite the best efforts of the Air Canada crew to keep it at the right temperature, however, since Issie IS coming down, eventually, and doesn't have any ketones, it's not the insulin.

It's the food!

One food in particular...

Cinnzeo Buns!

Yes, I know, not exactly the best type of food for a diabetic kid, however, we're on vacation, and it's our first week here and the kids are experimenting a little with new foods. Trust me, this little experiment will be very short lived!

So far I haven't been able to find a correct carb count for one of these things! The Cinnzeo website doesn't have any nutritional information - just tells you to "indulge, it's okay!"

One website said that there was something like 22g of carb in one of these buns.

Seriously, there's more than 22g of carb in that PICTURE!!!

To give you an idea of the size of this thing I've taken a picture of some of the buns we have left alongside something we're ALL familiar with - an Insulin Pen!

Anyway, the first time Issie had one of these we doubled the carbs - and she ran high right through the night. The second time we did 2.5 times the carbs listed on that website and still she ran high, with a lovely 19.7 at 3am and feeling sick because she'd been high for a few hours, but no ketones thank goodness!

So, there's a bit or experimenting going on with this one, and with a lot of the foods we're eating right now. Just goes to show, you get into a routine with the kinds of foods your kids eat when you're at home, but take yourself out of your usual routine and you're flying blind once again!

We'll get there.

Thankfully, where we're staying is an hour drive to the nearest mall where they sell these things - and next time, we WON'T be buying a take-home pack!

And now... coming to you from the Canadian Prairies...

Okay, so this is just a quick check in to say...

WE'RE IN CANADA!

After a VERY long trip the weary travellers arrived at about Midday on Saturday. We're slowly adjusting to the time change (well, the kids have adjusted, I'm still roaming around the house in the wee hours of the morning) and my knees have almost recovered from 15 hours crammed in the tiny space that is international long haul economy air travel.

Air Canada were great with helping me out with the kids' considerable insulin supplies.

And a tip for you!

When you're at the gate before everyone starts lining up to board the plane have a chat to the person in charge at the gate (that would be the person walking back and forth between the plane and the gate with a 2-way radio) - and let them know that you're travelling with a child (or children) with T1D and that you need somewhere to store their insulin (for a 15 hour flight - this was essential). I had a word to the Air Canada person in charge, she invited the kids and myself to board with the "pre-boards" (people in wheelchairs or young babies) so that I would have some extra time to get the insulin stored - AND she went down to speak to the cabin crew while they were getting organised so that they could clear a space in their refrigeration unit for me. When I got on the plane (first) they were waiting for me and had a whole drawer in their refrigeration unit reserved for my supplies - and they made sure that all of the cabin crew knew who I was just in case I needed to access any of those supplies during the flight.

Another tip - if your insulin supplies are packed into two separate carry-on bags, make sure they're packed in their own little bag (whether a zip-loc bag or whatever) to make it easier to get out of the carry-on bag for storage in the fridge.

The first day was interesting with the kids' levels, it's cold here, so both have been running low so I've had to adjust basal rates significantly. They're also far more active than they usually are at home - well, there's snow outside, and they have unlimited space to run around and play outside and no neighbours for miles! I'm also finding that pump lines don't seem to like the cold very much. Issie has been through 3 lines since we've been here (and we've only been here 4 nights so far). Fortunately though - Tim's insulin requirements are next to nothing at the moment - so I've even taken his pump off for the time being - we are just doing corrections via injection if he needs anything at all right now - so I shouldn't run out of lines or infusion sets, even allowing for more broken lines.

That's about it from here, we're about to head out to go shopping for ski gear!

2 days to go...

Things have been absolutely insane around here and there has not been a lot of time to write.

The kids started the new school year last week - for a grand total of 9 school days, because, in just 2 days we head off on our big trip to Canada!

Issie is so excited she can hardly get to sleep at night. Every sentence Tim says starts with, "When we're in Canada..."

But oh, sooooo much to do! Not only is it an overseas trip, but we're also doing a house swap with our wonderful Canadian friends - so of course my house has to be spotless and I have lists of lists of lists of things that have to be done before 8am Saturday morning!

Tonight I sat down, while the kids were at their Dad's house for dinner, and calculated exactly how much insulin I will need to bring with me for a 37 day overseas trip - for 2 kids.

Yikes!

Oh, and pump supplies!

Thank goodness Air Canada has a pretty good policy with extra baggage - we have a whole suitcase dedicated to T1D supplies (not the insulin of course, that's coming onboard with me!).

I have to say that Medtronic have been great, they have provided a loan pump to take with us as a "spare" in case of any problems with either of the kids' pumps!

But, slowly, I'm getting there. Each day I accomplish just a few extra things and I'm feeling more and more organised. The bags are now, finally, packed!

The 2 Pets will be sorely missed, they're going to the kids' Dad's place while we're away. The kids set up Skype on his computer - not so they can talk to their Dad, but so they can talk to Heidi and Fluffy!

There have been other things going on, aside from "the big Canada trip" that have caused a lot of distraction, one in a good way, the other - well, not so good, but that's for another time.

So, at least for the next few days I'll still be kinda "M.I.A." - but I'm sure to have lots of stories about international long-haul travel with 2 kids with T1D, and also just about life with T1D in a country that's not your own.