Life Archives - Diabetes Counselling Online

Guest Blog:Thanks Teacher

February 22, 2015 by helwild 1 Comment

Our guest poet, Maureen Campey, has written another great poem about Parenting a child with diabetes. This time, Maureen has written about her teenage son starting a new year of High School, one of those momentous hurdles that we all face as parents.

Here are Maureen’s wise words.

Sending our kids back to school always brings its own set of worries and frustrations. My T1 14yr old has gone back to a new set of teachers. He seems pretty cool with it all. My ‘coping mechanism’ seems to have become, Writing Poetry! Weird, I know but it helps me get it out of my system. I hope you don’t mind if I share!

Dear Teacher

Hi, hello, it’s me again.
Please don’t roll your eyes!
I’m not a helicopter parent,
I come in peace!

I need to explain
That my child will be carrying an invisible pancreas.
You won’t even know it’s there.
He will carry it with him wherever he goes.
He will do its job and look after it
But sometimes he may grow a little weary.
Your help may be needed as he mustn’t let go of this tiresome load.

Scared? Don’t be!
Imagine how he feels all day, every day
Yet he keeps on going.
Your job is small and help is at hand for you.

My child must calculate many things at the same time.
He must think like a pancreas.
Can you imagine?
As well as trying to learn,
He must anticipate the effect of every action and piece of food
Whilst travelling from class to class, and teacher to teacher.
No mean feat!

I will make sure you are given the knowledge you need.
I ask that you are willing to accept your role.
Let him be and don’t become a helicopter teacher.
He is not perfect.
Do not expect gratitude,
There will be no immediate reward for what you do
But know that he will go on to live a full life
Having learnt from you that this burden can be shared.

You will never know the gift you have given my child
But please know that I will be forever in your debt.

Maureen Campey

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A fresh look at The Christmas Meal

December 1, 2014 by Sally Leave a Comment

My family celebrated Christmas Day a month early this year because we’ll all be in different parts of the world on 25^th December, and we value our annual family get together. I thought it was a good opportunity to remind you how easy it is to provide a delicious and nutritious lunch, especially for us in Australia with the hot weather, that won’t disrupt your usual diabetes routine too much whilst still enjoying your Christmas celebrations. I’ve also included a few of our family recipes for your enjoyment.

Ours was held at my brother’s home in Sydney. We had 20 family members expected, including 7 children under the age of 14. Our Christmas foods tradition follows a Red, White and Green theme to look Christmassy. My Mum is the organiser and she delegates one dish to each of the family groups, so not all the preparation and cooking is left to one person (although you’ll notice that she does more than her own fair share!). Sharing that load really does minimise the stress often associated with these large family gatherings.

The basic idea is to include more plant-based foods, and provide a treat or two that you save for these such special occasions.

We arrived to bowls of pistachio nuts – perfect as each nut must be opened first, thereby minimising overeating potential – and olives. Perfect with a glass of bubbly to get us all in the mood for our Christmas feast ahead!

First course are the cold green and red soups.

I made the green zucchini soup which is so easy (6 zucchini, 1 onion lightly sautéed. Add 1 litre chicken stock, one chopped potato and some fresh dried tarragon with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 mins or until potato is cooked through. Allow to cool. Blend and refrigerate).

One of my Sister-in-laws made the red tomato gazpacho which is just pureed tomatoes with an onion/ lemon juice flavour added, plus diced cucumber and ham (from the main event).

Both these soups are very popular across the whole family. The children tend to love the zucchini soup the best. I like to indulge in a small bowl of both so I can enjoy both yummy flavours.

Buffet in the kitchen.

Our centre piece is a whole ham that my Mum makes a glaze for and bakes. It’s served at room temperature as there usually no room in the fridge, and that’s where the salt comes into its own as a preservative until there’s room to get it into the refrigerator.

Of course, the ham in your meal could be replaced with any protein source that you and your family enjoy including the traditional favourites of turkey and seafood.

Traditionally we’ve had cold baby potatoes tossed in fresh herbs and olive oil for our carb salad (excellent for resistant starch and glycemic management), however this year Mum found a recipe for a quinoa and cannellini bean salad that was also full of fresh herbs. It was very delicious, but also more work than the potatoes.

Then the non-starchy salads – we have a tomato salad, a green avocado salad and asparagus with parmesan, so there are plenty of plant foods to fill up on.

This year Mum found an unusual tomato recipe that had pomegranate seeds and lots of fresh herbs. Again it was very delicious but I think she underestimated how long it would take to dice up all those coloured tomatoes. It was flavoured with lots of chopped garlic, fresh herbs and olive oil. Usually we do sliced beefsteak tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves on top, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. I don’t think you can beat that one for simplicity and flavour!

Desserts

We don’t really enjoy the richness of the traditional Christmas desserts in our family. This year another of my Sister-in-laws and one of my Aunts were asked to bring a dessert with no guidelines so we ended up with a pavlova topped with lovely fresh fruit, and a light lemon ricotta cheesecake that my Sister-in-Law found on a blog called ‘Marley & Lockyer’ with you as it’s so easy and suitable for us with diabetes.

We served ours with low-fat icecream, but you could also use low-fat Greek yogurt rather than cream.

For those of you who really enjoy the Christmas puddings and mince pies, the December 2014 issue of Australian Healthy Food Guide magazine included a feature called ’10 of the best Christmas treats – enjoy your favourite sweets for fewer kJs!’ which I encourage you to read. In there they rate the ‘Best Mince Pie’ as a bite-size Woolworths Free From Gluten Fruit Mince Bit as a ‘real taste of Christmas’ for only 522kJ (125cal).

Reminders

I hope you found some healthy inspirations here for your Christmas main meal. I’d remind you to have a read of the blog I wrote for Diabetes Counselling Online entitled ‘Five tips for managing diabetes at events where food choices are likely to be poor’ and remember these tips when you’re at your own Christmas food celebration.

I’d also encourage others of you to share your own healthy and special favourite Christmas dishes in the comments below please!

Wishing you all compliments of the season with a reminder about enjoying everything in moderation, except the love and goodwill that we can all enjoy in excess across the Christmas season. Sally

Sally is the Social Media Dietitian with Diabetes Counselling Online, owner of her private practice (Marchini Nutrition), and has had type 1 diabetes for close to 40 years and coeliac disease for many years too. You can access a linked list of all Sally’s Diabetes Counselling Online blogs here.

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A poem from a diabetes Mum: I lost a layer of skin

August 6, 2014 by Helen-Edwards Leave a Comment

One of our members has written this beautiful and moving poem about her child with diabetes – she has agreed to share it. We are sure many of you will identify.
thank you Maureen
xx

I lost a layer of skin
I lost a layer of skin as we entered the hospital on the day of the diagnosis.

I didn’t feel it fall off.
It certainly didn’t hurt.
It gently slipped off with less than a whisper, unnoticed, like a soft, satin scarf.
I wish I had noticed it leaving.

I imagine it floating gently over the roofs of nearby houses,
carrying with it the half formed dreams I alone held for my child,
leaving behind only rawness.

Over days, weeks and months a strange new layer has grown in its place.
It’s a bizarre contradiction – tough yet sensitive.

Watching the drops of intense ruby blood makes it want to shred itself
Glimpsing needles pierce the stomach where raspberries were once blown makes it ache.
seeing the sombre eyes of a child learning to cope leaves a hollowness.
Dragging a weary body through night times of wakefulness leaves it feeling prickly.

It’s certainly more careworn than the layer it replaces
but it’s strong and it needs to be.
It bears the brave scars of battles: some internal and silent, some of epic proportions.
Hiding the multitude of maternal fears which largely remain unshared has hardened the carapace.

It has to be tough for the times when it’s all too much for a child who just wants the old normal.
The old normal isn’t coming back.

I like to imagine
that I’ll find that layer of skin again some day and fashion a purpose for it in this new existence,
for there is hope.

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Life..’More than #diabetes’ Ups & Downs

July 28, 2014 by helwild 7 Comments

How much does diabetes dominate your life? It is a health condition which, because it is related to food and exercise, can seem like the most difficult health condition you could possibly have, doesn’t it? And because the symptoms are not always obvious or noticeable, it can seem that if you ignore it, it will just go away, or not be true.That you will ‘get away with it’, if you ignore it, or make a ‘token effort’. Even people with type 1 diabetes can at times feel that they can ‘stretch’ the ‘rules’, not take their insulin, or use insulin to allow themselves to ‘indulge’ in ‘favourite’ foods; or ‘allow’ themselves to ‘run high’ to avoid hypos. The insulin pump combined with the modern blood glucose meters, cgm’s, allows such fine control, approximates more closely than anything else the action of the pancreas in releasing insulin; yet in its very existence such biotechnology is a constant reminder of life with diabetes.

As the parent of a child diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, there were times when it seemed there would never be anything else that mattered in life, other than diabetes. When my daughter grew up & left our home in a tiny rural town to go to the City to study at University, things in some ways got easier; but in other ways, things got harder. I was a young Mum, and I was only 32 years old when my beautiful healthy girl was diagnosed. I was 37 when she left home. It was hard knowing she was 250 km away, and relying on others, who were not me, as her ‘backup’ person. Every night that we slept under the same roof, I got up to sit with her through her hypos. The click of a light switch, or the click of the toaster, would wake me. This continued through her teen years; her pregnancies; her own years mothering babies; travelling with her for Diabetes related professional reasons as colleague, & as her ‘back up person’ for her diabetes management, on trips overseas & interstate ; and on family holidays. Even now, if we are sleeping under the same roof, if I’m sleeping within hearing distance, something wakes me, and I can’t lie in bed knowing she’s out of bed & feeling bad.

I do have other things in my life: work, sport, friends, family: causes to do with the environment and the earth. I have grown tree seedlings for Trees for Life, collected for the Heart foundation, travelled. I’ve volunteered at Film Festivals, Arts Festivals, tutored at the U3A. But beating away like another heartbeat is my daughter’s diabetes. I work and volunteer in Diabetes. I practice Mindfulness. Being her parent will always be a part of who I am. Of course, it is much, much more intense for her. Every minute of every day and night, no respite. I do get to take breaks, she doesn’t.

My life changed 15 years ago. My husband retired, and I got a job in the city, so we moved house. Over the past 15 years, my life has expanded to include assisting my mother in dealing with changes that came about in her life, first with my father’s diagnosis of dementia. In the beginning, I was working in a highly responsible & challenging job. My help was as practical as I could manage, also fitting in supporting both my daughters with pregnancies & babies, toddlers & growing children. With my father’s death, assisting Mum meant helping her manage her own health & living arrangements, & eventually her own dementia.

That time also came to include my own diagnosis of diabetes. Because of my daughter’s diabetes, I came to the diagnosis with a shorter period of ‘denial’ than some experience; and with very little anger. I do feel some negative emotions, of course; but I know that it’s possible to live a good life with diabetes. My fear of diabetes related complications is much less than my fear of dementia.

I hadn’t meant to write about difficult experiences in my life, but yes: they are also part of life, and many of them have nothing to do with diabetes. The past 15 years have included weddings, births, joys: wonderful family Christmases, when Mum played ‘Mother Christmas’ to our large family: visits from overseas relatives, contact through Social media with relatives, friends, strangers. Yes food is pleasure, but there are other pleasures. Exercise is pleasure. Doing things for others is pleasure. Growing things, writing, taking photos, playing with children, doing good work, talking with friends from all over the world, these are all pleasurable.

Life is Good. Life is a river, it flows. Life is truly a journey, with opportunities for rich experiences that include the difficult ones, and the easy ones: spontaneous ones and planned ones. Seize the moment, take opportunities when they arise. Life is more than diabetes: it includes things that are harder, and worse: and things that are easier, & better..Life is for the Living.

Helen Wilde

carpe diem

Helen is a Senior Counsellor with Diabetes Counselling Online. She is also the parent of someone diagnosed with diabetes in 1979. She has lived with type 2 diabetes herself since 2002.

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How #diabetes changed me for the better, Georgia’s blog

June 13, 2014 by Helen-Edwards 1 Comment

So, I totally forgot on Friday until Mum reminded me that it had been 6 years since I got diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I can’t believe it has been that long already. It has been a big journey, with some ups and downs but many positives.

I did a standard Facebook status honouring my D Day which read:

“Six years ago today I got diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, I can still remember the exact emotions running through my mind on that night.”

I just want to thank everyone who has been there for me, they know who they are. Those who have come on ‘Walk to Cure’s’, donated, helped raise awareness, those who have asked questions and wanted to get a better understanding of it all and those who have been through it and can relate.

Mostly I want to thank my parents who have made everything easier; I honestly don’t know what I would do without them or where I would be. They have been my angels who have helped me believe I could do anything and that nothing (especially this) could stop me from living out my dreams. I have travelled to destinations I have dreamed of, been on a Safari tour and went White Water Rafting in South Africa. So as my favourite role model Audrey Hepburn says, “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”

I’m not one to post the details of my private life often, but at that moment, I was proud.

Proud of how I have accepted this change, proud of how I have dealt with everything and proud of the person I am today. And although there are times I wish I never had this, I know I wouldn’t be the type of person I am today – someone I am proud of.

I’m the type of person who when told ‘you can’t’ it makes me want to do whatever that is even more. My mum was worried sick when Dad and I went to South Africa and if you read my blog posts from that trip she had very good reason to be. She knew I was in safe hands, but having diabetes does require control and preparation.

My dad is a builder and he is currently renovating our river property. I was admiring all the work that has gone into it, it’s been thought out and executed with precision and I was amazed. My dad said ‘with building you always need to be a step ahead’. I guess it is the same with Diabetes. Like our trip to Africa required a lot of background planning, checking up on places because I am Gluten Free too, and packing enough supplies to make sure our backup had backup for those ‘just in case’ emergencies.

Diabetes is a daily job. Before I start my day I check my blood sugar levels which determines the sort of ‘diabetes’ day I am going to have. It determines what I can have for breakfast and so on. It’s all about planning ahead, and I am proud of every person out there living with diabetes, because it isn’t always easy, but you make it work and have to live your life how you want to. Just like building a house you design it to your needs.

Diabetes has for sure changed me, the way I view the world and what I want out of life. I was highly ambitions before, I guess I always have been but now I have the confidence to go with it. I’ve learnt nothing is certain and you have to go for what you want, because before you know it the moment passes and you’re left drawing up another blueprint.

Although I have been on many planes, and many trips, this weekend I am going to Melbourne for the first time with a friend, without my parents. Although I organised all the airfares in Africa this is different. This is a big independent step for me and I am really excited. Of course, I am going with a great friend who has been one that has always been there for me, so I have no worries at all.

I will be sure to let you know how the trip went, hopefully no dramas, just some funny memories.

Until next time,

The daughter of a builder – Georgia

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