Blue Circle Pins

My blue circle pins have arrived! Yay!

Each pin comes with it's own card about Word Diabetes Day

I ordered 10 pins

I'm planning to wear one and give the rest away

They will be donated to the tertiary institute where I work, as there are students and staff with diabetes T1 and T2 on campus. Hopefully it will generate some interest in learning more about diabetes!

This will be the first year I've ever celebrated (is that the right word?) World Diabetes Day, on November the 14th. It will also be the first time I do something publicly to say "hey, yes I have diabetes".

Normally I'm just a regular person, getting on with my life. If someone asks me about it, I try and explain to them my experience of diabetes carefully and clearly. I don't want to be yelling it at people all the time, reminding them that I have it. That's why I like the pins, they are a nice subtle way to start a conversation.

I may also print some posters and banners to put up at work, to advertise the fact that free blue pins are available to those who visit the nurses station. It would be great if she could do blood sugar checks but I'm not sure if she can. Oh well, it will be a first in, first served kinda thing.

If you would like to order some blue circle pins, you can get them from the International Diabetes Federation's website.

A low in the garden

(Note: This post is basically just an excuse for me to show you all my early spring strawberries.)

I planted this plum tree:

...and then proceeded to have an extraordinary low blood sugar. The two main symptoms I got were severe vision distortion and brain fog. I was convinced I had to tidy up all the garden tools and implements. The temperature was in the mid 20's C so it was hot. I was so low that I would have a thought, just long enough to decide something was wrong, but not quite long enough to figure out what was wrong, before the thought would be gone. I'm not sure how may minutes I spent randomly walking up and down the garden before I finally clicked on to the fact that I needed to test.

By the time I got in and tested, of course, I was hovering around 1.4 mmol/L and things were decidedly shaky. I hoovered up anything sweet I could think of, including but not limited to:

• juice
• cereal
• muesli bars
• fruit bars
• cookies
• honey (straight from the jar)

It was a mission to "wait 15 minutes" for my blood sugar to rise, but I know that the worst symptoms often hit during that waiting time. Shaking, sweats, inability to really walk in a straight line, and intense weakness in my muscles. Not fun.

Anyway, enough of that guff, here are the pretty pictures!

Early spring strawberries

Californian Poppies

Chives with flower buds

The crazy red lettuce that's going to seed

A secretive cauliflower that hid in the back of the vege garden looking like a useless non-hearting cabbage until I threatened to pull it out, at which point all was revealed

The grapefruit tree, which takes great delight in dropping fruit on my head when I'm working in the garden beneath it

The garden beneath the grapefruit tree

First apple blossom

Figs

Chomper the cat

Pansies and Lamb's Ears

Aquilegia

More Aquilegia

My new favourite tree, a dwarf peach tree covered in baby fruit