Diabetes Awareness Month – let’s advocate

Today is December 1st, which means we’ve just left the month of November – Diabetes Awareness Month. This post is a reflection on this year’s Diabetes Awareness Month, and the role that I – as a person with T1D, and as a person working in T1D – played in it. Diabetes Awareness Month: the preamble Two days before our diabetes month began, I shared a short story to a large group of T1D researchers and influencers on a day in the life of T1D – my T1D. I am a member of the Breakthrough T1D Lived Experience Advisory Group. And this presentation was part of the Breakthrough T1D Centre of Excellence annual meeting. For my part, I talked about how diabetes tech is amazing, super amazing … until it isn’t. This was the story of the day both my insulin pumps spontaneously combusted (okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that extreme, […]

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Halloween carb counts to help manage type-1 diabetes

Halloween and T1D strategies

Halloween and type 1 diabetes – not exactly a match made in heaven, right? But it doesn’t have to be a nightmare either. Here’s how I’ve learned to manage the candy, the chaos, and still enjoy the fun.

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Activity for a T1D travel pivot

Sometimes, even the most seasoned T1D traveler just doesn’t have the energy to plan it all out. This weekend in Victoria, I ditched my usual diabetes travel prep – and proved that letting go (and moving a little more) can still work out just fine.

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When insulin pumps fail

When insulin pumps fail, it sucks. It really, really sucks. The other day, shortly after getting off my Peloton bike, my insulin pump spontaneously broke. Like, broke broke. It started flashing a whole bunch of error codes and then repeatedly flashed the home screen on and off. I was still relatively calm at this point, though. I’ve got a backup PDM for just this kind of situation. I grabbed some batteries, put them in, and… oh freaking frick, flashing screen there too. Bloody hell. I tried a hard reset for both, but to no avail – they were already well on their way to insulin pump heaven. Cue the panic. I called Omnipod customer service, knowing in the back of my head nothing could be done. My pump, the original Omnipod Eros, was well past it’s best before warranty date. They essentially told me “Good luck, we can’t help you.” I

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Pregnant with T1D – the weight anguish

Once upon a time I was pregnant with T1D, and in that pregnancy I struggled greatly with preserving my mental health. The reason: the constant, incessant, judgemental focus on my weight. My son turned 13 last month – how is that even possible??? Some days, I feel like it was just yesterday that I was pregnant. But, friends, I am so happy it was not just yesterday. Overall, my pregnancy was not a difficult pregnancy. But, because I have type-1 diabetes, I had to attend many, many healthcare provider appointments that often made the experience feel extremely difficult. Some of these appointments included: Maternity clinic High risk obstetrician Diabetes and pregnancy clinic, which featured appointments with an endocrinologist, nurse, and dietitian Non-stress tests Multiple ultrasounds Etc., etc., etc Of all, it was the diabetes and pregnancy clinic that had me constantly fretting about weight gain in pregnancy. Pregnant with T1D:

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