That Stupid Pancreas!

 Hello bright and beautiful internet! I am highly aware of the fact that it has been many moons since I last posted, and I duly apologize. I have no worthy excuse, except that I'm in high school and consider myself to be a good student, and therefore I like to live up to that standard by actually committing myself to studying/attending class/doing homework, all of which takes up time and physical/mental energy that I would otherwise devote to this, my most treasured blog. (also I've been kind of busy with advocacy stuff, too)  So in conclusion, sorry I've been MIA, but yeah, what's to be done about it? Let us all simply go forth, allow bygones to be bygones, and jump right into the fifth and final post of House of Cards: A Series!  If you've forgotten what House of Cards is about in the four months it's been since my last post (which I wouldn't blame you for - again, so sorry it's been so long!), please feel free to get caught up by reading  House of Car...

   This is me and Alex, my cat (or, before my brothers freak out, I should say, my FAMILY'S cat). You've seen pictures of her on the blog before, I'm sure. There's also a tiny Canadian flag in the background, some post cards on the wall that my grandmother gave me (Hi, Grandma! Now you're famous! Well, sort of.), and a yellow board of birthday messages that my friends gave me way back in February 2020 before this whole COVID mess really started impacting life in Canada! (*sigh* those were the days...)    Why are you looking at this picture right now? Because when you think about it, it actually segues well into what I wanted to talk about for this post! This picture only shows a small part of one corner of my room, and even that small part only exists as it does now because lots of different people contributed to it! My grandmother gave me the post cards (and the Canadian flag too, actually), my friends (hi guys!) gave me my birthday board, and Alex provided... well...

March Break is behind us now (*sighs*. It was great while it lasted, wasn't it?). I thought I would share my hectic, but amazing March Break experience with the Type 1 world this week, because there is a very important lesson to be learned from it! Anne's School is officially in session! (*rings handheld school bell*) 🔔 I spent March Break at my grandma's house in the countryside with my little brother, Christopher. Don't get me wrong, we had a really great time! We learned how to tie a lot of different knots, sang songs, played ping pong, leaned piano duets, and watched movies. It's the diabetes part of the week that was hectic. Always Bring Extra Pump Sites, and Extra Extra Pump Sites Our second day at Grandma's house, the Sunday of March Break, was Daylight Savings Time. All the clocks were supposed to move an hour back, which meant that I had to adjust the time on my Omnipod PDM (click  here  to learn more about what that is). Coincide...

Do you use a Continuous Glucose Monitor or a Flash Glucose Monitor? Do you know what they are, but don't use them because they are expensive? Or do you have no idea what either of those things are, and are really confused? If that third person is you, click  here  to learn about Flash Glucose Monitors (FGMs) and  here  to learn about Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs).  Now that we all understand that, let's talk about JDRF's #AccessForAll Campaign. "JDRF is excited to launch  #AccessForAll , a new campaign to demand affordable and accessible coverage for everyone living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). And we’re kicking it off with our fight for coverage of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) and Flash Glucose Monitors (FGM).  #AccessForAll  will increase public and private coverage for these advanced glucose monitoring technologies. Our aim is to reduce the out-of-pocket costs for these technologies to make them affordable for Canadians wi...

Yesterday, I accomplished an impossible feat. I conquered the unconquerable; I earned a spot in the history books next to J.K. Rowling and Charles Darwin; I have completed a task so difficult, I believe it to have upstaged Brexit. What is this daunting and horrific task? Sir Francis Bacon (which I think is a glorious name) formalized the scientific method and Sir Isaac Newton figured out that gravity is the force that draws objects together, and I have found something bigger than the discovery of America. I have discovered a new insulin pump infusion site! Okay, maybe that whole introduction was a bit over the top, seeing as I didn't actually discover the infusion site, I just used it for the first time yesterday... but it matters not! This is still a time for celebration! To start off, I understand that my beautiful anchor drawing is upside-down. That's because it was right-side-up for me while drawing it. I challenge you to draw that upside-down on your...

Good afternoon, Type 1 Warriors! This week's post is about different Omnipod infusion sites and the pros and cons of each one. If you're thinking, what the heck is an Omnipod? , then let me explain.  Omnipod is an insulin pump company. There are other companies as well, like Medtronic. They produce and sell insulin pumps and PDMs. Do the words insulin pump and PDM sound like gibberish to you? That's ok, I didn't know what they were either in my first months of  living with T1D (type 1 diabetes) Click  here  for a detailed explanation of what an insulin pump is, and the major differences between different types of pumps. Are we all caught up? Good! Let's keep going. Now that you know what an Omnipod is, we can get into infusion sites. The term "infusion site" means the site on your body where the sensor's cannula is injected.  There are lots of different possible infusion site areas on the human body: 1. The Abdomen 2...

Good afternoon! If you didn't know, I starting using an Omnipod insulin pump last Wednesday! Don't know what an insulin pump is? Don't worry, I didn't know what they were when I was first diagnosed either. If you click  here , you will find my very detailed post about what an insulin pump is and how it works! Moving on; having an Omnipod has been great! This post is to highlight my favourite things about it so far. 1. The Insertion Inserting the Omnipod is really rather simple. You press a couple of buttons and BAM! the cannula is inserted, and you don't even feel it go in.  2. The Peace of Mind I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has sat in a chair for hours on end trying to calculate an insulin dose while my food sits on the table getting cold. When so many things effect insulin dosing, how can you not spend a long time deciding on a final number? But with an Omnipod, all you have to do is type your blood sugar number ...

Good afternoon! This week's post is about the process of getting an insulin pump! First of all, let's make sure that we know what an insulin pump is! A pump is a handy little machine that does all of your insulin calculations and injections for you.  You use a needle to inject a cannula that stays in your body.  You also receive a PDM (personal diabetes manager) that you use to connect to the injection site.  You use the PDM to enter information about your blood sugar level and the food you are about to eat, and it calculates how much insulin to give you.  Insulin flows through the cannula and into your bloodstream, so no more MDI (multiple daily injections) for you! If you want a more detailed description, click  here  to read my post about insulin pumps! Moving on, there is a long list of steps that you must take to get an insulin pump. This post is an outline of those steps and how they might make you feel, based on my ...