That Stupid Pancreas!

Hi, I’m Matthew, Anne’s brother, guest blogger for this post! Anne has had T1D for about two years now, and last Friday she dared me to spend a week as a diabetic. Of course, I can’t really become 100% diabetic for a week due to all the details of the condition and the fact that my pancreas  isn’t  stupid.  However, I can test my blood sugar before meals and after I wake up and do carb counting, so that’s what I’m doing. Note from Anne ~ T1D stands for type 1 diabetes. Basically, he is testing his blood sugar when he wakes up, every time he eats, and before he goes to bed at night. He is recording this information in one of my extra logbooks, and he is calculating the carbs for everything he eats. I am extremely proud of him, he has been taking it very seriously and has been quite diligent! :) This is a picture of my brothers and myself (Matthew being the older one): To even it out a bit (between Anne and myself), I have a slightly harder job than Anne. S...

Having read the title of this post, you might be a little confused. This blog is about diabetes. That's the topic! I'd bet that all my readers either have diabetes or are related to/friends with someone with the condition. But I was sitting in front of my laptop today, thinking about what the heck I was going to write about, and I blanked. Nothing all that interesting diabetes-wise has happened to me this week. No supernatural phenomenon has opened my eyes to a brand new way of life. But this blog is about diabetes, right? So I had to think of something to write about concerning diabetes that I haven't written about before and is captivating. I got nothing. Then I realized that diabetes affects a lot of aspects, scratch that, pretty much every single aspect of my life. It affects everything I eat, any activities I do, my family, my friends, my health, my body, the way I think, the way I act. From the moment of my diagnosis, not a day has passed that I've been able ...

** October 28th-30th, 2018, 28 delegates from across Canada went to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to meet with over one hundred MP's and Senators collectively for JDRF's Kids For a Cure Lobby Day. I had the wonderful opportunity of being one of the delegates from Toronto! It was a really great experience for me for a multitude of reasons, all of which I will be going over in this post! So sit back, grab some popcorn, and tell your family not to bother you for a while, as it's quite a long list. First off, let me explain a bit more about what Lobby Day is. One of the things we went to meet with Members of Parliament about was giving a huge thank-you for the government's multi-year commitment to fund Type 1 Diabetes research through the $30 million Partnership to Defeat Diabetes that was instituted in 2017. That's a lot of money, and every penny of it will be going towards research for an end to our condition, so thanking the government was a huge part of Lobby...

Because my pancreas refuses to do its job, I have to lug around a bunch of crud to make up for it. My snacks, my PDM, my meter; I keep all of my crud in my diabetes bag. Depending on when you were diagnosed, what season it is, what your style is, and how much you're willing to spend on bags, choosing a diabetes bag can be very hard. So, today I have compiled a list of things to keep in mind the next time you go d-bag shopping. Also, the word 'd-bag' in my world means diabetes bag, in case you were wondering. If you're confused about some of the other terms that I use in this post, then click  here  to see a guide to deciphering my diabetes slang. Let's start with types of bags, to narrow it down. You have backpacks, purses, and these bags that could be used like a purse, but aren't fancy enough to be officially dubbed a purse. I'm not exactly sure what to call those. Here, I'll make up a term for it! Let's take the first letters of 'be used li...

This Sunday, for Canadians, at least, is Thanksgiving. This means food, family, and memories to be made. Awesome, right! Yeah, exactly. There are no negatives to this. Food is amazing as always, family can get on your nerves but you know you love them, and memories are always great. Today's post is a list of carb counts for typical Thanksgiving-gy foods (and also some not-so-Thanksgving-gy foods, too) to help you enjoy this holiday without worrying about having to guesstimate carbs. You're welcome. Oh, don't be offended or alarmed, but I actually really dislike about half of the foods on this list. Just a warning. Okay, moving on! 1 cup of mashed potatoes - roughly 25 carbs Any amount of turkey - free. Basically any meat or cheese is free. Half a cup of gravy - about 4-6 carbs depending on the kind of gravy. 1 cup of peas - roughly 10-15 carbs. I don't like peas alone, but they taste great mixed in with potatoes! Of course, when I sa...