Who do you admire?  Is there someone that sets the type of example that you find inspiring?  Are these heroes people that you know personally or are they famous?

Recently, my family & I experienced Banting House in London, Ontario for the very first time.  I now keep a piece of that day within my heart.  It was one of those days that instantly went onto our top 10 best days of our lives list.  It was that huge!

This is going to be our family’s 6^th Christmas with this thing called diabetes in the family.  Without Dr. Banting & his sleepless night in London & the discovery of insulin, we would not be celebrating a Christmas together.  There is something about going & sitting right on the very bed that Dr. Banting was sitting on when he wrote down his idea for insulin. Then, you get to venture into the room that patients were seen when Dr. Banting had a very tiny family practice.  Oh my goodness, the paintings on the wall at Banting House that were painted by Dr. Banting are absolutely a treasure too.

The stories that I had heard over the years about Dr. Banting & his discovery of insulin were romanticized.  Last month, I took the time out to read 3 Dr. Banting biographies.  They were to be part of the journey prior to going to Banting House.  I had not planned it that way yet that is how it unfolded.  I learned through the reading that Dr. Banting did not have a passion for diabetes, that he had gone into medicine to become a surgeon & happened upon insulin as a treatment for diabetes.  He was from a small town originally not far from the wee town that I grew up in.  Dr. Banting grew up in Alliston, Ontario on a farm.  He became a doctor & entered into WW1 as a much needed doctor.  Few folks are aware that Dr. Banting was a war hero.  He won the Victoria Cross for bravery when he continued to treat wounded soldiers for 16 hours after he had been wounded by a piece of shrapnel in his dominant arm.  The biographies depict Dr. Banting as an unassuming person who was uncomfortable with fancy speeches & functions.  He was described as a man who valued the brotherhood of being a part of the war effort & who later felt more comfortable in a research lab than presenting papers in front of audiences of scholars.   Dr. Banting studied at the University of Toronto & then started up a family practice in London.  He did not see very many patients in London & lived very meagerly with little in the way of finances coming into his practice.  As a result of the slow start up with his family practice, Dr. Banting accepted lecture requests from the University of Western.  In preparation for one of the lectures that he was asked to give on the pancreas, Dr. Banting did some preliminary reading.  Then, he retired to go to sleep for the evening.  He woke up at 2:00am with the idea of how insulin could be used to treat people suffering with type 1 diabetes.  Type 1 diabetes had been up to that point a death sentence.  People diagnosed with type 1 would live generally only a few months to a couple of years with this disease. 

This unassuming doctor from small town Ontario with few people or presentation skills, a less than vibrant family practice & no background whatsoever in diabetes decided to travel to the University of Toronto to meet with a department head by the name of Dr. McLeod to request lab space there to do insulin research.  The first meeting did not go well & Dr. Banting could have chosen to hang his head & return to London & continue to struggle to build his practice & leave the thoughts of insulin research altogether.  Instead, Dr. Banting returned with a determination & preparation to live in Toronto with few resources & give up his practice in London.  He was provided with lab space as a result at the University of Toronto that was filthy & he & Charles Best cleaned it & the equipment up & started to work tirelessly.  The rest as they say is history.  The journey to heroism was marked as it often is with struggle, determination, steadfast focus & sacrifice.

As my family & I stood outside the house of one of my all time heroes & said thanks to Dr. Banting right beside the Flame of Hope, it was with happy tears in our eyes.  How do you say thank you to someone for life?  My answer is to say it with pure hearts of gratitude!

There are oodles of folks out there that when they are asked about who they admire or want to emulate in example & action, they give a long list of names we have all heard before.  They are:  professional sports athletes, movie stars, music stars, and other famous people.  What if I told you that I have an exceptionally long list of people that with all my heart I consider to be the greatest heroes & only a few are names that anyone would read about or know?  Not one of them is famous for scoring winning goals or winning an academy award nor winning a music award.   One of the famous heroes to me is Dr. Banting & he is the first Canadian to win the Nobel Prize.  He literally is an everyday hero to my family & other families because he is the reason that we wake up & get to give thanks for another day of life.  We never met the man yet we have walked the same beautiful Georgian Bay paths that he once did & we get to celebrate our 6^th Christmas because he is the reason that I am still here.

Okay, so there are many, many famous people that either lived with or are living with diabetes & you will recognize many of their names.  Let’s make a list:  Halle Berry, Nick Jonas, Gary Hall, Adam Morrison, Vanessa Williams, Doug Burns, Jackie Robinson, Bobby Clarke, Victor Garbel, Anne Rice, George Lucas, Chris Dudley, Bret Michaels, Bill & John Davidson (of Harley Davidson), Mikhail Gorbachev, Hatshepsut, Johnny Cash, Mary Tyler Moore, Evel Knievel , Peter O’Tool, Elvis Presley, Sharon Stone, Kendall Simmons, Ernest Hemmingway, HG Wells, and Thomas Edison.  The list goes on & on.  You are sure to recognize at least a few of these famous names.

What if I told you that the other every day heroes that I hold closest to in my heart are people that you absolutely will not see under the bright lights of publicity?  They are my battle buddies( family & friends & diabetes community dear hearts), my “365” dear hearts.  And what if I told you that the other every day heroes are kids…kids living with type 1 diabetes & their moms & dads?  They endure so much day to day yet you should see how they live their lives fully & with adventure, encouragement, huge loving hearts…some of the kindest, most inspirational folks within the community.

My heart thanks you Dr. Banting beyond words for the gift of this Christmas with my family.  May you find thanks out of your pure heart of gratitude too to the everyday heroes in your life!

Smiles, Saundie

It’s coming, it’s coming & there is no stopping it.  We simply cannot pause the clocks.

This time of the year, most folks are somewhat frantically running in a zillion directions in preparation for the attainment of the “perfect Norman Rockwell-like” Christmas or perhaps the “perfect” Chanukah.  There is a lot of running though either way, that’s for sure.

We “must stop it from coming, but how?”  That is a hilarious line out of “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”  Please don’t get me wrong as I absolutely love Christmas…at least the true spirit of what it means within the heart.  The part that brings the Grinch to mind is both the humour that I really find that I need during  the season & the reminder Seuss-style that keeping the spirit alive & keeping meaning in the season is what is truly important.  It is the “singing” that we can choose to do throughout the season no matter what the season brings.

For folks living with diabetes or other “365” health challenges, family holidays can prove to be an exercise in pushing a 40 million ton ball up a slippery cliff covered in banana peels!  Whether it is Christmas or Thanksgiving or another family holiday season, it is a mammoth job to look after health challenges on top of the preparations for the “perfect” get together.

This will be Christmas number 6 for our family to have type 1 diabetes join us during the festivities.  It is an unwelcome guest & everyone with this or any other 365 health challenge would agree with this. 

Being a realistic optimist, I have come to realize that this year I am going to choose to do more “with” my diabetes than “about” it during the Christmas season.  It is not as if diabetes or health challenges take a vacation just because it is a family holiday.  If only that would happen!  Having 5 years of celebrations though with this diabetes, I have discovered exactly what does not work & you know what, what will work is still a work in progress when it comes to holiday seasons.  What I have learned is that when I do too much running & stressing out & running my energy right down so that adrenaline is the only thing left, that leads to the road of worse blood sugar control.  There are many things that are wonderful in abundance however stress is not one of them.  Every day stress is “normal” & I think that unless a person is a hermit it would be highly improbable to expect to live a stress-free life.  It is the extra super imposed stress that the holidays bring that is “too much”.  Too much of most things is not a good idea. 

Okay, so that brings us to the doing something “about” the holidays as well as the doing something “with” the celebratory time.  The “about “,as I mentioned , I have limited influence over.  These are the choices like simplifying the holidays as much as possible.  Do we really need oodles of salads & extra baking or could it be that a homemade meal with the love stirred in would be tastier?  Could it be that instead of baking up a storm that a couple of specific desserts could be made & enjoyed?  Could it be that during gatherings that I choose to make as many health building choices as possible yet accept that if you are trying someone else’s delicacies that it would be like pinning jello to a tree to “guess” the number of carbs in them.  That is not even to add into the equation that with insulin, you also have the added task of figuring out whether the recipe has a bunch of butter/margarine, which slows the insulin down I find so I have to multi-wave the insulin (ride the surf).  Hmm, what can you do about the collection of calls from well meaning folks stressing out about the last new fad gadget or what not on the shelf at the mall & you need to let them know immediately whether this is something that your third cousin removed living in Alaska would enjoy.  What can you do about other folks around just getting overwhelmed it seems with the nitty gritty details of everything surrounding the holidays.  It can be exhausting…physically & emotionally.  That is the thing…the physical & emotional exhaustion, I took full part in for these past 5 years with diabetes. What can you and I choose to do about some of these things?  Well, we can influence the things that are in our power.  We cannot do too much about what other people do or say or whether they notice that we are getting sicker & sicker with the “too muchness” of the holidays.  We can though have a plan already figured out in advance on what to say yes to & what to say no to & stick with that plan.  I have already decided this year that I will not go to the mall over & over again.  It will be  one trip to find everything.  Previous years, I shopped for too many days, too many hours & found it did not provide a good health result.  Here’s the thing, the folks that love us do not want us to get sicker during the holidays because we have knocked ourselves out to find what we think is the perfect gift for the dozens upon dozens of loved ones.  Our loved ones do not expect us to bake & decorate until we drop & our blood sugars rise higher than that soufflé only to drop later on like the tides coming in.  The other thing is that our loved ones & other folks do not understand the tightrope of blood sugar control that we walk during the holidays.  How could they?  They do love us though & want us to be as well as we can be.  The person who knows us best is ourselves.  We decide when to have a piece of “roulette” cake & when I do, I prepare myself for the insulin correction a few hours later because I cut myself some slack as I am not the Amazing Kreskin & do not know the carbs in someone else’s potluck dish & for a short time during the holidays, that is okay.  And someone else’s frenzy is just that.  Some folks make choices to “freak out” about the little things surrounding the holidays.  That is okay however I choose to refrain from joining in on that particular activity.   For me, I have found that diabetes just plain magnifies all that is truly important in my own life.  It means that I get to choose even more gratitude, humour, kindness & love all year long. 

Now what to do “with” the holidays.  That feels like an easier quest than the doing something “about” part in my mind.  This year, I choose to have a bigger yes about the spirituality of the season so that what is truly important does not become “lost”.  It is about choosing kindness & patience & perspective & simplicity.  It is about keeping dear hearts that have delightful senses of humour close by. It is about keeping spiritual battle buddies in close company.   It is about keeping the wonderful traditions yet taking it all down to a sound that is not “blasting” the charm away.  It is about understanding that as much as they would like to, many of the folks in our lives will not know that our blood sugars are going too high or too low.  It is about giving ourselves the inside hug to say that we will try our best to nurture ourselves.  The best part of the holidays I find is sharing a sense of community.  It is the community that we love within our families.  It is community within our friendships.  It is being united within the places that we live.  In my family, I am the only person with diabetes.  Here’s the part for me that is the biggest community-building piece.  It is this…I get to choose to let the diabetes be a part of building community within my own family.  It means that although I am the only one with this, that I get to choose to do “something with” diabetes by allowing it to magnify the love that I feel for my family & friends. 

May you find your heart’s “about” & “with” in each & every day…during the family holidays & in the simple day to day moments on the other days of the year.

Smiles, Saundie

Dr. Seuss is still one of my favourite authors.  It is absolutely a joy to share the timeless tales of these stories with our sons.  When I was a little girl, my favourite story was "Green Eggs & Ham."  I am sure that my Dad knew this story off by heart because I asked him to read it over & over again. 

Most folks will remember the lines in "Green Eggs & Ham" going along the lines of "would you could you" & "with a goat, boat, fox, house, mouse, train" etc.  Here's a neat way to play the Dr. Seuss "education on fire" game.  Let's call it, "would you, could you recognize the signs & symptoms of diabetes as well as hypoglycemia?"

Diabetes is so prevalent today that it really does make the difference in having every person understand the warning signs of diabetes as well as hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).  It is health building & community building for folks with or without diabetes to fully understand the tell tale signs of these.  If your friend or family member was showing signs of the onset of diabetes, would you, could you recognize the guideposts?  Would you, could you see & help someone with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)?

Yesterday, I was reading an alarming statistic from the Canadian Diabetes website.  It stated that 1 in 3 children born after the year 2000 would develop some form of diabetes over his or her lifetime.  Yikes!  Every time you are at at get together with a group of 3 or more, please keep that in mind.  Knowing the signs of diabetes could save someone's life or at the very least you could make the difference in a loved one's life by seeking medical help in a timely manner so that hopefully their health does not decline needlessly.  You can help someone...someone you dearly love.  Add to that, immediately recognizing the symptoms of hypoglycemia could make a world of difference to someone you love one day or even a complete stranger.  There just is no down side to knowing the symptoms...the signs.

Would you, could you notice these symptoms:  a loved one is experiencing extreme, relentless thirst, frequent bathroom trips, exhaustion that is excessive & incongruent with that person's usual energy, vision changes (seeing things in a blurry fashion) and possibly a significant & uncharacteristic mood change?  Now you would & could...now you know the signs of potential type 1 diabetes.  Now you would & could schedule a doctor's appointment & would & could go with your loved one to the doctor's office to help them find out whether they have diabetes or not.

Would you, could you keep in mind these symptoms:  either a loved one or a stranger is trembling or shaking, sweating all of a sudden, complaining of a headache, dizzy, unusually hungry, feeling weak & unsteady, having numbness aound the lips or mouth or confused?  These are signs that you would & could say are hypoglycemia.  Would you, could you suggest that they sit down for 10 minutes, ask them to test their glucose, then have them take a fast acting sugar like a juice box or glucose tablets & stay with them until his or her blood sugars are over 4 on his or her glucose meter?

Let me share 2 stories of "would you, could you" of a personal nature with you.  One is an answer of no to that question & the other is a resounding yes.  About a year ago, I had arrived at the school that our sons attend at the end of the day.  It was a lovely day out & so I decided to walk over there.  I had checked my glucose prior to the walk & all looked good.  Just in case I needed it, I brought along a juice box.  Once I arrived at the school, I started to feel a wee bit unsteady.  A lady that was an acquaintance approached me & started asking me question after question about an upcoming outing that our family was planning.  She talked & talked & talked & I found that I could not put a sentence together, was getting dizzier & was geting confused.  It was an awful feeling.  The lady was aware that I have type 1 diabetes.  The lady did not notice the signs of hypoglycemia at all & then finally when I could not answer her questions anymore, she simply said, "okay, bye then" & went along & started speaking to someone else.  It was an awful feeling...isolating & frankly embarrassing at the time because I am sure that she thought that there was something "wrong with me" however she did not "get it".  She did not know the signs of low blood sugar at all.  I did manage to pull myself together enough to pull out a juice box & at that time one of my friends came along & put the straw into the juice box.  My friends know that the only time that they see me with a juice box in my hand is when I am in low blood sugar.  This friend & I sat outside for a few minutes & then we gave each other a wink & that was all that was needed.  That friend is a true battle buddy!  As an aside, a couple of weeks later, I attempted to apologize to the lady for the awkward exchange when I had been in low blood sugar however she did not want to talk about it & for a short time, she chose to avoid me.  I do not blame her nor hold any negative feelings towards that lady.  Her discomfort got the best of her & I simply look at that as a missed opportunity.  I choose not to let that experience tarnish my belief in people as a whole & it makes me even more determined to educate folks so that this experience does not happen to other folks in "the community".

Now, I did say that I have 2 stories & the second one is the gem.  You know that I love happy endings so there is no way that I would choose to end our sharing together on a negative note.  One day, I was baking away in our kitchen  & I ran out of an ingredient.  My husband offered to go to the store for me.  He is like a man on a mission when he visits any store.  The mission is to find the specific item & then get out of the store & home within Olympic speed!  He was gone a very long time.  Once he returned, he looked at me with a smile & said, "you are going to love the reason why I am later getting home than expected."  I did!  The reason that he was gone a good long while was because while he was at the grocery store, a lady there was exhibiting  the signs of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).  She was apparently quite confused & upset.  My husband approached her gently & asked her discreetly if by chance she has diabetes.  She said that she did.  He asked her to please do a glucose test.  She did & he noticed that her number was very low indeed. (low blood sugar is a reading under the number 4)   He purchased a juice box, handed it to her & asked her to drink it.  She kept telling him that she was so embarrassed.  My husband told her that she had nothing at all to be embarrassed about & then waited with her until her blood sugar came back up into safe range again.  He did not tell her that his wife had diabetes or anything else.  He simply helped her out because he "would & could".  I love that story & I tell it as often as I possibly can.  Every day heroes come in all different forms...one of those is in the form of my husband.

Would you, could you be an every day hero too?  Or if you have diabetes, isn't it great when you meet up with an every day hero!

Smiles, Saundie :)

Hey, when you are invited to a dear heart’s birthday party, what happens?  I know how I feel.  I feel super happy for that person & along with gifts and or balloons, I bring my excitement.

What would you think if I suggested that within our “diabetey community” that we each celebrate one another’s & our own milestones, steps forward & other diabetes victories?  I am not likening diabetes to a birthday party…far from it.  My thought is this though…when we achieve something in our diabetes management, why not celebrate that? 

Diabetes management can be challenging from one day to the next.  There are even days when you try to “do everything right” & yet the number on the glucose meter looking back at us is still outside the ideal range.  Goals for each person are as different to him or her as one person is to the next & that is the most natural thing in the world.  As we set objectives, why not at the same time, picture the “celebration” that we will have once we achieve the goal.  The “celebration” would be something that we enjoy & look forward to & may not do as often as we like.  I find that for me, celebrations in the form of small, treasured times mean so much.  Along the way, I have set goals of:  glucose testing a certain number of times a day (will not share the exact number as the number of tests I do is high as I wear an insulin pump so I feel comfortable with that number), exercising each day, dealing with stress, reducing scheduling complications, lowering my A1C, volunteering within the diabetes community, sharing more time with family & friends & more.  When I hit a milestone in one of the goal areas, I already know that I am going to celebrate & know what the celebration will be.  The celebrations have been small & meaningful.  Some celebrations have been going out for tea either with a friend or a book, having the house all to myself (well along with our goldie) for a couple of hours of pure peace & quiet, sleeping in, breakfast & a dvd movie in bed, reading a favourite author’s book for an hour, girls’ day out, purchase of an extra special tea & more. 

This November I wanted to set some personal objectives for myself surrounding Diabetes Awareness Month.  My goals were:  write every day during the month of November about diabetes related topics, start a diabetes community blog on or before World Diabetes Day (November 14^th), read 3 Sir Frederick Banting Biographies/non fiction books, visit Banting House, work on lowering my A1C below 7% again, and volunteer within our diabetes community.  Since I felt that this was a big list of goals, I made my celebration larger than usual.  I have managed to achieve the objectives that I set.  These objectives are much larger than any other November but I was just ready at this time…as I like to say, “it is exactly the right time”.  (usually, I will add to that, “to put on the kettle” ha! ha!)  Speaking of the kettle, the celebration of reaching the goals happened a few days ago.  I had been waiting for “exactly the right time” to visit a Tea House that I have not visited in the area before.  My husband took me there to celebrate & Blue Monkey, a sock monkey that is blue that I received this November as a mascot for Diabetes Awareness month joined us on the excursion.  It was that much sweeter enjoying the outing having so much to be thankful for.  Incidentally, I have been having a hoot with Blue Monkey this November! You will see a photo of Blue Monkey in the photo gallery section for the kid in each of us!

Setting goals & hitting them is something that I look forward to much more now that there is the planned (& self- enforced) celebration to look forward to .  Diabetes management is hard work & it is ongoing at least until there is a cure.  Why not celebrate along the way the achievements.  May your celebrations be frequent & meaningful . Bring your excitement, celebrate you & oh if you have a mascot that makes you smile, bring your version of the “Blue Monkey” with you too!   Ready, set, go, celebrate!!

Smiles, Saundie J

Are there certain days that stick in your mind?  For each of us there usually are both the days that we especially remember that are celebratory days & then there are other days that are reminders of struggles along life’s journey.

My hope is that for both you & I that the celebratory days are remembered in full colour, sparkles & neon lights.  The other hope that I have for us is that when we think of our struggles that we find meaning in them & have found or are finding ways to “do something with” those.

Just like you, my life did not begin on the day that I was diagnosed with diabetes.  We are likely to share the belief that our lives did however change when we were diagnosed.  Here’s the thing…could it be that we grow through struggles intensifying our gifts that we can choose to share with others.  Please do not get me wrong.  I am definitely not saying that diabetes or any other “365” health challenge is something that any of us want in our lives or the lives of our loved ones.  If it is the reality however, I believe with all my heart that I have the choice to “do something with” what has happened. 

A beautiful long list of dates of celebrations remains vivid & sparkling & with or without diabetes, I choose to keep these memories exactly that way.  For me, these dates include:  meeting my now husband, graduating from university, first jobs, first car (bright yellow by the way), friendships made, getting married to my childhood sweetheart, homes, and the births of each of our boys.  The list would go on for pages & pages so I will choose to stop here.  Literally, I remember the dates of each of these incredible celebrations.  For most of us, we too remember the dates of sad times surrounding losses dear to our hearts.  I have found that when the loss is of a Dear Heart person that I find a way to celebrate the life that they shared in a meaningful way & carry that person with me.  It is a way of carrying their love & legacy.  For me, struggle without “doing something with” it would not make sense.  On the other hand, struggle & then reaching out as a result to another person going through a struggle of his or her own makes perfect sense & seems to me to be a pure act of love.

November 29, 2007 was the day that my family found out that I have type 1 diabetes.  Any 365 health challenge news hits us like a ton of bricks.  Type 1 is usually a childhood diagnosis yet I was colouring outside the lines with a diagnosis of type 1 as an adult, a Mom.  Type 1 is not outgrown so it can be a little confusing to folks who are not familiar with what this diagnosis means.  It is an autoimmune disease & once diagnosed, you carry type 1 with you on the rest of life’s journey until a cure is found.  Since I was diagnosed later than most, it means for our family that I will help raise our sons with this & carry it with me until a cure is found.  For children diagnosed with type 1, my heart goes out to their families as the children take type 1 with them through school, post secondary school, marriage & raising their children & other milestones in life until a cure is found.

The first year with type 1, I found to be a huge challenge.  I am sure that other folks have found that to be true too.  There is a lot to learn about carb counting, exercise, sick day management, insulin and more.  Aside from the physical learning, there is a parallel world going on with one’s thoughts I found.  It was my experience that although it took time, my best choice for myself was to get myself back on track as far as my attitude was concerned.  Prior to diagnosis, I had been a highly energetic, enthusiastic person with a chosen positive outlook to each day.  The initial diagnosis derailed my attitude at first.  My time was consumed with taking care of this darned diabetes.  When I was diagnosed, we were raising small boys.  Our youngest son, Alex was just 10 ½ months old at the time.  I had been feeling extremely unwell prior to the diagnosis for a further 2 months.  The diabetes I found was much more challenging to take care of at first then our 3 small sons combined.  There is this thing though & that is I find that when I have a passion or a purpose in whatever is happening during this life’s chapter that my energy is higher.  When I was first diagnosed, I did not see the passion or purpose with this diabetes.  Okay, stay with me here because as I always tell the children that I volunteer to read with each week, I love stories with a happy ending.  There will be one here I promise!

When I was in university a mentor highly recommended that I read a book by Viktor Frankl entitled, “Man’s Search For Meaning”.  To this day, I still have this book & re-read it every few years or so.  It is highlighted & dog-eared & well-loved by me.  A year after I was diagnosed, I decided that it was time to re-read that book again.  I read it through the lens this time of the diabetes.  I realized that there is indeed meaning in diabetes or a 365 health challenge.  I “got it”.  Here is a chance to reach out to others with compassion & build community so that no one needs to feel alone or isolated in this.  It also was an “aha moment” because I also realized that diabetes could mean for me that I could choose to live life more fully…with all my heart.  It meant that I could be myself & share freely & use all the colours in the crayon box.  It meant having more gratitude for what was going “right”& it is true, it really is about the little day to day moments.  It is about what is truly important & to heck with the rest.  It means hope, adventure, heart to heart sharing.  It can mean being “different” (thankfully aren’t we all anyway) & making a difference in small ways with huge heart.

Well, it has been 5 years & many things are the same…those are the people that were always dear to me.  What has changed is how I hold those dear hearts in my heart.  I choose to let diabetes teach me that there is no holding back when it comes to sharing kindness, gratitude & celebrating living in the present.  Along the journey, I did get an insulin pump & I am still the brains behind the machine yet it makes a huge difference day to day.  The pump for me has meant more adventures & more choices.  I love having more choices.  The other thing that has changed is that once I made a decision & then acted upon it to get more involved in reaching out to others within the diabetes community that I have met some amazing people!  The folks within the community are inspirational.  Being part of a community is a choice.  It is a choice that I love!  The neat thing though is that not only have I found that I have chosen to be involved within the diabetes community, but I have just naturally become more involved with everyone, everything.  It feels like the most natural thing in the world.  I have met more new friends & have laughed more & felt more intensely & have given & received more kindness.  Life is full & that’s something that I treasure.  It did not happen all by itself over the past 5 years.  These were choices.  We all have choices about whether we are ready to be a part of a community.  When the time is just right for you, I will be here to welcome you too to “the community”.

Here is how I look at the past 5 years…colouring outside the lines is the most natural thing in the world for our family.  We live our lives with this thing called diabetes.  We enjoy tea in our good tea cups every day.  We choose to live fully & build community.  Looking a little unusual whether it is a diagnosis as an adult like me or dancing in a chicken hat (my son really did this while volunteering), reaching out with all your kind heart, giving volunteering a go, building new friendships, and more…absolutely, go ahead, sparkle!

Smiles, Saundie J

Each one of us goes through ups & downs in life whether we have diabetes or not.  That is a part of life.  It is how we look at the hills & valleys that cross our paths that can make all the difference I have found.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist or an optimistic pessimist or a pessimistic optimistic in your thinking?  The great news I passionately believe is that although each one of us does not always have the ability to change what is happening within our lives, we always, always have the choice about how we talk to our mind about these things.  That is a huge choice. 

There are times when I get asked, “how can you have a positive attitude all the time?”  You know what, it can be really hard work sometimes.  I find that on the days where I am feeling especially under the weather that it is not necessarily the easiest thing in the world to feel upbeat.  Aha, that is true.  Like most folks, if I have a case of the flu, you will not see me out & about in the community being bubbly & ignoring the symptoms.  Instead, hopefully like most folks, I admit that I am taking a sick day & my goldie & I snuggle in with “provisions”.  That is understandable.  When it comes to day in & day out though, it is a daily choice that I make to have a heart of gratitude.  There is always something that I am thankful for…countless people & blessings daily.  This attitude does not necessarily happen all by itself.

If we are counting carbs, then why not measure in some good “food” for the mind at the same time.  What speaks to your heart in a positive way?  Is it a photo of your family or a Dear Heart Friend?  Is it a place?  What do you most look forward to?  Does art speak to your heart?  It could be a beautiful painting or books with words that lift you.  For me it is all of these!  The day starts off here just as it does in homes of many families with an air of chaos.  It is that race to get the boys to school on time…again like countless other families.  Great, mission accomplished.  I love to then feed my mind for the day if I have not already had a chance.  It may simply be a quick read of a quote or a moment to enjoy a picture that brings the “just rightness” to the day.  It is a treat to read books of lives that are inspirational.  It is a world of endless choices to bring into our minds.  The welcoming of bringing more beauty into our attitudes I find is energizing.

Over the years, I believe that I have become a realistic optimist.  I have always been an optimist yet some days a person may need to arm herself or himself with “positivity” & bring it along even if the world outside our homes is not necessarily on the same page.  The great news is that attitude can be contagious.  Even if it is not…well, that’s okay.

There have been times when folks over the years have said to me, “a positive attitude is easy as long as you are around other folks that are like-minded.”  That is true.  What if though we simply take our “I will do the next right thing today” attitude with us no matter how anyone else chooses to think or behave?  It could make for a pretty super day.  On a realistic note, for sure folks cross your path from time to time that are “hardened pessimists”.  That is a choice for those particular folks.  Those encounters cause me to be even more committed to my “next right thing thinking day.”  If it has been a bit of an exhausting interchange from time to time, there is a prescription for that I have found.  The antidote that works every time for me is humour!  It does not hurt I think to have a “library” of stuff that just plain tickles your funny bone!  The last time that I pulled out the source of humour that always makes me laugh, the choice was Wallace & Gromit.  There is a line in one of the episodes that Wallace says & it is, “well that went about as well as expected!”  You know what, Wallace & Gromit may not be the answer for you, yet there is something that will turn the day around for you as well!  I hope you find it & bring it out whenever needed & my hope is that it is really not required that often.  The best news is that most folks out there are absolute gems!

Smiles, Saundie J

If you like spirit days from school days, you probably participated at one time or another in one called “upside down” or “inside out” day.  Essentially, it is when you wear your clothes inside out or backwards & perhaps as a bonus, the day’s order was reversed for the school day.  Spirit days are fun & it is super to get to see our sons enjoy the ones that they have in school & in other group community clubs.

Well, our family is “upside down & inside out” in some ways I think.  That is how I started to look at it about 5 years ago.  5 years ago, I was Mom to 3 treasured sons ages 7, 3 and not yet 1.  November 29, 2007, was the day that started the funny saying that I adopted about our family of “upside down & inside out” when it comes to type 1 diabetes.  Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children.  How upside down that in our family, it is Mom that has the diagnosis.  From a Mom’s heart, there is not a day that goes by that I am not filled with thankfulness that it is me that was diagnosed & not one of our sons.  My heart goes out in compassion to the incredibly strong Moms & Dads who are parents to a son or daughter with diabetes.  The strength that those parents have is indescribable & their struggles…again, my heart goes out to them so profoundly.

It is my feeling that in most ways, we are a family that looks very much like any other.  The boys are growing & are “full of beans” & “being boys”.  I find myself saying what moms of many young children say…some variant of “power down”.  At night as the boys finally fall asleep, it is pure peace to see them sleeping & my heart is thankful beyond measure.  Just as a wee aside & a little sprinkling of family humour, I will share a cousin’s story with you.  A couple of summers ago, I got to attend a large family reunion.  A second cousin was chatting to me & said, “oh, I see that you are a Mom to 3 boys.”  Being himself one of 3 brothers in his family, he added with a smile, “let me tell you something that my Mom made while my brothers & I were small.”  He said that his mom had painted & crafted a wooden sign that hung in their family room while they were growing up that said, “if you want to experience wild life, have 3 sons!”

When I was first diagnosed, I was sensitive to ensuring that our sons understood that although things had changed in our family with the type 1 diagnosis of mom that I would take good care of my health & that we would find the way to do all the things that we had always planned to do.  I admitted that I had to learn a number of things however that learning even for moms & dads does not stop.  That is a great thing.  The first year, the learning curve was pretty large but a step at a time, we did do the activities that we had always enjoyed.  Try as I might, there were those inevitable times when hypoglycemia presented itself & as a Mom I would have loved to have been able to shield the boys from seeing that.  It is not a great feeling knowing that you have to have those 10 minutes to feel like yourself again right that moment & juice was needed right there & then.  Our boys have come to know that when mommy has a low blood sugar, I just cannot at that time answer their many, many questions & requests.  They have learned to be patient for those 10 minutes & we look at just the pictures in one of their books as we snuggle in together.  They have helpful hearts & offer to bring a juice box when needed because I always tell  them when I am in low blood sugar.  I tell them matter of factly & it has become natural &  honesty is the best way afterall.  The boys have seen first hand that most of the time Mommy is “on a motor” just like the rest of the energetic moms out there.  They see that once in a great while, those inevitable lows “hit” however it is fine…it just means we have to take a 10 minute re-charge break.  Often the boys bring along their snack at that time too.  Why?  My sentimental heart says to share as a family in the moment whatever it may be, yet my experienced “mom heart” says , “it is because these boys love to eat all day long ‘cause they are growing boys!”

Upside down or right side up…it is okay.  It is not perfect yet diabetes or no diabetes, we are family.

May you have a right side up day!!  Smiles, Saundie J

This afternoon I enjoyed a speedy trip to the local library.  How cool & convenient it is to be able to simply go on line & request books that you have your eye on be sent to the closest branch geographically.  To be able to speed in & collect the books already set aside with your name on it is something that I appreciate. 

As I pulled up in what we jokingly call, our “dogmobile”, parked & jumped out, I saw a shadow in the driver’s seat in the car parked next to me.  The shadow turned out to be a dog sitting right behind the driver’s seat.  This struck me as funny as frankly it always does.  When I am out with our boys & we see a dog sitting behind a steering wheel, we cannot help but laugh & comment on how all dogs seem to want to drive.  Then, I will add to the boys, “perhaps if more dogs went to Mrs. Puff’s driving school then they would be driving.”  If you have kids & they have watched Sponge Bob Squarepants over the years, you may be thinking this too.  (ha! ha!)

When it comes to diabetes, it feels empowering to be in the driver’s seat or in other words managing it with best personal effort.  It is about telling ourselves what we can do.  I think of it as making decisions & choices that meet each of us at our level of needs.  What an awesome feeling knowing that if I want to have a treat, I can.  Just knowing that makes a difference.  Over time, I found that the “I can” thinking has resulted in my appetite leaning towards the healthier choices the majority of the time.  I have a feeling that if my thinking were to reverse & instead be, “I cannot have” thinking, I would want that sweet treat all the more.  If I get a genuine craving every once in a while, that is just fine.  The neat thing is that instead of wanting a whole chocolate bar, I love having one wee square of dark chocolate.  It is delicious & I have to say that I enjoy knowing that I can have a piece any time that I want.  In a sense, I have attended “Mrs. Puff’s driving school.”  That means that insulin can be matched up with the treat & I am in the driver’s seat.  Now if I choose to have foods that are not the most nutritious choices too often then “my engine” will not run as smoothly.  If we believe in maintaining and or preventative maintenance of our cars, then imagine how we could consider our bodies in the same light.  My choice is to feed my body the healthier foods the majority of the time so that it too will “run” well & consequently, I just plain feel better.  That makes the treat every so often even more delightful. 

It is still a hoot to see a dog behind a wheel. Keeping with the health, choices & doggy analogies for a moment more…we feed our goldie the most nutritious dog food to help her to live a healthy & long life.  That is our hope.  We want to give her the best possible chance at having a long & happy life.  Left to her own devices,  jokingly we will say that if she had thumbs she would eat absolutely anything that she could get her paws on.  We help her to make the healthiest choices therefore.  She receives treats yet they are not the main staple of her diet because we love her & want her with us for as long as possible.  It is about choices & we get to make them for ourselves.  It is a decision that I make each day about giving myself the best possible odds at having a healthier & longer life too. I like the odds better for myself when I eat in a healthy style & exercise.  If we are taking best possible care of our pets & cars & are convinced of the merit to that, then how about our own health?  It is cool that our cars & pets can remind us to best “maintain” ourselves. 

 Having a dog in the car next to us in parking lots  remind us that we are the drivers in our diabetes management may also seem a little funny.  I hope so.  The neat thing that I have found over the years is that often within humour wee nuggets of wisdom are there waiting too to be found.  Two paws up for that!

Smiles, Saundie J

Thank goodness a million times over for those unsung heroes in our lives that love us on the great days & on the days that are not so good.  It is a blessing that I do not take for granted having a supportive & loving team that are my “365” day unsung heroes.  They see me when I am well or having “one of those days” that we all have from time to time. 

You know how they always say you need to have a buddy system in place when you go swimming.  That is for safety for sure & makes excellent sense.  It is my absolute belief that folks with “365” health challenges also need that buddy system.  For some folks, it may be for safety reasons.  Sometimes, a chronic illness faced alone can be extremely overwhelming.  Having a “battle buddy” who cares about what is happening is an incredible blessing.  For some folks, the buddy may take on the role of helping with learning about medications or even dispensing the medications or going to the store to obtain needed supplies.  The buddy could be an advocate.  They could be a gentle giant who goes with you to your doctor’s appointments or specialist appointments.  Maybe it is someone who makes you a cup of tea & snuggles you after a rough day.  Some battle buddies are there to tell you a wee joke & get your spirits back up.  Others inspire us by the way they live their lives with meaning & kind gentleness.  The common denominator if you will pardon the pun is the 365 days a year that the main battle buddy loves us unconditionally. 

Thankfully, I have drafted a good number of battle buddies over the past 5 years.  There are a couple of reasons why I made a decision to have a team of battle buddies instead of just one battle buddy.  Those that care for us need a break.  It is my feeling that those that love those of us with either diabetes or any other “365” chronic illness absolutely need & deserve to recharge his or her battery often.  It is a lot like being a parent.  If we go & go & go running for our children & don’t stop to recharge from time to time, patience can dwindle & the energy we bring to the activities just plain decreases.  We would not let our cars run out of gas so why would we let either ourselves or our main battle buddy run out of gas/steam either. 

My main battle buddy is my Dear Heart husband.  He is a quiet, caring “thinker.”  If our main battle buddy is our life partner, then it is good to realize that that person may feel helpless on the days when you are not feeling at your best.  It has occurred to me that those are also the days that understanding on my part go a long way in re-energizing my battle buddy for the day.  That comes in the form of a simple thank-you for caring or understanding or showing such love. 

Along the journey over the past 5 years, I have also learned that sometimes main battle buddies don’t know what we need since needs do change.  It is not fair for me to expect my buddy to guess from one day to the next.  I refer very endearingly to my husband as “the mathlete” since he is very “math savvy.” Thinking through math comes naturally to my main battle buddy.  When I was first diagnosed, my husband was constantly downloading my glucose meter & making impressive charts & giving me impressive advice based on the numbers.  At that early stage, I looked him in the eye with a smile & said, “I know you care but I am not ready to analyze data & look at this illness through math but I sure would love a hug.”  It was not long before I truly appreciated the “mathlete” contributions too & started indeed analyzing the numbers & making different decisions accordingly. 

Sometimes in life, you need an equation & other times a hug.  Letting our battle buddies know which type of day it is helps so much.  And sometimes giving our main battle buddy time off can be as simple as grabbing the leash & taking our furry friend for a walk.  Our pets make great additions to our team of battle buddies too…they are not going to do the math (ha! ha!) yet they sure make a difference too.

My hope is that each one of us blessed enough to have a main battle buddy gives him or her time off too to re-charge & that we show our care & appreciation right back to them…in the form of a hug.

Smiles, Saundie J

Have you found that learning always continues in one form or another throughout life?  How cool is it too that our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friend’s children teach us some pretty neat things too.

Part of the classroom of life involves determining what is truly important.   I get to choose what is important.  It is a fast paced world so keeping the “truly important” can be a challenge at times.  Once a month, I take a small chunk of time & set it aside to see if my train has derailed.  It is easy to have happen yet if we make course corrections along the way, the train does not get too far off the track. 

Now this may sound unusual, however my most introspective month is November during this chapter of my life.  It is the month that I intensely appreciate family, friends, home, community & life.  For me Diabetes Awareness month is a “more than” month.  It is about gratitude for the dear people most of all.  This November, I made the choice to plan sharing time with Dear Hearts.  You know what, there are so many Dear Hearts that it is great to know already that this sharing is going to go into December as well!  This month more than any other month, I made the decision to suggest specific dates to meet up to share time instead of “oh we should get together soon.”  The intention of getting together soon is genuine however sometimes the “soon” can turn into a very long time.  When I have asked myself over the years what is truly important, loved ones always top the list.  Love is an action though so it was very important to make sure that I show my Dear Hearts that they are treasured by sharing time together.  Time together is a precious gift & I do not ever want to regret missing an opportunity to tell “the bees” in my life that they mean the world to me. 

I have always been sentimental yet I have found that time & diabetes have intensified this.  To me being sentimental means sharing my heart & time.  November is also the month with Remembrance Day in it.  Every year, I am thankful to the soldiers who fought & fight still courageously.  I remember my grandpas throughout the year & November, I think of them with such a heart of thankfulness.  They built families & passed on a legacy of love.  I love sharing stories of both grandpas with our boys.  It is part of their story & through this, they can get to know their great grandpas too.  That is another truly important thing.  Through the stories of family & their legacies, I believe that our sons are learning so much right from their grandpas. 

My sons in turn teach me important lessons along the journey too.  Last March, Brian (our second born son), came home from school & announced in his matter of fact way that he had told his teacher that we are now “walkers”.  I had been in the habit of driving the boys to school in the morning for several years.  Mornings are hectic for most folks whether you are a parent or not.  The first thing that went through my brain was, “oh man, no way are we going to be able to walk in the mornings to school since it is already a struggle to get there on time when we drive.”  That frame of mind lasted 5 minutes.  After that, I reminded myself that I choose daily to think in “I can terms”.  The next thought was although it would mean getting up even earlier & changing the morning routine that Brian was onto something here.  The morning exercise would be a healthy choice for all of us & the time walking together would be a time where the boys could share stories & hand me oodles of acorns & arrive at school hopefully in a positive frame of mind to start their day.   Our dog thought it was a great idea too needless to say!    Now, she was getting an extra walk into the day as a bonus.  From a diabetes perspective, the extra exercise especially in the morning meant that I could take less insulin & the insulin that I did take was more “productive”. 

As an aside, a mentor once said to me that “it takes 21 days to form a new habit”.  Once we made the decision to commit to being “walkers”, I made sure that I reminded myself that I needed to give this new routine 21 days in a row.  Okay, the first 10 days were challenging however after that, it was a new, better habit & that was great news!

Thank goodness learning never stops & thank goodness for the wisdom of the lessons that the generations share. 

Blessings for a lifetime of learning from the Dear Hearts in your life too!

Smiles, Saundie J