World Diabetes Day

Today is World Diabetes Day. This year's focus is on Children and Diabetes - a topic that is close to my heart as... well... I spent a good chunk of my childhood as a diabetic.
Here are some hard-hitting facts about diabetes and how it relates to children.

I often get caught up in the way diabetes effects my life: hassles with insurance, paying for this and that, paperwork, having to overthink what I eat, feeling guilty about the foods that I should maybe avoid, the drudgery of routine. The first few of my concerns are actually good things - I have coverage for my drugs; I'm not like the millions of American diabetics who don't have coverage and, as a result, let their control slide. Still, I'm only thinking within North America - we are developed countries and still having concerns about where the money for medications is going to come from.
In developing nations, they simply don't have the money or even the access to the basic medications.
Even worse, they often don't know to properley care for their diabetes.
The worst case is that in many places, they still don't know enough to get diabetes even diagnosed.

I will stick with addressing the concerns I can actually help - I will inform those around me.
Getting my insulin pump will be the perfect opportunity! Using a pump in public is a great spring board for people to ask questions. I can tell them all about diabetes in general, the pump, some of the advocacy and programs that got the pump covered in Ontario.
Excitement.

Since my pump training starts next Friday, today was the last Friday that I will spend without an insulin pump at my side. Tonight is the last Friday night that I will sleep without a pump attached to my pyjamas.
This is actually quite exciting - I will be quite reflective this week. I've been on needles for as long as I can remember, and I've been carrying an insulin pen around with me since high school. It's been so integrated into my life, and now something else will take it's place. It's kind of sad in an odd sort of way.