I know I’ve been a bit quiet recently but I’m back on my travels to see for myself what the diabetics, er, I mean people with diabetes are getting up to.  I arrived at Matt’s house a while ago, I’ve had a nice time settling in but we’re up early today so I wonder what he’s got planned?  Oh I see, it’s a bike ride – this should be fun.  Matt mutters something about… in honour of my presence it’s going to be a long ride.  He’s certainly wearing some strange clothing – stretchy shorts with padded bits, shoes with metal clips (he says they’re called cleats) on the soles, a jersey that says Team Novo Nordisk and a helmet.  He’s stuffed his jersey pockets full of energy gels, flapjack, a banana and malt loaf (not your typical foods for a diabetic) and filled two water bottles but he also has his other essentials (spare tubes, pump, tyre levers, phone and cash) in the saddle bag plus his diabetes things – meter and insulin pen and Libre reader.  Matt has a Libre sensor on as he says it will help him keep track of his levels.

Now, where's the bike?  Oh what's that?  The bike is not a tandem, where am I supposed to sit?  Hmph, that's not very dignified - Matt has tied me to the handlebars!  I suppose I'll get a good view and with my crown on I don't need to wear a hlemet.  Before we set off Matt attaches the Garmin GPS device which will record all the ride details, it's a bit like a car satnav.  

Wooahh, that's a bit scary going down the steep bits, I think I prefer going uphill as it's not as fast.  Even the flat parts are a bit quick for me.  We're soon out of the town and in the countryside and I'm starting to really enjoy the ride.  As we turn off the main road it's very quiet riding through the Cheshire lanes with lots of nice things to see.  Matt stops occasionally to swipe the Libre reader and check what his blood glucose is doing, from time to time topping up with one of the treats from his jersey pockets.  I glance at the Garmin and 30 miles is up already.  We carry on and arrive at a place called Mickle Trafford near Chester - the Garmin is now reading 53 miles.  We carry on through Chester, thankfully not on the busy city roads, we're on a very nice tarmac cycle path heading towards the Welsh border.  We head off the path onto the road to reach the border itself.  The Garmin reads 60 miles.  Rydym yn croesi dros y ffin i Gymru a pharhau am ychydig cyn troi rownd ar gyfer y cartref daith.

As we pass MIckle Trafford we stop at a very nice cafe.  I seem to be attracting a lot of attention from people at the cafe who are staring at me which I think is a bit rude.  Anyone would think they hadn't seen a pink fairy before!  Matt orders something to eat but says even after 30 years of Type 1 diabetes - exercise, eating and insulin are a tricky combination to get right.  I hope he knows what he's doing as I don't want to be the one pedalling home.

After finishing at the cafe we set off again to carry on back home.  

On the way back Matt tells me there is a professional cycling team of Type 1 diabetics called Team Novo Nordisk.  Cars passing by probably thought it a little strange he was talking to a pink fairy – but what do they know?  I’d noticed Matt’s wearing the team jersey.  Does that mean he’s part of the team?  Mmmm, I’m not so sure about that.  He looks a bit old to me and he doesn’t seem quick enough to be part of a professional cycling team – shhh, don’t tell him I said that.

There are also other professional sportspeople with diabetes including footballers and rugby players.  We all know that exercise is good for everyone but I’ve learned that is particularly true for diabetics although I hope you don’t have to go this far each time you go for a bike ride.

As we head towards Goostrey, me and Matt give a cheer as the Garmin display goes past 100 miles and from what I can remember on the way out we only have about 25 miles left to go although some of that is quite steep uphill.

I’m getting a bit worried because from the sounds he’s making I think Matt is starting to struggle a bit so I offer some words of encouragement.  Well, really….there’s no need for that!  Rude words and blaming me - the diabetes fairy!  He said it was all my flipping fault – although he didn’t use the word flipping.  How can it be my fault? I didn’t ask him to ride all this way.  Oh, erm I see, ….the diabetes.  Well, let’s just call it six of one and half a dozen of the other.  Anyway, I suppose I’ll forgive him as he must be a bit tired - it has been a long day but there’s not far to go now.  We finally arrive back at Matt’s house and the Garmin is stopped on 126 miles – that’s over 200km!!!

Matt’s daughter takes a photo of us on our return. 

Matt then checks the Libre readings for the ride before uploading the all important Garmin data to Strava (a website where athletes record their rides, runs and swims).  Matt has his tea and says he will need to keep a close eye on his blood glucose levels especially through the night and tomorrow and possibly the day after as well because exercise can continue to affect levels for that length of time.  As he uses pens to control his diabetes he will need to adjust both his NovoRapid and Levemir to take account of the exercise.

Well, what a fantastic day I’ve had – all the way from Staffordshire to Wales and back – a total of 126 miles by bike.  I’m impressed - I’ve learned about a professional cycling team and other sportspeople all with Type 1 diabetes.  It shouldn’t stop anyone from achieving what they want to.  Yawnnnnn, excuse me - with all that fresh air and exercise, oh alright then, in my case just the fresh air, I’m starting to feel a little tired now.  I think I’ll sleep well tonight.  I’m not sure what is planned for tomorrow – it can’t be another bike ride can it? DF xxx

We haven’t done much since getting back from Edinburgh, Ally said she was in too much pain and tired from the trip and didn’t want to go anywhere. Today though, she said she was much better and took me to her craft club. They seemed like nice folk but nobody wanted to be photographed with me – must be cos I’m so gorgeous, they’re just jealous. I’m insulted and miffed though, cos I was ignored as they all got on with their knitting and gossiping and joking and not paying attention to me. They made more fuss over Ally’s new lacy scarf than they did over me... Hmmph. The craft club is really busy just now, making more baby clothes for the Highland Malawi Trust as it seems the people out there have nothing and the club sends out donations regularly. Here’s a pic of some of the things that went out in time for Easter.

I got really bored because Ally didn’t want me messing with her crochet again and thought I’d have a look round, I spotted something interesting and climbed the wall to see what it was. It was an Easter mobile thing some of the members had made and in it I found a hoard of chocolate, nom, nom, nom. Now that’s what I like to see. They made it for a special Easter lunch being held for some local pensioners next Tuesday, it’s going to hang over the servery counter as a decoration.

But I didn’t eat all the chocolate, honest. No really, after my sojourn with the green jelly babies, I haven’t room for chocolate too. But that’s a secret, so shhhh. We don’t want Ally to get suspicious... She’s not meant to know what we have planned for her. DF xx

Well, here I am again. Dragged out of my comfy bed at some horrible hour to get on a train to Edinburgh for something called a yarn festival. Goody, I like a good gab. Ally had some fun getting on the train as the staff didn’t know she’d booked assistance and she had to go and find someone with a ramp to help her. I must say, it was nice to be looking out of a window while travelling instead of stifling in a padded envelope, Ally clearly understands how to treat a VIP like me right. I had a lot of questions about the journey, didn’t get many answers though because Ally seemed a bit sleepy and cross.

We had the same problem with assistance at Haymarket once we arrived, but it didn’t take long to sort out and we were soon in a taxi to the festival. Did  you know that yarn means some sort of thread stuff as well as stories? Oh, you did? Well then. There was a riot of colour and noise the Corn Market when we arrived and I’m sorry to say, nobody noticed me, Rolly got a lot of attention which is not fair, I’m far more important.

I got a bit bored listening to all the stuff about knitting and crochet, so I settled down and learned to crochet myself, you can see my wonderful efforts in the middle of the collage below. Well, I am a genius after all.

Ally was given a lovely shawl and a parp, parp horn for Rolly which pleased them both. Here he is modelling the goodies.

It was a long day, so we shared a taxi with some of Ally’s Ravelry friends and went off to find our hotel and sign in. After dinner and  a soak, we settled down to sleep until I was woken in the early hours to hear Ally being rather unwell in the bathroom, apparently it’s my fault – hey I only wanted to be sure she didn’t go too high in the night. How was I to know a hypo could do all that? Ally stayed up for hours testing and eating jelly babies and pressed poor Rolly into service as a yarn holder so she could wind some of the wool she bought.

We finally settled down again about 4am when Ally’s numbers came up from a low of 2.2 to 5.8 and had a good sleep... Finally! Frankly, I could do without all that excitement.

Day 2

After a decent breakfast and decent numbers - Ally seemed pleased with her waking BG of 6.4 - it was into a taxi and off back to the Corn exchange for day 2 of the festival. I made sure there was plenty of sugar available in case of more hypos.

But nothing happened except more present swapping and talking to another lot Ravelry folk. They all seem obsessed with thread and yarn and something called knitting and there was a lot of oohing and ahhing whenever one of them came back with a new purchase.

We stayed till 3pm and then got a taxi back to Haymarket where there was another hunt for assistance. Ally seemed very quiet on the way back and was muttering something about needing spoons. She didn’t ask the tea lady for any though. It was dark on the journey and I was very bored with nothing to do. We were delighted once we reached Inverness to find the assistant waiting this time - it’s a long way down off the train and there’s a huge chasm between the steps and the platform. Then it was into another taxi back to Ally’s home where she went off to bed almost immediately. She hasn’t stirred yet and I’m getting awfully fed up sitting around with nothing to do... I wonder, I’m going to find that hoard of green jelly babies for a chat... See you later. DFxx

This is Ally (AlisonM), I thought I'd let you know I had a phone call this morning. “Ahmur at ra stayshun, come you an get me hame wi ye”. “I beg your pardon” says I, “do I know you?” It seems it's her maj, the Diabetes Fairy, she's spent the last few weeks at the Scots Leid School in Glasgow learning to speak proper Weegian. I have to go now and get her, excuse me...

... Got her, I'll let her take over from here.

Hmmph, so far I'm not impressed, Ally finally showed up to collect me, it seems there was a communications breakdown and nobody told her I was coming today. And, she had the nerve to tell me my Scots accent is worse than James Doohan's*, whoever he was. I’ve never been so insulted. To keep the peace I've gone back to my previous, more refined accents.

We went shopping. First stop, the Victorian Market for a lottery ticket.

This me, riding in style on Rolly. I must say, he's very useful to have around as there was rather a lot of stopping and having a “wee sit down” because of Ally’s aches and pains, I did rather mind having to sit in Ally's lap though, I think I should have a Rolly of my own. Our next stop was Yankee Candles to get a little something to go in with a gift for one of Ally's online pals she tells me we'll be meeting tomorrow in Edinburgh, then we went to the food court for a cup of tea and a wee sit down. We had soup as well, and I kept a look out in case anyone saw Ally test and jab (5.2, she says), but nobody did. After that it was off to Argos for something called a power bank, funny looking thing I can't see where you'd put the money. So it's nothing like a piggy bank then? We had another wee sit down there waiting for the thingummyjig to be handed over.

Then we went to a place called Markies (looked just like M&S to me) where we bought some supplies for the train.

And, guess what we did next? Yes, you got it, we had a wee sit down, lucky the sun is shining today so we could sit outside.

So this is Inverness? Hmm, I thought it was a City, looks like a little town to me and it was very quiet, none of the bustle I expected from a tourist trap. It seems the skiers have mostly gone home while the whisky lovers and ancestor hunters haven't arrived yet. Haven't seem much 'scenery' yet, the town centre is mostly below sea level and the buildings hide the hills. We'll see plenty on the train to Edinburgh though, Ally promised.

Tomorrow we're off to Edinburgh for a couple of days to something called The Edinburgh Yarn Festival where Ally will be meeting some online crafter friends for the first time and feeling up all the wonderful yarns. This is a good n she tells me.

That's it for now, we're exhausted and going to a wee sit down and another cup of tea.

Happy St Pat’s Day (for yesterday. Well, today, really, because I'm writing this today, but I will be posting it tomoorow, which will be today when you read it. Or possibly later.) DFxx

* For the youngsters among us James Doohan was a Irish/Canadian and played Scotty on the Original Star Trek, his cod Scots accent was appalling.

Well, the basal change went ok with Adam’s numbers hovering between 9 and 10mmol last night. This isn’t really in target, but it is better than he usually achieves, and management is all about making small changes and watching to see the effect before changing again, especially basal changes as they can take a day or two to really ‘bed’ in. Ahahahaha, see what I did there? ‘Bed’ in? No? Clearly you’re not sophisticated enough for fairy humour.

Being only recently diagnosed, Adam is still in ‘Honeymoon’ – which means that his pancreas is still periodically spitting out some insulin, and could continue to do so for up to two years post diagnosis. This means his body needs less injected insulin – his daytime basal is only half a unit! – but it also means that small increases can have a big effect so they have to be carefully monitored, and that means a lot of waking through the night for Adam’s dad. He very kindly let me sleep through all of the up and down last night, which is a bit of a relief since we have a busy day – Nursery and then through to the Edinburgh Christmas Market to meet Santa!

Well, what a busy day! The first thing we did on arriving in Edinburgh was go to a restaurant to eat, which can be a bit tricky for us carb counters. Small children are notorious for not eating as much as they think they can (lucky I was around to help ‘share’) and Adam ended up only eating about half of what he was dosed for. I shook my head and disdainfully pointed out that they were going to have problems later, but got a knowing smile in return. Hmmm, there’s something going on there….

Next it was straight over to Santa! I got to have my picture taken with him, and he asked us all if we had been naughty or nice. I said nice obviously, since I’ve been such a saint this year, doing this community outreach and everything, and Michelle said I’ve been so good I deserve a stocking full of coal. Well I had no idea this is considered a good present this far north, and I’d much rather have a spa treatment, but at least she’s making an effort. We’ll be best buddies before you know it!

There were so many things to do at the market – we went on a helter-skelter, a rollercoaster and a carousel! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun, although I did regret eating so much at lunch after all of that spinning around.

We even went ice-skating! They didn’t have any fairy-size skates – how inconsiderate! – and it was very cold anyway so I just tucked up in Adam’s coat and enjoyed the ride. He did well for his first ever try, though my snout was a bit squashed when he fell over! The children really weren’t interested in shopping, but I did get a little peek…

And where is the post lunch hypo I hear you cry. Well, there wasn’t one. In fact, as you can see from the below we had exactly the opposite problem:

Adam gets excitement highs. And today was certainly exciting! His correction doses don’t make a dent in his readings. The three readings were all while he was at the market, and yet an hour after leaving (with no further correcting) he drops back down. This is one of the reasons an insulin pump is on Adam’s parent’s Christmas list. It’s a 12 – 18 month wait at their clinic, so maybe Santa will bring it for next year. Perhaps I’ll throw a little fairy dust his way, grease the wheels so to speak!

And with that, I’m off to my next lovely host. Saying goodbye, Adam was definitely a little bleary-eyed, and I got a big hug. I wonder if my next host will be as glad to see me as this one was sad to see me leave?

DF x

It’s freezing cold here today! There’s such a hard frost we can’t open the car door and the warmest it got all day was -1! I assumed that this would mean we would stay in and stay warm, but ice is too big a draw for kids so it’s scarves on and straight outside! Adam’s blood glucose meter has stopped working though and is showing an odd error message so it’s back home before long. A quick search online suggests a battery problem but the battery is just new, so they look on the forums and lo and behold an answer! The meters don’t like the cold. They’re civilised, like us fairies. Michelle just mutters that things that can’t handle the cold don’t belong up north.

Hold the press! There’s been a disaster at Adam’s house! Cora was awfully quiet which is apparently highly suspicious so we went to investigate and found this:

Cora has broken into Adam’s backpack and eaten all of his emergency hypo snacks! Thankfully the glucose powder he takes is in bottles she can’t open but it appears a ‘babyproof’ clip-lock tub full of biscuits is no match for her determination. Now I understand why all of his kit is kept on high shelves!

After stocks were replenished we went off to Softplay for a little while to burn off some steam. These places are simultaneously heaven and hell on earth according to Adam’s dad – heaven for the kids since they can quite literally bounce off the walls, hell for the adults because of the noise. He says I’ve plenty to say for myself so I’ll fit right in. I don’t know what he means.

In the afternoon we went over to see Adam’s aunty and his cousins Izzy and Tom. Aunty Amanda is very organised and as well as having all of her Christmas decorations up, she has presents wrapped under the tree! I helpfully point out to Michelle that she might like to do the same, but that really, they didn’t need to be so generous. After all, however could I carry all of those presents myself? I reassure them both that I’ll get a forwarding address for my next destination and they can simply courier the gifts.

In the evening it’s the Sunday night treat of dinner and a movie for Adam and Cora. We’re watching The Snowman tonight, very festive.  It’s soon time for bed though – Adam’s Levemir has been increased tonight so that means regular tests through the “wee small hours” as they say up here. I’ll report on the outcome tomorrow – you don’t really expect me to get up and write this stuff at night do you? Err, maybe I’m talking to the wrong audience here…..

DF x

It’s the weekend so naturally I’m expecting a bit of relaxation, maybe a meal out with friends, some shopping, socialising…all those things people in refined society do. It seems that children – and the people that (attempt to) manage them are NOT refined society. We’re up at 6:30am, which is seriously damaging to my beauty sleep, and by 8:30 Michelle and Cora - Adam’s little sister – are out to swimming lessons (really, they should just live there). But for once, I’m not being dragged along. Apparently, Saturday morning is ‘boy’s time’ for Adam and his daddy. From what I can work out this involved sitting about in pyjamas and watching Thunderbirds. At least I’m getting a rest!

But rest doesn’t last for long here and before I know it I’m out to Gymnastics! This is one of Adam’s favourite classes, he gets to climb and run and jump, and has lots of friends in the class so it is a lot of fun. His BG was 5.5mmol half an hour before the class, and I fluttered out my wings proudly at being such a useful fairy and announced that he would be fine to exercise but apparently if he went to class on that number he would certainly hypo, so we give him a little snack.

I must confess, this exercise stuff really confuses me. Swimming doesn’t need a snack before (unless he is really low) but needs an insulin reduction hours later; gymnastics needs a snack before but no insulin reduction and an hour in soft play requires everything be thrown at it! Duration, type and intensity of exercise all have an effect on blood sugars so it can be tricky to work out what to do. I’ve suggested they just don’t bother since it’s so tiring and difficult to work out but Adam’s gymnastics teacher looks horrified and Michelle says exercise is an investment in your health, and nothing is more important than that. In fact, they both think I would benefit from a bit of a work-out so I get to join in the class today!

Phew! That wasn’t as easy as I made it look!

This afternoon I went into space! Not really, but Adam wanted to introduce me to some of his toys and this involved getting a crew together and blasting off to other worlds! Unfortunately we were invaded by a Coralien from Jupiter. We were having a ‘good blood’ afternoon so it was all nice play – when blood sugars are too low Adam is a bit of a misery and when they’re too high he’s a bit of a ‘teenager’. I haven’t met one of them yet, I’m sure they’d love me…..

Unfortunately the good numbers haven’t lasted and Adam’s bloods are 11mmol after tea and up to 18mmol by bedtime so it’s an extra injection for Adam. His numbers overnight have been on the high side lately so it’s time for a review of his nightime basal insulin. (That’s long acting background insulin to any Muggles reading.) He’s been very clumsy lately so Michelle thinks he might be going through a growth spurt. I can’t think why that is relevant but I’m not in the mood for a lecture so I just nod sagely. After all, they know I’m the expert here… don’t they?

DF x