I’ve had three loves in my life. That’s not the secret, just a fact, so keep reading. I’ve had three loves in my life. One’s dead. One’s married to another man. One’s out there living his life having no contact with me. His choice, not mine. I used to say that this man was the man I should have married.
This man drew and framed this gift for me:
The secret is that I’ve kept this all this time. Looking at it every year at around Christmas time.
I’ve kept this all this time, since he drew it in 2004 and looked at it every year at around Christmas time. This is my secret. I’ve realised that by doing so, I’ve kept the love for this man close in my heart. But as I’ve said to many others:
You can’t live in the past.
So I’ve decided to finally let go of this framed drawing. In doing so, I will also release the love for this man from my heart. He is no longer the man I should have married, but the love that I let go.
I have a number of men in my life, in fact they are some of my favourite human beings. They inspire me with their kindness, compassion and wicked sense of humor. These men include:
Papa who is a wonderful listener and has a very dry sense of humor.
Colin from the family that has unofficially adopted me. Colin is fatherly and wise; he is the father that I wish I’d had growing up.
My brother Neil inspires me with his emotional resilience and loyalty. I will always remember his face of absolute child-like joy when jumping in a bin at mum’s to compress the rubbish.
My brother Shaun for always taking life in his stride and never being afraid to make changes to make his life. One massive change he made led to more happiness all round and it no doubt took a lot of courage to face the truth: that neither of them were happy.
My friend Simon inspires me with his ideas, his unique perspective on life and the faith he has in me.
I always feel like the younger soul with these men. But one that they will always nurture and protect.
Today is World Diabetes Day. People often struggle to understand diabetes and particularly type 1 diabetes which isn’t linked to diet, weight, a lack of exercise or age. So here’s a video from Diabetes UK that explains type 1 diabetes simply:
Approximately 400,000 people are currently living with type 1 diabetes in the UK, with over 29,000 of them children.
Incidence is increasing by about four per cent each year, particularly in children under five, with a five percent increase each year in this age group over the last 20 years.
Type 1 diabetes affects 96 per cent of all children with diabetes in England and Wales.
Around 85 per cent of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have no family history of the condition.
Although it used to be referred to as ‘juvenile diabetes’, around half of newly diagnosed cases are in people over the age of 18.
The UK has one of the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world, for reasons that are currently unknown.
A person with type 1 diabetes will have around 65,000 injections and measure their blood glucose over 80,000 times in their lifetime.
Diabetes is a chronic long term health condition that requires a lot of management. For example I:
Inject insulin 4 or 5 times everyday.
Check and record my blood sugars before meals and two hours after meals.
Check and record my blood sugars before and after driving.
Finger pricking to read my blood sugars 8-15 times per day, prior to my Freestyle Libre (more on this below).
Count the carbs in each meal.
Have retinopathy screening, podiatry checks, annual reviews (with both my GP & Endocrine Consultant), see Diabetes Specialist Nurses and see Dietitians. You can only begin to imagine the number of health appointments I have in a year.
Having diabetes can be frustrating at times, as any little thing can affect the amount of glucose in my blood. Things that affect my blood sugar include: physical or mental illness, diet, exercise, the weather, even the amount and quality of sleep I’ve had.
Management and treatments have mostly stayed the same since I was diagnosed with diabetes. It often feels like I am trying to minimise the damage that diabetes causes to my body until better treatments are developed or until a cure is researched and widely available.
The biggest change to diabetes treatment in the last few years is the Freestyle Libre sensor for blood glucose readings. This my Consultant has described as revolutionary and I have to agree with her to a point. This means no finger pricking (unless unwell), but it is only half a job. Next diabetics need a pump that works with the Freestyle sensor to administer the right amounts of insulin automatically.
What’s your experience of type 1 diabetes? Leave a comment below.
Following on from the success of last year’s some unusual Christmas gift ideas, I decided to do some more unusual Christmas gift ideas this year. So here they are:
Remember not to get into debt for Christmas. Just spend what you can afford to spend.
Take care and write soon,
Antony
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Saturday 9 November 2019
About
Antony Simpson - Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.
Author of eight books.
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