Party tricks and food

One of TD's party tricks is that she can wiggle her ears.  It's a family trait passed down from her father's side, and quite impressive to those of us who don't have that level of facial muscle control.

Another party trick is that she can tell you exactly what she ate on any given day for any meal since Christmas 2014.  Admittedly, she will need a moment to look up the info in one of her ten food books, but the information is all there should anyone be interested in such trivia.  We have kept a food diary for TD since diagnosis.  Initially it was a life-saver for us bewildered and frightened parents.  Suddenly mealtimes had to ordered and measured and carbs had to be counted, and we had to make sure TD was getting the right food matched with the right insulin dosages.

Almost three years on and we still write in the book every day.  The format and function have stayed basically the same, but we have expanded the information to include anything notable that happens on a particular day.  So an entry may include "Bad day at school" or " Sleepover at friends." or "Knew she was low - shaking badly"  or even "Celebrating her distinction in music."

All this information is useful - we are able to see how food, stress, life, illness and particular situations influence glucose levels, and we are able to see where adjustments (of food and/or insulin) need to be made.

It serves another function too.  Everyday we sit down and chat to TD about her day - what she ate, what she injected, what the next day holds, how she is feeling - a general catch up. (Not that we didn't talk before - rather this is The Practice of Communicating.)

So there are ten volumes stacked in my cupboard creating a history of TD through food.  Food plays such a pivotal role in our lives - it is a form of communication in itself.  We share meals with friends, express our love and concern for others with a hot meal, celebrate achievements at restaurant tables, bake cakes to mark birthdays.  TD's school has a bring and share cake roster every Wednesday, because it is A Very Nice School.  Memories often are made up, in part, of tastes and flavours.  Recording all this seems like a good idea.

TD has a few other party tricks up her sleeve too.  She can recite long passages from her favourite books.  She can sing in a voice that sounds like Donald Duck. She can rattle off The Goon Show scripts, mimicking the characters' voices. She can inject insulin so efficiently before eating that you might miss it if you blink.  And she can do all of this whilst wiggling her ears at the same time.

Lowdown on reading

Books play a large part in my family's life.  We have distinctive, but overlapping tastes in literature.  I, for example, don't much like science fiction and fantasy (with a few exceptions).  Our son loves both these genres.  I favour modern fiction, and lately, biographies and recent history.  Andrew likes non fiction, a good crime novel and science fiction.  TD reads most things, voraciously and repeatedly!  Each time she rereads a favourite book, she cries at the sad bits, flaps her hands in excitement (I am told it is called "fangirling") at the soppy bits, and leaves the scary parts to read in daylight hours.  Often she walks beside the character right until the last sentence.

None of us can imagine a bookless environment.

Everyone, I think, goes through times in their lives when reading is more difficult.  It usually has to do with our focus not being able to enjoy fictional worlds, because reality is too imposing or serious.  Sometimes my eyes become mirrors and the images of the words bounce off my eyeballs without being comprehended.  I might as well be reading a foreign script.

This is, I imagine, how it feels to try to read when your blood sugars are low.  Your brain hasn't the energy to interpret the squiggles into words, and words into meaning.  Lows are serious stuff .  Hypoglycaemia (the medical term for glucose lows) has a long list of symptoms, including tearfulness, poor concentration, tiredness, confusion and dizziness.  Everyone is different:  TD's lows often make her giggly and always make her shake badly and go very pale.  Research has shown that, although the glucose number should get back to the normal range within 15 minutes if the low is treated properly, the effects of a low last about 60 to 90 minutes.

TD copes well with lows.  Best case scenario is when she can feel herself dipping and can prevent the low from taking hold.  But this isn't always possible, especially at school.  TD is an excellent student - she is intelligent, conscientious and attentive.  (Also, all her reading means she has an excellent general knowledge and robust vocabulary for debating all those issues she is so passionate about...).  Sometimes I wonder if her educators are aware of the effects of her blood sugars on her day.  A test, for example, written shortly after the low is not going to go as well as one would if her blood glucose was in the normal range.  She would never suggest diminished capacity as an excuse for a less than top grade. But I can imagine that when, at school  the world starts floating past you, words slip off a page and meanings become vague, it would be a good time to show some self compassion.  I admire her so much for taking this all in her stride.

Reading allows me to experience the world in larger dimensions.  It offers me the chance to learn, to relax, to marvel and to explore. Good books are like guides through life's journey.  Uninspiring books are useful too - none of our furniture wobbles.

Road Trip

There has been a lot going on these past few months : TD was sick, her brother left home to study at Cambridge University, her Gran and Grandad have been unwell and the technology project for the term was to build and race a go kart. (And TD was the only member of the group with a working knowledge of hammers, screwdrivers and washers.)  We were all tired, and needed a change of scenery.

So, during the one week school break, the three of us went road tripping.  Andrew hauled out the big map, looked at which roads we had not yet coloured over in red pen (to signify we had already travelled on them) and plotted a route, exploring a few villages and towns close to Cape Town.
Packing was easy: Jeans, t-shirts, swimming costumes, walking shoes and some warm tops, cellphone chargers and an abundance of books.

And ice blocks, cooler bags, extra insulin, emergency glucogen kit, wholewheat bread and cheese for meal emergencies, extra testing strips, one ketone testing strip (well, you never know...) , quick acting glucose sachets, super c sweets, extra needles....  You know - all the usual stuff everyone takes on holiday.  At least everyone who is travelling with T1.

Diabetes takes no holidays.  It is not something we can relax about for a week (or a day) or just decide to take a break from.  It is a relentless disease, unforgiving of forgetfulness, dangerous to tune out.  Holidays or ordinary days, every morning we test TD at 6am, we wake at 2am if needed to check her sugars, we don't skip meals.  None of this bothers us in the slightest.  I suppose we no longer see diabetes as a disease, rather as a new way of life.

The road trip was lovely.  We stood on the beach at the southern most tip of Africa, we spent a whole day at the natural hot springs soaking up sun and catching up some reading.  We ate delicious foods.  We listened to all the latest trendy music (Thanks TD for the compilation!).  We recharged our batteries, missed our son, basked in the wonderfulness of our surroundings and made memories that will last forever.