It’s beginning to look a lot like World Diabetes Day. Facebook pages are being turned blue, people are asking is to wear blue and blue circles are appearing everywhere. How November 14 has come around again is beyond me.

So with lots happening this week, here is a quick look at a few things I’ve been seeing in the diabetes interwebs.

The bit where I am ashamed to be an Australian

Yesterday, I read a piece in The Guardian that made my heart break and my brain explode in equal measure.

A woman with diabetes being held in a detention centre on Narau is currently 40 weeks pregnant. Doctors on the island have urged that she be moved to the mainland to receive the care that is required of what is considered a high-risk pregnancy however the ‘medical officials’ (whoever they are) are refusing to do so.

Pregnancy with diabetes can cause problems for both the mother and baby if specialist care is not given. Babies frequently need to spend some time in the special care nursery as they are born with (or develop shortly after birth) low blood glucose which requires monitoring. Mothers often require extra care at the end of the pregnancy, with healthcare professionals keeping a very close eye on the placenta.

Our immigration minister, Peter Dutton, calls this a ‘racket’ and is refusing the doctors’ calls to move her. My heart breaks for the mother and baby. And for Australia. What sort of country am I living in?

Rolling my eyes at concerned healthcare professionals

On page two of today’s Endocrinology Specialist Update with a story about has come out with a story about hacking diabetes devices. Of course, the article highlights how ‘… some doctors and health experts are cautious about the idea of patients taking matters into their own hands’, a comment that made my morning coffee spurt out of my nose.

The president of the RACGP believes that the dangers of such practises would outweigh the ‘perceived’ benefits. He also encourages that ’ … It is important for patients to have a conversation with their GP about any patient-led monitoring system or treatments they use’.  

Not sure about any of you, but my GP – and remember, he’s a good one who understands diabetes – would have the first clue about what CGM is all about, let along how it can be hacked to share my information with friends and family.

Great work RACGP and other HCPs in catching up on this. Nightscout (CGM in the Cloud) has been around for a while now, so this really isn’t new information. Its (closed group) Facebook page has almost 15,000 members. This is just another example of healthcare professionals being clearly out of touch with PWD and what we are doing to live as best we can with this stupid condition.  Also, #WeAreNotWaiting for device companies or healthcare professionals to do this for us. Because if we did, it would never happen.

Melissa Lee uses words that make sense

Every word of this brilliant piece by Melissa Lee is important where she writes about diabetes being a punchline. This is such a balanced post (published on diabetes magazine, A Sweet Life) and I urge you to read it and forward it on.

From now on, along with sending copies of the Diabetes Australia Language Position Statement to anyone who writes something careless about diabetes, I think I’ll link this too. Thanks, Mel. (The only thing that could make this better is if you were to sing it. Could you do that?)

You want some hope?

Here you go. Read this update from Kerri Sparling about the iLet Bionic Pancreas.

In Melbourne? Want to do something for World Diabetes Day?

Come to this on Saturday and celebrate WDD with other people with type 1 diabetes.

Wear Blue

I was reminded of this fun little video that Cherise Shockley made a few years ago. So get your blue on and raise some awareness about diabetes this week and for the rest of the month.

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