My in-laws gave me a beautiful cherry tree for my birthday last year. We planted it in the middle of our garden so we could see it whenever we are in the back part of our house. A couple of weeks ago, after a particularly brutal day of blistering heat and blustery winds, all the leaves were torn from its spindly branches.

I looked out the kitchen window and saw it standing there completely naked and thought that I had killed it.

Today, it is covered with new growth and is looking gorgeous. I didn’t kill it. It just needed a little time to recover from the nasty weather and some space to regrow.

It’s autumn here, so the colours are starting to turn and as I drive home down a stunning tree-lined boulevard, golden leaves trickle down onto my car. I want to jump out and stand in the middle of the road and twirl in the leaves, which would be dangerous given that there are trams and bikes and cars. But it is so lovely.

I love watching the seasons change. I love that the red-golden-brown of autumn is just hitting here as the spring starts to hit my friends in the northern hemisphere. Friends in the UK are posting photos of daffodils and US friends are showing photos of sprouting gardens, devoid of snow. And I looked at our fireplace the other day, thinking that it wouldn’t be long before it would be crackling each evening.

We’re already over half way through March and I am pretty sure that the year will be over before I know it. And there is so much going on in the world of diabetes all the time, all over the place.

Dexcom app

Earlier this week, my US friends were all abuzz with the excitement of the updated Dexcom G5 App which, amongst other things, displayed BGL data directly to their Apple Watches, rather than the push notifications that we currently get.

I hungrily searched to find if the update had been – or was about to be – launched here in Australia, but unfortunately, it hasn’t as yet.

I am not sure when it will be here. I am not sure if it will be here. But I am bloody frustrated that it is not here now – especially considering I bought my Apple Watch in June last year for this exact purpose.

Diabetes, infertility and pregnancy loss

Kerri Sparling is a dear friend of mine and I was so pleased when she made public her exciting news last week. I couldn’t be happier for this darling girl and her family.

She bravely wrote about the infertility she had been dealing with for a couple of years and the miscarriage she experienced in the middle of 2015. I say brave because pregnancy loss and infertility is still something that is shrouded in stigma and shame. And it shouldn’t be.

When I miscarried for the first time, before the kidlet was in our life, I told no one. I was so ashamed and felt hopeless. But I decided after my second miscarriage that I would talk about it. In some cases, people were quite uncomfortable with the candour and honesty I shared. But for the most part, women were glad I had opened up and they shared with me their stories, too.

While I was certainly doing it to help with my own healing, I was also doing it because I didn’t want others to feel the same isolation and shame that I had felt.

Thanks Kerri for using your considerable reach to bring light to this issue. Infertility is terribly difficult to manage. Diabetes makes it even more so.

Diabetic Living Magazine

Check it out – I’m in there!!

Patterns

I have a love of patterns. Stripes, of course, will be my first love and rarely a day goes by when I am not wearing stripes of some sort somewhere on my body.

But I have also developed a love of many other patterns, including anything with a nautical theme, spots and gingham.

And today, I am rocking a new argyle patterned patch around my new sensor. Rockadex is an Aussie company started by a mum whose child has type 1 and offers a great selection of patches to help keep CGM sensors holding on.

Megan from Rockadex kindly reached out, offering to send me some samples of her product, but I’m a big believer in supporting small business, so I declined. And purchased some for myself. My order arrived within a couple of business days and a pile of gorgeously coloured patches tumbled from the envelope when I tore it open. Today, I’m rocking an argyle patch. Details about the product and how to order can be found here.

Rocking my Rockadex patch.

Rocking my Rockadex patch.

Huge world

We hear all the time that social media makes the world feel very small and how we are connected with people from around the globe at our fingertips. I say it all the time. I believe it.

Except when I don’t. This week, I am really feeling the distance between my friends in the northern hemisphere. Despite tweets and Facebook posts and even a video message, I really wish I could sit down and have a cuppa with them right now. It’s a long time until June – the next time I will be visiting the US – and even longer until September when I will be in Europe. Sometimes, distance does really suck.

For no particular reason, I wish I could feel the embrace of those friends across oceans – literally not just virtually – for a bit. I feel like I need those stores built up at the moment.

Living Well

I’m returning to my old stomping ground on Saturday, presenting at Diabetes Victoria’s first Living Well event for 2016. The event is focusing on going back to basics and there are two separate streams – one for people with type 1 diabetes and one for people with type 2 diabetes. Read all about it over at the Diabetes Victoria blog. And come along and say hi – I’m speaking on a panel in the type 1 diabetes stream!

Beautiful writing

The lovely Annie Coops always writes so, so beautifully over at her blog and this story about her diabetes diagnosis is stunning.

And more

There was an interesting piece in the New York Times over the weekend from Allison Bond, an internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. She wrote, most eloquently, about reading patients’ obituaries gives a lot of perspective to treating doctors. There is much to love and quote from her short blog, but this particular thought caught my attention – and my breath in my throat:

‘So when patients do pass away, their obituaries are a gentle reminder that behind the illness lies a story and a unique human being. This is something that is easy to forget, but vital to remember.’

If only it didn’t take death for healthcare professionals to remember that.