New Beginnings, New Experiences

Wow, the holidays have already come and pretty much gone. Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year. All the lights, decorations, seeing family you don't often get to see, and for me, meeting my new boyfriend Evan's family and friends. Its such an exciting time of the year that often times things get pushed to the back of our minds with all the Christmas rush and the talk about the new and upcoming year that diabetes isn't always my first thought. With all the candies out on the table, the shortbread, the gingerbread barn that me and Evan made covered in sprinkles and candy, I sometimes realised that I forgot I was diabetic. Its crazy how fast your sugar levels can fluctuate. As a diabetic, I count carbohydrates so the mountain of mashed potatoes on my plate along with all the stuffing and gravy over my turkey can amount to the same amount of carbs in all the Christmas goodies as well so it was really tough for me this year. It was more of a trial and error thing for my first week off from school. I found that my sugar levels would spike from time to time, especially when it came to Christmas jiggs dinner with my moms side of the family. (For anyone who does not know, Jiggs dinner is like a turkey dinner but with a touch of Newfoundland). I felt pretty spacey for a lot of the time, but after the second Turkey dinner I had, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on it. I am still on the sliding scale for the amount of insulin I take, but I decided for the third turkey dinner I had that I would try carb counting and this seemed to work a lot better for me!

Since this is a new year, I decided that I would try to get a little more involved in diabetes awareness as well as being a lot more on top of my diabetes. As most diabetics, we do forget our insulin from time to time, or were out with friends or in my case, boyfriend, and I lose track of time and its then past the time that I usually take it. I am also brutal for forgetting doctors and specialist appointments when it comes to my diabetes, There are things that you can do to help with this, though. I decided to make an alarm in my phone for the time I take my insulin, and I also picked up a date book to keep track of the insulin that I'm taking and all the upcoming appointments I had. At first, I thought date books were more so for moms and older adults who had so much more going on than I do. My boss Jackie from TSC actually influenced me to get one since they come in some pretty interesting patterns and showed me that they're so easy and a good way of looking at what else you have coming up that week. I enjoy using it too, and it makes life so much more organized.

All in all, I just hope that 2013 is a much better year than 2012. Of course 2012 had its positives too, I pray that 2013 is even better! The last year has been quite tough for me with everything going on with family and personal life stuff, but its nice to be able to sit back and breathe for a bit now. My new boyfriend Evan has had a lot to do with it of course, and he makes me pretty much the happiest girl in the world, but I want this year to be a little easier than last. Its always good for new beginnings and changes. Whether is a new boyfriend and meeting his spectacular family and adjusting to their customs, or maybe you're a newly diabetic like I was just a few months ago. Whatever it is, make it count and make it worth it. Theres always room for improvement and changes when it comes to life itself, and its always good to make changes to help better yourself! My holidays this year were awesome and I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas and New Years, even though my mother teased me by filling my stocking with candy & DEX4 tablets! ;)

- Jenn