Hello all and welcome back for the new year!!!

I hope that you all had a safe and happy festive season and that we’ll get to hear about some of the things that you all got up to over the coming days and weeks…

It was nose to the grindstone for the second half of December for me at work so I was more than pleased to be able to have two weeks off over the last fortnight. I think I needed it more than I knew and it made me realise the effect that stress has on my BGs (which I actually already knew but had forgotten). We ended up having 9 adults and 8 little ones over at ours for Xmas lunch on the 25th which was a first for me and my fiancé and gave me a profound appreciation for the organisational/cooking skills of my parents! After that we went camping for a couple of days in Tapapakanga regional park east of Auckland before setting off to the Coromandel for food, friends, wine, guitars, camping, rain, beaches and a fat dollop of fun!

Actually, it was the best New Year that we have ever had.

I got spoilt rotten by my other half with a fine stocking stuffed with Turkish delights, Lindt, sherbet, licorice and other treats which I’m still eating my way through, got a garden hose that I desperately needed from my Dad (tragic I know) and donated some money to Life for a Child which I think is an exceedingly worthy charity. The best present I got though (sorry family!) was a contribution from the Auckland District Health Board towards the cost of buying a pump! Yay!!!! It took about a year, was hard work and took LOTS of patience but I’m absolutely thrilled that it came through so if anyone is thinking about the cost and that they can’t afford it then don’t despair – there are organisations/people that can be approached for financial assistance and I’d be more than happy for you to contact me to get a pointer in the right direction

Diabetes wise, I think that things could hardly have gone better. As Nic said about Christmas day my levels were good and I even managed not to sneak any of Aunty Pat’s caramel sauce while no-one looked (hence avoiding a 20+ BG).

Other than that, I was swimming a lot while I was away and now have a nice 50c sized white spot on my stomach where the cannula was the day I got crisped which is horribly embarrassing, had quite a few hypos from swimming all day and not yet having a hang on how to do the whole exercise thing and discovered that I was less bothered about being on the beach with a tube going into me than I thought I might be. In fact, I expected lots of questions, strange looks and stares from people but in the end, not one person other than the group that I was staying with said anything at all which was really lovely.

New years came and went as it tends to do and my first official BG of 2009 was 3.6mmol/L which didn’t exactly thrill me but it did immediately generate my first resolution which was to get even better control. After that I decided to keep doing more stuff like the camp I’m going to this weekend, writing for www.beingbiabetic.co.nz, donating to Life for a child and getting involved with other such ’stuff’. Plus I get married in April. Then, once I’ve got a handle on things I want to start exercising again cos I’ve pretty much stopped.

Last year was a really good ‘diabetes’ year for me and I’m truthfully looking forward to what 2009 brings to the plate. Of course, I’ll be here often enough telling you what I’m up and I hope that you’ll stick around to read it and find out.

- Aaron