I was out at dinner with Aaron and some T1s last night and as we re-counted some of the stories and anecdotes we’d heard at the conference I was even more assured that it was a worthwhile investment of cash and time to head down to Nelson for the weekend for the Diabetes Youth Conference 2009.

Over the next week I’ll do a few posts about the talks I enjoyed the most, but I thought I’d kick off with a jumbled-up one with all of my random thoughts in it. Here goes:

• A 7am flight means you’re probably going to have to get up at 4:45. When 6.5 months pregnant this does not come as easily to you as it did when you booked the flights at 5 months pregnant.
• Nelson is one beautiful city.
• You’ve not read the signs wrong at Nelson airport if you’re going to pick up your baggage and end up outside: you actually stand outside to collect your baggage. With anyone and everyone from the town who happens to be standing there with you.
• Don’t ever leave Aaron a long message on his phone because he’ll delete it before getting to the end. His Nelson-resident brother had left a car for Aaron at the airport for him to use during the weekend. Due to afore-mentioned deleted message, Aaron had no idea what make of car he was actually looking for and ended up cruising around the carpark til he found one with keys on the wheel. Then, as he hooned off, he momentarily wondered if it was in fact the right car, and pondered the possibility he could get pulled over by the police for stealing a car.
• It’s best if you don’t adjust most of your basal rates upwards the afternoon before, because you will spend most of the first day of the conference in and out of hypos in the late 2s.
• Don’t expect that, because it’s a diabetes conference that there will be diabetes-friendly food. The first morning tea we were served consisted of lolly cake, chocolate brownies and all other manner of sugary treats. Not that we can’t have those things these days, but I think there was a lot of carb guessing and correcting going on after that one. Likewise all the mini pies, quiches and sausage rolls at lunch time – there were quite a few raised sugar levels in the afternoon after that stodgy lot too.
• Professor Elliott is a certified legend, and he’s funnier than I thought he would be in person. He had everyone riveted, and one of the U.S. guests was so excited by what he heard he disappeared to his hotel room straight after the Prof’s talk to Skype his parents in California.
• An estimated cost of being a diabetic over a lifetime is one million dollars.
• You can differentiate pig insulin from human insulin in the bloodstream.
• There is an ever so scant hope that the pig cell transplants will be available commercially from 2011 (this may be a tad optimistic though).
• It is hard, hard work being a parent of a child with Type 1. Really hard. Times that exponentially if you’ve more than one.
• Different kids in the same families deal with their diabetes in totally different ways. I met a Mum from Masterton who had two kids who each got diagnosed after their 11th birthday. The older son is all over the place, the younger daughter is very diligent, probably a little too concerned with it.
• Most people with Type 1 really wish that there was a bigger distinction (preferably a different name) for the condition to differentiate it from Type 2/lifestyle diabetes.
• People are completely lovely to you when you’re pregnant. I got loads of great tips and didn’t actually find anyone pushed in with unwanted advice. Great to hear from quite a few Type 1s who are already Mums.
• Psychological health is intrinsically linked with physical health.
• The new Accu-chek Nano blood testing device from Roche is damnnnnn sleek. They’ll probably cost around $80-odd but they are one of the nicest looking diabetes products I’ve ever clapped eyes on. And they’re small! (coming out in October I think).
• The conference is definitely pitched more at the parents of diabetic youth than the youths themselves.
• A pump is definitely not the silver bullet: nor is it for everyone.
• We were all mad jealous when Elissa Renouf told us how she got three or four pumps for free on her Aussie medical insurance in one year. I think there were several of us contemplating if it would be worth moving to Australia for (my conclusion: nah).
• You have to take a heck of a lot of stuff with you when you travel with diabetes.
• Even though people mainly talk of a T2 epidemic, there is definitely an upswing of diagnoses of T1 in NZ. In the 70s there were 5 cases per 100,000 people per year. Now there are 20.
• NZ has really high rates of T1 when charted globally.
• Dr Craig Jefferies from Starship is pretty funny (and spoke well). I’d be happy if my kids were under his care. He seems to really want the best for his kids and indeed is getting the best average HbA1cs in the country overall.
• Beer is the better alcohol choice to avoid hypos.
• Driving hypo is as bad as, if not worse than driving drunk.
• Elissa Renouf of Diabete-Ezy is an amazing woman who deserves a medal for caring for 3 x T1 kids (two of whom also have coeliac) and one T1 husband. She spoke really well and had a hugely positive attitude. And all of her kids are beautiful!
• Doug Burns (former Mr Universe) is a funny guy (and very American. He may have had his jeans belted up a little too high). He funded part of his own trip to come to the conference.
• Those of us in big cities in NZ should be very thankful. Diabetes in the rural areas is really hard work – and you run the risk of getting blocked in by the weather when you need to get to a specialist the most.
• Ketoacidosis sounds like the worst thing ever. I’m very thankful I’ve never had it (how I avoided it I’m not that sure….)
• GPs really don’t get a lot of training on T1.
• I used to be a bit jealous of the Americans getting their pumps ‘for free’ via their crazy health insurance system. Now I’ve heard how things can get so ridiculously bound up in red tape I’m actually thankful for the system we have here. Sean Busby (professional snowboarder) was in extreme ketoacidosis several times (eight to be precise) before they diagnosed him with diabetes, and because he was in Colorado and not within a 20-30 mile radius of his parents’ place in California (where the insurance was taken out), he was only able to be stabilised in hospital in Colorado before being flown back to California (at his own expense) for treatment. There were more debacles to follow which I’ll fill you in on when I do a sum-up of his experience.
• Apparently as a visibly pregnant lady you shouldn’t travel without your partner. Poor Aaron and another chap got asked if they were my husband, or it was assumed so at a couple of points.
• Wine gums were the hypo treatment du jour on both Sat and Sunday.
• The Wearable Arts museum has some wicked cars.

That’s all for now – more to come. We met so many fantastic people, many of whom are working so hard to make the lives of kids and adults with diabetes better.