Outside of the Drs and nurses, dieticians and podiatrists and everyone else involved in our healthcare there is a hugely important role played by those people in our lives that might not have formal health training but nevertheless have a role just as important (more in my opinion) than the aforementioned professionals – our friends and families.

That said, since this will be one of my last posts on the blog, I wanted to properly take a moment to acknowledge the people in my life, our lives, who make living with Diabetes that much easier, who listen when we need to bitch about it, laugh about it when we do and strategise when it comes to that too!

My partner

I don’t know about you guys but personally, I am a very lucky man in respect to the understanding and support I get from my other half on the Diabetes front. Every day I know that I can rant and rave and curse about my BGs and be listened to, that I can not talk about it for weeks and that’s totally cool, that some days I’ll come home from work and have a dinner ready complete with CHO counted so I don’t have to worry and much, much more. There is NO WAY IN HELL that I would be here doing as well as I am without that support

My parents

When I was a kid, my parents, were an amazing support network for me. They were there when I needed help, stepped back when I didn’t need it (or want it), didn’t barate me for eating bags full of lollies and then lie about it and they let me learn by making mistakes then getting it right next time and never letting me feel like I was limited or constrained. If I couldn’t eat because forgot to take my actrapid they might wait for me and a thousand other little things that now mean that I’ve got fantastic control, have travelled the world from the deserts of Mongolia to the jungles of Thailand and have the right outlook on being a T1 the entire time.

Family and Friends

I’ve generally been very lucky with my mates who I’ve found always treat me as one of the crew. While I certainly don’t thing of myself as disabled the important thing for me as a teenager and young adult was that my family and friends didn’t either. They were aware  but not on my case or over-concerned which made things damn fun at university!

You Guys!

I’ll have more to say about you lovely peeps later

Anyway, if you’re reading this as we approach Christmas (and are thinking about eating that cake, chocolate, dessert and so forth) then take a second to say cheers to the people that put up with our diabetes with us. They deserve a thanks too I reckon.

- Aaron