Adventure D launch: come and be part of it

When I fist posted about the start of Adventure D, a project my brother, Chris, and I had started, we were taking a gamble as to whether or not people would agree with us that people with diabetes should have more opportunities to get shoulder-to-shoulder and try adventure sports.  As it happens, we didn't need to worry so much.

Our first weekend, a Learn to Kayak weekend, being held at CYE Sailing Centre in Chichester Harbour, is filling up beautifully...but there s still space!

To explain a little more about the weekend, it is a learn to kayak weekend on 12th - 14th September, which will take you from basic to advanced skills, with freestyle games sessions included using the techniques you've developed.  All equipment and tuition is covered in the cost of the weekend so you would just need to bring yourselves and some basic personal must-haves which we can tell you more about.

The weekend will include a talk on exercise and blood sugar levels from Lead Diabetes Specialist Nurse Claire Pesterfield, who has type 1 herself, and who has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro!  She will give advice and information on the effects kayaking is likely to have on blood sugar levels, to give you an idea of what changes you may want to consider making to your insulin dosing.  This will be put into practice on the Saturday and Sunday across three sessions.

 

Food is all covered in the cost and will also include any hypo treatments you may need over the weekend, as well as there being 'hypo stations' in case sugars drop throughout the day.  The food will also be carb-counted to make everything just that touch easier. In the evening there will be some free time to explore local pubs or chill out in the 'snug' which is a mini cinema style room on the ship.

 

The accommodation is amazing and probably unlike anything you may have seen before.  You can see photos here, at the bottom of the page. The TS Resolute is a multi-purpose floating accommodation vessel with two decks; the lower deck containing the accommodation and snug (cinema) and the upper deck housing the conference room with 180 degree views out over the harbour.  Rooms are new, clean and bright, and all have en-suite facilities.  The cabins have ample room for two people to a cabin (which will be single sex unless you know each other and choose to stay in a room together) allowing you to get to know other people with T1 from the moment you arrive. 

 

The cost of the weekend including all the above is £150 pp which, as mentioned, covers tuition, accommodation, food and the informative talks.

There is still space so if you feel like joining the group for a fantastic weekend, just get in touch at info@adventure-d.org.uk

See you there!

Animas Sports Weekend 2014...

I've been talking about what an incredible experience the Animas Sports weekend is for two years in a row now, and you can find my rave reviews here, and here.  This year, I wanted to shake things up a little.

This weekend is one of the most looked-forward-to events in the diabetes calendar, and I'm running out of ways to say how great it is.

This year the talks were incredible, the people were inspirational and the weekend as ever, was one you don't want to miss.

Thank you to all the incredible people who let me have access to their photos, including all the twitter folks, Animas and Rachel, for letting me show you what the weekend is like through everyone else's eyes.

So check it out, here.

And for Triathlete Terrence Teixeira's top 3 tips from the weekend for understanding diabetes and sports, check out his video here.

How do I tell him...?

Thanks to the wildly inaccurate media reporting of type 1 diabetes (and at times, even type 2) there can now be a minefield of social stigma and misconceptions the size of a moon-craters to wade through when trying to talk to someone about your diabetes.  If you are lucky, the person you are talking to will have an open-mind and the willingness to learn.  At worst, you may have a battle on your hands.

But there is one time when being able to explain your diabetes really matters; to someone you might be getting into a relationship with.  While they should also perhaps be the ones most willing to learn about you and your many facets, they are probably also the ones who you want more than any other to understand you - truly understand you, their view untainted by the damage we all know the media can create.

Recently one of my Independent readers contacted me to ask me about exactly this situation. Having got talking to someone she likes, she's now trying to cross 'the diabetes talk bridge' and needs your help. How to drop it in conversation?  When the best time is? What to say? And how to replace years of wacky reporting with our version of events?

So ladies (and gents), to help out a fellow DOC member trying to navigate this sometimes tricky road, how did you start that conversation with your significant other?

Have you heard...

of the GB Doc? 

The GB Doc (Great Britain Diabetes Online Community) was born in 2012 when one person had the vision to create a community of people affected by diabetes.  Where?  On Twitter, Wednesday nights at 9pm (GMT). 

Want to join in?  Then create a Twitter account and meet us here. We can run through the how-tos and what-nexts, and you too can get talking to bucket loads of other people affected by amazingness.

I have been asked to guest post now and then over on the GB Doc site, so here is my latest about what the GB Doc means to me.

Big love,

AP