[lemonadelife_blog]

I’m currently in Orlando, Florida at the Roche Diabetes Social Media Summit (more on that tomorrow!). Throughout this week and the beginning of next week, a few folks in the diabetes community have chipped in to help babysit Lemonade Life. I’ll have a couple of posts this week, but mostly you’ll be hearing from some awesome bloggers who are ready to share their story with you.

Today, I want to introduce you to Kaitake, an up and coming diabetes blogger from New Zealand. While I have not had the pleasure of visiting New Zeland, my fiance Erik spent a semester there studying abroad, so I jumped at the chance to have Kaitake share her story here at Lemonade Life.

Hi there, my name is Kaitake (well, that’s my blogging*name anyway) and I am honoured that Allison wants me to guest post for her! Thanks*Allison. (Editor: You’re welcome!)

I am an old hand at diabetes (T1 for 22 years, Dx at 5yrs), but still a noobie at this*blogging thingymajig. It has been absolutely mind blowing to connect with folks*around the globe going through similar situations to me. And it has restored my faith*in myself and the world at large.

So, about me. Well, you already know that I’m diabetic. Did you know I live in New*Zealand? The land of the long flat white.*:P*Or that I’m married to a wonderful fellow 18 years older than I? Perhaps you didn’t*know that at 27 years old, I am a step-Mum to 3 delightful kids, the eldest of which*has just got his drivers licence!

What made me start blogging? Well, Hubby and I have decided we wanna start a*family. Together. Our own kids. Only one little problem was a little operation Hubby*had while in his previous marriage. So my blog chronicles our achingly-slow progress*through doctor’s visits, and eventually, we hope, IVF.*Of course, diabetes always wants to be centre stage, so it’s made things “interesting”*for me. My diabetes care team (Endo, diabetes nurse, GP, dietician) went into*overdrive as soon as I dropped those 3 little letters into conversation: I.V.F. It would*almost be funny if it wasn’t so disastrously serious.

They started seriously looking at my blood sugars. Talking about getting an insulin*pump. Loaning me a CGM. All this stuff I’d only ever heard of in American diabetes*blogs. It has been overwhelming just considering it. (These things still seem too*distant, like a flying car or something. I’ve only ever seen one insulin pump, and that was for less than 20 seconds!)

New Zealand is a lovely country, and the health system on the whole seems*reasonably fair. Most people here don’t have health insurance. Don’t need it. The*health system gives me nearly free access to all my doctors, and all my prescriptions.*However that means that expensive stuff like a pump, or CGM are pretty much out of*my reach because they’re not funded.

But maybe, if I get pregnant, my doctors can magically loan me some of these fancy*gadgets? They all agreed that I would need a pump. Fine, but one thing that struck*me was how I was getting all this increased level of care – suddenly – but only since I*told them I wanted to get pregnant. It seems a bit strange to me that my doctors would*only actually start taking me seriously once I plonked a possible pregnancy in their*laps. Shouldn’t all diabetics, no matter what stage in life, get the same care? Care that*includes medical professionals talking together and working together for the good of*their patient. Treating their patient like a human being and even a friend. And striving*to provide the best possible care no matter the cost? Wouldn’t that be lovely?

Prior to all this IVF stuff, my diabetes care felt like it was just coasting along.*Throughout my childhood, I had what my doctors called “perfect numbers”. They*were always incredibly happy. I got consistent low HbA1c tests. Everything was*good. Once I became a teenager things started to gradually unwind. Although I stillattended all my appointments, I no longer had any contact with other diabetics. I was*too old to go to the diabetic-kids camps which I had enjoyed. And living in a small*city meant there was not a single other diabetic kid at ANY of the five local high*schools. Or if there was, I sure never met them!

My doctors were not much help, they didn’t understand what it was like to be a*teenager with diabetes. I was trying my best to look after myself, but I honestly had*no useful diabetes-related education for about ten years. I was basically treating my*teenage diabetes using tools and techniques I had learnt mainly from my Mum, when I was still a child.

All this meant that my HbA1c gradually climbed up to an all-time high of 8.1%

Two things have enabled me to get back to 6.7%. I credit both the fact that I told my*diabetes care team about my baby-makin’ plans (and they subsequently started to*actually do their jobs!), and secondly, I would NEVER have made such incredible*progress without the support and knowledge from the D-OC.

I didn’t know what an insulin-carb ratio was. The diabetic bloggers knew! I had no*idea what was involved in a diabetic pregnancy. Several lovely ladies were writing*about that very thing! I wasn’t sure what I was doing was diabetes “best practice”*anymore. My new friends around the world gave me help, tips, and encouragement.*I have found that I am in a special little sub-segment of the diabetes online*community. There are not very many folks out there talking about diabetes and IVF.*My challenge to myself is to find more of these people and learn from them.

Allison’s post about how we define ourselves made me think about my life. I am a wife, a*daughter, a sister, and a step-Mum, a diabetic, a designer, a gardener, an amateur*photographer, and now I can add labels like “infertile” and “ttc” to that list. It’s*very interesting and has made me stop and consider my life. I’ve recently been*made redundant, so I’ve had plenty of time to think. I have decided I am happy, and*anything else will just be gravy.



Beautiful photograph, Kaitake, and thank you for sharing your story!


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