Finding the chase and cutting to it

Given my last couple of posts, it was with some dismay I approach my half yearly review. Yet, my Hb1Ac (that’s glycated haemoglobin to the uninitiated or how much glucose has stuck to a protein in my red blood cells) came back as 6% (or 42 mmol/mol) which is a stunning result given what’s been […]

I truly hope you are well. And this is not your state of affairs at the moment… As a type 1 diabetic, it’s really easy to see your own body as a war zone especially when your beautiful control goes awry for any reason. (Actually, I love this from pinterest, although it seems to have […]

Like many, I am sitting here with a cold: the first nasty cold of the season. I get immunised against flu each year, so I know it’s just a cold. Viral, but limited in its impact to my upper respiratory system and of course my head. It’s not a pretty picture and from the look […]

I love proverbs and adages, for me they encapsulate our collected knowledge to some useful sound bites.  I love this one from Lao Tzu: The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.  It’s much older than that phrasing, as seen above, and for me it ties in with the idea you cannot judge a […]

I’m a night owl, have been ever since I was born. My peak part of the day (and when I have the lowest insulin requirements) is just after lunch. (Image from wikipedia, photographer is Thomas Roessler). This is not at all compatible with having a serious career and indeed as a young teenager, I felt […]

There are 67 days before I head down to London and do the Prudential ride for the JDRF. According to fitbit, I am now “good-excellent” in terms of my general fitness although I have put on a little weight the past few weeks (bad hay fever, so have been adjusting my basal rates rather than […]

As a type 1 diabetic, life can seem very unfair despite some fantistic legislation which should give us a fair playing field. I should be protected by law when my blood sugar impacts my behaviour: I keep good records and can demonstrate where my blood sugar varies outside the norm. However, in practice, this is […]

Over the past few months, I’ve been discussing reducing our energy footprint and especially our bill. Really this is about achieving the best bang for your buck and is one of the reasons the world is looking to incentivise reducing our carbon and other emissions. We were lucky and did this early enough that we […]

We moved house 6 years ago (almost to the date) and got a bit of a shock when our first month’s energy bill came in – our electric bill was £101.  For a month. My friends are all groaning at this point, as I tell of how I sat in the kitchen looked up to […]

My name is Sam J Watkins and since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1977 at the age of four I have been bone crushingly tired. This phrase was used by a politician returning to the Scotish Parliament after the birth of her child. I had a baby in 2000 and the lowering […]