World Diabetes Day 2013

My daughter is excited about World Diabetes Day this year.   

She made postcards similar to the one above to send to 5 people around the country.  

She's wearing blue from head to toe (almost...she'd now like a pair of blue shoes).

Her second-ever instagram post went up last night.  She posted an image reading 'wear blue tomorrow for world diabetes day!'  

She scrolled through images tagged #WDD this morning, liking and sharing. She was excited to find so many and excited to post her own later this afternoon.

She's intrigued by the idea of buildings lit in blue tonight and other unique events to raise awareness around the globe.

She's planning to do the big blue test in gym.

She likes that there's a day set aside to spread the word about diabetes and why we need a cure.

I love that she wants to do all these things.  I love that she's not embarrassed to advocate for herself and the rest of the people in the world who live with diabetes.

May we learn from her example and find a way to raise awareness today, particularly beyond those who are already well aware of the challenges diabetes brings.

Big Blue Crash

We'd just finished a big family dinner which included a very rich dessert.  There was fun music on.  The grown-ups were washing the dishes. 

"I should do the Big Blue Test," my daughter said.

The Big Blue Test is described on its website as follows:

The Big Blue Test is a program of the Diabetes Hands Foundation that encourages people with diabetes to test their blood sugar, exercise for 14-20 minutes, test again and share their experience on BigBlueTest.org. For every test, people with diabetes in need receive life-saving supplies through Big Blue Test grants that are awarded to humanitarian diabetes charities in the US and around the world, made possible thanks to the program sponsor.

In 2012, Roche Diabetes Care, makers of ACCU-CHEK® diabetes products and services, sponsors Big Blue Test once again, to help us touch even more lives. Be part of the 20,000 people who will do the Big Blue Test this year.

Some good exercise for a good cause sounded like a win-win situation.

"O.K.  You've got to check first and after."

She checked.  "I'm 123." 

That seemed a little odd after the big meal we'd just finished, but I figured she was on her way up.  She went off to have her own little dance party in the living room.  The kitchen timer was set.

Fourteen minutes later, the dishes were about done.  She checked again.  "I'm 48."  Juice was administered and the numbers were logged in to the Big Blue Test website. 

She came up very slowly.  Ten minutes later, she was 58.  More juice.  Ten more minutes.  71.  More juice.  Were we overdoing it?   Perhaps, but bedtime was nearing and I preferred to give a little extra juice and correct later, than to wake her up in an hour. 

An hour after starting to dance, she was back up to 102 and ready to get tucked in.  Later checks reassured us the numbers had evened out.

We proved the Big Blue Test's premise that exercise lowers one's blood sugar.  More importantly, by submitting our results we generated a donation to help people with diabetes here and around the world. 

We'll do it as many times as we can between now and its conclusion on November 14th, World Diabetes Day.  I encourage you to do so as well.  Our participation will help generate funds for some fabulous programs.  And focusing on the effect of exercise on blood sugar might give us some helpful insights as well.

To participate, visit www.bigbluetest.org.