We've just returned from a great two weeks away. This year we gave the kids the choice of three different holidays. Options included a fortnight by a beach, a short break in Switzerland, but the winner was a combo of a week in Ironbridge in Shropshire, followed by a week in the Lake District.
Holidays are always a bit of a juggling act diabetes-wise. You are completely out of routine, you eat out far more often, wine flows, ice creams and treats beckon.
Thankfully Lantus continued to behave itself back in its morning slot. Staying in the UK meant there were no pesky time-zone issues, though I did have to gradually shift my injection time to suit our more relaxed holiday breakfast timing. Thankfully my first blood test of the day was pretty much spot-on most days. I even managed a little experimentation with post-breakfast spikes. I've settled on a new slightly higher insulin:carb ratio taken 20-30 minutes before breakfast, depending on my fbg (pre-breakfast) level. An hour or two after breakfast was mostly in the 8-10mmol/l region which compared to some recent disastrous readings felt pretty good.
The other thing about holidays is all that great wandering about you can do. Ironbridge is absolutely packed with things to look around, and it's almost impossible to visit the Lakes without doing some kind of walking about. The benefit of this, of course, is that you can sneak an occasional ice cream or cake to keep your levels up, without having to worry about injecting. Either that or I just gradually worked my way through a pocketed packet of Fruit Pastilles during the day. At Blist's Hill (the Victorian Town museum close to Ironbridge) I even managed to win a Sherbert Fountain by knocking it off a shelf with a pop-gun at the Victorian funfair. Initially I was a bit disappointed that these now come in a plastic tube, rather than wrapped in yellow paper, but the benefit was it lasted in my pocket until a wander around Ambleside and Skelwith Force.
I'd forgotten all about Sherbert Fountains... Hypo prevention has rarely been so much fun. It was like being 8 again.
AS you say, wandering around Britain has a lot going for it. Particularly the chance for ice creams and sweeties without needing insulin as well. Last summer, we had a family gathering in Peak District for mum's 70th birthday, and a visiting American cousin treated everyone to ice creams after a walk up Dovedale. Have walked, cycled, canoed round Ironbridge and Lake District many times, and just finished walking solo along Hadrian's Wall. "No such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing"
ReplyDeleteWalking solo along Hadrian's wall sounds amazing! (must have had its own challenges it you are diabetic yourself). Only been up there once, on honeymoon, but it's an amazing part of the planet. Stirring stuff.
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