Another Fabulous Night With The Girls :) and some thankyous :)

Had another fabulous night with the diabetes girls sroup last night :) We baked cakes (and I think cookies and brownies were also included by some people :D). Atmosphere, as always, was amazing. I seemed to spend all night being very loud and laughing a lot, and lets face it, its one of the best ways to spend a night really isnt it?

I'm at clinic next week, thing is, I'm a tad nervous, the doctor I saw last time said that after this time they're going to start moving me into the transition clinic where all the big scary adults go. From what I can gather, they do it very carefully and consientiously though, they start introducing the doctors from the adult clinic to you while you're still in the setting and with the doctors from the children's clinic, and it is all done gradually, but still......

Anyway, in light of this, I feel I have a few people to thank as far as my diabetes care since I was 4 has been concerned. I have met some wonderful people through being diabetic, nurses and doctors, and I've never forgotten a single one of them, and I have loved them all. I'm not going to name names, because it would be wrong to post them not knowing whether they would be ok with it, and also because it might identify me aswell and I'm happy being annoynomous at the moment.
I'll start from the begginning:

 1) There was my first GP who initially really buggered things up by not listening to my mother, and then using an adult needle on the arm of a 4 year old stick thin girl and stole my blood :(, but after his amazing amount of bugger ups treated us so well and was really apologetic. And I always loved him, he always used to hug me and call me baby McDonald, I never got that for a long time, then I was told it was because of where my mother worked when she was pregnant with me.

2) My first ever specialist nurse from the hospital when I was 4. This was the wonder of a lady who when I was first diagnosed and cooped up in a hospital bed, she allowed me to practice doing injections on her leg (my mum used an orange, I was using her leg), I love her for doing this because she was the person who taught me how to inject myself before I'd even left the hospital, and I was just 4 years old at the time, and i;ve done my own injections ever since. I loved her from the start, and she only ever got better as I got older. She was lovely, sympathetic when I was upset, but otherwise so matter of fact about everything, she never took any rubbish from anyone no matter who they were, she was absolutly a figure of strength and she always made me laugh when I saw her. She retired just before I left where I used to live, I wish her a very happy retirement, she deserves it, she always seemed to know what was best for her patients, and she told them straight aswell.

3) The first ever doctor I remember having, a wonderful wonderful man, who if im not mistaken ended up working for children in Africa. He was fabulous, one of the nicest men I have ever met, and I'm surprised I remember him because I didn't see him that many times before I left and I was really young. He was wonderful though, I often wonder what he is up to now, it would be nice to see him again.

4) The Dietician (if thats how it's spelt) one of the loveliest people I have ever ever met in 17 years of life. When I changed to the basal bolus regime, it was her who taught me all about carb counting and what I was doing. When I hit those teenage years and decided that I didn't like my weight anymore, it was this fabulous lady who consoled me and made me feel better. Not a malicious bone in this lady's body, she's amazing.

5) Usually, my specialist nurse, the dietician and the lady I'm about to mention worked in a trio when I was little. Not entirely sure what this ladys title was, but I saw her actually more than I saw my specialist nurse (who always seemed to be on holiday when I went to clinic.) She used to take my BP and height and weight ect, the problem was that she always made me laugh, I couldnt help but laugh when I was with her, which ultimately sent the results of my BP all daft, but I didn't mind. She took a real interest in me as a person aswell as just me as a diabetic (well they all did but this lady in particular) and she's just totally and utterly wonderful.

6) When the other doctor wen to Africa, I was given a new doctor, who was equally as lovely. A little hard to understand at times, but very very nice, he had the patience of a saint, i was always asking questions, which he always answered to the best of his ability and I'm very thankful for it.

7) My first time in the clinic at the place where I currently live was a scary experience at first, the hospital is bigger, I didn't know any of the people there, and I was really rather petrified. And then they kind of threw into my path someone incredibly amazing (who incidently runs the girls group with another fantastic lady who I will mention in a second). I dont know how to describe her really, just that I'd stepped into the room not quite knowing what to expect from this new and scary hospital, and was then presented with the least scary person I have ever known. One of the most helpful people I think I have ever known aswell. Just genuinely lovely.

8) I met number 8 (I dont really like giving these people numbers, but I'm not mentioning names so please exscuse the numbers here) a couple of weeks after meeting number 7. I was rather confused to start with, I'd heard nothing about her and the first I knew of her was when I was told by my dad that she was coming to see me. At first I thought he was talking about number 7 and had gotten her name wrong, he wasnt. A family counsellor (I think), shes just lovely, very funny, it was her idea for me to go to the girls group, I think at first as a confidence boost, and though technically I'm a little older than they originally opened the group for, allowed me to keep coming along because I slotted in well, and made some good friends there and was there really from the groups begginning, and I thank her so much for the emotional support and the fact that I have the privilage to be allowed to this fabulous group that really makes me smile every time I go there :)

There are more people I need to thank. And I will. Just not right now because this laptop is about to die and I arent near my charger, so I'm going to wrap this post up fast and post another one later with the other people I need to thank on it. Thankyou to all those mentioned above, and I'll post something soon :)

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx