Children With Diabetes Friends For Life Conference (CWDFFL) Archives • D-Mom Blog

July 8, 2013 by Leighann

Going to Children With Diabetes Friends For Life Conference?

Kids First Diabetes Second Book

Will you be attending the Children With Diabetes Friends For Life conference in Orlando this week? There are two opportunities to get your hands on the book Kids First, Diabetes Second.

You can purchase a copy of the book, as well as diabetes-related books written by CWD FFL Faculty, during the “Meet the Faculty” dessert on Friday night from 9-11 pm.

And if you are feeling charitable, you can bid on a basket full of diabetes-related books during the Diabetes Scholars benefit. Two autographed copies of my book are being auctioned off.

Sadly, we won’t be there this year…maybe next…but if you are going, have a great time. And let us know about your experience!

{Disney with Diabetes} Pressed Pennies

Join me this week as I share some experiences traveling this summer with diabetes.

When I found out that we were going to go to the annual Children With Diabetes Friends For Life conference, I began planning a day at Disney.

Of course I took note of ideas on Pinterest. I saw someone use an empty Mini M&M’s tube to hold change for pressed pennies.

Q loves getting pressed pennies when we travel so I started looking for this candy just for the tube. I would eat the M&M’s in the interest of our trip. Well I couldn’t find them anywhere!

In a lightbulb moment I realized that an empty glucose tablet travel roll just might be big enough for quarters.

Q and I dumped the spare change cup onto the counter and began stacking “quarter, quarter, penny” until we had enough to fill the tube, which was 12 or thirteen sets.

Of course our day at Disney was going to be a surprise so I told Q that we would likely see a penny smashing machine somewhere as we did sightseeing.

Out of sight, I decorated the tube with Tinker Bell stickers true to the Disney theme.

It came in handy once again when the entire family visited the zoo later in the summer. I’m definitely keeping this glucose tablet container full of pennies and quarters for our family outings.

Have you ever repurposed a diabetes supply for something totally not diabetes related?

Disney Smashed Pennies

{Kids First, Diabetes Second} July Interviews and Reviews!

I’m excited to share that Kids First, Diabetes Second is available for immediate download as an eBook and the print version ships July 31st! I’ve been busy chatting about the book in advance of it’s release. I have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback, words of encouragement, and support I have received this summer as the book rolls out.

Friends For Life

Q and I attended the Friends For Life conference in Orlando earlier in July and met some wonderful families. We were in the OmniPod* booth in the exhibition hall during our last two days signing excerpts of the book. We shared the booth with Sean Busby and a fantastic magician named Charles.

Sean Busby is a snowboarder who teaches skiing and snowboarding clinics to kids with type 1 and their siblings. During our conversation I learned that he teaches a clinic yearly at a ski resort three or four hours from where we live. I’m totally looking into this. (Though the last time I was at this particular resort I fell off the ski lift. I’m not even kidding. I was fine, but my ego was bruised!) Visit the Riding On Insulin website for more information.

Charles did magic tricks for the kids and even taught them a card trick. Before I knew it, Q was on the other side of the booth performing the trick for onlookers! She said that one of her favorite things from the conference was being in the booth, decorating pods, and handing out frisbies. I think she has a future in sales!

Friends For Life

Diabetes Mine

While we were at Friends For Life we also had a chance to catch up with my friend Allison Blass. She interviewed us for Diabetes Mine. Allison writes a sidebar in the book about finding the elusive babysitter for your T1 child. It can be done, she assures us. If you would like to hear Allison’s thoughts on the book, check out her post on Diabetes Mine: D-Mom Says: “Kids First, Diabetes Second.”

Here is the interview she did of me and Q. I could. not. stop. laughing.

(E-mail and feed subscribers click over for embedded video.)

Blogging Diabetes

I met Tony Rose in person this spring when we both attended a social media event at Lilly Diabetes. Tony was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in his early 20’s. Tony writes the website Blogging Diabetes. If you didn’t know, he also has a weekly podcast, which is celebrating one year of being on the air. Tony has a wide variety of guests on the show and he also shares how he’s managing with his diabetes.

He was kind enough to have me as a guest on his podcast and we had a long conversation about Friends For Life, diabetes camp, 504 plans at school, and of course the book. I think I could have talked to Tony for another hour!

If you don’t subscribe to the Blogging Diabetes podcast in iTunes already, you should. My interview aired on July 26th and is episode BDP 050.

Diabetes Daily

You might know Ginger Vieira from her vlogs that she posts on her site Living in Progress. She’s also the author of the book Your Diabetes Science Experiment.

Ginger writes about the book on Diabetes Daily. Her post shares two excerpts from the book including our diagnosis story and tips for camping, which are timely! In fact we have a camping trip coming up soon.

Read her post Kids First, Diabetes Second on Diabetes Daily.

Diabetes Advocacy

Barb Wagstaff writes the blog Diabetes Advocacy. She and her family live in Canada. Her son has had type 1 diabetes for over 12 years. She read the book and wrote two posts. The first post Kids First Diabetes Second…The Language Chapter is her reaction to and reflections on one of the chapters of the book. Her second post Kids First Diabetes Second…The Full Story is a review of the entire book.

If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can read more on the Kids First, Diabetes Second book page. And if you do read it and find it to be a valuable resource, I would greatly appreciate if you could write a review on any of the online retail sites. Thanks!

{Friends for Life} In Photos

I could probably write ten blog posts about Friends For Life, but here’s a photo heavy recap with some of the highlights.

Friends For Life Conference

Photo collage put together by a child with diabetes each year

Getting a retinal scan. Her eyes were perfectly healthy!

Making diabetes art. Led by the fantastic Lee Ann Thill.

You can do this!

Snowcones…no carb counting or bolus required, FTW!

Stuffing Lenny the Lion at the Medtronic booth.

And putting his heart in after making a wish.

She learned a magic trick from the magician in the OmniPod booth. Then she proceeded to start her own magic act on the other side of the aisle!

It seemed perfectly normal to see kids and adults with pump sites and CGMs.

{Food} Smarties vs. Smarties

I know sometimes Canadian d-moms and dads are confused when Americans say we use Smarties to treat low blood sugars.

Why is that confusing, you ask?

Because in America, Smarties are rolls of small tablets which are pure sugar. Their first ingredient is dextrose, the same as glucose tablets. I always say that they are cheaper than glucose tabs, and a heck of a lot more fun!

But in Canada, Smarties are similar to M&Ms. They are candy coated pieces of chocolate.

I don’t get to Canada often. In fact the last time I was in Canada was during my honeymoon ten years ago. So needless to say I have never had Canadian Smarties…until now.

At Friends For Life we were in the lobby and Q started talking to Team Type 1 cyclist Chris Scully. Chris offered Q a box of Smarties, which we happily accepted and put in our backpack to enjoy once we were back from our trip.

Verdict? I’m a chocolate snob so I thought they were just okay. In all fairness I think M&Ms are a waste of chocolate. The candy coating was crunchier than M&Ms and the chocolate had a bit of a different flavor. But the kids ate them up and asked how we were going to get more Canadian Smarties.

It was really all about the novelty of trying something new. Plus, they were a gift from a new diabetes friend!

Canadian Smarties

{Friends For Life} Crystal Bowersox

At the annual Friends For Life conference there are many “VIP’s” with type 1 diabetes who entertain the kids and hopefully offer up a little “you can do this” inspiration. The majority seem to be athletes, but Crystal Bowersox once again made an appearance. We first saw her perform during the beach party themed banquet. She was kind enough to answer the kids’ questions, even if every fourth one was a repeat of one already asked! After leaving the stage she signed each child’s beach ball.

Crystal Bowersox

I have a very sweet photo of Q and Crystal together, but I’m saving that one for myself. Q is wearing a Klips for a Cure flower in her hair, which our friend Ginger gave us.

Thanks goes to the parent who recorded the performance in the elementary program! She’s singing her song Live Life First, which I hear is about living with diabetes.

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