You might be wondering why my website has had a blue theme today. Well, that's because November 14th is World Diabetes Day, and this is my little contribution to the event.

As someone who has had numerous infections and a very slow healing wound (19 months), diabetes has definitely impacted on my life. I feel fortunate though as this is minor in comparison to the impact others have had to deal with when it comes to diabetes. Sure, it might seem like it's just the latest buzzword because so many now have it, but when you stop to think of the TOLL it takes on these people - it's sobering. Loss of sight, loss of limbs, kidney failure, dialysis, slow healing are just a few of the top of my head.

At the moment, I'm thinking about my kids because they are more likely to develop diabetes, and my oldest is already concerned he may have it. And worse, he's in America and poor so I have deep concerns that 1) he'll put off getting tested because of finances, and 2) how he'd be able to afford to keep track of his blood sugar levels if he is diagnosed with diabetes. I have a few spare meters and could send him one but it's the strips that are so ridiculously overpriced over there.

Where I am in Australia we have the NDSS (National Diabetes Services Scheme), which a friend of mine helped get started back in the 80's. No one in Australia has to struggle to afford required items like testing strips, syringes and other supplies because these are all available at very reasonable cost, thankfully.

One other thing I wanted to share about diabetes is that there is a lot of support online these days for diabetics and anyone touched with diabetes. One of those supports is TuDiabetes where I have met the most wonderful people that are now part of my every day online life, through their Tweets on Twitter and fascinating blogs. Because I love them all, I can't just say that any one of them is my favourite - but these guys live the life and ROCK because they share their ups and downs with the online world, and have done so much to educate others and ... they crack me up at times too. I'd also like to give SugarStats and mention because it can be so helpful for those trying to keep track of their glucose levels. I'm using my own system these days, but if for some reason I couldn't, this is the site for being able to record your stats and really get a good look at trends and such.

So here's a short list of people with blogs you should read - or you can follow them on Twitter. They are amazing people and I'm so glad they're now part of my life. Here goes:

• Kerri Morrone Sparling - SixUntilMe | @sixuntilme
• George - The B.A.D. Blog | @ninjabetic
• Landileigh - Landileigh's Little World | @landileigh
• Manny - Ask Manny | @askmanny
  Manny is the founder of TuDiabetes
• Marston A - SugarStats | @Marston
• Allison Blass - Lemonade Life | @amblass
• Bernard Farrell - The Diabetes Technology Blog | @BernardF
• Chris Bishop - The Big D | @bishop1073
• Mollie & Jackie - Curemoll | @curemoll

Honorable Mention:

• Jenni Prokopy - ChronicBabe.com | @chronicbabe
  I learned about ChronicBabe.com from Kerri (above) and have been a big fan ever since. Although Jenni's not a diabetic, her site is all about babes like me who have any kind of chronic illness.

My other contribution to World Diabetes Day was wearing blue, and when I had my dressing change I mentioned the day to my nurse and talked about the TuDiabetes website. As she sees many diabetic patients during the day, she would be likely to pass on the info to others who can benefit. Even if people just go home and search the web for diabetes and find so much in support - that's a good thing.

The dressing change went well, and Raelene had set up to do measurements today so I have a nifty pic of how big the opening is - which isn't very big at all... next week we'll take a photo of the actual side - which isn't much to look at either. Can't wait till it's all stitched up! :-)

We did our weekly grocery shopping and stopped in at the cheap shop to pick up a few kitty related items. I had a hunch that Cow Kitty wanted a litter box - mainly because she kept trying to make use of my plant boxes and I've nurtured these boxes for ages now, and really don't need Cow Kitty undoing my efforts. I was right too. Yay on hunches. The box (and the cat) are outside, but as long as she's not digging in my plants, I'm happy.

Rod dozed off on the swing out on the patio this afternoon and apparently it was contagious. I lied down to take a 20 minute nap (even set the timer on my phone) and ended up getting a couple hours sleep in. I knew shopping would probably be all I would be up for today, and well, I guess I was right.

I'll keep this theme as it works better than the other one I'd been using, but tomorrow I'll return it to it's purple/pink state. It's much more understated than the other theme though.