When I moved house a few months ago, I did some serious maintenance in my bookcase. The books I love moved to the ‘hall of fame’ and the less nice ones I put on sale or gave away. This means that there is now room on the bookshelf in my new house for some new books! So since I found myself a good excuse to buy new books, I started looking for books on diabetes. And I found some very interesting books that I would like to share with you!
Read moreYesterday it was five hundred days since my diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. At times it feels like I’ve had diabetes for years, but at the same time it feels like yesterday. A few days ago I looked back at the first article I wrote about diabetes. I scrolled through it a bit but didn’t feel the need to read what I had written then. That’s crazy, isn’t it? Not much later the penny dropped. This was typical ostrich behaviour. Not wanting to feel again what I felt back then.
Read moreWho is that beautiful white ball of fluff? That’s hamster Spekkie, our new housemate who moved in last week. It wasn’t so long ago that my childhood dream finally came true, with the arrival of hamster Sniffles. What happened in the meantime, and how we went from having hamster Sniffles to having hamster Spekkie? It’s a long story. Let’s start at the beginning, the very beginning.
Read moreWhile walking to the metro station I smoke a cigarette and then a few hours later around ten o’clock I take my first smoking break at work. This is followed by about three or four more smoking breaks and in the evening, on my way home, I smoke another cigarette. It’s strange that just over six months ago my days looked like this. I can still remember that when I lived in my student room, I woke up and had a cigarette in my window frame first thing in the morning. In the meantime, I have quit smoking for six months now and it is going better than expected!
Read moreIn the month of November, extra attention is asked for diabetes. There is a collection in November and the media also ask for extra attention. Today, Saturday November 14, it is World Diabetes Day. It feels strange, but it does feel like we’re all connected all over the world. I’d also like to ask for some extra attention, not because I’m looking for more understanding or kind words, but because the disease, especially type 1 diabetes, is still unknown to some or is very much underestimated. Therefore I would like to share my emotions, which I experience or have experienced in the past seven months since my diagnosis.
Read moreOn holidays, I usually turn into a bookworm. Last holiday in Lisbon, too, I was often to be found by the pool with a book in my hands. Since then, I’ve been getting the hang of reading again! What I like most about reading is not only that you get carried away in a story, but also that you build up a relationship with the writer and in some cases you start to appreciate the writer’s style more and more. As a result, you often find yourself wanting to read all the books by the author in question. That’s when you know you’ve got a favourite writer on your hands!
Read moreIn the past year, I have been visiting the physiotherapist regularly because of back and shoulder problems. During these visits, some adjustments were made and then I went home again. When you spend 40 hours sitting at a desk, it is logical to think that this is the cause of the problems. But once I was referred to a Mensendieck therapist, they looked more closely at the cause of the symptoms, such as my posture. It then turned out that there was a completely different cause for my symptoms.
Read moreIn the past few weeks, I have received many heart-warming messages. Both online and offline. Only less than eight hours after being admitted to the hospital, my friend Irenka was standing in front of me with a balloon. When I got back home I received a number of cards, e-mails and comments on my articles, even though it was sometimes difficult to find the right words. Thank you all so much again, I really appreciate it so much! Often I was told that I am so brave, that I am doing so well and that I am dealing with it in such a positive way and people were a bit shocked when I told them that I was already back at work again.
Read moreI would love to thank everyone personally for their kind and encouraging messages, but that would take me a while. So hereby, thank you all very much. I appreciate it enormously and had never expected so many kind replies. It does feel a bit silly, because I still feel like I’m in a kind of phase of denial. Yes, I have diabetes, I know. And that is it. Apart from that, I try to think about it as little as possible.
Read moreIt is now half past seven and I am sitting upright in my automatically adjustable bed. Next to me there are two friendly ladies. I think so, I haven’t spoken to them yet so maybe they are not friendly at all. Anyway, they can snore like the best of them. Although I have tried to put in my earplugs, that didn’t help much. I am woken up every few hours for measurements and in between I sometimes feel very sad, because it is just too much.
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