I always wanted to travel. I never wanted to be diabetic. Yet, I woke up at 26 untraveled with “late onset Type 1 ‘Juvenile’ diabetes”. Now I couldn’t have my cake or eat it. In fact, it was highly advised that I just avoid cake in general for a while. This made me think about a couple of things very quickly:
1. What kind of expression is “have your cake and eat it too”. If I have a cake of course I am going to eat it! Who in their right mind bakes a cake just to look at it. If you want to bake something just to look at it get into pottery and get away from desserts.
2. All those dreams I had of backpacking across Europe or trekking through Asia are shot. -Don’t worry all you Type 1 travel hungry (and cake hungry) diabetics, all is not lost.
3. How convenient that I spent every year of my life from age 18 to 23 obtaining a degree and license as a Registered Dietitian. Now if only I had gone for my certificate as a CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator)...
This month is the 2 year anniversary of my diagnosis and I live in a van (a purple 1999 Toyota Previa to be exact) working and traveling around New Zealand. Like any good millennial, I began this journey by searching the web for advice or, let’s be honest, a “how to” guide for traveling with diabetes. I found very little. After diving in head first I’ve decided to share my experience the good and the bad. I hope this helps other “chronically diseased” “insulin dependents” to quit their day jobs and road trip indefinitely.
No comments:
Post a Comment