Hope

 Hurray! A new "End of the year" blog to read.

I know, everyone and their dogs are writing blogs to end 2020. A look back at one of the most bizarre, terrifying years in modern history. So many things have happened in the last year, it would be a mammoth task to list them all and an incredibly boring blog for you to read. I'll try to keep it short.

Personally, I've met (on-line of course) a lot of new people and I've been lucky enough to have been offered some new opportunities in the world of Diabetes. 

Early on in the pandemic, I spoke about Covid-19 and Diabetes on BBC Radio. It was a fun experience. I haven't listened to the interview but I'm told it sounded fine and I came across well. I've spoken to reporters before and I'm always happy to give the perspective of a person living with T1D. 

I think it's important to hear from people who aren't considered "famous". Their stories are often more relatable and just as impressive to me as any well known person. On the It's Medicinal podcast, we've recently started talking to people from the #GBDoc community who you might not know much about (I promise to publish part 2 soon, Gwynnie) and I hope we can talk to more in 2021 despite three busy lives, Harvey, Jules and I will try our best to create more.

The year saw #EnoughNowDoc appear on Twitter as it became apparent that some men have been sexually harassing women in the diabetes community. The disgusting behaviour of diabetes advocates abusing their privileges caused an uproar both openly on Twitter and within group chats elsewhere. My hope is that such individuals are never welcomed back into what should be a safe place for everybody. They will certainly never be given the time of day by me.

As the pandemic dragged on, conferences and webinars sprouted up. I attended several and was offered an involvement in a couple, sadly I had to decline or withdraw from those but I certainly enjoyed taking part in others as an attendee and will continue to do so in future - hopefully in person as well as on the Internet. The brilliant Diabetes 101 provided many free Tweetorials about various aspects of living with diabetes. Thanks, guys! And, of course the #GBDoc Tweetchat continued, every Weds evening at 9pm with a variety of subjects discussed by different hosts.

I've been a part of the Tweetchat team for almost 2 years and I've witnessed it flourish. I'm 36 years down the road with T1D but the "chats" often throw up new things to me. If you don't take part then you really are missing out.

#GBDoc has also seen the many little "clubs" form, recently. I started the #GBDocQuiz which is still running, monthly, today under the stewardship of the Tweetchat account. Fantasy Football has been a fun distraction, too with 30 teams taking part in the #GBDocFF league. Elsewhere there are GBDoc Stitches for you creative types and a book club.

In the last few months, I've been delighted to use the GlucoMen Day CGM. I firmly believe in transparency when it comes to health related tech, provided for free or as part of a "paid for" deal. With that in mind, for every contracted tweet in relation to GlucoMen, I used the #Ad hashtag and kept a pinned tweet on my timeline. I'm very grateful to Glucomen for the opportunity to use and talk about their CGM. My tweets about the tech have always been honest and my own words.

It has indeed been an interesting year for me in regards to diabetes. Did I mention my best ever HbA1c yet?...

So, we head towards 2021 with the dark cloud of the virus hanging over us. Missed friends and family, especially at Christmas is tough for many of us. But! There is hope! There has to be hope otherwise I'd be screwed for a title for this blog.

The creation of a vaccine is truly incredible news and proof that we, as human beings, can overcome what appears to be insurmountable. Those of us living with T1D for a while already know that. It seems the vaccine will put an end to this virus, it's disruption, misery and grief. It'll just take a little time. My hope is that time won't be as long as we thought. Never give up hope. Life rarely stays the same when we look for and find solutions to our problems.

Thank you for reading this little blog. Merry Christmas to you all and I'm sure we'll all have an amazing 2021 with a new-found perspective and joy for life.