Letters
Longleat Trip
On Saturday the 26th of October my family and I went on the Snack Pack trip to longleat. During the coach journey, we met lots of other families with diabetes: It was very interesting talking about how other people managed their diabetes and it was good to know that there are other people going through the same thing as you. When we got there, the coach drove through the animal enclosures and we got to see the animals really up. It was particularly good seeing the tigers because they came really close to the coach and we managed to get some great photos. It was very exciting!
After the Safari, we walked round the rest of Longleat as families. There was lots of exciting thing to do such as get up close to even more animals, go on the rollercoaster simulators, have hot chocolate and cake in the coffee shop and look round the old house. There was also a Halloween exhibition going on which is why I ended up holding a tarantula!
We finished off the day with a spectacular fireworks display in time to music, with lots of really big fireworks. It was the perfect end to an amazing day out. The coach journey back was longer then expected due to diversions, but it gave us another opportunity to meet new people, and I think we all would agree that the day was a huge success.
Chloe Betts
Trip to Decoy Park
On Sunday, April 25 my mum and me went to Decoy Park at Newton Abbot for the Snackpack day out. When we arrived at 11am we met up with Barrie and Ellen who run Snackpack and another family. There was time for a quick play on all the playground equipment before lunch. While we were all having lunch together, another family who were new to Snackpack joined us and it was nice to meet them. Their child was called Alice and I had fun playing with her and her friend who came with her. It was a sunny day and we had a great time playing on the play equipment and following the trails around the lake and playing on the climbing frames that you come across while walking around. We all walked all the way around the lake and I had a really great time. They had a kiosk at the playground where you can buy ice creams and I was really happy I was able to have an ice cream as I was running around so much. There is a lot to do at Decoy Park and one of the families brought their bikes so they could cycle around the lake. You can also hire canoes and they have talks and nature days as well. The Decoy Park trip was my third trip out with Snackpack since I was diagnosed and I really enjoy meeting up with kids like me. I really hope we can have some more trips out to Decoy Park so the people who missed out can come along and have some fun!. We loved it at Decoy Park.
Amy Webber 9
Member of SnackPack
Trip to Paignton Zoo
On Saturday 4th September members of SnackPack attended the family outing to Paignton Zoo. We met up with Barrie & Ellen and waited for other members of SnackPack to arrive before we all went in and explored the zoo. There were lots of animals to see such as Bats, giraffes, lions, tigers and a lot more.
At 12:30pm we met up at the café with everyone for our picnic lunch that we had brought with us. It was really nice to talk about how other people were getting on with their diabetes too.
After that everyone went off to see the rest of the animals and explore the zoo
It was an enjoyable time and everyone who attended really enjoyed it, Thank you to Barrie and Ellen for organising the trip out as it was a fun time for everyone
Daniel Smith 12
Member of SnackPack
My thoughts on the Pump
On Monday the 2nd of November I went for pump training with 4 other children, for the first few days I had only saline in my pump, then on friday I had proper insulin in it. The first time I had a canula it really hurt but then wefound it hadn't gone in properly but after a few set changes it was ok and didn't hurt at all.The pump is great because it means I can get things perfect, it took a while to get used to and get things right but overall it's great. giving a bolas couldn't be easier all you have to do is press the 'b' button and enter your blood glucose and your carbsand it works it out depending on what ratios you have put in when you program it. you can change things like your basal rate (your back ground insulin). If you do any thing too active or go in the water it's easy to take off you just have to twist the canula and it's off! When it comes to having a set change and you have to get the canula off it really hurt but then we ordered some adhesive remover and it didn't hurt at all. for the first few months my canula kept coming off but then we found some special tape that stopped it coming off. I find drawing up the insulin in the vial is really tricky because they keep on getting air bubbles in them. I now have a pump that the blood meter can blue tooth the blood sugar to the pump. Sometimes if I am really active I could put a temp basal rate down for a certain amount of time. It's been hard work starting off with the pump but now I think it is really good.
Peter Betts 8
Member of SnackPack
Alex
“Alex was diagnosed at 11 months old and we took the offer of a pump straight away being fans of technology. The pump enables Alex to have a normal life as possible with diabetes. Because he is so young, he needs fractions of units of insulin and the pump is the only way we can administer this. He can eat what he wants, when he wants, and the temporary basal helps keep his blood glucose under control if he is more or less active in the day. We sometimes use continuous glucose sensors, and set the pump so the basal is automatically cut off if he drops too low, which is very re-assuring at night. We couldn’t imagine using any other way to treat his diabetes.”
Hi Barrie,
As mentioned on facebook the other day, a lot of people may all ready know about this, but I didn’t! Amy had an Ipod touch for christmas, the ‘Carbs & Cals’ book (whole book) can be downloaded as an App for £3.99.
We started off by downloading a miniversion of the same book which was free, but didn’t contain enough items for us. When we discovered the whole book was only £3.99 we downloaded it, to be honest not really expecting it to be very comprehensive for £3.99, but it really seems to be virtually the whole book and is very useful. As well as telling you carbs for all the items, it also has a facility where you can use the app to record your carbs each mealtime on the calendar record bit. (Haven’t tried that bit yet).
Very useful if you’re going out and don’t want to carry the book with you. Just thought it was worth a mention.
Hope you are both well, thank you for all your hard work for snackpack. See you on 22nd in Bradninch.
Rachael Smith (Amy’s mum)
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Sail with Santa
On Saturday 11th December the Under 7's from Snackpack met up in Exmouth to go on a 'Boat Ride with Santa'. We managed to pick a lovely bright, mild Saturday afternoon, which was quite an achievement, given the weather that followed! Three families attended along with Peter and myself. It was a fun-packed hour, a visit to Santa (with a pretty decent present!), face painting, a magician/balloon modeller, dancing (for the not too-shy), a mince pie and mulled wine for the adults and squash and biscuits for the children. All of this and a beautiful trip round the estuary too! There were snatched opportunities for parents to share their experiences of having young children with diabetes. It was interesting that the three young children there all had different types of treatment, but as parents we shared the same concerns and worries. I can't speak for the others but I always come away feeling a little lighter for having talked to others and knowing that 'you're not the only one'. As for the children, they had a lovely time and got to see Santa in a beautiful setting - no queueing at the department store!
Alison Betts (Parent of Peter)