Happy Half Birthday

So, it's been a while. I don't know why I seemed to fall off the blogging wagon (as it were), but I've a plan to counteract this, to the point where those of you who follow this will probably be yelling at me to shut up.

NaBloPoMo. It's hard (but fun) to say, and I imagine it will be exactly the same to do. It's a blog post a day for each day of November. It comes, as I understand it, from the same school of thought as NaNoWriMo. (National Novel Writing Month). Now, I was hoping to take part in NaNoWriMo this year, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to come up with anything that seems worth writing, or that isn't a complete hash of already existing novels. So, with the aim of doing Script Frenzy in April, I thought I would give this a try. Plus, as Northerner pointed out, I have been neglecting this, so here's the remedy.

So it's update time, since I've been absent for most of October.

Now, a while ago, I talked about how I've always wanted to dance. And I promised that I was going to start doing some ballroom dance classes. For once, I've had some follow through. I signed up as a member of York Dancesport, and thus far, I have done two days of lessons, and a practice session yesterday. As of yesterday, I've covered beginners' and improver's Cha-Cha-Cha, beginners' Waltz (which was great fun, but a complete disaster!), and beginners' and improver's Quickstep. And the verdict? It's totally amazing! I highly recommend it to anyone, because it's just so much fun. I've been dancing with a lovely guy called Ben, who's also a total novice, just like me, so that's great. I'm already looking into buying my first pair of dance shoes (I'll not get started into what a minefield that is. I'll save that for another day!). Roll on next Saturday, where we'll be tackling improver's Quickstep and beginners' Jive. As I've said before, I've done Jive in the past, so here's hoping it might be my dance! Watch this space!

In other news, I went to go and get my seasonal flu jab yesterday. I've been offered it for years now, because as well as having diabetes, I also have asthma. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to bother me as much as it used to when I was younger. I rarely ever need to get out my inhaler, but trust me, when I do, I'm extremely thankful that it's there. Yet, because I've always seemed to have a pretty solid immune system, I've never bothered with the flu jab. Of course, the irony that in the past I've had a stonkingly good immune system, yet now have an auto-immune disease is not lost on me. But having heard that flu, which I'm told is never fun, also can throw your BS control completely out of whack, I decided that I'd actually go and get it this year.

Over at Diabetes Support, there's been a fairly extensive discussion over not only the seasonal flu vaccine, but also the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine, and whether or not to get it. I hadn't really made up my mind on the issue, but I was leaning more towards the getting it side of things. I personally get completely befuddled over the whole 'anti-vaxx' school of thought, but even I had a moment of doubt when it comes to getting a vaccine that hadn't been trialled on a huge wave of people (as best I understand the issue - I'm more than willing to be corrected!). But when I was at my surgery, they asked if I wanted it as well, because they could do them both there and then. So I said yes. This was, I'll be honest, mostly a laziness on my part, in that I didn't really want to have to go back a second time, when I could get them both done in one go. For those interested, the needles are really tiny, and if you look the other way, it's a small, sharp scratch, and then it's done. The worst that can apparently happen, is that your arm feels a bit achy for a while. And that is true, because my left arm is a bit achy, but apart from that, everything else seems fine.

The one thing I wasn't particularly impressed with about the whole thing was that I hadn't actually received a letter about the seasonal flu vaccine - I happened to see it on the top of one of my prescription slips. I gave the surgery a ring to make sure that it was still on, and to ask whether I should have received a letter. The receptionist was exceedingly snotty, and told me 'It's been advertised in the surgery, and we haven't sent out letters for the last two years'. Well, that's all very well and good, but I've only been registered with them for six months, and since the majority of my diabetes care is done via the hospital, and I order prescriptions over the phone, and use a collection service, how on earth am I meant to know that?! So, I ask about the H1N1. Apparently she didn't know anything, couldn't tell me anything. I asked whether I would get a letter about this, or was this something I wouldn't get a letter about either? 'Well, you'll have to wait and see what your letter says, won't you?' *facepalm* Oy vey.

Anyway, I'm up at the hospital tomorrow morning anyway, to go and see one of my dieticians. I say one of them, I seem to have acquired two, which is a bit strange. As is the whole reasoning behind this appointment, but I'll save that for tomorrow.

So, to shed some light on the title of this entry. Today is the first of November, which means, as of today, I have been living and dealing with diabetes for a whole six months. Which is strange, when I think about it. It's like so many things in life, which can seem like an instant and an eternity depending on what details you decide to focus on. Six months is a milestone, but it's also a complete nothing, when I think about how long I'm going to potentially be handling this for, and how long other people I know have been living with it for. It's pause for thought, at any rate.

What am I doing to celebrate? Well, I'm currently trying to wash chocolate off a bedsheet (it really IS chocolate, I promise. My friend Nick came to see me last weekend, and as a joke, I put a wrapped Lindor chocolate ball on his pillow, which he forgot about, and went to sleep on), and there is no prospect of cake, unless I decide to make some. Which I could. I'm good at that, which some of you will know. But I probably still won't....although now I'm thinking about it. Hmm.....

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