G’day everyone, from warm & humid southeastern Australia. Been here for four days now, lecturing at hospitals in Brisbane, Melbourne, and today in Sydney. Interesting to note the differences between cultures and how diabetes is managed. The physicians and their support team of diabetes educators try to be aggressive with care, but they’re a bit limited because of the lack of government/insurance funding for pumps, CGM, etc… There are also fewer medication options here, so things like Amylin and Victoza just aren’t used.
Unfortunate, because the people here are clamoring for more. I’ve spoken with hundreds of type-1s who are still on injections but longing to go onto pumps & cgm. Many are footing the bill themselves. I found it inspirational that they take their diabetes care seriously enough to do that.
Met woman whose husband and FOUR sons all have type-1. One of her sons plays professional rugby. She started her own company that makes assorted supply cases. She even came up with these mini finger wipes for cleaning fingers before doing BG testing. Neat!
On a lighter note, the major pro sports here are rugby, soccer, cricket, and australian-rules football. Those guys take a serious beating! Make American athletes look like wimps.
Going to attempt to run over the giant bridge in Sydney harbor later today… hope my cranky foot (plantar fascia) holds up.
Signing off from Sydney!
– Gary
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