This weekend was full of excitement and laughter. There was a lot of smiling and hand shaking and even more introductions of my family. I have to say it was really a nice weekend. We learned a lot about others and just as much about ourselves. I know that sounds odd…but you will understand shortly.

We drove down to Rotorua from Auckland early on Friday. It was really cool driving into town and seeing all of the steam billowing out from what seemed like everywhere. When we told friends we where we were going we were told two things. One, Rotorua was the little Vegas of New Zealand. Two, the town STUNK. That it would have the rotten egg smell from hell. I can’t say either one of those were true. I was happy it was nothing like Vegas. It had charm and quaintness (is that a word?) And yeah, it was a bit stinky but we weren’t put off by it at all. Let’s just say I have smelled worse. (I have been married for 10 years…that’s all I’m going to say)

Friday night Mike and I attended the AGM. Things went very smoothly and it was nice to see new committee members voted in. (I am only going to use first names because I haven’t asked if I can talk about them.) DYNZ now has a new President and Vice President, Hayden and Karen. Several of the current committee members have thankfully kept their seats and I was voted in as the Region 1 Rep. There was a really good discussion about the future of DYNZ and how it plans to position itself for advocating in areas where youth Diabetics need help the most…having enough medical staff throughout the country, family financial support and ensuring the national and local orgs work to better communicate with each other.

Saturday was an absolutely packed day. We got up early and set up our home grown booth for MedAware. Boy we looked pitiful next to all those other companies…but I will say this…we were busy from start to finish. I am very proud of Mike Kelsey and Marty, they jumped right in and started talking to everyone who came up. You could see the pride they have in our product line and answered every question. A little shaky at first but then they got to rockin. I was able to walk in and out without a worry on how they handled themselves. The conference itself was MC’d by fellow blogger Nic Reade.  We listened to several different speeches from professionals who shared their knowledge. We heard from a nurse who shared her own stories about growing up with diabetes (and how she dealt with her own denial), a doctor that explained what new scientific studies are going on right now to find a cure for diabetes, and a psychologist that took us through some basic behaviours of diabetics. We were fed a beautiful lunch and had a great night mingling with each other followed by another wonderful meal.

For me Sunday was the best day. (and I am not just saying that because the Porter’s got to participate) Sunday was the day where there were several panels and people shared their experiences (some more than others..ahem mic hogs you know who you are!) and the audience got to ask questions.

The first panel was a group of older women who have had diabetes for many years. They told stories about how gigantic the testing meters were and how they managed (and not managed) their diabetes when they were younger. They discussed how the treatment of the disease has changed and how they delt and deal with their doctors. The woman on the end speaking was a hoot. (I apologise, I can’t find my sheet of names…..please write in and tell me the names if you can) She has been pumping for 25 years and told us a story about how a doctor told her that wearing a pump was “excessive”. All of them had great stories to share and we learned quite a bit.

The second panel was made up mostly by children. There were 4 teenagers a champion sprint cyclist, a kid who is involved in hip hop, and then Kelsey and girl representing the average teen. (again, I have lost my list of names!) There was Marty, the youngest one and Heidi-Jane the oldest one. I think this group made the audience laugh the most. Jordan (the hip hopper) told us about how when he started to tell everyone he was diabetic one friend thought that meant he couldn’t eat meat. The cyclist and Heidi-Jane were able to talk to doing sports in and out of school and how they manage their diabetes accordingly. Heidi-Jane also gave us a teachers perspective. I have to say this was one of my proudest moments to date as a parent. My kids did so well. Kelsey spoke clearly, didn’t hold any punches (thanks) and was interactive with the audience. If she was nervous you couldn’t tell at all. Then there was Marty. (mommy facepalm) I have to say he did great for an 11 year old boy. However, he didn’t quite stay on topic and he got to tell stories which is what he does. He made the audience laugh and if you ask him he “killed” on stage. He is bitten by the bug, so I expect him to be in drama next year in high school. It was nice to see them up there together and her helping him out when he got nervous. Many parents came up and told me how well they did which just made my heart sing. Surprisingly though….not one question about Kelsey being bald.

The last panel was of parents. We didn’t get to say a whole lot, but it was nice to see parents willing to get up and speak. One of the best questions was about the holiday and how we handle treats. Almost all of us agreed that we let our kids participate and that denying your children the opportunity to share in the sweets isn’t going to work out too well in the end. It’s all about management.

The conference ended with a nice lunch and a last chance mingle. Our booth was packed all the way up to the end. THANK YOU to everyone who came by. We appreciate your supporting us. A huge thank you to Chris who organised the event. If there were any blips no one knew. Everything went smoothly.

Mike and I decided to go ahead and let the kids have one bit of fun before we left town. We took them to the Zorb. Now it’s a pretty expensive one time ride, but as Kelsey put it….”I almost hurled, I don’t think I could have done it again.” The kids were strapped in so they actually rotated end over end with the ball. There is a wet ride where you slide with it keeping your head up the entire time…be we didn’t have suits. They had a blast….

We ended the weekend with a quick trip home with us singing along with the radio the whole way. All in all it was an awesome weekend. I learned a lot about the New Zealand Diabetic Community and even more about my family and couldn’t be any prouder.