Diabetes Wise:

Late, as always.

I'm almost surprised that I didn't miss midnight altogether on New Year's Eve, and come crashing in a couple of hours later to toast everyone. I didn't: I made it to the real New Year on time.

I can't believe that I've been doing this for a year. From a tentative beginning, where shyness had me hiding all but the most essential information, to sharing my face with you on Flickr. The writing has got easier as I've come to know more of my reader's as real people, and felt comfortable about sharing some of my deepest emotions and fears with you.

And it's been a pretty big year. From trips to the USA and Italy, through countless frustrating highs and scarier lows. From pump malfunctions to new technology in the form of continuous monitoring. Through hospital admissions, the third rupture of, and subsequent surgery on, my achilles tendon and the diagnosis of Addison's Disease. From lows and depressions that kept me away for over a month, and even from D-blog day itself, to finding... something really special.

The last one is the one I want to hang on to. It makes everything else seem all to matter less, to frustrate and scare me less, to hurt me less. Based on its final outcome, I can only say 2006 turned out to be a pretty good year.

In summary, here is my "Year in Review", shamelessly copied from Rachel, Sandra and Kerri. These are the first lines from a defining post for each month of the year, linked in case you want to read on.

January: "I hate beginnings."

February: "It wouldn't take great powers of observation to realise that I’m being pretty generic here.

March: "In November 1999, as a 19 year old who’d just begun my second year of dental school, I woke up in the Accident and Emergency Department of St Thomas’ Hospital with the mother of all headaches."

April: "Sandra's post 'A Dinner Out' got me thinking."

May: "I suppose I shouldn't be embarrassed by what happened this morning, but I certainly can't help feeling thoroughly ashamed at how rude I must have seemed."

June: "My new cast, applied today."

July: "More than twenty years on, the autoimmunity that gave me diabetes has decided to reward me for my loyalty with a free gift: Addison's Disease."

August: "I'd intended on an early night last night."

September: "The Paradigm REAL-Time system really is the Guardian RT all grown up."

October: Defining in itself - I made no posts in October.

November: "D-blog day: I missed it."

December: “Come ooooon…..” I whined, zipped into my coat practically before my boy, R, was dry from the shower.