Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Diabetes Camp SWAG

It was like going to the Oscars or Emmys or a really cool awards show, where the famous scarf down freebies from the tent of excess..... Except, well, this was diabetes camp in the middle of nowhere, and everything was D-related, and there wasn't anyone famous, and well, yeah, it wasn't the Oscars, but it was kind of like a Diabetic after-party if you will.

Here is the SWAG we left with. It took a giant-ous (new word there) Accu-Chek bag to lug it to the car. Some of the stuff is just plain odd, but there was A LOT of it. It was already pre-packaged in the giantous bag for us. When we got home I unpacked it and...

Ta daaa..........


4 backpacks
3 giant-ous Accu-Chek bags
2 medical waste red cans
1 beltbag
3 decks of 'Deckabetes'
2 camp lanterns
2 sets of binoculars
1 box of alcohol wipes
1 Mancala game (nice, but what???)
1 frisbee
1 water bottle
2 Diabetes bracelets
1 Contour meter
2 logbooks
2 pedometers
1 can of Butter Buds (huh?)


                                                 

Does Butter Buds scream diabetes? I've never even had them and not sure that they are all that occurring in nature, so I think I shall be re-gifting these to someone else. Nice they gave them to us, but literally everyone was walking around saying 'Why did they give me Butter Buds?' That was pretty funny.

Now I feel famous, getting a SWAG bag and all.....

8 comments:

Diane said...

Mancala is a great game. You have little bowls with coloured pebbles in and sort of move them between bowls, trying to capture stones from your opponent and end up with the most at the end.

Great swag. I wish they'd had a D camp when I was younger. I'm 22. I never went to any. Camps are not as popular here in the UK. It's a very American idea.


I was diagnosed at age 9 and did MDI all through my childhood but am on a MiniMed pump now. I would LOVE an OmniPod but they're not available here. I'm lucky to have a pump at all really. The NHS is very strict about funding them.

Grace is a lovely girl. You should be very proud.

Anonymous said...

Okay, wow. That was like the Oscars! Lots of diabetes swagger...

Pam said...

Wow, you got much better stuff than we did from camp. We got an LLBean backpack filled with stuff, not not nearly as much or a cool as the stuff you got.

Mancala - my sister has it and loves playing with her kids. Give it a go.

Unknown said...

Mancala rocks (literally - lol, get it? pebbles/stones)...Joe loves that game.

I was laughing out loud about the Butter Buds...seriously, WTH?

Awesome SWAG Penny!!!

Unknown said...

WOW!!!!!

Love your loot!!!!

And....Butter Buds....well how nice of them. You can add it to baked potato. You know....just as an experiment to see what the impact of carbs has on blood sugar :)

Lorraine of "This is Caleb..." said...

Cool! Mancala is fun. Maybe counting relates to counting carbs??

Bennet said...

Hi Penny

It was great to see you! Even if I was in 'Lets Hold a Traffic Jam one the a PA Turnpike" induced fog followed by a let all stand in a ling line fog.

Delaney was very sullen when we picked her up. I thought she had had a tough time but turns out she was sad to leave her friends.

Setebaid is a wonderful camp. The do a great job. I liked the id bracelets in the bag they were cool. You made out on the swag bag - much more stuff than Delaney but that's cool. We have our share. More than it actually and we keep a pack pack handy to hare with families who are recently DXed. We seem to find them regularly.

Penny said...

Hi Bennet! Can't believe I spotted you in the parent-mass! Great seeing you in person. Oh the lines - they didn't tell me to pack my patience on the 'what to pack for camp' list, but they should have!

This was Grace's first year at Setebaid. She made the 8 year old minimum by 3 weeks. She had a blast and made such good friends in her cabin, she didn't want to come home. I can understand Delaney's sullenness at leaving - it's like leaving family. It was a great D-camp experience for Grace and she wants to return next year.

Thanks for everything - I mean it. YDMV, K2 and Kerri - you have carried me through the early diagnosis, knowing all of you were out here, living great lives with the D and surviving.