@fiona – Hello, welcome to Shoot Up and to the ranks of the pancreatically challenged.
Don’t worry, I promise you it does get better. I was diagnosed five years ago (aged 28) and it was a huge shock to the system. I went into the doctor’s surgery feeling ropey and came out diabetic and started injections the next morning. Given I knew *nothing* about diabetes there was a lot to learn and get used to very quickly.
However, I found that after about a fortnight I was feeling better. After about 6 months diabetes had become second nature and after a year I was really good at managing it pretty much all the time. So it does take time, but it’s certainly not the end of the world. Since diagnosis, I’ve got married, been promoted to Operations Director at work and done a tonne of other normal things. Life carries on! 
Blurred vision is, I think, caused by high blood glucose. As I recall once you get your BG back under control and back to normal levels your vision should return back to normal. I don’t know how long it might take.
There are a tonne of books which have guides to carbs out there. I got a pocket sized one and carried it about everywhere in my man bag so I could look up the carbs of whatever I was eating on the fly. After a while you’ll get better at just estimating the carb content of every meal and the effect it has on you.
In terms of kit bags – desang.net do some nice ones. I, however, use a black pencil case from Paperchase that does the job nicely!
Most blood glucose meters come with software for logging. Most of them are pretty similar – there’s not one I would particularly recommend. To be honest writing down results in a book takes quite a lot of beating for general convenience!
Anyway, chin up – it *will* get easier and do feel free to ask any questions you like here in the forums. There are a tonne of people who’ve had diabetes for years and who are more than happy to pass on top tips!