Thursday, August 27, 2015

To the D-Parents

Okay, wow, a whole summer has basically passed and I didn't write a THING! I mean, I have been writing things, but nothing on this blog.  I feel as though this blog sort of fell to the wayside and I do want to attempt to bring it back and bring myself to write at least a couple times a week again.

So here we go, what made me think about my own personal blog was a new diabetes thought I had today.  You see, I have now had diabetes for six years and while there are a ton of bloggers out there that write on the subject of diabetes, I somewhat felt like I was running out of original thoughts.  While I am constantly talking/doing diabetes, the thoughts and ideas aren't always new... in fact diabetes is so repetitive I cannot believe I have built this much content. But, the truth of the matter is there are always new moments of learning and exploring with diabetes; therefore, the subjects truly are unlimited.

The thought came after spending the night with one of the little girls that I nanny. She also has type 1 diabetes as I have mentioned before.    Now, I spend roughly nine hours a day with her, so looking after her and her diabetes (and mine) has never really been an issue.  While sometimes I feel incredibly sad for her, such as if I have to put a site on her, most of the time, we try to be both upbeat about our diabetes and I don't see her any different that any other child.

When she came over for a sleepover, I knew what I was getting into. She has slept over before, so I am fully aware of alarms, juice-boxes and a bright and a cheery 7 a.m wake up call, "WAKEY, WAKEY" as she says.   But, what I  didn't realize was how exhausting it is to care for both a type 1 child and my type 1 self at the same time - at night. You see, diabetes doesn't really care what time it is.  In fact, I actually think diabetes knows when it's a bad time and that's when it makes sure it rears it's foot at your butt.  

Last night I went low once, and she went low three times. THREE TIMES.  So, no big deal, wake up from the buzzing noise of the Dexcom, grab a juice-box I lined up on the bed side, and she literally does not wake up, but she will sip that juice-box empty, eyes closed, like a champ.   We did this three times, plus, my solo low treatment that unfortunately I cannot remain asleep for.   Looking at her sweet face sipping away at the juice box (three times) made me sad.  It made me realize that millions of children out there will never know what it's like to have to drink three boxes of juice a night, or get pricked at midnight, miss gym class, receive a needle 4+ times a day in the belly...and while that's good that they will never know, I wish she didn't have to know.

Needless to say, with waking up four times from lows, and two times to go the bathroom (#diabeticproblems) I was exhausted in the morning and so was she (despite her WAKEY WAKEY good morning sentiment)  I wanted to tell her mom that she deserved an award.   How in the world does she do it every night?  Yes, I am a type 1 myself and I probably never get a good sleep, but I think it's so different.   Not saying one is worse than the other, they're both hard. But, having to worry about your child 24/7, knowing that there are going to be issues, having to watch their sweet little faces sip mindlessly on juiceboxes at 4 a.m. HOW!

While I have always felt so strongly about how awesome parents of type 1's are...I am going to say, I gained the upmost respect for them as well. So, type 1 parents pat yourself on the back, grab a large cup of coffee, treat yourself to a day at the spa while the kids are back to school, you all deserve it!

Kayla