Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Moved.
This blog has been moved to the original address of http://www.type1demystified.org. Please check us out there.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Never any easier.
No matter how long you've had Type 1 diabetes it does not get any easier.
Living with Type 1 diabetes is like running the marathon that will never end. You can get drinks along the way, maybe a snack, bathroom break, and take it down to a slow jog, but in the end you just keep running and running and running and, unlike other marathons, in this one there is no finish line.
People living with Type 1 diabetes do get more accustomed to the daily rituals. They know they have to check their sugar before every meal, in between large lengths of time between meals, and usually once in the middle of the night. They also know they must give insulin with every meal and snack and every out-of-range high number. They know how to pack their ridiculously excessive but necessary travel bag for trips as short as to the mall. They pack their glucagon, fast acting sugar, extra insulin, extra pump supplies (if pumping), extra syringes, small protein snack, blood glucose meter, extra strips, and their emergency contact list. If you're exhausted just reading this list of daily, sometimes hourly, rituals, imagine how a person living with Type 1 feels. If there is anyone in this world who should scream, "Enough already!" is the person living with Type 1 diabetes.
When our babies get diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes the rituals that come with living with it do become part of their life. My son sticks his finger out whenever he hears the beep of his glucose meter, even if I am just rereading his number. At every single meal, my son asks, "Can I start eating?" or "Did you test me yet?" before he even picks up his fork. My son orders a diet coke at the pool club with a rehearsed spiel of, "Can I have a diet coke? You need to make sure it is diet coke because I have type 1 diabetes." He is only 5.
Imagine 15 years from now. He may grow tired of these rituals. There may be a time when he just doesn't want to check his sugar, or he doesn't feel like packing that supply bag when he takes his girlfriend to the movies. It is not going to get easier, it is going to get more and more overwhelming. You know yourself, if you've had a hard day at work, you may skip something that you normally do because you are so tired. Maybe you skip a shower that night, thinking to yourself, "Ah, I'll shower in the morning." My son won't have options like that when it comes to his diabetes care. He won't be able to say, "Ah, I'll check my sugar in the morning, or I'll take insulin when I wake up." If you don't shower, you will wake up dirty. If my son doesn't follow his rituals, he may not wake up. Period.
An adult very close to me has Type 1 diabetes, and this is what she said about getting used to living with it. She said, "I've dealt with it for 7 years and for real I think it gets harder because in the beginning you do what you have to do and then there are times, years later that you realize there is a ball and chain that you can never escape and you realize how much of your life revolves around it. It sucks."
If anyone deserves to yell at the top of their lungs ENOUGH ALREADY it is the people living with this disease every day. Next time you are inclined to tell a person recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes that it will get easier. Think of that never ending marathon, and just give a hug of support instead.
Living with Type 1 diabetes is like running the marathon that will never end. You can get drinks along the way, maybe a snack, bathroom break, and take it down to a slow jog, but in the end you just keep running and running and running and, unlike other marathons, in this one there is no finish line.
People living with Type 1 diabetes do get more accustomed to the daily rituals. They know they have to check their sugar before every meal, in between large lengths of time between meals, and usually once in the middle of the night. They also know they must give insulin with every meal and snack and every out-of-range high number. They know how to pack their ridiculously excessive but necessary travel bag for trips as short as to the mall. They pack their glucagon, fast acting sugar, extra insulin, extra pump supplies (if pumping), extra syringes, small protein snack, blood glucose meter, extra strips, and their emergency contact list. If you're exhausted just reading this list of daily, sometimes hourly, rituals, imagine how a person living with Type 1 feels. If there is anyone in this world who should scream, "Enough already!" is the person living with Type 1 diabetes.
When our babies get diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes the rituals that come with living with it do become part of their life. My son sticks his finger out whenever he hears the beep of his glucose meter, even if I am just rereading his number. At every single meal, my son asks, "Can I start eating?" or "Did you test me yet?" before he even picks up his fork. My son orders a diet coke at the pool club with a rehearsed spiel of, "Can I have a diet coke? You need to make sure it is diet coke because I have type 1 diabetes." He is only 5.
Imagine 15 years from now. He may grow tired of these rituals. There may be a time when he just doesn't want to check his sugar, or he doesn't feel like packing that supply bag when he takes his girlfriend to the movies. It is not going to get easier, it is going to get more and more overwhelming. You know yourself, if you've had a hard day at work, you may skip something that you normally do because you are so tired. Maybe you skip a shower that night, thinking to yourself, "Ah, I'll shower in the morning." My son won't have options like that when it comes to his diabetes care. He won't be able to say, "Ah, I'll check my sugar in the morning, or I'll take insulin when I wake up." If you don't shower, you will wake up dirty. If my son doesn't follow his rituals, he may not wake up. Period.
An adult very close to me has Type 1 diabetes, and this is what she said about getting used to living with it. She said, "I've dealt with it for 7 years and for real I think it gets harder because in the beginning you do what you have to do and then there are times, years later that you realize there is a ball and chain that you can never escape and you realize how much of your life revolves around it. It sucks."
If anyone deserves to yell at the top of their lungs ENOUGH ALREADY it is the people living with this disease every day. Next time you are inclined to tell a person recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes that it will get easier. Think of that never ending marathon, and just give a hug of support instead.
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