Sweetness

“Mom, I’m 42.” The voice was not familiar to me, but the information set off the alarm bells as if it was said straight to me. An afternoon away had provided our family with a chance to swim in Lake Erie at a sand beach (not easy to find in Northwest OH, most of the beaches are pebble or just plain rocks. Rough on the tender toes!) His voice, and message, caught my attention immediately. To the seat directly next to us, this mom reached into her cooler and delivered the necessary elements – juice and crackers. A diabetic child in the family…I could relate.
Earlier in the morning, Ty’s glucose level had been in the 40s as well. Everything gets put on hold and delayed as we attend to it. Quite low, he needs something sweet and something with protein. Ty has been a Type I diabetic since kindergarten and his diagnoses felt like a door got slammed on our fingers, but it was also a door opening. It opened a door to an incredible level of family health.
Now they don’t eat as many vegetables as I want them to, and they desire more twinkies than I’m going to allow, but I am pleased with my kid’s acclimation with fruit and veggies and that they’ll even let me put them on their pizza!
Our afternoon with this new friend found a chance to speak to someone “who knows” without explanation – the all night anxiety because of a accidental double injection and hourly blood checks, the rapid weight loss and unexplained weight gain which happens with insulin, the expense which happens at the grocery store when “fun food” may be more affordable but nutritionally catastrophic to a diabetic, the family adjustment which happens with feeding everyone on a diabetic diet, the penalty of an inaccurate injection, the vocabulary of ‘capillaries’ ‘A1C’ and ‘DKN’.
And we were each having our preparation session for when our diabetic boys returned to school next week. We know how sweet of disposition the boys can have, but it’s the sweetness of their blood which can drive any school official bananas! There’s so much to get ready, and truthfully, I don’t want to see them go. I know there are some who identify with me – I love getting my kids back with me for the summer. Sure it’s a hassle of time, energy and patience (let alone cleanliness and order) and any work I get accomplished comes with interruptions, but it’s a joy to me to have my children with me. Especially when it comes to helping Ty manage his diabetes. The food he eats, the exercise he gets, I know all of it. When school starts, it will be a nurse and teachers who help keep an eye of all these details, and they are responsible for so many more young ones as well.
January saw a realm of freedom for my son with the beginning of use of an insulin pump, and he has loved it since day 1. It has provided him an opportunity of discretion and control he has craved, and permitted for time fluctuations for meals and insulin delivery. It also saw an element of expertise and power for him – none of the school nurses or teachers or front office workers had ever seen or dealt with a pump before. Ty was the expert, they took their cues from him. Yesterday’s orientation has only bolstered his confidence with the new procedures he will encounter at his middle school. I love that they are excited about school and the learning environment waiting for them there.
Now, if I could only keep him from growing out of his shoes we’ll be in business. (The boy is now a ½ size larger than mine and isn’t a teenager yet. HELP)