Teenage Guessing Games

Hello Blogosphere, I am still around.....and yes I still have five daughters, 2 of which have Type 1.


My Awesome Teen Type 1 - Whom I worry about


My teen Type 1 is currenlty flooded with pubescent homronal surges that threaten her daily diabetes life more frequently then I would like. However I strive to  be a mature (Ha, ya right) father and I must gently pursuade or encourage her to be responsible with her diabetes. In other words I try to lead by example, and yes.....I constantly remind her to test before; eating, moving, sleeping, skate-boarding, breathing, blinking, you get my point.

I worry....who doesn't, but here are my biggest worry's:

Me "What's your suger?"

Her: "It's fine, I can tell" - As she injects a huge amount to chase the carb she ate 30 minutes ago

Next:

Me "Did you test" - Before she is about to leave with her friends to go long boarding

Her "No, but it was good before"

Me "When? Before....!"

Her "This Morning" 8 hrs ago

Me "Test or you don't go" My thoughts - I wish she didn't have diabetes.....but I want her safe and alive.

Next:

Her "My stomach hurts"

Me "What's your sugar"

Her "Don't know"

Me "why?

Her "Haven't checked today"

The list goes on and on....

I try not to nag but man, I worry about her safety, the blind injections, the not testing, the guessing, the everything.....then I remember that when I was a 15 yr old Type one they didn't even have meters, and I took 2 shots per day, I survived, and I know she will too.

Cheers!
Trev

It's a Love Hate Thing

A colleague asked me yesterday why I work in the diabetes field. "Like, aren't you completely sick of it!"
By the way I am a Nurse who does Chronic Disease management.

I paused... and thought about the question....then responded, "well you'd think I would be, being Type 1 myself, and having to manage my 2 type 1 kids, and then working 40 hrs a week where I generally help others manage their diabetes"

Then I said to her I guess I feel good knowing at the end of the day I am helping others manage their diabetes and hopefully they will feel better and live a better life.

However, the question stuck with me (obviously I am still thinking about it today)

I love helping others, I enjoy doing research and using myself as a "Lab Rat" ,changing regimes, and trying to improve control through self experimentation. I love the feeling of nailing a good A1C, or a good 24 hours worth of normal glucose readings, it empowers me.  Now lets talk about the dark side.

I hate worrying about future complications, I hate how much time it takes for managing diet, tests, doctors, pharmacies, recovering from lows, interrupted sleep at night (from hypos) I hate that my 2 kids(out of 5-Ya I have a whack of offspring) have to struggle with diabetes.  I hate when you get thrown the old hormonal curve ball. I especially hate how it is always there, 24/7-365.   

Diabetes can take you in two main directions.  One of self discovery, learning, and the motivation to meet the challenge that it presents. The other direction is pretty much the opposite; refusal to learn, feeling of hopelessness, poor health and future complications.

However, nothing is that simple, and I think it is more a tug of war between the above two directions.

For me there are days I love diabetes, how its changed me and how I am now able to help others, but other day I absolutely hate it.......Definitely a Love-Hate relationship.

Trev