When our son was diagnosed 15 years ago it was such a huge deal. He was in the hospital for a week and I was on bedrest with our 6th baby.....in his hospital room! We had all the neccessary classes on insulin use, food exchanges, Glucagon and ketones. It was a whole new language and so scary. So many needles as he had 6-7 shots a day, so many nights getting up multiple times to check blood sugars, giving Eddie Glucagon when he was out cold on the floor of our living room.
Because our son's blood sugars were so very difficult to manage right from the start we had to travel 2 hours south to one of the best endocrinology practices in the Northwest. They were awesome and we literally went to boot camp. We had a wonderful educator named Karin who we called our Blood Sugar Fairy. She was hilarious, balanced, supportive and kind. We learned so much and not just how to manage his diabetes but about the disease itself. I studied and studied and studied some more.
The one thing I did not seem to hear from the beginning was that there was never going to be a place of arrival...that day when all the blood sugars would be in perfect range and the work would be over. I sort of thought we were on the quest for a certain "place"....whatever that was. I remember calling Karin one day in tears because no matter what I did Eddie's BGs would not go into or stay in range. It was so darn frustrating. It took me about a year to realize it is a journey, a constant work in progress.
At the time Eddie was only 10 years old and as much as he did with his diabetes, I was still responsible for the over all picture. I worked at it like a dog. Like a Mother who didn't want complications for her baby. Worked at it because we lost my husband's brother to diabetes related causes at 36 years old and I was not going to allow that.
We got to where everything with diabetes became normal and Eddie got an insulin pump so all was well with the world...yeah right. Then at 10 years old Mary was diagnosed. We were already good at this so it wasn't near the trauma as the first time around. It was hard for Miss Mary but she took it on like a trouper.
There is so much to our family diabetes journey but this post is about a mile stone. A milestone I never thought would happen. Eddie takes care of all his diabetes because he's all grown up and out on his own. Mary turns 18 soon and is the only human at our house with a room of her own so her supplies are moving in with her! Ed and I will actually have a closet...a whole closet! So weird.
When this whole diabetes business started all those years ago, we built shelves into our closet for the huge amount of supplies needed when you have an insulin pump user. Then we had two so the quantity of supplies was crazy. Every three months $12,000.00 worth of supplies arrived and they had to be dated, organized and put away. There were 3 shelves and 7 drawers full!
I am not sure what I will do with this new found space. I feel rather emotional about it. Unfortunately the journey never ends for our kids with Diabetes but it has mostly ended for Ed and I....until another one comes up with it :)
So tomorrow Mary and I will move the supplies, organize it all in her room and I will sit and stare at the closet that housed about $25,000.00 worth of supplies at any given time for the last 15 years.
Sigh.....
~Blessings~
Lisa
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