Tuesday, April 20, 2010

This is for parents of Diabetic children....

Here is a place to share experiences, wisdom, and the ever mounting daily frustration we face as parents. As a child I grew up being close with my first cousin Shawn who was 5 years my senior. She had been diagnosed Type 1 at the age of 7... I had no idea what diabetes was I only knew that Shawn had to watch what she ate, give herself shots, and check her urine with mysterious strips. When she was alive the theory for controlling blood glucose was still centered around counting "sugars" and the insulin available was only the basal, longacting kind.

Shawn started to go blind in her early twenties and eventually lost all sight in one eye... To the shock of us all who loved her she died in her sleep at the age of 30. I can still hear her laughter- she was silly and made all who knew her laugh with joy till the tears came down.

Now here I am a mother of a Type 1 diabetic son. He was diagnosed shortly after his 4th birthday... I was devastated. After witnessing what my cousin went through and that we lost her at age 30 I was terrified that my son would have the same fate.
More to come....