Day 66 2012 First Year AD

Description

Day 66 - The First Year AD

After Diabetes or After Diagnosis

The first few weeks of managing John's Diabetes were hard. Most especially because this was the month of June, school was still in session and they were usually very busy with the school year coming to a close.

I was on the phone speaking to a nurse from sick kids pretty much every day. Usually I was asking about his glucose numbers. John's food intake was now strictly controlled, not so much by WHAT he could eat, but more of HOW MUCH much he could eat and WHEN he could eat. His day was now being ruled by the clock.

Every carbohydrate that John ate had to be counted which means we had to start reading labels. Every bite of food that John ate had to be covered by insulin which meant insulin injections before breakfast and dinner and a medium acting insulin to cover the lunchtime meal during the day while he was at school.

Once the school year finished, we had the whole 2 months of Summer to get into a routine. That summer break was a godsend.

By the time John went back to school in September of 2012, entering the 5th grade, John's glucose levels were much lower. He was no longer tired, but he was required to get up at a certain time in order to prick his finger, eat breakfast and inject some insulin. His summer that year was truly controlled by the clock.

It actually took a whole year for John's blood sugar numbers to get back down to a healthy level, and stay there, but that was OK. Just as long as they were not rising or staying high. We had visits to the Diabetes Clinic at the Sick Kids Hospital every 3 months.

I tried to find other mothers in the same situations, but pretty much every other child we met, who also had type 1 diabetes, had been diagnosed at a much younger age and thus did not remember what their lives were like before their diabetes diagnosis. The problem was that at age 10, John did remember his life before diabetes, and he was very angry that his life had changed so drastically.

Those kids who are diagnosed before they start school, IMO are the lucky ones. I think they have a much better time adjusting, because they grow up with diabetes being part of their lives, for their entire lives, and they don't remember anything different.

The first major hiccup we encountered was Halloween in 2012. John did not want to do Halloween, because as he said. "What's the point. I wont be able to stuff myself with candy or eat it whenever I want. Now it will have to counted, measured and doled out. I don't see the point." So John stopped going out trick or treating.

He would have also liked to have gone to school with no costume either but the school basically shamed him into wearing a costume to school on the day of Halloween. When I complained to the staff, I was told that it was tradition and everyone was required to join in. Also, there were simply not enough staff to babysit those who did not wish to join in the activities in the gym. I was not impressed.

The second major hiccup was that because we had to read labels, and count carbs, we could not longer eat at restaurants or at other peoples places because we could not longer count the carbs in the food we were given, so we pretty much stopped going out to eat.

John continued to attend school, but he no longer accepted any invitations to birthday parties because we had no way of controlling the amount or counting carbs for the food he would eat. John also hated to be seen to be different so anything that he had to do (such as injections) were something that he refused to do in public. All injections are now done at home before he goes out and after he gets back back home.

One more small thing I have to mention. John at age 10 was now the same height as me - 5 feet 4 inches- which is tall for a 10 year old!!!!

Supplies

All papers and elements from the Brand New Day Bundle by Lynne Grieveson from the Lilypad Shop

https://the-lilypad.com/store/Brand-New-Day-kit.html