Teamwork, Our Great Thing

One Great Thing - DBlog Week - Day 2

Living with diabetes (or caring for someone who lives with it) sure does take a lot of work, and it’s easy to be hard on ourselves if we aren’t “perfect”.  But today it’s time to give ourselves some much deserved credit.  Tell us about just one diabetes thing you (or your loved one) does spectacularly! Fasting blood sugar checks, oral meds sorted and ready, something always on hand to treat a low, or anything that you do for diabetes.  Nothing is too big or too small to celebrate doing well!

(Check out the DBlog Week One Great Thing - Tuesday 5/15 Link List.)


I started out this post by asking Ally if she could tell me One Great Thing that she does regarding her diabetes.  She said, "Well, Mom, I really shouldn't toot my own horn!"  Love that girl!!

For me, giving Ally credit is so easy to do! She handles most things diabetes spectacularly!  She is my hero...but you'll have to wait until Sunday to hear about that!

I think that as parents of a child with diabetes, we are generally hard on ourselves.  Day in and day out I am looking at Ally's blood glucose numbers and wondering what we did wrong or what we could have done better.  My husband and I take most of the credit for the blips in the road...and we probably deserve that credit!  There was the time that I forgot to do a site change when I knew that Ally's insulin was old and most likely ineffective.  And then another time when Keith forgot her D bag at the soccer field.  There may have been an occasion or two where Keith or I forgot to give Ally her breakfast bolus.  The good news is that we each do different things in our own spectacular way too!

Me, I am a rule follower.  I like guidelines and I typically stick to them.  If you know anything about diabetes, I bet you are shaking your head and thinking that I could not possibly be spectacular at diabetes management!  Diabetes balks at rules and guidelines.  In fact, diabetes makes its own rules...and they are subject to change at any time, without notice!  Despite all that, I am spectacular at measuring out and weighing food.  My carb counting is very precise!  I know exactly what day Ally's site change should be on, how many days old her insulin is and what day of the month our insurance will allow me to refill her test strips.  I am also a worrier.  So, I remember every single move that Ally has made in a day and try to take that into account when making decisions about dosing her insulin.

Keith is a risk-taker and, well, let's just say that he likes to challenge the rules!  He would prefer to think that guidelines are very general and that much is left to interpretation.  You might guess that he is spectacular at SWAGging (Scientific Wild A** Guessing).  He does not worry that she may have a little less or a little more than half a cup of macaroni and cheese on her plate...if it looks like half a cup, he'll bolus for half a cup.  (I would carry a measuring cup around with me everywhere if he didn't make fun of me for doing so!!)  He is great at setting dual wave and square wave boluses on the pump, where some insulin is delivered up front and/or some insulin is delivered over a period of time.  He also has a fantastic memory...for things that he chooses anyway ;)  He can remember the carb count for the most random food that Ally may have eaten one time, three years ago!

Together, we make a spectacular team in managing Ally's diabetes.

Ally did finally answer my question too..."Mommy, you are great at site changes. I will always let you do them, ok?"  :)


Thanks to Karen at Bitter-Sweet for organizing yet another fabulous Diabetes Blog Week!