My Girl, My Hero

Diabetes Hero -DBlog Week - Day 7

Let’s end our week on a high note and blog about our “Diabetes Hero”. It can be anyone you’d like to recognize or admire, someone you know personally or not, someone with diabetes or maybe a Type 3. It might be a fabulous endo or CDE. It could be a d-celebrity or role-model. It could be another DOC member. It’s up to you – who is your Diabetes Hero?? 

Click for the Diabetes Hero- Sunday 5/20 Link List.

She is smart.  She is strong.  She is beautiful. 

She has Type 1 Diabetes.  She is my first born. 

She is my HERO!

Ally was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at 5 years old.  At that age, you don't fully understand what is happening.  (Not that I did either!)  She heard the nurse in the pediatrician's office say that she had "diabetes" and that we needed to go straight to the hospital.  She sat quietly in the car as we drove to the hospital - with a somber face, but without any tears.  She did not let me know that she was scared.  

(Meanwhile, my brain was racing...Where is Keith working today?  Who can I call to pick Jessi up from pre-school?)  She tried to keep a conversation going with me.  "Mom, Uncle Bill is in heaven right?"  Yes, he is honey.  (Brain still racing...Don't cry.  Don't cry.  Which stupid exit am I supposed to take to Children's Hospital?)  "Mom, do you think Uncle Bill was scared when he became an angel?"  Well, I'm sure that Jesus was there to help him to not be scared.  (Brain racing...Why is she asking so many questions about Uncle Bill?  Should I call her rheumatologist?  Call my mom, she can pick up Jessi.)  "Ok, Mom."  and she was quiet.  She never cried, never complained.  We went on to spend the next 4 days in ICU.

Months later, Ally told me that when she heard the nurse say that she had "die-a-betes", she thought that meant she was going to die.  My brain instantly went back to the conversation in the car on the way to the hospital about my uncle who had recently passed away.  I asked her why she didn't tell me that she had thought that!  She said,

"I didn't want you to be scared."

Ally is my hero for so many reasons.  But her character is my #1!

Diabetes Snapshots

Saturday Snapshots -DBlog Week - Day 6

Back for the third year, let’s show everyone what life with diabetes looks like! With a nod to the Diabetes 365 project, let’s grab our cameras again and share some more d-related pictures. Post as many or as few as you’d like. Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures, or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Click for the Saturday Snapshots - Saturday 5/19 Link List.

Diabetes in a Snapshot

"Its' True, I Should Tell Them"

What They Should Know - DBlog Week - Day 5

Today let’s borrow a topic from a #dsma chat held last September. The tweet asked “What is one thing you would tell someone that doesn’t have diabetes about living with diabetes?”. Let’s do a little advocating and post what we wish people knew about diabetes. Have more than one thing you wish people knew? Go ahead and tell us everything.

Click for the What They Should Know- Friday 5/18 Link List.


"One thing" I would tell someone about living with diabetes?  Uh Oh.

There are so many different ways to go with this post.  There are things I want people to understand about Type 1 Diabetes, so they may be more compassionate towards Ally regarding the day in and day out struggles of diabetes.  She handles A LOT every single day whether she looks like it or not. 

There are things that I want people to know so they don't make Ally feel bad about her diabetes...She did nothing to cause it.  No amount of candy bars can cause type 1 diabetes!

There are things that I want every parent, grandparent, pediatrician, and child caregiver to recognize as possible signs of type 1 diabetes, so that not one child ever goes undiagnosed again.

And then there is the one thing that Ally wants people without diabetes to know..."Diabetes stinks!" 

"It's true, I really should tell them, Mom.  Some kids say, 'you're lucky'...and I look at them like 'Are you crazy?'  It's annoying.  People are always asking about my pump and my sites.  It's really annoying...so, yeah, I'd tell them diabetes stinks - they should know that."

(And I thought diabetes stunk because of all the shots, finger pricks, carb counting, highs and lows, etc.)

Thanks again to Karen at Bitter~Sweet for organizing this Diabetes Blog Week.  I find it interesting, not only reading other people's blogs and their take on these topics, but also I'm amazed that I look at a topic with one plan in mind and then I learn something else about it along the way.  This topic gave Ally and I yet another opportunity for communicating about how she feels about diabetes.  I love it when she can "vent" her feelings about D.  So, thank you Karen, for that too!