Diabetic Recipes
Earlier this week I posted about how diabetes can get in the way of life. There are many times when you want to put your disease on the back burner.
So often we have to stop what we are doing to check our blood or count carbs. We have to draw up syringes with the right amount of insulin. We have a lot to do and it can get in the way especially when we are in a hurry.
But have you ever had a moment when you realized your disease has seeped into the lives of others?
We went to dinner the other night. It was my wife, son, daughter, and her friend. We typically have someone over at our house hanging out playing on the Wii, watching movies, or even board games. Our home is a happening place.
As soon as we pulled up to the restaurant and I shut off the car, my daughters friend opened up her door. I heard my daughter say, "Hang on a sec. My dad has to check his blood."
When I heard her say that I was proud and sad at the same time. Proud that she knows how important checking my BG is but sad that I cannot even contain diabetes to myself. It gets in her way too.
She doesn't complain about it. None of my family does. I almost wish they would. I wish they would hate it as much as I do.
I am sure they do.
Those things can be a double edged sword can't they man?
George, we are constantly adapting our understanding of "normal" to the "normality" of our own circumstances. Consider for a moment: how quickly can you remember which of your favorite hole-in-the-wall eateries can easily accommodate a friend in a motorized wheelchair (those suckers are way too heavy to carry up stairs)? (This is probably not a fair test if you often interact with one or more people who *are* wheelchair-bound.)
To your daughter, *your* diabetes is a part of *her* normality, as it relates to *you*. What you observed is her ability to bring her friend into her normality. With enough exposure, that friend will learn how to move seamlessly between the diabetic and non-diabetic communities, just as your daughter has learned to do. This ability to move between communities will help your daughter adjust to whatever environment she finds herself in.
So well said, Tmana!
Our family contains a very, very handicapped 8 year old in a wheelchair, complete with seizures and the like. We also have me, a very complicated insulin=dependant diabetic. It amazes me to see my 17 year old son move seamlessly through life....dealing with seizures and blood sugar lows, insulin shots and wheelchair problems as if they were normal things....because they are! We are so proud of him and think he is all the richer for living through this with us.
George, I'm proud of you and your family. I understand your feeling....I feel upset sometimes when my diabetes infringes upon my family and others. Your daugher loves you and all that goes with you...and she will be a more complete person for having been through this experience. I hope my friends and family think the same!
Rock on, Dude!
Mousie
I understand what you mean. I too wish sometimes I can keep it to myself and feel bad when everyone worries about me, but without their support, the struggle would be worse.
And it does seep into their lives. I am the cooker in the household haha, so it's a struggle to cook the foods my husband and my girls love to eat and cook the foods I can eat because I don't want them to have to suffer(for lack of a better word) for my new eating habbits..but I know they would in a heartbeat...
I am proud of your daughter.
I have never felt the need to keep things to myself...In fact, the only time I ask permission for anything...it goes something like:
You dont gross out at needles do you? cuz Im getting ready to shoot up.
When I do feel bad??? Is trying to explain a low to a non diabetic person...or the mood swing that goes with...or the dripping sweat off my head that goes with. Or the fact that I have to leave a water aerobics class because my lips and tounge have gone from tingly to numb.
I keep everything else to myself only for the simple fact that others really overreact. I cant just up and take a 5 mile hike on a whim...I have to test, and plan, and count.
But that is all on me.
Gosh Im proud of your daughter.
diabetics are not the only ones riding on a roller coaster. Our families are too. Im married, with 2 kids(8yrs and 10yrs) and I feel sad when they remind me to "Test dont guess". This summer I havent been feeling very good, due to ups/downs of sugers(stress). A kid from the neighborhood was teasing my two kids and said, " Well, at least my mom doesnt have Diabetes". They got upset.
The world is a different place nowadays. There's always going to be someone out there
teasing and taunting. I just hope it makes us stronger.
i was diagnosed with type one when i was twenty one months old. i cry all the time and for the last couple years i have struggled more than i ever imagined. i now have celiac disease and depression on top of everything, which makes my life challenging to say the least.
i have always been very independant and dont share with many people that i do have diabetes. (i am adamant about the fact that i have diabetes, i am not a diabetic, i don't need o be defined by diabetes.) however, when my friends and certain family members don't act concerned at all about my well being that hurts my feelings as well.
i really hope that one day i can agree with you that diabetes makes us stronger...but right now i am so fed up with everything!
to me...the scariest thought is that I will have diabetes FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!!
I know that my parents worry about me a lot and that makes me sad. but i think we need to embrace our families...not feel guilty that they have to get involved....because they love us.