Diabetic Recipes
Charlie clutched Baby Doggy, a small puppy with a thin blue collar, and pulled the comforter higher onto his shoulders as we tucked him in. Baby Doggy's age starting to show in its fading gray coat and crusty tail. He also squeezed a small stuffed turtle named Pop as Susanne removed his insulin pump from his waist and gave him a correction for a blood sugar of 530.
Diabetes has spawned many emotions from Charlie. It has made him angry many times, frustrated often and ferociously defiant. On rare occasions, it's even made him happy if you can believe that. Skipping long lines at Disney comes to mind. Oh, and you should see how he dances around the hospital gift shop after an endo appointment.
But, on this night, something new. He was scared of diabetes.
"What if it goes up to 700?"
"What if it goes up to 1100?"
"Does it go up that high?"
He told Susanne he was scared.
"Could I die?"
Susanne assured Charlie that that wouldn't happen. That the insulin would do its job and bring the blood sugar back down to where it should be. She spoke quietly to him, rubbing his head.
"Think happy thoughts," she told him.
"Think about playing hockey,"
"But thinking about playing hockey makes my blood sugar go up," Charlie said.
Oh. Right.
"The insulin is working over here," I said, tickling his kneecaps. "And it's working over here," I said, tickling his belly. "And over here," I said, tickling the back of his neck.
When he recovered from the unexpected tickle attack, he showed me how the high blood sugars get "pushed out" of his body, using a vacuum motion with his hands.
Holding his stuffed animals in the darkness and squirming from the discomfort of hyperglycemia, we kissed him and closed the door, reminded of the fact that he's still just a little boy.
A little boy with a big disease.
Scared or not, he is a BRAVE little boy. And he just made me shed a tear for us all.
Karen
And I complain cause I am 57 and learned a year ago I am type 2 diabetic. Main cause lack of exercise. Shame on me!!
He will be my mentor. I am a grandmother of 6 grandchildren. They are very honest in what they say!
Dear Lord, bless this little boy!
Nawnie
LMAO at telling him to think of playing hockey and then he points out it makes him high. He's not such a little boy.....
But he's got an excellent mom and dad to help him cope with his fears :)
thanks for the very kind words. this post was a tad dark. will try to bring some funny next time.
Carey,
Bless your heart! You write whatever you want to write. Charlie is our sweetheart and our hero here at DLife! From one special needs parent to another, sometimes you just gotta talk about it!
God bless little Charlie....and you and Suzanne!
Mousie, mom to little E, my hero
I'm so sorry your son was scared about his high BG. I have a 7 yo T1, Harry, and I would be very sad if he asked me if he was going to die. God knows I get sad enough when he tells me his two career choices are astronaut and fireman!
I am confused though, my son never seems uncomfortable when he is high. Is it the high BG that causes the discomfort, or the ketones? My son also never has ketones so if it is the ketones, that would explain it. Thanks for any feedback.
Mousie: Thank you!
Cee: Honestly I don't know if his discomfort was due to the high blood sugar or if he had slight ketones. It was sort of an isolated high (he was fine earlier in the day). We tend to only check ketones after consecutive high blood sugars. The 530 did come down nicely, thank goodness. All the best to little Harry. Thanks for stopping by.
Breaks my heart, but thank you for posting. Hoping there is a cure in Charlie's lifetime and you two are awesome parents.
High bgs make me extremely uncomfortable and I never test for ketones, just never have.
Type 1 for 42 years
Hey, I dont have Type 1 myself, but my boyfriend of almost 4 years [who turned 19 in May] found out recently that he is and had no clue. No real signs until a week before diagnosed, really healthy and athletic. He felt dehydrated & 'weird' for about 4 days, and at my house I tested his bgl one night to find it was 'high' though he had characteristics of it being low, and at the ER it read 686 after blood was drawn. he was then sent after all night of IVs & 16units of insulin, to a medical center an hour away where he spent a week. It is a shock, but his 4 carb diet [which is really easy] has helped along with 24hr Lantus he takes at bedtime & a Novolin R if it gets up based on sliding scale :]