As a parent of a child with diabetes, it’s not so easy to set goals. Test his blood sugar more often? Don’t think so. His little fingers look like they’ve been dipped in bee hives. Doctors have been urging us to cut down on testing for years.
Get more exercise? Charlie never stops running. He’s like a greyhound on amphetamine.
Get less exercise? Doubtful. See above.
Eat better? Maybe. But he’s not going on a low-carb diet. Not at age 7. We’ve tried to find some sort of balance in letting him eat like a normal kid though in moderation when it comes to kid staples such as pizza and fries. So, maybe he gets a little extra chocolate or ice cream at times (which doesn’t seem to have much effect on his blood sugar) and a little less of the evil carbs that keep him up all night with numbers you should only see on models of Datsun cars from the late ‘70s. It’s a plan we can all agree on.
Log numbers more often? Basal test more often? Do more tweaking? I suppose we could do better in these areas. But as parents of children with diabetes, I think we run the risk of over-thinking diabetes. Try to fix a trend of lows and you get a trend of highs. Try to fix a trend of highs and you get a trend of lows. Yet doing nothing is not an option. We’ve been chasing our tails for years.
Our goal for Charlie is simple. Do everything we can to make it better. Be active in the management of his disease but not to the point of obsession. Teach him. Respect the disease. Know our limitations but don’t become complacent. Try new things. Consider new technologies. Try to relax. He'll come down. He'll be OK. Right?
Well, maybe our goal is not so simple.
