{"id":36770,"date":"2014-10-02T09:08:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T13:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?post_type=feature&p=36770"},"modified":"2016-01-11T04:35:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T09:35:19","slug":"my-six-year-old-didnt-sign-up-for-type-1-diabetes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770","title":{"rendered":"My Six Year Old Didn’t Sign Up for Type 1 Diabetes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sign<\/a><\/p>\n

In July my kids and I stood along our town\u2019s village green and cheered on the triathletes competing in the Ironman race that happens each summer in the Adirondacks in northern New York. All around us were folks doing the same thing, waving signs, yelling, \u201cGo for it!\u201d or \u201cLooking good!\u201d Most athletes, about to take on a grueling climb through the mountains during the bike leg of the race, gave a grateful thumbs-up, said thanks or nodded their heads in appreciation.<\/p>\n

Between cheers I turned around to check on my six-year-old son. He was sitting in the shade of a lilac bush, dog-earing the sign he\u2019d made, the word GO written with a backward \u201cG,\u201d punctuated with several exclamation points. He\u2019s usually hopping around, walking circles, pacing\u2014perpetually moving. He looked exhausted, but that made sense.\u00a0 He has type 1 diabetes and the day before he\u2019d been incredibly sick with ketosis\u2014what can happen when the body doesn\u2019t get enough insulin, so it breaks down stored fat for energy, resulting in ketones in the bloodstream. Ketones are dangerous because they change the pH of the body.<\/p>\n

My husband and I work hard to manage our son\u2019s condition so he feels good, learns the ropes and has a long, healthy, happy life. But also so diabetes isn\u2019t the focus of his world\u2014there\u2019s plenty more for a first-grader to think about. Still, that weekend a nasty cold, a clog in his insulin pump, and other factors led to a series of high blood sugars and, consequently, vomiting and dehydration. We were shades away from hospitalization.<\/p>\n

Type 1 diabetes often feels like a never-ending marathon of balancing blood sugars and emotion, exercise, nutrition, you name it. As a caregiver to a child who\u2019s just beginning to understand his symptoms and how to manage his needs, it\u2019s bottomless worry, sleepless nights, nonstop carb counting, insulin ratio tweaking and injections, doctor appointments, ordering of medications and devices and other apparatus. Though we\u2019ve been doing this for a couple of years (my son was diagnosed at the age of four), some days the responsibilities\u2014on top of life\u2019s ordinary demands\u2014seem daunting. But this is all just part of our life, like doing laundry or walking the dog.<\/p>\n

Back at the Ironman race, as I watched and worried over my sweet little boy (who had insisted on getting out and seeing the race), I heard someone yell, \u201cYou got this!\u201d at one of the bikers whooshing by. For a selfish second I wished there had been someone shouting that in my house the day before as my son struggled his way up his own mountain. Would those words have empowered him when he was so sick? Or empowered me when I was frantic, on the phone with our endocrinology team while soothing my four-year-old daughter, catching my son\u2019s vomit, checking blood sugars and ketones and feeling helpless?<\/p>\n

Ironman competitors get support that\u2019s fabulously ostentatious: brightly-colored signs with silly, often personal messages staked mile after mile along roadsides\u2014even slogans spray-painted right on the pavement or shaving-creamed on SUVs. You\u2019ll see congratulatory banners strung across hotels, restaurants, fences. Or Facebook posts from the athletes themselves\u2014most of whom don\u2019t do this professionally\u2014showing them in their spandex, with details of their workouts, plus mass shout-outs to those who made this feat possible, who offered support and accepted the sacrifice.<\/p>\n

It is a remarkable thing to sign up and then train for something like Ironman. Imagine taking on a one-day race that includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run through rugged terrain, at the mercy of precarious weather. It makes sense why encouragement is essential, that it\u2019s a big part of the journey.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t help think about those of us who don\u2019t sign up for this sort of thing, but also face a test of will, both physically and mentally, every single day.<\/p>\n

My son is a hopeful, indefatigable little boy. He doesn\u2019t remember what life was like before diabetes. What he knows is that he\u2019s capable of anything\u2014his plan someday, he says, is to be both a professional soccer player and a scientist who\u2019ll cure diabetes. But he also knows the routine of needles; what it\u2019s like to have to wait to eat so his food can be carb counted; that each day can be a roller coaster of feeling great one minute and not being able to get up off the floor the next.<\/p>\n

What would my son\u2014or my husband and I\u2014do if, during those harder moments, a stranger stood by, pumping a fist, whistling and waving a neon sign with an encouraging slogan in loopty-loop letters? But there\u2019s some unspoken code that hard health stuff should be dealt with differently: it\u2019s private, right? You\u2019ll often hear the words \u201cgrace\u201d and \u201cdignity.\u201d Since my son was diagnosed with diabetes I\u2019ve found that outsiders are most impressed if you carry on like everything\u2019s fine, when it seems you have everything under control. There\u2019s supposed to be pride in that.<\/p>\n

Regardless, my kids and I will be back at the village green for next year\u2019s Ironman, and probably every one after that, cheering on the athletes who pass by.<\/p>\n

But to all those who didn\u2019t sign up, who quietly push themselves every day: I\u2019m clapping, smiling hopefully, shouting\u2014with all due respect\u2014\u201cYou got this!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My husband and I work hard to manage our son\u2019s condition so he feels good, learns the ropes and has a long, healthy, happy life. But also so diabetes isn\u2019t the focus of his world\u2014there\u2019s plenty more for a first-grader to think about. Still, that weekend a nasty cold, a clog in his insulin pump, and other factors led to a series of high blood sugars and, consequently, vomiting and dehydration. We were shades away from hospitalization. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":36775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1460,1430],"tags":[20],"yoast_head":"\nMy Six Year Old Didn't Sign Up for Type 1 Diabetes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My six year old son has type 1 diabetes and the day before he\u2019d been incredibly sick with ketosis\u2014what can happen when the body doesn\u2019t get enough insulin, so it breaks down stored fat for energy, resulting in ketones in the bloodstream.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Annie Stoltie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770\",\"name\":\"My Six Year Old Didn't Sign Up for Type 1 Diabetes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Sign-Up-go3-Home.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-02T13:08:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-11T09:35:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/28bf516504a4bdffde7646d31e32550b\"},\"description\":\"My six year old son has type 1 diabetes and the day before he\u2019d been incredibly sick with ketosis\u2014what can happen when the body doesn\u2019t get enough insulin, so it breaks down stored fat for energy, resulting in ketones in the bloodstream.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Sign-Up-go3-Home.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Sign-Up-go3-Home.jpeg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Sign Up - go3\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36770#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My Six Year Old Didn’t Sign Up for Type 1 Diabetes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/28bf516504a4bdffde7646d31e32550b\",\"name\":\"Annie Stoltie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe3c625a5c22e53b9c8cfe2fb1bd409e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe3c625a5c22e53b9c8cfe2fb1bd409e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Annie Stoltie\"},\"description\":\"Annie Stoltie is editor of Adirondack Life magazine. 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