Today is World Diabetes Day. It is a day of mixed emotions. We are rounding out our 3rd year of Type 1 Diabetes in our home on December 1, 2011 but as I think back about what November means to us it is a time to be Thankful as well as a time to reflect upon awareness. In 2008 when David was 4 and in Preschool, he was always getting sick. A great potty trainer, it all snuck up on us when he started wetting the bed again. November 2008 was a time of morning sickness (I was pregnant with Charlie) and a LONG case of the flu. We had planned to head to Palm Springs for Thanksgiving but David kept throwing up and throwing up. I remember resigned to the fact that we just couldn’t travel that year to be with my family. Thanksgiving dinner brought much vomiting, lethargy and sickness with it.
As we pulled through the weekend, and into Monday morning, it was a rude awakening to find that my mother had suffered a stroke. I immediately headed to Salt Lake to be with her, my husband called from the ER, David had Type 1 Diabetes. It was such a shock – so overwhelming for the next 18 months. Psychologically draining. And then, it became life as we knew it. I remember family telling me, soon I won’t remember what life was like without diabetes. It felt like forever.
While I still have flashbacks of our former life, they come less often. As I reflect today on World Diabetes day I mourn every child, adult, mother, sister, brother that is affected by diabetes. Their family and friends aren’t excluded from the urgency of the disease. However, I then realize that we have SO much to be grateful for. For life saving insulin, medical devices and modern technology.
It is SO appropriate that World Diabetes Day falls in November – because it is a time to be thankful for all that we do have, and that it is a completely and totally livable disease. If you have a diabetic in your family, give them a hug today and let them know how proud you are of them. They go through hell on a daily basis, but are the most positive, energetic and inspiring people I know. Here’s to another November – cheers to my sugar baby, I love you David – you are the best son a mother could ask for!
