Last night was one of the Top 5 reasons why I am disgusted that Micheala is a diabetic. Last night really smacked me in the face on why I do what I do in regards to funding a cure for juvenile diabetes. Last night fueled my reason and propelled my purpose.
After dinner last night, we started to get the girls settled down for bedtime. It was the end of the holiday vacation and they had school the next morning. No more sleeping in, not that they ever did anyway, but still wanted them to have enough rest for school.
As we started to lay down, Micheala's blood sugar reading was over 600. This is a battle we fight constantly. She had either sneaked some food or there was a miscalculation in her insulin to carb ratio. Either way, her blood sugar was high and we had to correct it, otherwise we could be looking at a long night, which means no sleep for Heather.
Aside from high blood sugars causing crazy internal damage to Micheala, high blood sugars also bring extreme thirst, frequent urination and makes you very hungry. So Micheala was extremely hungry last night at bedtime.
The problem is that we are trying to get her blood sugars to come down, so we cannot necessarily give her more food, instead we have to push fluids (water to be more specific). Try and tell a 6 year old who is very hungry at the time that she cannot have anything to eat. Easy to say, not so easy emotionally.
Micheala goes into a frantic fit. Starts calling Heather and I "mean" and "unfair". Crying uncontrollably and raising hell within the house. She starts in on Dylanne, because high blood sugars not only make you physically uncomfortable, but also very moody, usually in a negative way. Dylanne begins to become upset and we are literally minutes away from an all out Armageddon.
Because we are "old hats" at this diabetes stuff, we know that what she is saying and doing is somewhat not in her control. Dylanne doesn't understand that, but we make it a point to explain it to her every time it happens. The best that we can do is love on her and support her as the blood sugars start to drop, which they eventually did in the middle of the night.
The emotional damage for Heather and I is that we have to tell our starving kid that she cannot eat. Not easily understood by a six year old. It takes extreme amounts of patience to deal with the emotional outbursts she is having. It takes extreme amounts of courage to not give in and just let her eat. It is draining....that's why we have to fill our tanks every day.
I know that I have told people before that I could never explain what it is to be diabetic, nor would I ever try to make people understand what it is to be diabetic. All I can do is share our story. The day-to-day diabetic ups and downs.
I know that Heather and I are no different than any other parents of diabetic children, that's why I have such compassion for those families that have diabetes in their lives. We have to be strong when we feel weak.
This could all end, but it is up to you. Take a look around your community, school or even your list of friends. How many of those people fight with diabetes? If a cure was found, how would it change their lives?
If you haven't taken the opportunity to step forward and fund the cure, then I encourage you to take that step. You can donate to our team (link located on the right column of this page) or seek out another juvenile diabetes walk team and donate to them. Every penny counts and goes directly to research for the cure.
Take the step......be the difference.
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