No days off

Parents
1

I am feeling a little down.  My sons went to spend the night with Grandma tonigt so I went to pick up a pizza for my husband and I.  While standing in line, I'm thinking to myself "ahhh a night with no carb counting and no shots".  Then it hits me, my son will never get a day off....  Does this ever get easier to handle?

2

I know exactly how you feel! My son is 9 and has had t1 for 2 years now. I just wish for ONE day that he could have a day free of shots, checking blood sugars, carb counting , etc. it saddens me when I think about that.

3

I don't know how much responsibility your son is taking with his daily care, but you might want to read Meri's blog post about giving her 7-year old son a "diabetes vacation".  She has four boys, three of whom have T1 and they each do most of the d-care themselves.  So a "vacation" for them is when mom does all of the care...all of the BG testing, all of the carb counting, all of the bolusing (they pump), all of the low correcting, etc.  At a time when your son seems to need it, you may offer to give him a "vacation" from as much of the responsibility as possible.  It may help both of you.  Here's Meri's post about it:  www.ourdiabeticlife.com/.../pinch-hitting-for-better-diabetic-life.html

Blessings,

Mo

4

I get it too.  My daughter is 3 years old.  That is such an incredibly long lifetime to have to check sugars every day.  I guess as much as I wish she could take a day off or not have to think about it, if that happened who knows.... just have to think that checking is safer and healthier than not and thats what matters.  I like the idea of a "diabetes vacation" tho.

5

Thanks for the responses.  Thank you Mo for the "diabetes vacation" idea.  I love it.

6

You can't take a day off from shots/pumping, but you can easily take a day off from carb counting and checking blood sugars.  Carb counting has only been around about 20 years.  Home glucose meters have only been around about 30.  Lots of us lived with D for years before this stuff was available.  Blood sugars may be a little higher than usual on vacation days or you might have to treat a low, but the world won't end.  

Over time you'll figure out how to make diabetes management fit into your lives and not be so overwhelming.  I don't have perfect control, but I diabetes doesn't seem like a burden to me (at least not on most days) and I am able to do reasonably well as a mom, wife, employee, etc.