Diabetes Awarness - A Mother's View (Wendy Rose Post)

First: PLEASE  register for the Virtual 5K. This can't be a success without YOU!!! 

Register HERE.

Details HERE.

Current List of Registrants HERE.

Second: Here are a few of the Raffle Prizes that have arrived.  How awesome are the pottery pieces and come on a hat that says "Girls Kick Ass" everyone needs one of those, ok every woman needs one of those :).

Third:  I read this awesome post by Wendy Rose over at Candy Hearts.  I think it really gives the average person a peek into what it is like to parent a Type 1 child.  Thank you Wendy, for letting me re-post here.

She came home with an invitation to a cookie decorating party the other day. No special reason...just a group of friends getting together to make some memories and have fun on a Friday afternoon. She excitedly handed me the card as we were walking away from her gate, and then scurried ahead to join her pals before skipping off to the park.

I looked around at the other moms, who were also reading the invitation, and couldn't help but to wonder what they were thinking. One by one, they smiled before tucking it away without a care in the world.

I saw that invite, and my mind immediately thought about gluten and carbs. About how I'd need to make some gluten free cookie dough since my freezer stash was used up with the holidays. I thought about shared decorating knives, and the tops of sprinkle bottles that would inevitably touch the glutenous cookies they were embellishing. I wondered if I'd be able to gauge the pump setting changes I made this week. After all, it's not every day, you get to smother a cookie with decorations and call it dinner. Ugh. I wondered if this party would wreak havoc on her blood sugars, and if I'd sleep for more than a 3 hour stretch on the night that followed.

I'm not the same.

Across the parking lot, up the little hill, and the park was there. Perfect weather. By the time I made it to the table where she left her backpack, they were already off and running. I knew she needed to test her blood sugar, but I let it slide. The other moms huddled, and we chatted. About sore throats and runny noses...a fever and antibiotics. They were talking about plans for the weekend, while I stared past them, watching her play at the far end of the field. She seemed off. Slower, off balance perhaps? From where I was sitting, trying to listen to the conversation, I couldn't tell if there was a problem. I was distracted by the distance between us. They looked around and glanced from side to side, making sure their kids were okay while I stared at every step, every move, every sign to determine if I should run her supplies out to the to the field.

I'm not the same.

I decided to walk a few laps around the field. It would give me a chance to meet up with my girl on the other side, and test her number while passing by. 55. I knew it. The other kids started running back to the tables. Snacks were waiting. We sat on the sidewalk with juice. And Starbursts. And Nerds. I retested to see that she was coming up, and then we walked back together. Everyone was scattered. I watched as the other moms doled out granola bars and handfuls of goldfish without a care in the world about carbs or gluten. She was feeling better, so we retested to see that she was over 100, calculated the carbs, and bolused to keep her from skyrocketing.

I'm not the same.

We opened the backpacks, and started going through the folders. The other mothers were talking about their children's 100% scores, and I noticed that mine had missed 9 math problems. Math certainly isn't her favorite subject, but nine is still a lot of errors for her. Come to think of it, I had no idea how her numbers had been all day. I wondered what part of the day this assignment was given. I wondered what her blood sugar was at the time. I reached for the remote to scroll through the history. They reached for a cell phone to return a text.

I'm not the same.

Drama runs an extra half hour after school now. The big show is getting close! They talked about how nice it would be to have an extra 30 minutes for prepping dinner, and helping the other kids with homework. I wondered if I should decrease her afternoon basals, just to be safe.

I'm not the same.

Before bed, I brushed her hair while she read to me. Then we talked about school, and who she played with at recess. We talked about who she sat with at lunch. She showed me a silly handshake they made up on the playground. And we talked about the cookie party. She told me that she got nervous when her friend started passing out the invitations. She was worried that she wouldn't get one. When I asked her why, she replied...

"Because I'm not the same."