Second Child Diagnosed Lottery……..Not the Win Anyone Wanted!

Dad, I’m peeing a lot.
Thus started a series of events that would end up with my youngest of three becoming our second child diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D).  You can find many statistics about having two kids with T1D and if you get more than 3 sources that agree on a particular stat, and tell you the same thing, kindly let me know.

Chances are slim……….the lottery no one wants to win.  But we surely did.  That was in 2009……and I remember like it was yesterday.   Seems to be happening more if you ask me……..but I have no science to back that, it may just be social media and we hear more about it today than we did years ago.

What I do know, is that it’s not a common occurrence, but it does happen.  The most I have ever heard is a women who claimed she had six kids with T1D……..jeez louise…..a saint I’m sure.

Here are a few things to remember about those of us who ‘won the lottery’ of having more than 1 child with this disease.  Yes, we know the drill but please do not say to us; “At least you know what to do.”
We know this point and it is of little comfort to be reminded about this fact as if that is all we have to be grateful for; the fact we already know about it.

What we are thinking:
“Really?”
“Why would another childhood be taken?”
“Why would life/God/nature/fate (however you believe) be so cruel?”
“Where did ‘fair’ go?”
“I cannot do this.”
“I cannot go through with this…..again!”
“What is my first step?”

What we want to do:
Get life back to as normal as can be as we continue to try to get life back to normal as can be from the first child diagnosed…….did you get that?
DO something with this INCREDIBLE amount of anger overcoming us that we would have to deal with this (place any expletive) all over again.
Balance this balance from the balance of trying to balance the family balance from the first time our lives were thrown off balance…….did you get this?
Find a breathe.

Yes, those of us who have been down this roadway will survive…..because that is what we do.  Want to help, send a basket full of supplies…even if it is juice boxes and the necessary foods to treat a low and where you do not need a prescription.  Send a bottle of wine to a couple with a note—-“Don’t know what you’re going through but find a corner to share this together.”  Do something to comfort because words…..honestly….only help a little…..go an extra step.

There is just so much that overwhelms a parent when a second child is diagnosed…..it is not as simple as a first child and now it is ‘just’ a second child…….unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.  It’s an incredible amount of pain as you realize what you know has just impacted another child.  The first time, we ‘just got through it’ and had to learn so much.  We had THAT distraction. The second time, every single thing we did, we now knew what it meant.  And it hurts.

This disease sucks for all who have it and all who are parents and must watch…..and to some, watch all over again;  and even some, watch more than that.  None of us ever wants pity, we know what we must do…..and we’ll do it…….because whether it’s one, two, three, or even six kids diagnosed with diabetes…….that is what we do.  Because there is no room for diabetes in anyone’s life and we will make dang sure that the disease fights for anything and everything it thinks it can take.
I am a DiabetesDad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.