When September comes to an end, it is aways a time for reflection in our house, well for me. September 26, 1992 seems like a million years ago, and yet, it also seems like only yesterday. Diabetes showed up and stayed and turned everything inside out. We have become masters in learning what we need in a world that keeps changing. Devices, insulin, DIYs, everything has changed and keeps changing.
And yet, it boggles my mind how much info on this disease is still not known and undetected. How much schools ‘think’ they have a full grasp on this and how a blanket 504 plan seems to have taken over the individualized plans that were needed and still are. Even after all this time, there is still no one size that fits all reality, even if that mentality tries to prevail.
You will find schools thinking, ‘we don’t need to be as vigilant’ as we once thought. People are dying less. It is no longer as common…….right? Yet at the recent European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) it was reported that T1D will affect 9.5 million people globally in 2025, up by 13% since 2021
In all that is being done, the numbers continue in directly opposite free fall than the direction all of us have been hoping for years. That’s sad. How that translates is that we all need to reexamine the lives we have been living for/with our children to make sure they are taking the absolute best care that they can. The tools have kept up with technology……..have we?
Are we coasting now that our children have lived with T1D for 20-25-30-35 years? Does it still scare the hell out of us? Because it should. Diabetes does not care about anything except arriving and staying. It is the false sense of security that will play havoc on our emotions should something happen. Diabetes does not care.
Thinking that things are okay for now is exactly the mindset that will blow up in our faces and cause disastrous results all because we thought for one second, ‘we got this.’ Diabetes does not care.
Remember that point. You got to this point with an over abundance of care, attention, and due diligence. The marathon we are in will continue, and so must we all. Remind yourself. Don’t dwell on it but remind yourself, that with the skills are an over abundance of luck. The harder you work, the luckier you will be, and so will your child because diabetes just does not care.
I’m a diabetes dad. Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like.’
Tagged diabetes, diabetes dad, diabetes inspiration