D-Blog Day - Six from muffinmoon

Having dried my eyes from reading everyone else's six things they'd like people to know I feel ready to add mine and I apologise to anyone, friends and family alike, for the language I might use.

What I'd like you to know about Frank's Diabetes:

1. I did nothing to bring it on, Andrew did nothing and Frank most certainly did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DESERVE THIS. (So, to the woman who asked me just over two years ago, Frank having been diagnosed barely two weeks before, "So, when did you stop breast feeding?" I now say "Oh, just f*@k off". At the time I blathered something about auto-immune issues).

2. Frank's diagnosis robbed me of a feeling that I could cope with anything. I now know I can't. I can deal with diabetes most days really well but can't be allowed to operate any heavy machinery anymore as I am too sleep deprived and carb-fixated. It steals your bounce and makes mortality a constant companion. I will never let Frank know how hard I still find it. He needs to be free to just be a child.

3. Frank can eat anything as long as it is measured and accounted for by me or Andrew. We let him eat and he eats well. Sugary sweets wouldn't have been much on the menu for him without diabetes and that hasn't changed. Please stop bemoaning in front of him how awful it must be for him that he can't have sweets.

4. Frank will not grow out of it nor will it get "easier". It is for life and it is chronic and it is different every bloody day. Sympathise and try to empathise. It is hard and having people look me in the eye and really see me is important. Don't fob me off with insincerity.

5. Parents of a diabetic child often feel judged by others for whom Type 2 diabetes is much more understood. Type 1 is not the same. Insulin is vital to keep Frank alive. He developed diabetes when he was just two years old and had not lead a debauched life!

6. Having a child with diabetes makes everyday life an intense experience. The highs are very high and the lows plain awful. But it makes you realise your strength. You find that you are after all made of gritty stuff.

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And a quick number seven:

Do not piss off a parent of a Type 1 child. They are sleep-deprived, insulin wielding bundles of emotion and have enough drugs on them to fell a horse.

Be nice!

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(It is late here in England and I have only just come to my computer and found it is Diabetes Blog Day. I couldn't not post, this stuff means too much, though I fear I may have rambled on weirdly.

Tomorrow I will post the granola recipe but for tonight I want to send a big cyber hug to all you D-parents and I want you to know how much you mean to me, how much you help me and how if I ever come to your town I will be looking you up and calling in for a face to face chat and a real hug in place of that cyber one. )