First of all i want to say a huge thank you to ye all for the comments and kind welcome ye gave me to the DOC. Its much easier for me to share this stuff on-line rather than at the (very good) meetings organised by the Diabetes Federation for parents to get together and share stuff, i always attend these, i'm just not really good at sharing face to face, but it is great that there is a supportive community across the world who know where we're at.
A VERY Happy Girl
Now, do you want to know the way to a nine year old girl's heart? Get her a mobile phone......
K went on an adventure day with the Diabetes Federation 2 weeks ago to Carlingford Lough. It is great that these days are organised by the Federation and there is a huge sense of relief that a nurse and experienced volunteers go along to keep an eye on the kids and administer evening injections etc.
The night before I let slip that i would have liked her to have a phone with her, to take photos and to get phone numbers of girls her own age with Diabetes. (Also in my paranoid daddy way i would have liked to be in touch, seen as i couldn't be there with her).
Well she had a wonderful (and tiring) day; but it wasn't tiring enough that she forgot my comment about the phone (how naive am I?) Both K and her older brother (aged 10) have been hassling us for ages about getting phones, we've been resisting due to health concerns, access to questionable internet stuff and cyber bullying; but also due to us not really seeing a need for same.
Well a need arose and last week my mother got a free SIM card for Tesco mobile with her shopping (strange what gets handed out at supermarket checkouts these days). She gave this to K whose eyes opened wide with delight.
I dug out my last phone; and talk about happy, she hasn't put it down since, taking photos, playing music, writing texts etc etc etc. She even tidied her room with good grace the next morning as a trade off for €10 call credit (this tidying of room is normally a huge bone of contention with us).
All we have to do now is negotiate with her older brother........
Going through the Emotions
On a completely different note I read a couple of tragic d-stories at the weekend. I was knocked down by them, really frightened. It brought home to me (again) what a chronic disease this and its been a fight to function normally since Saturday.
Luckily my wife and myself seem to alternate, when one of us is down the other can view things objectively and give support and encouragement , and vice versa This was my turn to lean on her. The fear hasn't gone away, then again, it never will, but i'm getting back to normal.
Thanks M.
Hiyas Chris, and a belated welcome to the DOC. My daughter is 11 and she was diagnosed nearly two years ago. I've found great comfort in the blogs I've found in that time.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I so relate to the last bit you wrote about sharing the load with your wife. My husband and I have a deal: only one of us gets to go crazy at a time. That way at least there's a sane one at the wheel, even if the other one is crying in a corner. In our almost 20 years of marriage, we've only had one instance of both going nutty at the same time, and it was just a few weeks ago, so I reckon that's a pretty good record.
All the best to you and your family.