parents of children with type 1

ZACNEMMA

Well-Known Member
Messages
178
Hi

Would be great to be in touch with other parents who have children with diabetes. My son is 13 years old and was diagnosed 5 months ago, was an absolute shocker as we have no family history of it. I kind of knew something wasn't right but I do feel that he was diagnosed late as I knew nothing about the chronic condition that is diabetes.

Zac is doing just admirably, he does all his own shots and never moans he is so accepting.Glargine and novo rapid are the insulin that Zac uses,and we have been researching pumps and Zac is very keen on the idea. Ice skating , music and drama are his main interests and he plays the piano.While Zac just gets on with things I still sometimes find it very hard to accept it seems enormous at times.

It would be great to chat to other parents and share good practice whilst supporting each other.

forever grateful for the works of Banting and Best

Emma
 

flojos mum

Active Member
Messages
31
Hi emma,
sounds like you are all coping really well, good to hear your son is carrying on with what he enjoys as the one thing I have had to make sure Chloe knows is that having diabetes just means a bit of forward thinking and planning then life goes on as normal. She was diagnosed october 2008 which i just scarly worked out to be 9 months ago( time flys when your having fun).
It can get very scary like with Chloe not knowing when she is a hypo until she is about 2.0 or less and going off to high school in september but we should be very proud of how accepting our children are to change and teach them to look on the positive side to everything. One positive for Chloe is that her confidence has grown as she has the attitude that if I can handle Diabetes I can handle anything. There are plenty of parents on this forum who have always known exactly what to write when I need a boost, as well as whose people who have diabetes who can set me straight on how it feels and best of all the great information you learn from here.
LAst time we when to clinic I was telling the consultant about the hypos Chloe had been having and what I thought were the reasons behind them his reply was " Chloe and yourself are doing a great job but at the end of the day diabetes is all guess work" Great help but he was right to a certain degree we all have to gather information and find what works for our children doesnt mean we can't work to figure it out together or just give each other a vitural boost when needed. Do you have a local support group you could join aswell?
Charlie
 

ZACNEMMA

Well-Known Member
Messages
178
Hi Charli

Many thanks for your post.Sounds like Chloe and yourself are on top of things. I hope Chloes transition to secondary education goes smoothly. We have been very fortunate and Zacs school has been just great. The care from all the medical professionals has to been good, I thought i'd mention this as you do often hear of people feeling ill informed regarding diabetes.

Unfortunately there is no support group for children in my area- there was but the parents who ran it apparently stopped when their child became 18 and went into adult care,understandable I suppose.There is 179 type 1 children in the primary trust that i live in so there is a definite need for a group. I have inquired and the diabetic nurse is sending letters out to all parents to see if we can get some interest.

Zac has had his first hba1c and it was 9.Hes had some good bloods today- 7 this morning 12 at lunch 6 before tea and 5.8 this evening. If Zac is less than 9/10 at bedtime he will often have a snack.

Emma
 

suzi

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754
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Hi, Emma & Charlie,
Our children certainly are remarkable, is never amazes me how adaptable they are. It's hard to believe its 9 mths since Chloes diagnosis, i still remember her 1st posts, such an endearing, capable and mature young lady. One thing i'll say to both of you, is it does get easier, Andrew is now almost 3 and 1/2 yrs down the line, we've had our tears, our joys, & our slip ups, but at the end of the day his acceptance of his condition is amazing.
Being Coeliac puts the dampner on things, as we've learnt he can have that luxury chocolate mouse as a treat providing he adjusts his insulin (Levemir basal & humalog bolus) but a no no to the large sponge cake.
I'll admit we did become very complacent there over a period of a couple of months to the result of his Hbac1 going up to 10.2 which was a real punch to the system and were now tighter controlled than we've ever been (if he needs a correction dose inbetween, he'll happily take it, and he's already on 4 a day) By the end of July we'll find out how far down we've got it down.
Our health care is 1st class, we have a diabetic team that organise Christmas, Halloween and Easter parties, sports day, ten pin bowling events and get togethers. Andrews DN is even bringing the Hbac1 machine to our local clinic to save me travelling as its inbetween hospital appointments. She's always at the end of a phone, and the rest of her team including dietitian, podiatrist and Dr are equally as good. We're very fortunate, i know not eveyone is as lucky.
Charlie, Zac is doing remarkably well, and its often us parents who are unintentionally forgotten about, thankfully this forum exists for us to support and help each other. Emma, say hi to Chloe for me.
Big (((hugs))) to you both and take care
Suzi x
 

flojos mum

Active Member
Messages
31
Thanks suzi,
Chloe hasnt been on here in a very long time but I guess that shows she is coping alot better with it all and doesnt feel the need to seek out answers all the time,plus shes back to always being out doing things which is fantastic to see as she was frightened before to leave my side incase something happened but as you will know from her messages she as over come that.
she has another problem at the moment as she fractured her wrist playing football last week so in plaster and is finding it very difficult to inject and blood test, mainly the pinching of skin to inject into is a problem - how do you get it all done one handed? havent solved that one yet!
I think she has handled it much better than I have because I still feel sad that I cant take it away and make it all better which as her mum is my natural thing to want but on the positive side before she got diabetes she was very well behaved but always the one in the background, quiet and let other lead, being a bit over cautious before- well not now she is up there willing to try anything, speaking her mind which has come from her attitude that if I can do all that is involved to keep me healthy as far as diabetes is concerned i can do anything.
Emma I think starting a support group would be great ours does as much or little with you as you want and plenty of people at the end of the phone when you want them, If you need it I could put you in contact with our local group for any information you needed about how it is run.
charlie
 

ZACNEMMA

Well-Known Member
Messages
178
Hi

Many thanks for your offer of help in setting up a support group- I may just ask you for some help should they get 1 up and running. Whilst I would be very supportive of a group, I don't feel like i'm in a position to have an active role. I'll see what it entails and take it from there.Perhaps you could let me know what goes on at your groups...

Would be interesting to know how this heat is affecting your childrens levels? Zacs have been good but perhaps at times a little lo and he has been snacking more.It really does seem that everything is a factor in the control of diabetes.


Hows Chloe doing with her arm? Sometimes it really does feel like 1 thing after another.Hope she hasn't had to many hypos in this heat.Zac gets really strong hypo signs..Is this the same for your children?
For now Emma
 

suzi

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Messages
754
Dislikes
people who are rude and ignorant, and people who have no patience in queues.
Hi Emma, Hi Charlie
Andrews hypo awareness differs, especially if he's been running about so much that he's dropped quickly, luckily i only have to look at him to tell, he always goes deathly white, glazed eyes and would argue a black crow white :lol: He's only had one major hypo where he's registered below 1 and it took a considerable amount of lucozade and toast plus an hours nap to get him back to normal, he was really drained, thankfully it happpened at home.
He did suffer one at school, but he wasted the test strips (all 10 of them) he couldn't function properly and the school called an ambulance, by which time after he'd thrown most of the lucozade round his teacher and stripped to his pants, his blood sugar had raised to 7 but he was still confused. We can laugh about it now, but i make sure we always have spares of everything at school now, plus in the car, at his Grannies and if you look through all my handbags you'll always find lucozade tabs lurking in the pockets.
Charlie, i hope Emma's arm is healing nicely, did they say if it would take longer than normal? just wondered, as i always find Andrews cuts take forever to heal, and wondered if breaks/fractures where the same.
Best wishes to you all,
Suzi x