merlinshepherd3
Member
- Messages
- 6
Hi everyone,
it's great to see such an active forum with so much help and advice for people of all ages and all degrees/control of their diabetes.
I'm 46, (born in July) and was diagnosed with type 1 when I was 10 months old. I'm currently controlling things with Lantus and Novo Rapid, all seems to be pretty well in order.
When I was a baby and a toddler, there was no blood testing, no pens, no pumps, no 6mm/32G needles, only glass syringes and mighty needles (1.5" long!) that my parents used to boil up and store in isopropyl alcohol. We used Clinitest (later Diastix) for fairly inaccurate and non-up-to-the-minute testing for sugar in urine. Sometimes my mother had to squeeze my nappies to get the necessary 5 drops of urine for the test and often when my father was at work, she had to help help from a neighbour to hold me still during injection times!
I have such admiration for my parents, who looked after me, educated me about my health, and generally supported me through what was a phenomenally difficult time for them (and me too!). Eventually, at least by the time I was in my teens, I had enough skill, responsibility and knowledge to let them relax and to really take care of myself.
Well here I am, after almost 45.5 years of diabetes, having lived through many changes in regimes, having watched changing attitudes from the medical profession, teachers, employers and family.
I want to offer my thoughts and wishes, particularly to parents who have babies with infantile onset. I want to say that although it is very frightening and heartbreaking thing to see one's child suffering with the swings in sugar levels and the also the constant worry that all parents have is multiplied manifold by looking after a child with diabetes; It can be done, and me having lived with 4.5 decades of insulin controlled diabetes is proof that there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel.
Merlin
it's great to see such an active forum with so much help and advice for people of all ages and all degrees/control of their diabetes.
I'm 46, (born in July) and was diagnosed with type 1 when I was 10 months old. I'm currently controlling things with Lantus and Novo Rapid, all seems to be pretty well in order.
When I was a baby and a toddler, there was no blood testing, no pens, no pumps, no 6mm/32G needles, only glass syringes and mighty needles (1.5" long!) that my parents used to boil up and store in isopropyl alcohol. We used Clinitest (later Diastix) for fairly inaccurate and non-up-to-the-minute testing for sugar in urine. Sometimes my mother had to squeeze my nappies to get the necessary 5 drops of urine for the test and often when my father was at work, she had to help help from a neighbour to hold me still during injection times!
I have such admiration for my parents, who looked after me, educated me about my health, and generally supported me through what was a phenomenally difficult time for them (and me too!). Eventually, at least by the time I was in my teens, I had enough skill, responsibility and knowledge to let them relax and to really take care of myself.
Well here I am, after almost 45.5 years of diabetes, having lived through many changes in regimes, having watched changing attitudes from the medical profession, teachers, employers and family.
I want to offer my thoughts and wishes, particularly to parents who have babies with infantile onset. I want to say that although it is very frightening and heartbreaking thing to see one's child suffering with the swings in sugar levels and the also the constant worry that all parents have is multiplied manifold by looking after a child with diabetes; It can be done, and me having lived with 4.5 decades of insulin controlled diabetes is proof that there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel.
Merlin
