My 6 things (better late then never)

**D-blog Day was started on November 9th 2005 (by Gina Capone) during Diabetes Awareness Month, to help unite diabetes bloggers and create awareness about diabetes. For more information, head on over to Diabetes Talkfest

1. Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease, which means Joshua's body attacked the insulin producing cells in his pancreas.   I promise you I didn’t feed my 11 month old juice and soda every day.  (Yes, one person actually asked me that) As a matter of fact, he didn’t have his first taste of Juice until he came home from the hospital and had a low.  Anyone can develop type 1 diabetes. My husband developed it in his 20's.  Just because you don’t have it now doesn’t mean you are clear.  If your family has a history of Autoimmune diseases then you or your children are at a greater risk of developing one or more of the autoimmune diseases.
2. Type 1 Diabetes is fundamentally different from Type 2.  I get so angry when I hear ads on TV talking about diet, and exercise being able to ward off Diabetes.  NOW don’t get me wrong my mother has type 2 and so does my mother in law so I have great feelings about type 2 as well, however, when my 4 year old says "all Joshua has to do is exercise mommy and he won't need shots anymore", I know that now is the time for more education of the public or a name change. 
3. My now 20 month old has to endure up wards of 10-15 finger pricks a day and shots every time he eats or drinks anything outside of water.  THIS IS NOT an option.  Insulin is not the cure. It only keeps him alive.  Someone said one time that insulin is life support and how true that is. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard "well when you get him on the pump it will all be better"... HECK NO! I am telling you I have read page after page from my AWESOME DOC moms who will tell you the pump helps to manage the monster but it won’t be better till we find a cure.  He will still need finger checks, site changes, and more things that no child should have to go through.
4. I never knew how much sleep I could survive on.  I have always been better at night then in the morning, but since 2/11/10 I think I have aged 5 years.  We don’t sleep for more than 3 hours over night in a row and that is a good night. In order to work my Creative Memories Job, and spend time with my husband most nights I go to bed after the midnight check (if it goes well) and then up at 3:30 then up at 6:30.  This is hard.  I don’t like who I am without sleep. I don’t like the mommy I become.  My husband takes most 3:30s on the weekend but I am still waking with the alarms.  Heck even my 4 year old hears the alarms sometimes. 
5. I was never good in math.  Okay that is an understatement I AM HORRIABLE in math.  In the hospital when they told me what the formula was going to include I think I cried more for that then actually giving Joshua his shot.  I had to take remedial math in college.  NOW my sons life DEPENDS on me getting the math right.  I have to calculate the carb in every bite he actually ate, if he was over or under his target BG level, how much insulin is enough for the coverage and correction of a high if needed.  In addition I must be able to determine how the carbs he ate will be affected by the running around a 20 month old may or may not due in the next 2 hours.  EVERY time I give him a shot, I check it, double check it and then still I wonder did I do it right, did I give to much?  Brian and I have both caught ourselves a few times on the math getting a decimal wrong.  The pharmacy has even given us the wrong size needles and we have drawn into them without knowing it.  (of course we caught it before he got the shot) TO THINK my sons life depends on my math skill and decimal placing is the scariest thing to me in the world.
6. Joshua will NOT outgrow this monster.  When Jackson tells me he is scared in the room at night I tell him mommy paid extra when we got the bug guy to spray for monsters.  He will eventually outgrow this stage and we will move on.  But what about the D monster?? Joshua will never out grow it and no matter how much I "pay" the bug guy, he can’t spray it away.  It is a lifelong condition.  It is also a life threating condition.  Since Joshua's dx I have been aware of 4 families that have lost their child to this monster.  Every day I count my blessings.  We were almost one of those families.  When Joshua was dx his body was almost in shutdown mode. his body had begun to give up.  He laid there for the doctors to continue to try and find a vain with not even a flinch.  He was completely non responsive.  This is a monster and we need your help to get rid of him.