Having multiple kids with diabetes can be a real challenge. <<<< Biggest understatement ever.

 

Someone is always high or low or out of insulin or needs a site change or can’t find their meter or forgot to dose for a snack or has a low battery in a diabetes related device. There. Is. Always. Something.

I’m ashamed to admit that there are times I am a bit envious of my friends who have only one child with diabetes. That only lasts a nanosecond before I give thanks that multiples is not the norm.

My kids think I nag too much. The thing is, I bet on average I only ask each kid what his/her blood sugar is maybe 2 times a day and I might ask/remind each kid to bolus 1-2 times a day. That’s it. Many of my friends who have 1 child with diabetes ask/remind two to three times what I do. (Some even have the Nightscout system and have blood sugars sent to them 24/7 – totally not what I am going to talk about on this post – not sure I ever will share my thoughts regarding Nightscout other than we do not Nightscout.) I do have requirements that I expect to be met – a minimum of 3 checks during school hours and checks before eating. I let my kids do their thing and occasionally scroll through a meter to see that they are. If they are not we have a discussion. But back to how often I ask each kid about numbers and bolusing – not often.

HOWEVER – my kids hear a repeating record when they are home. What was your number? Did you check? Don’t forget to bolus. Etc. Only all the times I say it are not directed at one child alone it is distributed between 3 kids. The problem with this is regardless of whom I am badgering they all hear it – repeatedly – over and over and over again. It’s worse when I ask all three what their numbers were within the same few minutes and thus forget what each told me and ask again – ok that is my fault. Totally my bad.

Most kids with diabetes that don’t have siblings with diabetes get a break from the constant barrage of questions and reminders and nagging (all of which is done with love btw). My kids don’t often get that break because there is nearly always some diabetes dialog happening somewhere within earshot.

That must seriously suck for them.

It feels like this:

(gosh I hope you didn’t listen to the entire 10 minutes)

I totally need to work out some kind of system so there is a break in D talk.

Meri of Our Diabetic Life has a white board. Meri was recently quoted regarding one of her reasons behind her white board on the new Disney T1 Everyday Magic site “With three boys diagnosed with diabetes, I find it’s hard to keep track of blood sugar trends. To remedy this, I’ve hung a whiteboard in the hallway. We write all the nighttime numbers on the board for several days and then analyze the numbers on the weekend. Writing the number down helps us take ownership of the number. And erasing it when we’re done is completely therapeutic!”  If you are a parent of a child with diabetes and you haven’t already checked out the Disney T1 Everyday Magic site maybe bookmark it and when you are done thoroughly reading my posts and leaving meaningful thought-provoking comments you should check it out.

Anyway – I envy Meri’s white board. I suggested a white board and my kids nearly staged a coup. They didn’t especially like the idea of having to see the numbers all the time. I get that. Oh and when I say ‘they’ I mean my oldest didn’t want to see the numbers all the time. She has been struggling with some stuff of late and I think she doesn’t want an “ugly” number written down where she would have to see it. Although I think some of the pushback from the kids was due to me suggesting ‘they‘ write their numbers down which requires them to do an additional task. But oh how I would love a white board. My mistake was in asking them what they thought. Sometimes I think we (parents) just need to make decisions and tell our kids what the new procedure will be. I don’t typically go that route since my kids need to own their diabetes but sometime I daydream about how nice it would be to just look at a whiteboard rather than ask questions.

 

Ok I’m done venting now. It’s bedtime. I have to go ask for numbers. Sigh.