Zach is going through the beginning stages of puberty. His readings are all over the place. His A1C came back around 9.0 last week which is extremely unusal since he has been close to 7-7.5 most of the time. Two days ago he went to bed around 140, a little higher than his target range of 120. We woke him up and he was shaking and lathargic. Tested him and he was 27. He is also on the pump. Looks like another change in his basil rate is due. Doc said puberty would wreak havoc on his rates.
As far as diabetes goes, he doesn't let it interfere with having a normal life. He plays Basketball and baseball. Swimming is no problem either. He goes to camp every year at Cedar Lake Bible Conference Center and Moses Cheeks Diabetes Basketball Camp sponsored by the Bulls. This year we put him on a plane to New York to go to Word of Life Camp up in Schroon Lake. He won the WOL Steadfast Award which gave him the free week at camp.
His outlook on life is this: He will not let his diabetes deter him from accomplishing all that God has for him to do.
I don't worry about him too much. He has great faith in a great God and that was the first and most important thing he needed to know in life. Everything else is in God's hands. No man dies before the appointed time that God has given him. My son knows this. He is determined to make the most of his time on earth. Cure or not.
Praise God for your son! He has faced his diabetes head on. I will pray for him that his determination remains strong.
Yes, there are times when the control is not there, and you just don't understand it, despite everything you've done...hormones & growth spurts seemed to cover it!
You are so right about the worry part. And I'm glad you've learned that lesson!
Wow, I remember the very instant I realised that either I was going to put aside all the worries and obsessing about this, that, and the other thing, or I was going to go crazy. AND how would THAT benefit my dear son?
It was a lesson which applies to so much in life, too. Let go, and let God take the burden.
Our son enjoyed summer camp for a few years too.
We all learned to balance his needs with the whole of our lives, together as a family and individually.
We learned perspective, commonsense, trust and so much else. Definitely the "lemon/lemonade" lesson.
Somewhere along the way, you realize you've raised a child who happens to have diabetes, not necessarily a diabetic child...
Thanks for your comments! Take care, and all the best to you, him, and the rest of your family.
It turns out we have other autoimmune diseases in the family. (thyroid, Addison's, alopicia) Looking into all that, I found this:
http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/blog.cfm/1534
Here's one small part of the article that you may find interesting:
"However, patients with diabetes who begin to experience unstable or poorly controlled glucose levels should be tested for both adrenal and thyroid antibodies. Patients with APS2 often develop other autoimmune conditions although these disorders are less likely to occur in APS2 compared to APS1. These disorders include vitiligo, myasthenia gravis, thrombocytopenic purpura, Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia, hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, pernicious anemia, atrophic gastritis, hypophysitis, and primary antiphospholipid syndrome."
I'm taking my son in at the end of the month to make sure the rest of his endocrine system isn't messing up his blood sugar.
He's 13 and puberty isn't helping his situation!!
One more thing! As a parent to a parent I have to ask you one thing; how do you sleep? I've got myself on a 2-10AM sleep schedule to make sure he's stable through the night. He gets himself off to school in the morning and can pretty much take care of himself during the day. Other parents keep reassuring me that he'll wake up naturally if he's low, but three nights ago I found him wandering in the kitchen, eating a pickle. He was like a sleep walker. I tested him and he was 43. He was in *no* condition to make a decision, or even realize he was low. I know I can't trust his brain to function when he's like that.
I know that many parents of diabetic children are single or work. I can't imagine how they deal with the nights.