I am my son's pancreas

I was taking a look at the JDRF web site yesterday and in one of the newsletters there was a column about how parents of type 1 diabetics need to give themselves breaks. A mom was quoted as saying something along the lines of "I get tired of being my kid's pancreas." Lightbulb moment. I never thought of myself as S's pancreas, but in many ways, that's what I am. I told S about it and he didn't seem to find the thought offensive. That's good. But someday, S will have to be his own pancreas. All the things I have to think about from hour to hour he'll have to remember. And that, I guess, is the real burden of diabetes. Not the diet, not the insulin, but the need to constantly be alert, to constantly be thinking about it.

Makes me want to go bury my head in a new book. I have Lydia Joyce's Voices in the Night up next. But first, some sewing.

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