We Want Diabetes to Go Away!

Well, it's that time of year again! Time for the Walk to Cure Diabetes! All week long we will be guestblogging here on the Cake Eater Chronicles to raise money to find a cure for Type I Diabetes.

I am Kathy's sister, Christi, in Omaha, Nebraska (the ol' homestead). My 8 year old son, James, has Type I (or juvenile) Diabetes. He was diagnosed right after he turned 3 years old on April 5th, 2002. We immediately went through 16 hours of survival training. This included how to test James' blood sugar, how to draw up and give insulin shots, and the quick and dirty education on nutrition.

The first 3 months after diagnosis were some of the worst months of our lives. There was so much tension in our house. So much blame. So much pain. We never thought we would get out of that phase, but eventually we did. Other families experience the very same troubling 3 months.

Now, Diabetes is just a regular part of our lives. Our regular life is somewhat different from other families though.

For example:

We have to eat at the exact same time every day, so that James can stay on an even keel. That means that James cannot sleep past 7:45a.m. He HAS to wake up and eat at that time every day. Not so easy, now that he is getting a little older and would REALLY like to sleep in.

We have to test James' blood sugars at least 6 times a day. So, no matter what is going on at 7:45am, 10am, 12n, 3pm, 6pm, and 8pm, all the action stops so that we can test James. Better have those supplies handy. Which leads to:

James must always carry his testing and insulin and snack supplies with him. He has a handy dandy Darth Vader lunch box that does the trick right now. Although he is lobbying for a nice new round baseball one for the new school year. I wonder what will happen when he hits junior high and carrying around a lunchbox won't be so cool. I guess we will deal with that new challenge when it happens.

We always have to carry extra food with us no matter where we go. One of the side effects of insulin shots is that you need to have a regular input of food to balance the input of insulin. When you are getting long acting insulin in shots, you can't just change your mind about eating. Eating can become a chore instead of a joy. So, when we are at baseball games for example, I look like overprepared psycho mom with the small cooler with enough snacks and drinks to cover any emergency!

So, enough with the "woe is me" scenario. We like to focus on the positive, it just isn't all that easy.

Since Kathy has been so nice to let us hijack her blog for our good cause, we have tried to make this as interesting as possible. So, James and I made a short video for you. We hope you enjoy it.

How's that for high tech???? Since James is getting older, I wanted him to be a part of this fundraiser and of course, video is more his speed. All week long we will have new clips for you to enjoy. If you click on "menu" in the video box and look at the related links, the one that is titled "JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes" is a great promo clip that Kevin Kline does for JDRF. Very inspirational.

The Omaha Walk to Cure Diabetes is on Saturday, August 11th. Our team, James' Jaywalkers, is attempting to raise $5,500 this year. Last year we almost raised $5,000! We have great friends, families, and of course all of you out there that we don't know, who are so generous. We so appreciate the sacrifices you make to help find a cure for this disease.

You can click on this link to make a donation online: http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=86710340

Later this week, we will have more information on the kind of research JDRF is working on, along with what advances look promising. We will also explain why James is not on the pump (yet).

So, we'll see you on Tuesday for another compelling episode of, "As the Shots Continue."

Posted by James at July 29, 2007 11:45 PM | TrackBack