Imagine Mercy

We traveled over the hill with a friend for a concert last night, to watch couple of my favorite christian bands: Mercy Me & Casting Crowns. I can barely listen to either one of these groups without tears. Their music always touches my heart and it did last night. As we were waiting for MM I saw a man standing back stage (we were in the 2nd row) and immediately noticed his T-Shirt: Black with a white hand print, red dot on a finger. I instantly knew what that was about and was set on trying to find out more i.e. trying to read the fine print. When the band came out, it was the drummer for MM who was wearing the shirt! As the set progressed I learned more. Bart Millard, who is the lead singer, shared that his son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 2 year old, Sam is now 5 so he was diagnosed about the same time Morgan was. Bart then started the Imagine a Cure Organization. That was the T-shirt I spotted. I am now on a mission to get my hands on a few.

So not only were the tears flowing from the beauty of their songs, but now also for another family who has to bear the struggles of this life-long disease. A sense of connection with another parent who has been where I have been: sleepless nights, constant worrying. I don't let myself get wrapped up in the pity party of diabetes and Morgan doesn't either. It is, what it is and I can't do anything about it, if I could, I would have. God has a greater purpose and maybe some day he will let us know what that purpose is. But in the meantime we just allow God's glory to shine through and give him the praise in both good times and bad.

Raise Your Voice

Today is Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day. I asked Morgan to guest post for me today. To write something about living with diabetes. This is what he wrote.

Living With Diabetes

Its when I first wake up, I always have to remind myself to check my blood sugar not knowing what it will be. Trying to guess what it will be with how I feel. For breakfast I usually always eat cereal pouring the same amount every morning memorizing the carbs. During breakfast I count the days since the last time I changed my site and arguing with myself if I should change it or go for another day which will turn into two.

School with my diabetes is really nothing until I have been high for a very long period of time and haven’t come down, and reminding myself to check my blood sugar so I can give insulin so I don’t feel so crummy. But one of the main things that I always seem to forget is to check my blood sugar before a test that way I can see what I score with a normal blood sugar or a high one. One thing I love about my friends is that they get involved with my diabetes, everyday at lunch when I check my blood sugar my friends crowd around my meter seeing what I am. And I always hear the same questions everyday… “Is that good?”, “Wow, that’s HIGH!”, or my favorite one, “Oh, your too high to be eating that cookie let me eat it for you”. One class in school that is a little tough with my diabetes that isn’t lunch. It’s FACS or Home Ec. A few things that is hard about it is that it is right after lunch and we cook things that are sooo good (because of the sugar). For example: I could have been high at lunch and given a huge bolus and bam be normal in FACS with a bunch of insulin on board and we are eating something high in carbs. Sports at the moment I am doing track, but I also play basketball and that could mean no insulin given during an AAU tournament, yet, lots of eating. Track I find a lot easier because of the time between each event, and basketball being a starter can be somewhat more difficult for me and my mom. Now let me tell you what my mom does for me.

Now if it weren’t for my mom nagging me to check my blood sugar every second and going outside to play I would be very sick not saying my dad does nothing he does but just keep reading). I think I would have the worst A1C ever, if it weren’t for her. She works my basal and checks me in the middle of the night when she has had a crappy day. And now that I am writing this paper (which my mom pushed me to write ) I see how important she is and yeah I might press buttons on my pump to give insulin to keep me alive, but who is figuring out those ratios, and helping me stay alive and encouraging me to keep going even when she is frustrated. So everything that I have written about diabetes affecting my life yeah that is true. But now I see what has really affected my life…my mom and how much she wants to get involved. But if I didn’t have my mom I would still have my dad to help me out, but it just wouldn’t be the same. So thanks mom for all of your help. And all of you Diabetics out there even if you are out of the house, find someone that encouraged you through those tough times keeping your blood sugars steady. And also for you non-diabetics if you know a diabetic if they need help, help them out either praying for them or just telling them that you are there for them.

By;
Morgan
P.S.
I have finally decided, with the help of this paper, that I am NOT moving out of the house =].

Do I have a great kid or what? I was going to write something as well. What it is like to be the parent of a type 1. I think I will wait for another day.