An Explanation - A Father Looks at Diabetes

I apologize if I worried any of you by my last post. My daughter is fine. So am I and the rest of the family. My daughter is a type one diabetic and sometimes the battle is difficult for her. Last night was one of those nights where she couldn't get her blood sugar levels up.

Low blood sugar produces all sorts of side effects like...

• Dizziness
• Nervousness
• Personality change/irrational behavior
• Blurry vision
• Shakiness
• Nausea
• Crying
• Sluggishness
• Sweating
• Poor coordination
• Hunger
• Lightheadedness
• Irritability
• Drowsiness
• Erratic response to questions
• Inability to concentrate

In really bad situations, low blood sugar can cause convulsions and unconsciousness and sometimes death.

We've been lucky. My daughter can usually tell when her sugar levels are dropping and can correct them quickly. Last night, it just didn't work and she struggled for hours getting her levels to normalize. And this got to me.

My baby girl has been fighting diabetes since she was 4 years old. For a week she was treated in the hospital while the doctors put us through boot camp. We learned what type one diabetes is, how to treat it and how to live with diabetes. We left that hospital scared, trained and hopeful.

My daughter is amazing. She completely handles all of her own medications and monitoring. I am so proud of how well she takes care of herself. Even her doctors are amazed on how efficient and professional she is about her own care. She's so efficient that frankly after 13 years, sometimes I forget about how hard it still is for my daughter.

At first all we heard were the horror stories of blindness, amputation and death. Then came the advice about diet and exercise and sugar. And my favorite lines about telling her not to eat any sugar and she'll be cured.

Thank you very much kind hearted and well meaning people, but I don't need to hear about grandma who lost a foot or poor uncle George who died. Or how when you were diagnosed at 60 with type two diabetes, you cured it by laying off the late night snacks and cakes. If you are not a type one diabetic or living with one, I'm willing to bet that half of what you know is wrong and the horror stories about amputations and other complications are most likely due to people who didn't manage their disease or lived 30 years ago. So forgive me if I don't want to hear about diabetes from you. Your stories, your advice is usually so wrong and off the mark that I don't want to hear it. Nor does my little girl.

Last night it all came back to me. I don't know why. She's had low blood sugar episodes before. She was hurting and so was I. She's my baby - my perfect little girl.

So fuck you diabetes. Leave my daughter alone.