Seeing my son having to deal with Type I Diabetes has been heartbreaking to say the least. I won’t even try to describe the flood of emotions that overtake you from time to time. Let’s just say, for me, I ran the gambit from anger to utter defeat.

As an act of compassion or solidarity… or maybe guilt. I have backed off my own sugar intake greatly. Planning on getting into better shape. That being said I wanted to be able to relate to his problem a little more. So I decided I need to give my self shots.

My wife and I have talked about this for a while. We asked our doctor the safest way to do it and he suggested getting saline from the Diabetics Clinic we go to. When we told our him about what we wanted to do he was surprised… but pleasantly surprised. The next class the gave us syringes and saline and away we went. My wife gave herself a shot at the clinic… I gave me mine with my son in the kitchen together.

My son (11) gives himself most of his own shots. The others are given by my wife or myself. Usually we give him his night time Lantus injection. Mainly because it burns. We have a system for minimizing the burning sensation though. If you have a burning sensation with Lantus try this (your milage may vary)…

1. Lantus at room temp
2. Let alcohol dry after cleaning the top of the Lantus bottle
3. Let alcohol dry on the injection spot
4. Give the injection quickly, slower seems to burn more
5. Once it is out rub the injection spot quickly for a few seconds

Typically when I give a shot I try to turn off all emotion. I guess it is a guy thing. I focus at the task at hand, the mechanics of what I am doing. I don’t think “I am giving my son a shot.” only that I am doing this, then this, then this.

Big difference when it is your arm… and your holding the needle! HUGE difference! It’s really a mental thing. I couldn’t detach myself from it. I finally gave myself the shot. No big deal… no pain. Just a little pressure at first.

I already saw my son as very brave. Now though… I can’t help but feel even more proud of him. He has really risen to the challenge. I won’t pretend that by giving myself one little shot that I now know just what he is going through. I don’t. I do feel that I have been able to peak inside just a little to see a taste of what he faces. What I saw then… made me proud of him even more.

Life is slowly beginning to get back to some sort of normalcy. It’s not what it was, nor will it ever be. We’re beginning to see patterns and learning to manage the Diabetes more each week. Every time we think we understand what we are doing we go to out Diabetes management class and learn a lot more.

We are also meeting more and more great parents that have “Type I” kids. It really is a silent, small community. That has been a source of strength for us these past couple of months.

I hope to get back to the comic soon… but to be honest it may be closer to January before it starts back. For now I really want to just focus on my family and how blessed I am to have them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.