How God selects......

Not my words but I love this poem  HOW GOD SELECTS THE MOTHER OF A CHILD WITH DIABETES by Erma Bombeck Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit. Did you ever wonder how mothers of children with diabetes are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger. “Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron Saint Matthew.” “Forrest, Marjorie, daughter. Patron Saint Cecilia.” “Rutledge, Carrie, twins. Patron Saint Gerard. He’s used to profanity.” Finally, He passes a name to an angel and smiles, “Give her a child with diabetes.” The angel is curious. “Why this one, God? She’s so happy.” “Exactly”, smiles God. “Could I give a child with diabetes to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel.” “But has she the patience?” asks the angel. “I don’t want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she’ll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I am going to give her has her own world. She has to make it live in her world and that’s not going to be easy.” “But Lord, I don’t think she even believes in you.” God smiles. “No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness.” The angel gasps. “Selfishness? Is that a virtue?” God nods. “If she cannot separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with less than perfect.” “She does not realize it yet, but she is to be envied. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see…ignorance, cruelty, prejudice…and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as if she is here by my side.” “And what about her patron saint?” asks the angel, his pen poised in mid air. God smiles. “A mirror will suffice.” ~By Erma Bombeck

Children In Need.

Pretty much everyone will be aware that Children In Need is on Friday. This annual event is broadcast across the country with many celebrities taking part.
Friday 14th November is also World Diabetes Day, a very important date in the calendars of families who are affected by type 1 diabetes. This is the birthday of Dr Frederick Banting....who is that? This is the great man who discovered insulin. It's important to point out that insulin is NOT a cure for type 1 diabetes, it's life support. Without it a person with type 1 diabetes will die! FACT.
The whole month of November is diabetes awareness month, how many of you knew? We know that October is breast cancer awareness month, and November is taken over by 'movember' to raise awareness for prostate cancer, but diabetes awareness?
I suppose really the point of this post is that our type 1 children are 'Children in Need' they live with this life threatening condition day in, day out. Currently there is no cure, hopefully one day this will change.

Hope is in a Cure x

5 years in......

Diaversary.......diagnosis day........d day, whatever you call it....we call it diabetic birthday, today is that day.
5 years ago today diabetes entered our lives again, Samuel was 4. If you follow my blog you will know this already but for those who are new to it I will give a quick recap. My husband was diagnosed at the age of 22, so thankfully when Samuel started showing signs we knew what we were dealing with. That said it was still a huge shock to us, and it was still a lot to take in. He was never admitted into hospital and he never got the chance to get really sick, for that I will always be thankful as many are not so lucky.
So here we are.... Lots has changed, we move from twice daily injections, to multiple daily injections and now the pump. Have things got easier? The short answer is no, nothing is ever easy where type 1 diabetes is concerned. What does happen though is it becomes normal, well normal to us anyway, we are used to carb counting, insulin measuring and blood glucose testing. We have gained great support from the CWD online community, we have met some wonderful people and I'm sure this will carry on for many years to come.
However, this year is tinged with sadness, this year we have tipped over and Samuel has been diabetic longer than he hasn't. He has spent more than half his life injecting insulin, more than half his life counting carbs and measuring bg levels, and if I'm honest it sucks. But this is the hand we have been dealt, Samuel is an awesome young man, he is shining at school and he doesn't let his condition stop him from doing anything so actually I think we are really quite lucky, as it really could be a whole lot worse.